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Sri Lanka not on CMAG agenda

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Press Trust of India Colombo
Sri Lanka is not an agenda item for the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) meeting to be held in London in April amid speculation that the member nations might discuss a move to change the venue of the next CHOGM summit from Colombo.

The Commonwealth Secretariat spokesman Richard Uku has been quoted as saying that Sri Lanka was not an agenda item for the April 26 meeting.

Speculation was rife that CMAG might discuss a move to change Sri Lanka as the host of the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) in November.

Uku, however, said that Sri Lanka would be discussed under any other business, local media reported here.
 

Some of the Commonwealth nations such as Canada have cast doubts about Sri Lanka's suitability as the host given its action in January to impeach the country's first woman chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

The concerns are being raised if Sri Lanka had violated commonwealth values on independence of the judiciary by impeaching the top judge.

The decision to discuss Sri Lanka under any other business had been taken last week during a teleconference of CMAG ministers.

The leading Commonwealth nations such as Canada and Britain are yet to decide on the level of participation at the Colombo CHOGM. They tie Sri Lanka's progress in human rights accountability to the decision.

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First Published: Mar 26 2013 | 8:05 PM IST

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