In a condolence message sent to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said he was deeply grieved by the death of Afghanistan's former president Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was assassinated in a suicide attack.

The condolence message offered the Sri Lankan people's and the government's condolences to the family of the assassinated High Peace Council Chairman.

The funeral ceremony of Rabbani is scheduled for Friday.

The full text of  President Rajapaksa's Message is below.

H.E. Hamid Karzai
President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

I was deeply grieved to hear the news of the assassination of former President of Afghanistan and Chairman of the High Peace Council, Professor Burhanudin Rabbani, earlier today (22).

The Government and the people of Sri Lanka join me in condemning this dastardly act of terror that has led to the silencing of an advocate of peace and offer deepest condolences to the members of the family of Prof. Rabbani.

Sri Lanka will continue to stand steadfast in her resolve to combat violent extremism and terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and to safeguard the security of the peace-loving people of our region.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were wounded and with the peace-loving people of Afghanistan during this time.

May Your Excellency and the people of Afghanistan be blessed with the strength to continue to strive for peace in your land."

The Australian Government and the Opposition voted together today to defeat a motion moved in the Senate by Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon (Senator for New South Wales) to suspend Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth,  the Ministry of External Affairs website reported.

In a statement issued by the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canberra it said  representative for the Government of Australia said that they did not believe that complex foreign policy issues can be resolved through motions such as the one mooted by Senator Rhiannon.

Senator Rhiannon also convened a closed door round table discussion to further the call for a war crimes tribunal for Sri Lanka earlier in the week, the participants for which included pro- LTTE lobby group representatives and critics of the Sri Lankan Government. No invitation was extended by the Senator for any Sri Lankan Government representative to participate in this discussion.

Senator Rhiannon recently requested the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship of Australia to provide details of those that had applied for visas to Australia to attend the forthcoming CHOGM meeting as a part of the Sri Lanka delegation. The Minister declined to provide that information.

The fate of the pro-JVP Sinhala publication "Lanka" was in the balance today following reports that dissidents in the party were making moves to suspend the paper with immediate effect.

However Lanka Editor Chanadana Sirimalwatte scoffed at the reports saying they were just mischievous rumors triggered-off by certain individuals with ulterior motives and that it had the Government’s backing.

He vowed that the paper would be out on the stands tomorrow(Sept 23).

Earlier the JVP leaders had suspended it’s media unit after the rifts in the party deepened over the weekend.

Reports added that members of the JVP media unit continue to occupy the party office building at Pelawatte and are refusing to budge.

Meanwhile JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe and other seniors continued to hold talks with the dissidents aimed at settling the crisis at the earliest.