Military sources told Asian Mirror that 143 refugees out of the 1570 who settled down in Sri Lanka after arriving with tourists visa have been detained in the Boossa holding camp.

They further said that over 1570 Pakistani asylum seekers were under investigation by Sri Lanka Army during recent times.

These alleged refugees had arrived in the country under visiting visa and had seek asylum via The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The 143 who are currently being detained in the Boossa camp are being being questioned on their reasons for staying in the country beyond their due date.

No charges have yet been pressed against the detainees. Most of the Pakistanis are members of Ahmaddiya, an Islamic sect regarded as apostate by Sunni Muslims in Pakistan. Smaller numbers of Christians and Shia Muslims were also arrested. On June 26th hundreds of Pakistanis gathered at the Fazl Ahmaddi Mosque to have their asylum papers renewed by a visiting UN team. They had been keeping a low profile since the arrests and were nervous about being out in the open.

Reports have confirmed that all the detainees were adult males and that the whole 1570 will be deported back to Pakistan if the UNHCR fails to provide them asylum elsewhere.