Nepal refuses asylum to former Sri Lanka Army Commander's aides - report

The Nepali government has refused to grant asylum to a group of Sri Lankans who have closely worked with the defeated common opposition presidential candidate and the jailed former army commander Sarath Fonseka during his election campaign, a Nepali newspaper reported.


According to the Monday's Kathmandu Post, the group of seven asylum seekers, who has fled Sri Lanka along with their families during the second half of 2010 and currently living "semi-underground" in Kathmandu, has been seeking asylum in Nepal for the last few months.

Santha Karunaratne, the coordinator of the group, which calls themselves the "Politically Affected Families of General Fonseka in Nepal", has said that they are "seeking a secure place to live and express our feeling until a point in future when we can go back and speak out."

The Nepal government has however, turned down the group's request for political refugee status in Nepal.

The Sri Lankans who have entered Nepal through India are facing arrest at any time, a Nepali government official has said.

According to the report, the Sri Lankans have a case pending at a court in Sri Lanka where they were tried under a 'stringent' terrorist act.

The Sri Lankans have said that they have been falsely charged for supporting Fonseka in hatching a plot to illegally overthrow the current Sri Lankan government by means of violence and they fear a life term or death penal [...]