Chennai
“DMK in its election manifesto assured that it will provide citizenship to Sri Lankan refugees but on the contrary, the special refugee camps are functioning as torture camps where refugees do not want to live in the camps. The special camps should immediately be shut down and citizenship should be granted to them,” said Seeman in a social media post.
DMK in its election manifesto had said that according to Shastri-Srimavo Pact in 1964 ancestral Tamils who went to Sri Lanka for work and settled in the island country will be accepted as Tamils and steps will be taken to provide citizenship for them. The manifesto further promised that the party will take steps to provide citizenship for refugees who have been lodged in Sri Lankan refugee camps for over 30 years.
Seeman said DMK not only did not take any steps to provide citizenship for them but also did not take care of the inmates of refugee camps that are under their control. “Two youngsters Nirooban and Mugunthan in Lankan refugee camp inside Tiruchirappalli central prison campus after observing fast unto death attempted suicide because they were treated badly due to suspicion based on the fact that they were refugees. All the 78 inmates of the Tiruchirappalli refugee camps have been protesting to free them from the camp”, said Seeman, who also added that the camps set up by the state government resemble the ones set up by the Sri Lankan government after the 2009 Eelam war where the Sri Lankan Tamils were kept inside fenced camps and were tortured.
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