Boat people, no security risk - Australian Minister
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 October 2009, 12:25 GMT]
Australian Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor has "rejected claims some Sri Lankan boat people detained on Christmas Island are former Tamil Tigers who could pose a security risk," Australia's Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) reported Tuesday. The Minister was responding to Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Australia, Senaka Walgampaya's allegations that "former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels are among recent illegal boat arrivals," the newspaper said.
Sri Lankan diplomats abroad have recently been subjected to increasing pressure by Colombo to take pre-emptive and assertive actions to contain the increasingly reinforcing allegations against Sri Lanka's war-crimes and the damning publicity on the incarceration of more than 300,000 Tamil civilians in military surpervised internment camps under inhumane conditions. Mr O'Connor says checks of illegal arrivals during the past 12 months had uncovered no people considered to be security risks, according to SBS. "There are no adverse security findings that have been made in relation to the irregular maritime arrivals that have arrived since September last year," Mr O'Connor told Fairfax Radio Network on Tuesday, SBS added.
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