Internally displaced Tamils lack basic amenities: MPs team

Chennai, Oct 15 (PTI) Internally displaced Tamils in Sri
Lanka lack even basic amenities like water and toilets in
camps housing them, an MPs delegation from Tamil Nadu has
claimed after visiting the island nation.

"They (Lankan Tamils) complained of lack of food, with
even children not having milk. While many said they didn't
have clothes to change, others said there was not enough water
for bathing and toilet purposes," the 10-member team said in
its report submitted to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.

The "overwhelming demand" from the Tamils was to send
them back to their places, the report by the delegation,
comprising MPs from the ruling DMK and its allies, the
Congress and the Viduthalai Chiraithugal Katchi, said.

Noting that miseries of Tamils would be compounded if
they were not vacated from camps before onset of monsoon, it
said "even if proper infrastructure is provided, it is not
advisable to hold lakhs of people in such camps for a long
period."

After receiving the delegation and its report at the
airport itself wednesday, Karunanidhi had said that Sri Lankan
President Mahinda Rajapakse had assured the team that 58,000
of the 2.53 lakh displaced Tamils would be sent home in the
next fortnight and the rest in a phased manner.

The resettlement process would begin on Thursday, he had
said.

The team, headed by senior DMK leader and MP TR Baalu
and comprising Karunanidhi's daughter Kanmozhi, besides
pro-Ealam VCK founder Thol Tirumavalavan and some Congress
MPs, visited the camps to get a first hand account of the
displaced Tamils.

The delegation undertook the trip amid concern in Tamil
Nadu over the plight of Lankan Tamils displaced by the war
between the Sri Lankan Army and LTTE.

The team's visit had also come under fire from
opposition parties, mainly AIADMK, over omission of their MPs.
PTI SA