The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Crackdown against illegal transportation of refugees

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Crackdown against illegal transportation of refugees

C. Jaishankar

RAMANATHAPURAM: The ongoing crackdown against agents, middlemen and fishermen, who are directly or indirectly supporting the illegal transportat

ion of Sri Lankan refugees to their homeland, has started giving results. However, questions have been raised on how long the action can stop illegal migration of Sri Lankan refugees.

There is no report of clandestine movement of refugees or agents along the Ramnad coast ever since the crackdown began.

The police have arrested 32 persons, mostly fishermen and 4 Sri Lankan refugees, who acted as agents, under the Passport Act and Foreigners Act. Most of the arrested persons belong to Rameswaram Island. The search is still on to arrest remaining agents.

Not a long-term solution

However, informed sources told The Hindu that the crackdown could give only temporary results not long- term solution. They could not be kept in jail for more than three months as per the provisions of the Passport Act and Foreigners Act.

Though the police, Coast Guard and Navy are jointly responsible to prevent illegal transportation of Sri Lankan refugees, they could not stop the menace completely as the Ramanathapuram coast was too long (271 km) to patrol.

Special ship service

The sources said operating special ship services from Rameswaram or other areas to transport all Sri Lankan refugees, who are interested in returning to their homeland, was the only way out to stop the long pending problem and ease security concerns along the Tamil Nadu coast.

According to a rough estimate, about 1.5-lakh Sri Lankan Tamil refugees are living in Tamil Nadu for the last 20 years.

Though the United Nation High Commission for Rehabilitation (UNHCR) is working overtime to sponsor flight tickets and rehabilitation measures for the Tamil refugees, the compulsory procedures prescribed by the UNHCR and the official machinery of the two countries have delayed the legal transportation formalities.

The sources said this could be avoided if the Central Government operated the special ship service exclusively for transporting all refugees with the assent of State Government and Sri Lankan Government. The special service could be stopped once the target was achieved.

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