hindustantimes.com,  Mon Feb 26 07:34:51 EST 2007

    A deal to return 83 Sri Lankans from Christmas Island, a small non-self governing territory of Australia, to Indonesia is on the verge of finalisation, according to an Indonesian official.

On the condition of anonymity, the Indonesian official informed a local radio channel on Monday that under the deal the 83 Sri Lankans would only transit briefly through Indonesia on their way back to Sri Lanka.
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- The Academic

Well done ausies. This is the correct way to handle this.

This clearly shows the ignorance of this media…Australian Government declares that all 83 Sri Lankan won’t be send back to Indonesia, because the Australian Government fear that those people may prosecuted in SL.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1857921.htm

As per the ABC Newsline, if the Ausis are not going to send everyone back, whom are they going to send back and on what ground?. Will they be only the muslims that they will send and keep all the tamils ?????. If this is the option, it clearly shows the duplicity of Aussies and they are bull-sh..t about the UNCHR agreements.

I beleve that the best way to deals on this is to check with GOSL on their methodology if they are going to procecute them once they return. Yes, in general law if they have not vialated the immigration laws of the country (that is leaving SL in a leagal manner to anyother country), then it's a matter of looking at the cause of assylum and if the GOSL can make presentation to the UNHCR, matter is closed.

It is pathetic that both the LTTE activists (like their Australian spokesman Ana Pararajasingham) and their GOSL counterparts are trying to exploit the plight of these unfortunate youngsters for political gains and point scoring. These youngsters must have (rightly or wrongly) taken this dangerous adventure in search of a better life. If they were not fleeing from death or brutality - at least they were trying to escape from an uncertain and bleak future. It has been said that their parents had mortgaged their possessions to find money for this. They may not have done this for fun or because they don't have anything else do with their money. They may have done this in desperation to help their kids to escape from certain misery.

Rather than thinking of these youngsters as devious queue jumpers, criminals and unlawful economic asylum seekers, take a deep breathe and try to understand why they would take such a risk. Was it because their fear of being forcibly conscripted by the militants or was it because of possible harassment by the dissident groups or armed forces. We don't know but these are very real possibilities. It cannot be by accident that all these youngsters happen to be Tamils and Muslims. Instead of damning these youngsters we must try to treat them with a certain degree of kindness and sympathy. If we can't provide any material help then at least we must refrain from condemning or exploiting them for our political ends.

I know of at least one Sinhalese couple who recently helped two Tamil youngsters to settle in a rural town in Australia (after their release from a detention camp). These youngsters now have jobs and live in their own houses. I cannot help but admire this family who in my opinion has set a wonderful example to the rest of the Sri Lankan community.


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sp