British High Commissioner misled

COLOMBO: British High Commissioner Dominic Chilcott has been completely misled by interested parties in an attempt to discredit the name of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, sources close to the Defence Secretary told the Daily News yesterday.

He said a senior journalist had completely misled the High Commissioner when he visited a newspaper office on Wednesday and the High Commissioner had realised that the journalist had misled him and given him bogus information.

It had come to light after the British High Commissioner and the Defence Secretary had a frank discussion yesterday.

The Defence Secretary had told the British High Commissioner what really had taken place and the British High Commissioner had assured the Secretary that he would get involved in the matter. The source added that this was a part of the campaign to discredit the Defence Secretary and to demoralise the Forces after the LTTE was defeated in the East.

The sources added that certain interested parties were making desperate attempts to create divisions between the Tamils and the Muslims in the East and these elements were behind this campaign.