Tamils in Australia this week rejected a statement made by the Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Canberra that it was now safe for Tamil asylum seekers to return to the country, saying instead that Sri Lanka was far from reaching such a point. 

"The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) would like to categorically state that Sri Lanka has not reached a point where every Tamil asylum seeker can just return without worrying about the consequences; indeed Sri Lanka is far from it," the ATC said in a statement. 

Acknowledging areas of reforms ATC said however that "the advances on issues that are critical for the wellbeing of Tamil people – returning land occupied by the military, releasing prisoners long held in detention, tracing thousands of missing persons, and ending abuses by security forces, including torture by police – are extremely slow to non-existent."

"Most Tamils fled Sri Lanka due to persecution and torture by the state.  Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s statement addressing such people “Come back, all is forgiven’ is grossly insensitive to say the least. ATC would like to register its strong disappointment and condemnation. Such statements only reflect that even the current government has not acknowledged injustices inflicted upon the Tamil community."

"ATC earnestly calls upon the Australian Government not to take any blanket measures towards Tamil asylum seekers, but to assess each individual case carefully; in particular, those with past political involvement should be assessed with extra care before decisions are taken on outcome and possible repatriation."