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Story Of The Last Ceylonese Afgans & Their Struggle To Survive-By Tanmaya Das Dr Zameer-Careem being presented the signed autograph of President Ashraf Ghani, by Ambassador Ashraf Haidari Source:Colombotelegraph Sri Lanka is a great exponent of cultural diversity, but many living in the country aren’t aware of a minority group called the ‘Ceylonese Afghans’ whose history in the Island can be traced back to the early 15th century. During the British Colonial Era, many Afghans were brought to Ceylon to work as horse-keepers and labourers, and their descendants took to money-lending and rose to become an affluent community in twentieth century Ceylon. By 1970s, almost all Afghans had left the Island and there are only a handful of Afghan descendants living in Sri Lanka today. To learn more about this obscure minority in Sri Lanka, whose history is largely unknown, I met up with the foremost expert on this topic, ...