EUSL Registrar, Dean resign after paramilitary threats

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 11:12 GMT]
The Registrar of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) has resigned his post following harassments by a paramilitary operative, Julian alias Newton, who claims to be in charge of "educational affairs" of SLFP appointed Minister of National Integration, Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias Karuna. The resignation comes after the paramilitary person demanded two-thirds of the income of Eastern University from its Registrar threatening him either to pay the sum or resign from his post. Meanwhile, the Dean of the faculty of Fine Arts at the EUSL has also resigned his post after being harassed by Newton to select Karuna-favoured candidates the posts of assistant lecturers.

The Faculty of Fine Arts at the EUSL recently interviewed more than 35 candidates for 8 vacant assistant lecturer posts.

Karuna group persons are pressurizing key officials also in the Zonal Education Offices and other government departments to follow their instructions in order to gain political leverage in Batticaloa district, civil society sources in Batticaloa said.

In the past few months SLFP/Karuna pamilitary persons have gone around Batticaloa and Ampaa’rai districts visiting government offices demanding officials to join Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's SLFP.

In the meantime, Kalkudaa Zonal Director of Education war forced to canvass in a meeting held at Temple Trees on 7 March where Kauruna group had forcibly brought officials and people from Batticaloa and Ampaa’rai districts to join the SLFP.

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