The civil society organisations in Sri Lanka on Friday condemned the deportation of over 100 Pakistani asylum seekers, mostly minority Ahmadiyyas, in breach of the international law.
According to the UN refugee agency, Sri Lankan government had deported some 108 of the total 157 asylum seekers by August 14, ignoring risks that they face in their homelands.
The deported people include at least 11 women and 8 children, 84 civil society organisations claimed quoting UNHCR figures, and added that in a few cases even families have been separated.
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A pregnant woman had been left behind after her husband was deported last week, they said.
“These deportations are in breach of customary international law which requires all countries to abide by the principle of ‘non-refoulement’ (no forced returns) to countries where people face imminent risks,” civil society organisations said in a statement issued on Friday.
“It violates Article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Sri Lanka has ratified,” the statement said.
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The statement further claimed that deportations are going on unabated despite a Sri Lankan court ruling last week, ordering authorities to stop deporting asylum seekers registered with UNHCR till the end of August.
Sri Lankan government says that the asylum seekers are part of an influx of economic immigrants from Pakistan, who are straining country’s limited resources and pose a potential threat to regional security.
Most of the Pakistani asylum seekers are Ahmadiyyas and Shia Muslims, who fear persecution back home.
Ahmadiyyas consider themselves Muslims, but a 1984 Pakistani law declared them non-Muslims and many consider them heretics.
An elderly Ahmadi woman was murdered in July in Gujranwala, 220 km southeast of Islamabad, along with her two granddaughters after an Ahmadiyya sect member was accused of posting blasphemous material on social media.