Tag Archives: Sri Lankan

Nationality + Migration

Bangladesh News | Foreigners

Terrorist attack and standoff in Bangladesh kills at least 20, injures 30
  • Seven gunmen attacked the Holey Artisan Bakery, a popular restaurant in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter, and took hostages for 11 hours before security forces stormed in.
  • The restaurant was popular with immigrants and other foreigners, and gunmen allegedly ordered Bangladeshis to stand before attacking foreign patrons including Italians, Japanese, Indians, and Sri Lankans.
  • The attack, claimed by the Islamic State, is the largest in an escalating series targeting secularists, gay activists, foreigners, and religious minorities in the country.

Read more:
“20 Hostages and Six Gunmen Killed in Bangladesh Attack” (The New York Times)
“Islamist militants kill 20 in Bangladesh before commandos end siege” (Reuters)
“20 killed execution-style” (Dhaka Tribune)
“Fate of seven Japanese among Bangladesh hostages unknown after siege ends” (The Japan Times)

(Image Credit: Reuters, via The Japan Times)

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity
Sri Lankan religious leaders caution against return of refugees from abroad as social conditions remain unstable in the aftermath of the country’s 26-year-long civil war
  • Australia’s immigration minister recently visited Sri Lanka
  • Despite human rights abuses by the authoritarian regime that extended after its 2009 fall, Australia has returned Sri Lankan asylum seekers, potentially in violation of international law.
  • Ongoing military presence in communities has fueled insecurity, causing minority leaders to call on Australia not to return refugees but engage the new Sri Lankan government on demilitarization and minority protection.

“The minority communities are of the opinion still that we do not feel safety and security in this island. And that is one of the reasons that they are also fleeing. There may not be abductions but there can be constant harassment and intimidations.”

More on this story at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images, via The Guardian)