India has a track record of treating refugees from Sri Lanka with kid gloves. A few weeks ago, a 44-year-old IT professional, who was born in Sri Lanka; brought up in India and is now residing in the United States, approached the Madras High Court to save himself from being declared “stateless.” On several occasions in the last five-six years, the High Court resolved the issue of “statelessness” in respect of many refugees who were covered under the 1964 and 1974 bilateral agreements and provisions of the Citizenship Act. In the case of the IT professional, the court directed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to file a detailed counter affidavit and the Indian Embassy at Washington DC to keep in abeyance till then the operation of a notice issued to him to surrender his passport.
But, there were occasions when the Indian government acted tough and, at least once, went to the extent of deporting even a few prominent Sri Lankan Tamils. The deportation took place in August 1985 and the personalities involved Anton S. Balasingham, who became the best-known international face of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and S.C. Chandrahasan, founder of Organisation for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OfERR).
Published - July 22, 2026 06:30 am IST