The chartered flight with the failed asylum seekers, mostly Tamil and some Sinhala left London Tuesday amidst effort by pro-LTTE elements in the UK to prevent British authorities from carrying out deportation of Sri Lankans who have failed to qualify for asylum.

The British Foreign Office has told the BBC that they send people back to Sri Lanka only when the British government and the courts are satisfied that an individual does not need protection.

The Foreign Office has said there had been no substantiated allegations of mistreatment of those returned from the UK.

Tuesday's fight is the third such flight of deportees arrived from the UK.

The United Nation's High Commissioner for Refugees in a report released 2010 said, given the cessation of hostilities, Sri Lankans originating from the north of the country are no longer in need of international protection under broader refugee criteria or complementary forms of protection solely on the basis of risk of indiscriminate harm.

The UNHCR releasing its report on 5 July, 2010, titled 'Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Asylum-Seekers from Sri Lanka', further said that human rights and security situation in Sri Lanka has improved.

'In light of the improved human rights and security situation in Sri Lanka, there is no longer a need for group-based protection mechanisms or for a presumption of eligibility for Sri Lankans of Tamil ethnicity originating from the north of the country', UNHCR report stated.