Pilot balks at Pakistani prisoners

A group of Pakistani men are spending an extra night in Sri Lanka after a nervous pilot refused to fly them home for deportation.

More nights in limbo await the men, unless a plane or a prison accepts them

The men were due to leave Sri Lanka on Monday, after spending the last few months in prison for immigration offences.

However, the Gulf Air pilot who was meant to have flown them home balked at the prospect of 58 Pakistani men boarding his plane.

He demanded tighter security arrangements - namely handcuffs and two guards to accompany each man.

"We can do the handcuffs," said a Sri Lankan prison official, "but we can't afford to send so many guards on a mission like this."

Penal purgatory

After being turned down at the airport, the men were taken back to their prison.

This is not a guest-house Rumy Marzook, Sri Lanka prison official

However, the prison also refused to re-admit them.

"This is not a guest-house," said Sri Lanka's top prison official, Rumy Marzook.

He explained he would only admit prisoners where there was a court order asking him to do so.

Mr Marzook said the matter rests with the judiciary.

The prisoners are now believed to be in a transit camp run by the immigration authorities.

Their fate is uncertain - but with both prison and plane refusing them admission, there is no easy solution to their predicament.

The men were part of a much larger group arrested on suspicion of trying to leave the country as illegal immigrants.

Converted trawlers

Sri Lankan human traffickers operate a brisk trade ferrying migrants to the west aboard converted fishing trawlers.

Citizens from other south Asian countries began to use their services after visa restrictions to Sri Lanka were relaxed recently.

Most of the Pakistani men arrested in August are thought to have arrived in Sri Lanka legally.

They were detained on police suspicions that they were planning an illegal journey towards ports in Europe and the Middle East.

Many were later released because of a lack of evidence; those that remained behind bars were charged with overstaying their visas, and earmarked for deportation.

"They are not dangerous criminals," said Mr Marzook, adding he did not understand why the pilot had refused to fly them.