‘Man killed in Auckland gave up Sri Lankan nationality in 2013, won refugee status there’

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Myanmar Prof. Nalin de Silva says Ahamed Adhil Mohamed Samsudeen, 31, shot dead by the police in an Auckland supermarket last Friday, had received refugee status there, in 2013, two years after entering New Zealand.

Ambassador de Silva questioned the rationale in New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern naming the ISIS inspired terrorist as a Sri Lankan instead of as a person accepted as a refugee nearly a decade ago. Samsudeen was from Kattankudy and migrated to New Zealand after studying in a Colombo school.

Prof. de Silva pointed out that the international media and various interested parties quite conveniently refrained from commenting on New Zealand law enforcement authorities gunning down the attacker, who was only armed with a knife, on the spot. Had that happened in Sri Lanka some sections of the international community, media and various other interested parties would have questioned Sri Lanka’s response and would have even castigated us, Ambassador Silva said adding that “We would have been accused of killing an estranged minority member without producing him in court,” Prof. Silva said.

Pointing out continuing pressure on Sri Lanka from here and abroad to do away with the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) or replace it with a new law acceptable to Western powers, Prof. de Silva said that in the wake of the recent incident New Zealand declared its intention to introduce much tougher anti-terrorist laws.

Prof. de Silva said that New Zealand followed the despicable strategy followed by many other nations in respect of Sri Lanka. The academic emphasized pivotal importance in the circumstances Samsudeen received refugee status after having entered the country in 2011 as a student.

The moment one received refugee status he automatically gave up his nationality. Declaring that Samsudeen had given up his Sri Lankan nationality, Prof. de Silva acknowledged the need to establish whether he subsequently received New Zealand nationality.

He also recalled how a Norwegian national, a son of a diplomat having massacred nearly 90 persons in two different locations in 2011 claimed he was inspired by events in Sri Lanka. The Norwegian gleefully referred to the LTTE driving the Muslim community out of the Northern Province in 1990.

Ambassador de Silva said that the world faced a severe threat due to rapid developments taking place in different regions and the situationin Afghanistan was all part of the overall strategy. The academic declared that the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage in Sri Lanka, too, should be examined against the backdrop of the battle between the Western powers and the Muslim world. He also faulted the New Zealand government for failing to to neutralize the threat posed by Samsudeen in spite of quite rightly recognizing him as an extremely dangerous person.

Amb. De Silva said that a large number of Sri Lankans, especially from minorities over the years sought refugee status in various parts of the world and subsequently won nationality. Thereafter they had become influential groups quite capable of influencing political parties in those countries, Prof. de Silva said, urging the world not to encourage terrorism.

Amb de Silva dismissed claims by Samsudeen’s relatives and other interested parties to blame those whom the boy from Sri Lanka met there for influencing him.

Prof. de Silva said that Sri Lanka shouldn’t be held responsible or humiliated for the actions of those who received refugee status or nationality of other countries.