Sri Lanka has opened two detention centers for foreign nationals, who have registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), seeking refugee status, immigration officials have said.

These two new facilities have been established after the present detention centre in Mirihana, Colombo was found inadequate of accommodating growing number of foreigners seeking refugee status in the country, PTI reported.

One of the new detention centers is established in Boosa, Galle, 116 km south of Colombo. The other has been established in Negombo, just north of Colombo International Airport.

According to reports, sixty Pakistani nationals are being detained at Boosa and a similar number of Afghan nationals are detained at the Negombo detention centre.

At present about 1,500 foreigners, mostly Ahmadis and other religious minorities from Pakistan and Afghanistan are seeking refugee status in Sri Lanka through the UNHCR.

Earlier this month, UNHCR accused Lanka of violating international law and expressed dismay over Colombo’s arrest and deportation of dozens of foreign asylum seekers by force, without allowing the United Nations to assess their asylum claims.

On August 16, a Lankan court of appeal has also ordered a halt to the deportation of Afghan and Pakistani refugees before their asylum claims are fully assessed.