Several
leading Muslim countries had warned the government that they would
revise their Visa regulations pertaining to Sri Lanka if the government
did not take action against those were involved in what they termed as
anti-Muslim violence.
Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Indonesia,
Kuwait, Malaysia, Maldives, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Turkey, UAE,
Saudi arabia, and Qatar - through their diplomatic missions in Colombo -
have strongly urged the government to bring anti-Mulsim clashes to an
end.
Some of the countries have stated that if and when they
revise Visa regulations pertaining to Sri Lanka that would affect a
large number of Sri Lankan expatriate workers presently working in their
countries.
When contacted by Asian Mirror, a spokesman of the
Foreign Employment Ministry, headed by Minister Dilan Perera, said the
Ministry was not aware of any warning of that sort.
Nearly
300000 Sri Lankans presently work in the Middle East making it the
largest avenue of foreign income for Sri Lanka. In addition, there is a
sizable proportion of Sri Lankans who are working in other Muslim
countries, outside the Middle Eastern region.
Therefore, any
revision of Visa regulation for Sri Lnkan workers in the Middle East
region would make a serious impact on the country's economy, an economic
analyst told 'Asian Mirror'.
However, no significant action has
been taken so far by the government to stop the ongoing attacks against
the Muslim community of Sri Lanka. A day after the diplomatic missions
of Muslim countries gave the warning to the Sri Lankan government, the
Nolimit store in Panadura was attacked.
AM