by our Parliamentary Corrs.

The government has requested UN General Secretary to send a mission to Sri Lanka to assess the situation in North and East.

Minister Tyronne Fernando made the declaration yesterday during the course of the budget debate, adding that the heads of UN missions had been instructed to carry out an assessment.

He also said that the government would be taking heads of foreign missions to the North and East to get a first hand idea of the ground situation.

Meanwhile, Canada is also expected to withdraw its travel advisory on Sri Lanka. The minister said that the Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister had said that it would be withdrawn shortly.