COLOMBO TIMES Reports: An extraordinary gazette notification has been issued bringing the Department for Registration of Persons, the Department of Immigration & Emigration and the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) under the purview of the Ministry of Public Security.
The gazette notification amending duties and functions of the relevant ministries was issued on Wednesday Oct 5 by President Ranil Wickremeisnghe with powers vested in him under paragraph (1) (a) of Article 44 of the Constitution.
The National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) was previously under the Ministry of Defense, the Immigration & Emigration Dept. was under the Ministry of Investment Promotion, while the Department of Registration of Persons was under the purview of the Ministry of Technology.
Sri Lanka seeks debt-restructuring
DESPARDES: According to Bloomberg, “The Paris Club creditors have reached out to China and India to coordinate Sri Lanka’s debt-restructuring talks. The club, an informal group of mostly rich, western bilateral creditors, is awaiting a response from both countries after it sent an official request in late August to work together, the report says citing an official “who declined to be identified because talks are continuing.”
The island nation has defaulted on its foreign loans. The government is in talks with its creditors on restructuring its more than $51bn total foreign debt, reports Aljazeera. It cites rights group Amnesty International’s statement saying “international creditors should provide debt relief to Sri Lanka –to alleviate suffering as its people endure hunger, worsening poverty and shortages of basic supplies.”
Honorary contributors to DesPardes: Adil Khan, Ajaz Ahmed, Anwar Abbas, Arif Mirza, Aziz Ahmed, Bawar Tawfik, Dr. Razzak Ladha, Dr. Syed M. Ali, G. R. Baloch, Hasham Saddique, Jamil Usman, Jawed Ahmed, Ishaq Saqi, Khalid Sharif, Majid Ahmed, Masroor Ali, Md. Ahmed, Md. Najibullah, Mustafa Jivanjee, Nusrat Jamshed, Shahbaz Ali, Shahid Hamza, Shahid Nayeem, Shareer Alam, Syed Ali Ammaar Jafrey, Syed Hamza Gilani, Mushtaq Siddiqui, Shaheer Alam, Syed Hasan Javed, Syed M. Ali, Tahir Sohail, Usman Nazir
