Word: lanka
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Thus ended the voyage, but not the story, of the mysterious seafarers. When they reached St. John's, the castaways, most of whom were in their 20s, identified themselves as Hindu Tamils from Sri Lanka who had fled their strife-torn homeland to escape persecution at the hands of the Buddhist Sinhalese majority. They said they were students, businessmen and skilled ! workers, and claimed to have paid an Indian "agent" up to $3,000 each for passage to Canada. Then followed a month aboard a ship that had picked them up at the south Indian port of Madras. But five...
Many of the refugees apparently reached West Germany after flying from Sri Lanka to East Berlin and then crossing legally into West Berlin. They then fled West Germany because they were worried that authorities would reject their applications for asylum. Since 1949 Bonn has accepted any foreigner "persecuted on political grounds" in his native land. This lenient policy has led more than 37,000 Sri Lankans to pour into the country since 1980. The flood has provoked racial conflicts and calls for stricter immigration laws; new arrivals meet rising hostility. At the same time, rumors spreading through Tamil communities...
...boat people" entered their country, they indicated last week that the new arrivals will not be turned away. The Tamils have been issued work permits and granted permission to remain for at least a year. Immigration officers say they will not deport the castaways to Sri Lanka so long as civil strife continues. Says Canadian Immigration Consultant Dennison Moore: "It appears that under any circumstance, they're here to stay...
Business has also been good in other parts of the globe. Several new Third World carriers, including Nigeria Airways and Air Lanka, have become GPA customers thanks to an enticing package offered by Tony Ryan, the company's innovative chairman. Ryan, 50, will supply neophyte airlines not only with planes but with flight and ground crews as well...
...Tamils, most of whom are Hindus, form 18 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 16 million and they claim economic and political discrimination by the Buddhist Sinhalese majority...