News - Lebanon: Lankans stranded there and here

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Lebanon: Lankans stranded there and here

By N. Dilshath Banu

While some 80,000 Sri Lankans are still trapped in war-ravaged Lebanon and waiting to get back, thousands of their relatives in Sri Lanka have also been stranded at the Colombo airport for the past three days waiting for flights that did not come.

As desperate and angry family members accused Sri Lankan officials not properly handling the repatriation crisis, officials said the family members need not wait around the airport because the government would see to the transport of Sri Lankan workers as and when they return.

Thousands of Sri Lankans are waiting at the Sri Lankan embassy in Beirut and at safe places run by two Catholic groups.

One of these groups, Caritas, said its shelters were heavily overcrowded and a spokesperson, Sister Kathleen Fleming, said the government should act more urgently and efficiently to get the Sri Lankans safely back home.

Meanwhile Foreign Ministry official J. Ansar said the ministry was negotiating with UN officials in New York and Geneva regarding the repatriation and payment of compensation to Sri Lankans displaced by the 18-day Israeli onslaught on Lebanon.

The Sunday Times learns the Foreign Ministry is coordinating the evacuation process with its missions in New Delhi, Rome and Beirut.

At the outset of the Lebanese crisis, India offered to evacuate the stranded Sri Lankans but the Sri Lankan government adopted a wait-and-see approach and delayed its response by two days.

A group of some 300 Sri Lankan workers were due to be evacuated in an Indian Naval ship, INS-Betwa, yesterday via Cyprus from where they are expected to board an Air India flight.

The Sri Lankan Government has made arrangements to bring them from India to Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, reports said some Sri Lankans who managed to reach Syria, had been arriving in Cyprus, where authorities were wary about the presence of displaced people from developing countries as they could continue their stay illegally.

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