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By APD writer Easwaran
COLOMBO, Sept. 26 (APD) -- Sri Lanka on Tuesday deployed the police to protect a group of Rohingya refugees who faced threats from Buddhist monks.
The police said it had given protection to 30 Rohingya refugees following threats to their lives from a group of monks.
The refugees had been in the care of the UN refugee agency at a house just outside the capital.
However, the police took custody of the refugees and placed them under police protection following fears they might be attacked by monks protesting against Rohingya refugees entering Sri Lanka.
Some members of the Sri Lankan opposition in Parliament questioned the protection given to Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka.
Justice Minister Thalatha Atukorale said that there are international conventions Sri Lanka must follow and so it will deal with the refugees by following those conventions.
In April the Sri Lankan coast guard detained 32 suspected Rohingya Muslims who fled India by boat and reached Sri Lankan waters.
There were seven women and 16 children below the age of nine, including a 15 day old child and four month old child on the boat.
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar‘s Rakhine State in recent days following violence in the area.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
