SL on alert of misuse of visit visas by asylum seekers from Afghanistan to seek asylum in Europe

The Sri Lanka Defence Ministry has alerted the Immigration and Emigration Department that there would be possibilities that certain foreigners especially from Afghanistan may attempt to enter Sri Lanka using Visit Visas and seek political asylum in Europe through the UNHCR Office in Sri Lanka.

A senior defence official yesterday told Daily Mirror that when a large number of Afghan nationals sought political asylum in several Western countries, they might use Sri Lanka to fulfill their requirement similar to the previous occasions.

“There had been several instances in the past where such foreigners had used Sri Lanka to seek asylum in foreign countries,” the official said.

He said that a few years ago, Sri Lanka’s visit visas facility had been abused by some members of the Ahmadi community, considered apostates in Pakistan who had used it to gain entry to Sri Lanka and then simply visited the UNHCR office in Colombo to claim refugee status.(Sunil Jayasiri)