Surfacing of the missing duo nullified allegations against the government
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- Published on Tuesday, 10 April 2012 16:41
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The Australian national Noel Mudalige alias Kumar Gunaratnam who was alleged to have been missing and some even claimed that the government has abducted him walked up to the Police Station last night and surrendered by himself. He was followed to the Police Station by the Australian High Commissioner.
This was stated by the Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa at a media conference held at his Ministry this morning. The Minister said that this Australian national has arrived in the country on a tourist visa last November and was overstaying his visa.
He said that the Media should be vigilant about these matters and said that although the country was liberated from the armed terrorists there could be terrorist elements hiding in the country and the Media should highlight such cases known to them, as presence of these
unwanted elements and providing shelter to such personalities will be a great security risk.
He said that certain anti national elements and the new political party Frontline Socialist Party attempted to discredit the government by leveling baseless allegations and all that attempts have been failed with the surrender of Kumar Gunaratnam and the appearance of Dimutu Attygalle in a media conference of the new political party this
morning.
The Minister pointed out that through these allegations the new political party got an unprecedented propaganda boost which they could not have got even by spending several million rupees.
The Minister said that steps will be taken to trace the people overstaying their visas and already major hotels have been requested to computerize details of their checking-in and checking-out of foreigners and have it linked with the Immigration Department. He said that after some time when this process is extended to hotels throughout the country those overstaying their visas and their whereabouts could be identified easily. He also said that there are some Indian nationals overstaying their visas in this manner by being employed in cultivation activities in the East, selling clothes in certain towns and some others in the Sea Street. He said that steps have been taken to apprehend them and deport to their country of origin.
The Acting Minister of Mass Media and Information and the Deputy Minister of Economic Development Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene also attended the Media Conferende. (niz)
