Halal committee split in three .......

The Cabinet sub-committee appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to look into the halal issue is apparently split into three groups as a result of failing to reach an agreement over some of its recommendations. The committee was appointed to give four recommendations to the Cabinet of Ministers to end the crisis regarding the issuance of halal certification for locally-produced goods. The Muslim members in the committee, including Ministers Rauff Hakeem, A.L.M. Athaulla, Rishad Bathiudeen and A.H.M. Fowzie, had apparently lobbied for the removal of one recommendation, but Ministers Dinesh Gunawardena and Champika Ranawaka had strongly protested against the omission. Sources said the Muslim ministers strongly protested the ecommendation to ban displaying the halal certification on products and the tax collected on halal certification. The protests had received strong opposition from Gunawardena and Ranawaka, and at one point Ranawaka had walked out of the committee in protest. While the two parties had been arguing on this particular point, Senior Ministers D.E.W. Gunasekara and Prof. Tissa Vitarana, had apparently been left on the fence without siding with either party. As the committee failed to reach a consensus, its chairman, Senior Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake had been compelled to postpone the meeting indefinitely.