In recent years, Sri Lanka has been one of the main sources of asylum seekers arriving in Australia.
But mainly Buddhist Sri Lanka has its own asylum seeker issue - with an increasing number of Pakistani Christians arriving to claim refugee status.
Catholic Church leaders say Sri Lanka is now hosting more than 600 asylum seekers claiming to be victims of persecution of the minority Christian community in Muslim-majority Pakistan.
The Pakistanis are not eligible to work, and are relying on support from Sri Lankan Christians.
Catholic Church spokesman in Colombo, Father Xystus Kurukulasuriya, spoke to Zara Zaher.
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