Frontline Socialist Party Central Committee member Kumar Gunaratnam said that he is prepared to relinquish his Australian citizenship if the government accepts his traditional Sri Lankan citizenship.

However, he is not prepared to face a situation where he is left without a country, he added speaking to the media after being released from prison for violating emigration and immigration laws.

The government has earlier said that a citizen of another country cannot become a Sri Lankan citizen without forfeiting the citizenship of that other country. He can apply to be a dual citizen, the government has also said.

Gunaratnam replied to this assertion by the government, saying that he has applied for citizenship before he was arrested.

He never applied for dual citizenship and wants the government to recognize that he was a citizen of this country, he said.

Gunaratnam left the country under an assumed name after being abducted and released in 2012.