The Immigration Department began its crackdown on Afghan and Pakistani asylum seekers last month and detained some of them on charges of being involved in illegal activities.
Source/Credit: The Sunday Times
By Chathuri Dissanayake | July 20, 2014
The Government yesterday started repatriating at state expense Afghan nationals who had claimed asylum in Sri Lanka, the Immigration Controller said.
Controller Chulananda Perera said five Afghans were ‘voluntarily repatriated’ to their own country with more to follow.However, a spokesperson at the Colombo office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said they were not aware of the repatriation of any arrested asylum seekers but were discussing the issue with government authorities.
The controller said the repatriations of more Afghan and Pakistani families would take place in the coming weeks. Another immigration official said they have filed applications with the UNHCR, seeking asylum. “Most of them are economic migrants, but when we explain to them that they are wasting their time and disrupting their children’s education, most of them agree to return to their countries,” he said. Immigration officials are negotiating with SriLankan and other airlines to come to a settlement about the expired return tickets the asylum seekers hold. A majority had flown on SriLankan, the national carrier.
The Immigration Department began its crackdown on Afghan and Pakistani asylum seekers last month and detained some of them on charges of being involved in illegal activities. Those arrested are being detained at the Boossa camp. According to the UNHCR, 189 male asylum seekers of Pakistani and Afghan origin are among those detained. They comprise 127 single males and 62 heads of families. The families have been given access to the detained asylum seekers through the facilitation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
There are 1,433 Pakistanis and 75 Afghans with asylum seeker status residing in the country, while 185 Pakistanis and two Afghans currently are to be relocated in a third country. Meanwhile, the UNHCR continues to register new asylum seekers, the Sunday Times learns. Four new registrations took place this month, an Immigration Department source said.
Read original post here: Govt. begins repatriation of Afghans
This content-post is archived for backup and to keep archived records of any news Islam Ahmadiyya. The views expressed by the author and source of this news archive do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Ahmadiyya Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.