The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking a stop to the deportation of hundreds of Pakistani and Afghan asylum seekers in Sri Lanka.

The petition had been filed by a group of human rights activists in Colombo alleging that the decision taken by the government to deport the asylum seekers was illegal and that it puts their live in danger.

Attorney representing the government, however, argued that the government has every right to deport foreign nationals staying in the country without valid visa. 

Furthermore they said that the government has no responsibility to them as Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, although it offers asylum to a considerable number of refugees. 

After taking into consideration both sides of the argument, the three-member judge bench declared that facts were insufficient to hear the petition and rejected it.

The Sri Lankan government had previously said that the Pakistani refugees are part of an influx of economic immigrants in the past year who have become a burden on the country’s resources and potentially compromised state and regional security.

The United Nations refugee agency says 88 Pakistanis have been deported since Aug. 1. The agency, UNHCR, says it has been denied access to another 75 people who are awaiting deportation.

UNHCR had accused Sri Lanka of breaching international law and called on it to halt the deportations and allow the agency to assess claim.

The number of refugees or asylum seekers rose by 700 percent in the year through June 2014 from the previous year, says the foreign ministry. That included 1,562 asylum seekers and 308 refugees.