{"id":161218,"date":"2016-04-24T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2016-04-23T18:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=161218"},"modified":"2016-04-24T09:28:35","modified_gmt":"2016-04-24T03:58:35","slug":"defence-ministry-says-no-restrictions-for-foreigners-to-travel-to-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/defence-ministry-says-no-restrictions-for-foreigners-to-travel-to-north\/","title":{"rendered":"Defence Ministry Says No Restrictions For Foreigners To Travel To North"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ministry of Defence has announced that there is no restriction for foreign passport holders to travel to the country\u2019s North, and blamed the miscommunication on a glitch on the ministry\u2019s website, due to a technical upgrade.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mahinda-rajapaksa-will-be-defeated-again-president-maithripala-sirisena\/maithripala1\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-147482\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-147482\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Maithripala11-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Maithripala1\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Maithripala11-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Maithripala11-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>In a statement, the ministry assured unhindered access to all foreign passport holders who wish to travel to any part of Sri Lanka including the North without any restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe defence ministry website was subjected to a technical upgrade recently and all old news publications have been reappearing under a new modified date 03-03-2016, as the technical change was done on that date. Certain websites have taken advantage of this technical glitch and published news posts stating that the registration for Foreign Passport holders traveling to the North was back in force,\u201d the defence ministry said.<\/p>\n<p>The defence ministry lifted the travel restrictions imposed on all foreign passport holders to the North during the first Security Council meeting in January 2015, just a week after President Maithripala Sirisena was elected to power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTherefore the defence ministry assures all those traveling to Sri Lanka or visiting the North, unhindered access to any part of the country without any restrictions, and assures that the government is continuously working towards the peace and reconciliation process of the country, and urges people not to be misled by these false news reports,\u201d the ministry added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":147482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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