3 months ago
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin connected Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi placing 4 requests earlier the Union authorities for the payment of Sri Lankan Tamils surviving successful the State. Mr. Stalin requested the Union authorities for rescinding earlier administrative instructions that barred the information of citizenship applications from Sri Lankan Tamils.
Mr. Stalin, successful his letter, sought to emblem the matter, which helium termed was of “profound humanitarian, constitutional, and nationalist value concerning Sri Lankan Tamils”, who person sought refuge successful India, predominantly successful Tamil Nadu, for implicit 4 decades. He requested for issuing an enforcement clarification waiving passport and visa requirements, wherever appropriate, for the intent of citizenship oregon semipermanent visa applications, based connected verified individuality documentation issued by the Tamil Nadu government.
The CM requested for delegating due powers to designated district-level authorities for streamlined processing and besides requested the Union authorities for formally clarifying the ineligible presumption of registered Sri Lankan Tamil nationals sheltered successful India up to January 9, 2015. “These individuals person lived successful India with dignity, discipline, and heavy taste affinity for much than 4 decades. Their beingness has been supported and regulated successful coordination with the Union government. The continued characterisation of their presumption arsenic irregular does not bespeak the humanitarian discourse of their introduction nor the State-sanctioned quality of their stay.”
Since 1983, successive governments of Tamil Nadu, with the enactment and concurrence of the Union government, person extended shelter, subsistence support, education, and healthcare to Sri Lankan Tamils, who fled taste struggle successful Sri Lanka, helium said. As of February 15, astir 89,000 individuals continued to reside successful Tamil Nadu — a important proportionality of whom person lived successful India for much than 30 years, and astir 40% of whom were calved connected Indian soil, Mr. Stalin pointed out.
“While the State has fulfilled its humanitarian responsibilities with committedness and compassion, these individuals stay successful a authorities of prolonged ineligible uncertainty. Despite their decades-long residence and integration into the societal fabric, galore proceed to deficiency entree to durable ineligible solutions specified arsenic citizenship oregon semipermanent visa status,” Mr. Stalin said. The Tamil Nadu authorities had constituted an advisory committee that undertook elaborate survey of the presumption of these Sri Lankan Tamils and had presented recommendations.
One of the recommendations was that the demographic appraisal undertaken by the committee indicated that “several categories of Sri Lankan Tamils are eligible for regularisation nether existing ineligible frameworks — including those calved successful India anterior to June 30, 1987, individuals calved to 1 Indian parent, spouses of Indian citizens, persons of Indian root with lineage documentation, and those different eligible for semipermanent visas.” Mr. Stalin underlined: “I privation to authorities that the 2003 amendment to the Citizenship Act, which introduced the class of “illegal migrant,” has had the unintended effect of retrospectively affecting those who entered India nether bonzer humanitarian circumstances and with the tacit support of the Union government.”
The administrative instructions issued successful 1986 person constrained the acceptance of citizenship applications from this community, thereby creating barriers to resolution, Mr. Stalin contended. “However, caller argumentation developments — peculiarly the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025 — awesome a constructive and humanitarian approach. A ceremonial clarification that registered Sri Lankan Tamil nationals sheltered up to January 9, 2015 shall not beryllium treated arsenic “illegal migrants” would supply much-needed ineligible certainty.”
Judicial pronouncements, including the judgement of the Madras High Court successful P. Ulaganathan Vs. Government of India (2019), person besides emphasised the request for a pragmatic and humanitarian mentation of the instrumentality successful specified cases, Mr. Stalin pointed out.
