report in The Express Tribune online, April 26, 2019
Sri Lankan authorities swept up more people, including foreigners, for questioning on Thursday as they probed deeper into the Easter Sunday bombings, which killed 359 people in potentially the deadliest operation claimed by the militant Islamic State.
Police said an Egyptian and several Pakistanis were among those detained overnight, although there was no immediate suggestion they had direct links to the attacks on three churches and four hotels that also wounded about 500 people.
Police on Thursday said 16 more people were detained for questioning overnight, taking the number detained since Sunday to at least 76. That number includes a Syrian national. A police statement said one of those detained overnight was linked to a ‘terrorist organization’ but gave no other details.
It said another was taken into custody after they investigated posts on the individual’s Facebook page and found what they described as ‘hate speech’. “It was related to the spreading and preaching of terrorism,” a police spokesman said.
Others have also been caught up in the broader crackdown.
Police said they detained an Egyptian who was found not to have a valid visa or passport. The man taught Arabic in a school about 70 km (45 miles) from the capital, Colombo, and had been living in Sri Lanka for more than seven years.
A police spokesperson also said a group of Pakistanis had been detained among an unspecified number of foreign nationals for overstaying their visas.
The bombings shattered the relative calm that has existed in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka since a civil war against mostly Hindu, ethnic Tamil separatists ended 10 years ago, and raised fears of a return to sectarian violence.
President Maithripala Sirisena met representatives of different faiths later on Thursday to address concerns of a sectarian backlash. Sri Lanka’s 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Until now, Christians had largely managed to avoid the worst of the island’s conflict and communal tensions.
Hundreds of Muslims have fled the Negombo region on Sri Lanka’s west coast since scores of worshippers were killed in the bombing of the St Sebastian church there on Sunday. Communal tensions have since flared.
Hundreds of Pakistanis fled the port city on Wednesday, crammed into buses organised by community leaders after threats of revenge.
“Because of the bomb blasts and explosions that have taken place here, the local Sri Lankan people have attacked our houses,” Adnan Ali, a Pakistani, told Reuters as he prepared to board a bus. https://tribune.com.pk/story/1959655/1-pakistanis-among-foreigners-detained-sri-lanka/
Sri Lanka hasn’t sought any help yet from Pakistan
Report in The Nation, April 26, 2019
ISLAMABAD – Sri Lanka has not sought any formal assistance from Pakistani forensics experts regarding blasts took place in Colombo on Easter.Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal Thursday said this while holding weekly media briefing here.
He said President Dr Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi called their respective Sri Lankan counterparts and affirmed that the people and government of Pakistan stood by Sri Lankan people at this crucial juncture.
Dr Faisal said three Pakistani women sustained injuries in the blasts and Pakistani embassy in Colombo was making every effort to facilitate them and keeping in touch with their families.
To a question regarding Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement in Iran, he said the statement was referring to non-state actors using Pakistani soil under foreign influence to carry out activities in Pakistan or coordinating from Pakistan. “Pakistan is attacked using soil of Iran and Afghanistan as in case of Kulbhushan Jadhav and local facilitators,” he added.
Ties with India
The spokesperson said suspension of Kashmir border trade was regrettable. It showed India’s non-serious attitude towards its relation with neighboring countries and regional peace, he added.
“Pakistan is committed to Kartarpur Corridor and awaiting for the next meeting with India in this regard,” he added. Dr Faisal said Pakistan was deeply concerned over plight of Kashmiris and incarceration of Hurriyet leaders. HE said Pakistan condemned the continued incarceration of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Yasin Malik despite his deteriorating health.
He said Indian atrocities were continuing in occupied Kashmir as Indian occupied forces in their latest acts of violence martyred two youth in Bijbehara. https://nation.com.pk/26-Apr-2019/sri-lanka-hasn-t-sought-any-help-yet-from-pakistan
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