Bring back one lakh Tamil IDPs from India: JVP

Herath said nearly one lakh Sri Lankans of Tamil origin living in India should also be brought back soon.

He wanted to know the governmental measures taken to resettle Tamil IDPs in their homes in Srilanka’s northern region Wanni and east by the year end.

“There is no action. There is disease that is occurring in the refugee camps (in Vavuniya and elsewhere). People are dying”,Herath said.

He noted even Germany and Japan faced challenges resettling IDPs decades ago during war period but they tackled the problem successfully.

International pressure that was once exerted on Sri Lanka due to LTTE could now shift on the IDP issue if around three lakh Tamil refugees were not resettled early,he said.

Over 15,000 displaced persons have been resettled in Jaffna,Trincomalee,Battticaloa,Ampara and Mannar districts this year,Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

“We have screened and readied for release over 10,000 persons from welfare centres and relief villages who are elderly,are pregnant or lactating mothers or are children”,Samarasinghe told last week.

The minister said 10,000 persons,including child recruits or those affiliated to the organisation in some way were taking rehabilitation programmes.

“All these persons deserve our care and attention. We are in the process of registering them,with well over 50 per cent having been registered to date,” Samarasinghe said.