Latest news with #JanathaVimukthiPeramuna
The Hindu
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Exiting refugee status, getting back dignity
Two recent unrelated developments, one in India and another in Sri Lanka, have brought into focus the issues of repatriation and the local integration of Sri Lankan refugees who have been living in Tamil Nadu for over 30 years. First, the Supreme Court of India had refused to interfere with the verdict of the Madras High Court, which, in 2022, reduced the sentence of a refugee from 10 years to seven years — he had been convicted under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The convict, who had given an undertaking to the High Court that he would leave India on completion of the sentence, had approached the Supreme Court with the intent of settling down in the country, citing personal reasons, as he had completed the sentence. In its hearing, the two-judge Bench made an oral observation that 'India is not a dharamshala (free shelter)' to entertain refugees from all over the world. It was a remark that came as a shock to refugees as Indian courts, on many occasions, have been empathetic towards them. In the other development, a septuagenarian refugee, who returned to Sri Lanka on his own after spending years in Tamil Nadu, was detained by the authorities, much to his dismay, on his arrival at Palaly airport in Jaffna, the headquarters of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The reason was linked to the ground that he had left the country 'without valid documents'. He had been detained despite the Chennai office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees facilitating his repatriation. He was released after a furore. Sri Lanka's Transport Minister and the ruling Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)'s senior leader Bimal Rathnayake responded swiftly by stating that the remand was due to 'the automatic application' of law to persons who had emigrated through a 'non-legal' port. He promised the community of immediate action to change the policy. Different circumstances, different policies Close to 90,000 Sri Lankan refugees have been in Tamil Nadu, within and outside rehabilitation camps. Though Tibetan refugees, numbering around 63,170 people, have been in India longer, there are at least a couple of differences between the two. In respect of Sri Lankan refugees who came to India between July 1983 and June 2012, organised repatriation took place till March 1995. But there has been no such exercise in the case of the other category, as the influx of the two groups of refugees was under entirely different circumstances. Unlike Tibetan refugees who have been settled in different States including Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Ladakh, almost all the Sri Lankan refugees have been settled in Tamil Nadu, barring some in Odisha. In fact, the fundamental difference between the two can be seen in the manner in which the Union Ministry of Home Affairs handles the matter in its annual reports. In the case of Sri Lankan refugees, the ultimate objective is of repatriation to Sri Lanka, while such language is not used with respect to the Tibetans. In the case of the Tibetans, the Union government formulated the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy (TRP) in 2014, with no such document for the other group despite its larger numbers. The TRP also talks of an extension of welfare schemes to the community, an aspect that the Tamil Nadu government has been practising for years with respect of Sri Lankan refugees. As the policy document lays down a framework for productive engagement of the refugees — either under government schemes including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or in the private and non-government sector in chartered accountancy, medicine and engineering — similar means can be extended to the Sri Lankan refugees. Even though nearly 500 young refugees in Tamil Nadu have got engineering degrees, hardly five per cent of them have found jobs in their disciplines as private companies, especially IT firms, are reluctant to employ them. If the Union government, without disturbing its traditional position on the repatriation of Sri Lankan refugees, can formulate a policy for this category of refugees too, they would find the move beneficial. Live up to the theme As it is over 40 years since the first batch of refugees came from Sri Lanka, it is time that the larger society debates how long the rehabilitation camps, which account for two-thirds of the total refugee population in the State, will continue to be maintained in the country. However well intentioned governments at the Centre and in the State may be, the tag of being a refugee is not an aspect that a person with self-respect can cherish. Repatriation and local integration should form part of a package of durable solutions to be worked out by the authorities in consultation with all the stakeholders including Sri Lanka. The focus this year on World Refugee Day (June 20) is 'solidarity with refugees'. It is a theme that can be meaningful to them only if they lead their lives with honour. ramakrishnan.t@
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In Sri Lanka, Dissanayake's Honeymoon Period Might Be Running Out
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka—It's been a busy few months at the polls for Sri Lanka, which recently capped off its third set of elections in under eight months, capped by local elections held on May 6. The voting determined the makeup of local councils across the island, and the outcomes signaled that while President Anura Kumara Dissanayake continues to enjoy popular support, his honeymoon period may be nearing its end. The series of polls began last September, when Dissanayake—popularly known as AKD—swept to power on a lasting wave of discontent following the collapse of Sri Lanka's economy in 2022. That crisis saw the country default on its international debt amid soaring cost-of-living conditions and a currency collapse, leading to public protests that unseated then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. As the longtime leader of the traditionally marginalized leftist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or JVP, Dissanayake was perceived as a political outsider, positioning him well in the runup to the first presidential election since the 2022 protests, known as the Aragalaya movement. His JVP-led National People's Power, or NPP, alliance subsequently earned a supermajority in November's parliamentary elections, winning 159 seats out of 225 on 62 percent of the vote. In the local elections held earlier this month, the NPP still won the largest vote share, taking over councils in the Sinhala heartlands and upcountry areas. But it fell to 43 percent overall, raising the question of where Dissanayake's NPP government stands after six months in power. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. According to Nishan De Mel, executive director of Verité Research in Colombo, the local election outcomes reflects 'a slight cooling of sentiment' toward the government. 'Not that people have become oppositional or turned against it,' he added, describing the shift instead as a slowly building impatience. De Mel acknowledged that the NPP had 'reaffirmed its mandate' in the polls, but the fact that it had lost some of its vote share to the four opposition parties meant that it wasn't as resounding a victory as in the general election. The shift was most notable in the Tamil-majority Northern province, where most councils saw Tamil parties winning the largest vote share and shutting the NPP out of local governments. Upon taking over in November, Dissanayake's NPP government inherited many daunting challenges, primarily the task of repairing Sri Lanka's economy. Following two consecutive years of contraction, the economy grew 4.6 percent in 2024. While presenting the budget for 2025, Dissanayake said the economy is expected to grow a further 5 percent this year. However, little has changed for the poorest in the country, who drove the Aragalaya protests that ousted Rajapaksa in 2022 and have been most affected by the economic collapse. Though Dissanayake's government has attempted to ease the pressure by increasing minimum wages in the public and private sectors, the cost of living remains extremely high. An April 2025 report by the World Bank stated that although poverty was forecast to decline by 1.8 percent over the course of the year, a third of Sri Lankans were 'living in poverty or one shock away from falling back into it.' The report also highlighted an increase in malnutrition in 2024. Ahead of the September presidential election, Dissanayake promised to renegotiate Sri Lanka's bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which has led to punishing austerity measures, including a hike in fuel and electricity prices. But he reneged on that promise after the parliamentary elections, saying the economy was 'in such a state that it cannot take the slightest shock.' A further increase in electricity rates is thought to be on the agenda in the next few months, according to local media. For Ahilan Kadirgamar, a lecturer at the University of Jaffna, the conditions of the IMF bailout agreement are not sustainable. 'The sooner they come out of it, the better it would be,' he told WPR. Kadirgamar said the IMF program's austerity measures were 'counterproductive' for Sri Lanka and that 'the burden is being borne by the working people and the marginalized sections of society.' He also dismissed the celebratory coverage of the country's economic growth, pointing out that it was 'starting from an extremely low base.' However, not everyone agrees. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, described Dissanayake's U-turn as 'a very pragmatic decision' taken by 'a very pragmatic politician.' Staying within the IMF framework, Saravanamuttu added, allowed him and the NPP to avoid 'political turmoil in the country when they came into office.' Saravanamuttu nevertheless criticized the NPP for being slow to act on some of its other electoral promises, particularly repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, a controversial law often historically used to arrest dissidents. Not only has the government taken no steps to do so, but arrests have continued under its tenure. Saravanamuttu credited the government with having taken positive action to combat corruption, but added that 'they need to do the actual tangible policy reform that they promised.' In the meantime, he told WPR, 'there is a creeping disillusionment with regard to the way that the government is operating. And the JVP has to do something fast to stem that.' Dissanayake also courted controversy in the runup to the local elections, with allegations lodged by opposition parties that he had threatened to withhold government funding from 'corrupt' local councils. The insinuation was that only NPP-led councils could be trusted. De Mel said that he did not believe the NPP would prevent disbursements to councils led by other parties, but rather that Dissanayake was emphasizing the NPP's anti-corruption stance. De Mel added that the NPP may have over-promised on the timeline and scope of its plans for its parliamentary term, but that 'the challenge for the government is that they must convince the people that these adjustments to their positions are reasonable.' Comparing the NPP's first six months in power to the 2015 government of former President Maithripala Sirisena, who similarly represented a landmark shift away from the Rajapaksa political dynasty when he came to power, De Mel said the NPP had achieved comparatively less. 'In that period, even without having a parliamentary majority, that change in presidency brought much more rapid structural changes in governance than what we have seen in the current government in the first six months,' De Mel told WPR. He added, however, that the need to prepare for the rapid succession of elections had left the NPP government with less time to deliver. Dissanayake's NPP government will also have many challenges ahead on the foreign policy front, particularly when it comes to charting its relationship with China, navigating increased tensions between India and Pakistan, and riding out the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. All of these will have implications on the economic front, particularly the latter. 'This could mean increased unemployment or lowered levels of production or cost-cutting that could affect workers,' Kadirgamar said of the tariffs' impact. 'So we're looking at really choppy times ahead. And for all of this, the NPP really needs a plan, including for how they want to deal with the IMF program, because that's not helping at all.' Kadirgamar said progressive policies like a wealth tax and land redistribution, among others, would be positive steps for the NPP, while Saravanamuttu said an increased focus on digitalization as well as reforms of the public sector and state-owned enterprises were needed. The government will also need to interrogate its relationship with Tamil voters given its performance in the local government elections, although De Mel said this could partly be put down to a different dynamic at play, with people more likely to vote at the local level for parties and candidates they knew. However, given the JVP's history of Sinhala nationalism, it will be important for Dissanayake to build trust with Tamil voters, especially given his government's unwillingness to promise the devolved powers long sought by the Tamil regions. Above all, however, the NPP's mandate to tackle corruption will remain the primary barometer by which its performance will be measured going forward. To succeed on this front, De Mel said, the government will need to understand and 'neutralize' the workings of the 'deep state' that has driven corruption across successive previous governments. In one way or another, the NPP will have to show results soon, as in a post-Aragalaya political landscape, there is far less room for Sri Lankan politicians to maneuver their way out of tricky situations and failed promises. If Dissanayake's electoral successes have shown anything, it is that people are hungry for change. But this month's local election results made it clear that political goodwill does not last forever. Dissanayake and the NPP government know that, had it not been for the failings of their predecessors, they would not be in power today. The flip side of that coin remains that, if they fail to deliver, they could quickly find themselves back on the outside. Jeevan Ravindran is a journalist and researcher based between London and Jaffna, focusing on human rights. She has worked extensively with Reuters and CNN, and most recently as a researcher at Amnesty International, focusing on Malaiyaha Tamils. The post In Sri Lanka, Dissanayake's Honeymoon Period Might Be Running Out appeared first on World Politics Review.
