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T&T na­tion­als strand­ed in camps in Syr­ia are grow­ing in­creas­ing­ly frus­trat­ed as months pass with­out clear ac­tion from a gov­ern­ment-ap­point­ed in­ter-min­is­te­r­i­al com­mit­tee tasked with fa­cil­i­tat­ing their re­turn.

Rahi­ma Khan, whose sis­ter and five chil­dren re­main in the camps, ex­pressed deep con­cern over the slow pace of repa­tri­a­tion ef­forts. She said that when the new gov­ern­ment took of­fice, it es­tab­lished an in­ter-min­is­te­r­i­al com­mit­tee, led by the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al, to ex­pe­dite the re­turn of na­tion­als. “I thought that things would move quick­ly,” Khan said. “I thought that these women and chil­dren would not have to spend an­oth­er win­ter in the camps.”

De­spite ini­tial op­ti­mism, six months have passed with­out any com­mu­ni­ca­tion or meet­ings with the com­mit­tee. “We don’t know what is tak­ing place. We haven’t even had a meet­ing with this new com­mit­tee,” she said, re­call­ing the frus­tra­tion of pre­vi­ous at­tempts un­der the for­mer gov­ern­ment, dur­ing which fam­i­lies faced re­peat­ed de­lays and mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion in le­gal pro­ceed­ings.