“Calling for an IDP Census!’

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By Chamodi Gunawardana-Daily FT

Marking the 26th anniversary of Muslim people evicted from the north, All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) Leader and Minister Rishad Bathiudeen yesterday urged the Government to create an overarching policy to provide land and other resources for all Internally Displaced People (IDPs) to return to their original homes.

Bathiudeen also called for a survey to count the total IDPs in Sri Lanka and pointed out it would be started on 15 November with the involvement of the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Ministry.

โ€œThe Government has appointed a four-member ministerial committee to look into the resettlement process and I am also a part of it. The committee, comprising Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Minister D. M. Swaminathan, Agriculture Minister Duminda Dissanayake and Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Faizer Mustapha, has decided to start a survey to gather statistics on the number of IDPs in Sri Lanka,โ€ he said.

Commenting on the ongoing resettlement processes, Bathiudeen said 60% of IDPs are still living in temporary camps and shelters due to lack of land to settle in.

โ€œOnly about 20% of IDPs have already been given lands to live in the Northern Province, but another 20% have returned to camps due to lack of sanitary facilities and other infrastructure in those areas where land was released back to the original owners,โ€ he said.

The Minister also said that the Government should do infrastructure development after resettling people in Northern Province. Remembering the Muslim community that was evicted by the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) in 1990 from Mulathivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Jaffna, Bathiudeen said approximately 100, 000 Muslims are still displaced.

Meanwhile, the Northern Muslim Peoplesโ€™ Union handed over a letter to Bathiudeen to be passed onto President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe demanding a policy decision to resettle the displaced Muslim community back in the North.