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600 Foreigners, Including 200 Muslim Clerics Expelled From Srilanka

After the Easter suicide bombings, Sri Lanka has expelled over 600 foreign nationals, including around 200 Islamic clerics, a minister said on Sunday (May 5).

Home Affairs Minister Vajira Abeywardena said the clerics had entered the country legally, but it was found that they have overstayed their visas. Penalties were imposed for this and they were pushed out of the country. It is not sure the expelled foreigners belong to which countries but it is known that many of them are from India, Pakistan, Maldives, Bangladesh, etc.

“Considering the current situation in the country, we have reviewed the visas system and took a decision to tighten visa restrictions for religious teachers,” Mr. Abeywardena said.

“Out of those who were sent out, about 200 were Islamic preachers.”

“There are religious institutions which have been getting down foreign preachers for decades,” Abeywardena said.

“We have no issues with them, but there are some which mushroomed recently. We will pay more attention to them,” he added.

The Easter Sunday bombings that killed 257 people and wounded nearly 500 were led by a local cleric who is known to have traveled to neighboring India and had made contact with extremists there.

Sri Lanka has imposed a state of emergency since the attacks and given wide powers to troops and police to arrest and detain suspects for long periods.

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