Sri Lanka is ready to receive and support all those forced to flee the country during the civil war and now living as refugees in Tamil Nadu, Minister Bimal Rathnayake said, speaking to Indian media, The Hindu. 

According to the news report, Minister Rathnayake urged the Governments of India and Tamil Nadu to refrain from using refugees as “a tool for political propaganda”.

The Minister made the remarks when queried about the government’s current position on refugee-returnees from Tamil Nadu, in the wake of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s letter, dated February 15, 2026, to Prime Minister Modi seeking the Union government’s intervention on issues concerning Sri Lankan Tamils living in India for over four decades. 

Apart from requesting New Delhi to rescind administrative instructions barring consideration of citizenship applications from Sri Lankan Tamils, Stalin sought an executive clarification waiving passport and visa requirements, where appropriate, for citizenship or long-term visa applications based on verified identity documentation issued by the Tamil Nadu government. 

According to Stalin’s letter, around 89,000 individuals reside in and outside camps across Tamil Nadu, while nearly 40% of them were born there.

Pointing out that 18,542 persons returned from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka in the 16 years from January 2009, after the civil war ended in May that year, to June 2025, Minister Rathnayake said the government was certainly ready to welcome those who wish to return. 

“However, if some of them, born in India, or who have lived, studied, and worked there for decades, or married an Indian, decide to seek Indian citizenship, we cannot argue with that position. It is their reality and their right to seek citizenship there,” he said. 

Further, in a message to political actors in India, he said: “My humble request to the Government of India and Government of Tamil Nadu is that please don’t use the refugees as a tool for political propaganda around elections. They have endured enormous suffering already; we must treat their request with care and sensitivity.”

A prominent voice in the ruling Anura Kumara Dissanayake administration, Minister Rathnayake had visited refugee camps in Tamil Nadu in 2007, and pushed the Sri Lankan government to pass a law granting citizenship to 28,500 persons living in the camps. 

In May 2025, when former Jaffna MP M.A. Sumanthiran highlighted the arrest of a 75-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil refugee returning from India, on charges of leaving the island without a valid passport, Minister Rathnayake said the government would address the matter.

“The government immediately instructed the Immigration Department and police not to detain those returning, citing their departure from a so-called illegal port decades ago,” he said. (Newswire/ The Hindu)

The post Minister Bimal urges India, Tamil Nadu to avoid politicizing refugee issue appeared first on Newswire.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday inaugurated over 1,500 newly built houses in 19 Sri Lankan Tamils Rehabilitation Camps spread across 13 districts of the state in India.

According to India media, Deccan Herald, Stalin inaugurated 220 houses at the Melmonavur Camp in Tamil Nadu and interacted with the beneficiaries of the housing scheme. 

In total, 1,591 houses, constructed at a cost of Rs 79.70 crore, were inaugurated by the Chief Minister.

He declared open through video conference new houses in 12 other districts, which includes Tiruvannamalai, Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Virudhunagar and Sivaganga. He also spoke to beneficiaries in other districts through a video link.

When Stalin spoke to them, beneficiaries expressed satisfaction on the availability of basic amenities. Anganwadi, library, Public Distribution System outlet are also available, they said.

Ministers including Duraimurugan (Water Resources) and I Periyasamy (Rural Development), elected representatives and senior officials were present. 

Chief Minister Stalin had in 2021 renamed the Refugee Camps for Sri Lankan Tamils as Rehabilitation Camps.

Stalin had also announced that 7,469 houses in a dilapidated condition would be constructed afresh.

Out of them, in the first phase, 3,510 houses would be built, he had said. An allocation of Rs 176.02 crore had been made (2021-22) by the government.

Work to construct 3,510 new houses in 35 Rehabilitation Camps for Sri Lankan Tamils spread across 20 districts is on.

Following completion of construction work, 1,591 houses were inaugurated on Sunday (Sep 17).

As many as 58,272 people belonging to 19,498 families have been housed in 104 camps in 29 districts. (NewsWire)

The post Over 1,500 houses built for Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu appeared first on Newswire.