Lanka-e-News, 2008 Aug. 06, 6.20 PM has reported Kalmunai Magistrate S.M. Abdullah who on July 29 held the inquest into the death of Kalmunai police HQI W.C.Wijetillake, who committed suicide by shooting himself mid last month, disclosed that according to a log book entry by the deceased ‘the claims that the east was fully retrieved from the LTTE was not true’.

05 August, 2008 Sri Lanka Truth has reported a search operation has been mounted around the Kalady bridge in Batticaloa after a soldier was shot dead. He was shot close to the Brigade Headquarters while on duty on the roadside.

Media has also reported during the SAARC summit India’s prime minister refused to meet the chief minister of the Eastern province Pillayan. The world knew that Pillayan group armed and their involvement in recruiting child soldiers.

Hong Kong: August 5, 2008

We are pleased that Prof. Wijesinhe, the Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process, has apologised for his statement dated 5th August, ‘Further Generalizations from the Asian Human Rights Commission,’ attributing to the AHRC a report that we did not publish and, in which he made several accusations against the AHRC. We reproduce below the full text of the email received from Prof Wijesinhe.

Subject: Fwd: Apology
fao Basil Fernando

Dear Basil

Thanks for your letter of August 5th regarding the recent statement I issued entitled ‘Further generalizations from the Asian Human Rights Commission‘. I was in fact responding to a report from the Asian Centre for Human Rights, and must apologize unreservedly for the error.

I will pass over the other personal points you make in your letter, since I can understand that you must have been hurt by this unwarranted response. In mitigation, though this is not an excuse, I should note that I was responding to a report read on my blackberry, over the weekend when I was not in office, and the initials ACHR seemed all too familiar. I will of course make the necessary corrections on the website with the apology that is due.

Yours sincerely,

Rajiva Wijesinha

For further details of this issue please refer to our Press Release: SRI LANKA: A further false report from the ‘Peace Secretariat’, at: http://www.ahrchk.net/pr/mainfile.php/2008mr/543/
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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.