{"id":163305,"date":"2016-06-01T15:56:15","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T10:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=163305"},"modified":"2016-06-01T15:56:15","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T10:26:15","slug":"sri-lankans-who-left-due-to-political-persecution-to-receive-passports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankans-who-left-due-to-political-persecution-to-receive-passports\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankans Who Left Due To Political Persecution To Receive Passports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Government today announced that it was ending the restrictive practice of preventing the issuance of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=passport&amp;x=9&amp;y=4\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">passports<\/span><\/a> to Sri Lankan citizens residing abroad who were compelled to leave the country due to political persecution.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_157994\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/advancing-reconciliation-development-in-sri-lanka\/foreign-minister-mangala-samaraweera\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-157994\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-157994\" class=\"size-full wp-image-157994\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Foreign-Minister-Mangala-Samaraweera.jpg\" alt=\"Mangala Samaraweera - Minister of Foreign Affairs\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Foreign-Minister-Mangala-Samaraweera.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Foreign-Minister-Mangala-Samaraweera-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-157994\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mangala Samaraweera &#8211; Minister of Foreign Affairs<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The government under former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Mahinda+Rajapaksa&amp;x=8&amp;y=8\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a>, in March 2011, issued instruction to all Sri Lankan missions abroad to refrain from issuing passports to those who sought asylum due to political persecution.<\/p>\n<p>A circular was issued today by the Government to the Controller of the Immigration and Emigration ending this restriction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis circular constituted a serious violation of our citizen\u2019s rights under the constitution and under the many human rights conventions to which Sri Lanka has become a party over the years. It has also caused immense hardship and difficulty to many Sri Lankans who were forced to leave the country as a result of their struggle against authoritarian rule,\u201d the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry added that the Government under President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has renewed its commitment to upholding citizen\u2019s rights and the rule of law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFreedom of movement and impartial treatment of our citizens, irrespective of their political beliefs, will be secured for all our citizens. Furthermore, as a result of the good governance and reconciliation efforts of the current government, many Sri Lankans living abroad have expressed an interest in visiting and investing in Sri Lanka. Ending this restrictive practice will further enable our citizens overseas to visit and return to Sri Lanka and thereby contribute to the country\u2019s development and reconciliation process,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry added that the Government has directed the Controller-General of the Department of Immigration and Emigration, to issue a circular ending this draconian practice and restore the procedure followed since Independence of enabling every Sri Lankan citizen living abroad to obtain a passport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":157994,"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-163305","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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