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Diplomatic battle over posts
By Asif Fuard
Career diplomats have protested against retired seniors being brought back to service, but the Foreign Ministry says the experience of the veterans is needed for the country.

Foreign Ministry’s Director in Charge of Overseas Administration, A.K. Girihagame, for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there had been protests by career diplomats who had objected to the appointments of retired veterans to top foreign postings.

Some of the protests had come in the form of petitions to the Parliamentary High Posts Committee. "The Ministry decided to call upon retired diplomats because their experience is needed. The President makes the appointments because they are the representatives of the President.

We will go through all the objections and see whether any appointments have occurred unjustly and make sure they will be corrected," Mr. Girihagame said. Seven retired career diplomats have been appointed as heads of Sri Lankan missions abroad -- N. Navaratnaraja (Warsaw), G. Wijesiri (Seoul), Nihal Rodrigo (Beijing), Bernard Goonathilake (Washington), Gamini Munasinghe (Dhaka), Ananda Gunasekara (Paris) and S.B. Athugoda (Doha).

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