A group of 21 University students, who, along with hundreds of others, stormed the Ministry of Higher Education premises at Ward Place last Thursday and allegedly caused damage to the properties there, has written to Minister S. B. Dissanayake’s seeking pardon.
Arrested and produced in courts by the police, they were remanded. Their parents met President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday and requested that they be pardoned.
Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake said yesterday that the students had individually written to him seeking his intervention and pardon. They had apologized to him for what happened and asked for pardon, he said. There had been no pressure on the students to do so.
Blaming the JVP for student agitations, Minister Dissanayake said that the JVP was using the students in a’ desperate bid’ to destabilisee the country.
In their letters, the students had said the JVP hierarchy had led them into the Higher Education Ministry premises on the pretext of obtaining their signatures to a petition and they had not been aware of the JVP’s plans.
The Minister said that the JVP had misled innocent students to achieve its political goal.
by Norman Palihawadena
www.island.lk
24th October 2010
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