Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, has said that refugees of Sri Lankan origin residing in India will be given enough time to decide when they want to return home, and added that the present government is not in the business of imposing the forced return of its citizens.
In an interview given to Thanthi TV, Wickremasinghe, when asked to comment on the bilateral consultations with regard to the voluntary repatriation of refugees from India, and to the Tamil Nadu Government raising certain doubts about congenial and constructive steps not being taken, said, "We have an environment for the refugees to return to Sri Lanka. If they have doubts and they want a longer time, we will give them some more time."
"As the situation keeps getting back to normal and is improving, people in Tamil Nadu will say, why don't they go back to Sri Lanka. We don't want to force the issue. As the events develop, they will have to return to Sri Lanka," he stated further.
On criticisms that the resettlement of internally-displaced Tamils hasn't happened in its entirety, Prime Minister Wickremasinghe said, "Of the 11,000 acres, now only about 5000 acres are in the army's control. We have identified some other places to be returned. Some of the refugees may be from these areas, or they may be from areas where life is back to normal. In any case, if they have fear, they should be given some more time to return."
He further told Thanthi TV that the present Government of Sri Lanka will take the views of the Tamil Nadu Government on board and engage with it actively to minimize existing complications in ties.
He said, "When I was Prime Minister (earlier), I always engaged with Tamil Nadu, kept them informed. Of course we have to deal with the Government of India. We know Chennai, we go there regularly, we have friends there. Some go for shopping, some go for religious purposes. Tamil Nadu is not an unknown place.
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"On bilateral relations, we deal with the Government of India. When we go to Tamil Nadu, we keep them informed. We would like that to continue," he added.
He said that while the Rajapaksa Regime may have ignored the Tamil Nadu Government when it was in power, it would be the endeavor of the present government of President Maithripala Sirisena to have good relations with states in southern India.
"A large number of Sinhalese have supposed connections with Chennai, Kerala, Karnataka, and of course Andhra which is now in two places .. Telengana and Andhra... All that has been a traditional part of our relations. Do you know that Narasimha Varman, The king of Pallavas, he was able to defeat the Chalukyan king because his commander was a prince from Sri Lanka called Manavamma. The then king gave his army to Manavamma to return to Sri Lanka and re-establish himself on the throne of Anuradhapura," Wickremasinghe said.
"Pallava and the Anuradhapura kings had very very close relations, Pandians too had... The final line up was Sri Lanka, Pallava, Pandiyas and Sri Vijaya against Cholas... Of course, Chola defeated all of us. Kerala and Sri Lanka are the only two areas in the Indian subcontinent that use coconut oil for cooking," he stated further.
The Prime Minister said that Sri Lanka will always seek to prioritize the strengthening of relations with southern India.
