The Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Geneva Andus B. Johnsson has assured the opposition UNP parliamentarians that the complaint regarding the closure of the road to parliament last month would be referred to the IPU committee sessions in September.

The complaint was made by UNP MPs M. H. Mohamed, A. H. M. Azwer, Sura-nimala Rajapakse, Dr. Jayalath Jayaw-ardene, Ravindra Randeniya and Mahinda Ratna-tilleke.

In a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Leader of the Opposition, the Secretary General of IPU states:

"I wish to acknowledge receipt of your communication of 25 July 2001, forwarding complaints made by several Opposition Members of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.

As you are aware, the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians is the competent body within the Inter-Parliamentary Union to examine such complaints. I shall therefore submit the complaints in question to the Committee at its next session to be held from 18 to 21 September 2001 in conjunction with the 106th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Burkina Faso.

Naturally, I shall not fail to inform the MPs concerned of the result of the session as regards their complaints."