The United Nation’s refugee agency has accused the Sri Lankan Government of failing to respect international law by deportation of the Afghan and Pakistan refugees before their inquiries could be assessed.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the Sri Lankan authorities arrested 214 Afghan and Pakistani nationals in an operation beginning on June 9.

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The agency added that returning an individual to a country where they would face a risk of torture was also prohibited under the UN's Convention Against Torture. “We are really dismayed by theis action taken by the Sri Lankan authorities, we cannot accept this.”

However Sri Lanka's external affairs ministry also accused the UNHCR of processing asylum claims too slowly and of not taking responsibility for repatriating those whose refugee claims were rejected.

Speaking to media UNHCR said “The deportation goes against the principle of no forced return, or non-refoulement, enshrined in international customary law.”

Sri Lankan Government defended the action taken, saying that a state's responsibility to international obligations had to be "nuanced and balanced in the context of domestic compulsions".

Hundreds of Pakistani Christians and Afghans fleeing persecution in their countries have been arriving in Sri Lanka seeking UNHRC protection in the commercial city of Colombo.