Rohingyas in Lanka refuge protest outside UN office call for permanent solution

Colombo, Mar 10 (PTI) A group of over 100 Myanmar Rohingya refugees on Monday staged a protest opposite the UN office and demanded a permanent solution to their plight.
     Activist Rukii Fernando of a local group assisting them said the group, which arrived in 2022, were calling for immediate assistance, including food and housing.
     “This group of 123 Rohingyas have been housed with friends and well wishers at Panadura (a Colombo south suburb)," Fernando told reporters.
     They held placards opposite the UN office which read “Thank you Sri Lanka! You saved us from the sea, but now we are left to die on land”, “We survived genocide. Will we now die from hunger and neglect?", “End our suffering. Give us a chance to build a future”.
     “Among us are widows and orphans who cry themselves to sleep in the arms of strangers; pregnant women who know their babies will be born into suffering and their tiny bodies destined to starve before they ever take their first steps. Men and women struggling to keep their families alive," said their communique handed to the UN refugee office.
     Another group of 100 Rohingyas, who arrived on December 20 last year, after being rescued in the northern seas by the Sri Lanka Navy, are currently housed in an air force camp in the northeastern region.
     Sri Lanka said they were illegal immigrants and were part of an organised immigration racket.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)