Nearly eight years after the end of LTTE war in Sri Lanka in 2009, only around 10% of the Tamil refugees who migrated to Tamil Nadu during war period, are back to their country. An organization run by Sri Lankan Tamil refugees named Organisation for Elankai Refugees Rehabiliation (OfERR) said, around 63 thousand refugees are living in government administered refugee camps in Tamilnadu while another 37 thousand live outside the camps. <br/><br/>OfERR incharge of Sri Lanka operations Sooriya Kumari told AIR that since 2009, a total of 11,396 Sri Lankan refugees, who lived in the refugee camps in India, have returned to Sri Lanka. She said, refugees returning to India face several challenges including housing, land availability and ration support for few months in order to get integrated into daily life. Many of the refugees have also lost their documents including national identity cards, birth certificates and land deeds thus creating legal hurdles for them to claim their property. <br/><br/>Many of the families our AIR correspondent met in northern districts of Killinochhi and Mullaitiivu were of the view that settling again in their homeland after living in refugees camps for a decade or two is not easy as they have got used to basic facilities including food and shelter at no cost. OfERR incharge said that the refugees in Tamil Nadu are even offered higher education facilities at par with natives and this has enabled around three and half thousand refugees to become graduates including doctors, engineers and qualified professionals.
News On AIR | February 12, 2017 1:39 PM
10% of migrated Tamil refugees from Sri lanka during LTTE war back to country