Sri Lankan journalists who fled the country for safety reasons and now living in exile in Nepal will be allowed to return, foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera told the parliament on Monday.

He was responding to a query from opposition legislator Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Dissanayake said the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Nepal had refused to facilitate the evacuation of Lankan journalists in the country.

“We know that journalists had to flee the country for safety in the recent years. They were scared of white vans chasing them,” Dissanayake said.

Samaraweera told parliament that journalists who are currently in hiding in Nepal would be allowed to return to Sri Lanka after Saturday’s devastating earthquake.

However, the minister did not give an exact figure as to how many journalists might be in hiding in Nepal.

During the reign of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa several journalists had fled the country as Sri Lanka fell in the press freedom index.

Journalists had also complained of armed groups coming in white coloured vans to abduct them.
(PTI)