Colombo revives colonial rule to monitor foreign tourists

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 April 2013, 20:26 GMT]
Citing an obscure 1886 ordinance of the colonial times of British Ceylon, that has been largely ignored for decades, the Sri Lankan Police now says that it will monitor foreign tourists’ whereabouts in the entire island, a report by the International Business Times said Wednesday. The news report in the IBT has come while Eezham Tamils world over have been campaigning against tourists visiting the Sri Lankan ‘killing fields’.

The IBT report by the AFP, noting that Sri Lanka has always been wary of foreigners travelling to the “once-forbidden far north”, also observed that the visiting foreigners to the northeastern shores must still sign in with their passports at military checkpoints,

In the meantime, news sources in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet that all the buses travelling north are instructed by the occupying SL military to provide details, including photo copies of the passports of the foreigners.

Before the passenger reaches the destination, the local SL military camp and attached intelligence officers of the SL military receive details by fax from the entry point, bus operators told TamilNet.

External Links:

IBT:

Sri Lanka To Monitor Tourists ‘For Their Own Safety’