MADRAS: The Sri Lankan foreign minister Harold Herat Wednesday said the first batch of 750 Tamil refugees will leave for Sri Lanka on Jan.20 by ship.
Talking to reporters at the Kamaraj domestic airport here before leaving for Colombo Herat said so far 30000 Tamil refugees who had volunteered to return to Sri Lanka had been identified. Of them 3800 belong to Trincomalee 13500 to Mannar and over 6300 to Vavuniya. All Of them were in transit camps in Tamil Nadu.
He said his government’s attempt was to settle these refugees in their own “homes”. The process of identifying them had started in December last.
Asked whether the Sri Lankan government had agreed to India’s call for a negotiated settlement with Tamil groups Herat said “it is a good idea we will take it”.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 17, 1992
