SL maximizes muscle deployed against boat people

 The Defence and External Affairs Ministries said that the government was doing its best to stop illegal migration as Australia battled a fresh influx of would-be refugees, including Sri Lankans.

 

 Senior officials told The Sunday Island that the government would never encourage refugees, though some felt that the government could have done more to curb the lucrative human smuggling trade.

 

 Responding to a query, a senior official said that Australia would be a target for those trying to migrate seeking a better life as long as Australia allowed so-called refugees to exploit existing laws.

 

He pointed out that Sri Lankans still tried to claim refugee status in Australia in spite of the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009. Although there hadn’t been any issues in the post-war era to trigger a fresh wave of refugees, human smugglers had taken advantage of the ‘soft’ approach adopted by some countries, he said.

 

 Officials attributed to Australia becoming perhaps the main target due to other countries toughening their laws and closing their doors to bogus refugees. They pointed out that the UK had taken a series of measures to keep out such people as well as those trying to secure permanent residency on various pretexts.

 

In fact, the UK had repatriated about 1,000 Sri Lankans belonging to all three communities since January 2009, they said, underscoring the fact that the British High Commission recently in response to a query raised by The Island had acknowledged that none of those who came back were subject to harassment by state agencies.

 

 Senior officials suggested that Australia, too, needed to take appropriate measures to deter bogus refugees. They should examine the role played by various Tamil diaspora organizations in the refugee racket, with the backing of some overseas political parties.

 

So far this year 62 vessels carrying 4,484 boatpeople have been intercepted off Australia, an unprecedented number in a six-month period.

 

 Arrivals have increased steadily since Australia was forced to abandon a so-called "people swap" deal with Malaysia by the High Court last year and roll back its mandatory detention policy for boat people. 

 

The Australian government and the Opposition are on a collision course over a strategy to curb illegal migration.

 

A senior military official told The Sunday Island that the government had implemented a three-tiered action plan to prevent illegal migration and human trafficking. According to him, the armed forces and police had a major ongoing intelligence gathering operation directed at those running human smuggling operations.

 

"Our ground action plan involves surveillance and intelligence collection at grass root level. Ours is a collective action by the SLA deployed on the ground with the support of intelligence arms of the three forces, police and other relevant agencies. We have been able to thwart many attempts on the ground."

 

   In line with the counter-measures, there was an ongoing operation to maintain ‘beach surveillance’ aimed at preventing organized body of would be refugees boarding boats at harbours, fishing harbours and surveillance along the coastal belt by the three services and police. The official said that there had been several instances where people were apprehended on the beach before they board boats.

 

   The navy had deployed a range of assets to detect and intercept suspect boats, the official said, adding that SLAF surveillance aircraft too, were involved in the operation.

 

Navy headquarters said that there was a continuing operation to track down suspect boats and the international community was appreciative of the efforts taken by the navy to deter human smugglers throughout the wartime and the post-ware eras.

 

(Island)