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500 Pakistani Catholics seek help here
More than 500 Pakistani Catholics have sought refuge in Sri Lanka and the Church has appealed to the Government to provide support to these people, it was revealed yesterday. The Pakistanis including families are staying in pre-dominantly Catholic areas such as Negombo and Maggona and in and around Mount Lavinia and Moratuwa, a spokesman for the Archbishop’s House in Colombo said.
“They have been in the country for the past one year or even more. These people have been reduced to vagabonds depending on handouts from the church while in some cases whole families that include teenage girls and boys are crammed up in single living units for which they have to pay rent,” said Fr. Xystus Kurukulasuriya, who is in charge of social programmes.
“Under the existing law they cannot find employment and the only source of income they receive is from the church while others have opted to beg in public. This is a sad situation and therefore the Catholic Church has sought the assistance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
“We have also written to Pope Francis and other church leaders in several countries seeking help for these people,” Fr. Kurukulasuriya said. He said that minors were facing a worse situation because they were not attending school while young girls are exposed to various dangers.
The Pakistanis are allowed to stay in the country only after they register with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “Sri Lanka is not a refugee receiving state and these people are allowed to stay in transit until the UNHCR finds a third country that will accept them,” Fr. Kurukulasuriya said.