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Emergency
meeting summoned Amidst growing fears of more attacks on major Electricity Board and Telecommunications facilities, the Defence Ministry yesterday summoned a top level meeting to discuss the threat posed by the attackers and ways of protecting these vital installations. Senior delegations including security chiefs of the Electricity Board and Sri Lanka Telecom have been summoned for the Defence Ministry meeting. Senior representatives of the security forces and intelligence services were to attend the meeting. Authorities firmly believe that the people involved in the campaign against the Electricity Board and the Sri Lanka Telecomm were the same. "There was no doubt about that," a senior official said adding that however there was no evidence so far to suggest the identity of the group involved. Officials said that the attack on the tea factory in the Hatton police area was probably carried out by the same group. A senior officer with the Criminal Investigation Department [CID] yesterday said that at the beginning they believed the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna [JVP] was responsible. But as more attacks were mounted using devices manufactured of plastic explosives the police has been forced to admit that the LTTE was responsible he said. So far at least 10 Electricity Board and telecommunications facilities had been damaged in attacks. Most of the attacks have been taken place in the Kadawatha electorate. A senior Electricity Board official asked to comment on the continuing wave of attacks said that there was no possibility in providing security to all transformers in the country. "In the Colombo area alone we have more than 2,000 transformers," a senior official said adding that so far all efforts to find out the identity of the attackers have failed. He admitted that the multi-pronged campaign against economic targets in the South was the most serious since the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna [JVP] inspired insurgency. Officials said that they expected the Defence Ministry to issue a series of instructions aimed at providing security to Electricity Board and telecommunications facilities. The Electricity Board recently hired retired Army Chief of Staff Major General H. S. Hapuarrachchi as the Security Consultant. Officials said that the attacks were probably the beginning of major operations against power stations and other vital installations. The LTTE has caused massive losses in the eastern theatre of operations by blasting almost 70 electricity board transformers in the past two years. Each transformer cost approximately 600,000. Continuing attacks on electricity board and telecommunications facilities were investigated by the newly created Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) headed by DIG S. C. Pathirana. Already Sri Lanka Telecom has sought the deployment of security forces and police to protect installations. The Electricity Board was also expected to request Defence Ministry help to protect installations. However senior defence officials said that there was no way to commit police and troops for security work. "We have made massive commitments in the Wanni, Jaffna and several other areas," they said. It was not clear whether the intelligence services were able to predict a campaign against Electricity Board, Telecommunications and the tea factories. Amidst efforts to neutralise the persons involved in the campaign, the Defence Ministry has ordered major changes in the intelligence services. The chairman of the National Savings Bank [NSB] and former IGP Cyril Herath has been appointed the head of the National Intelligence Bureau [NIB] with immediate effect. The NIB will be responsible for internal intelligence gathering operations. DIG T. V. Sumanasekara has been named the deputy to Mr. Herath. DIG Sumanasekara was with the Criminal Investigations Department [CID] until May 31. He was on contract. DIG Punya De Silva has been placed in charge of the CID. Meanwhile former IG Police Frank De Silva has been appointed the head of the newly created Foreign Intelligence Service. There have been no changes in the Directorate of the Military Intelligence [DMI]. The Foreign Intelligence Service is expected to use both police and security forces officers apart from selected number of civilians abroad. Expect another postal strike
soon, warns UPTO Secretary General of Union of Posts and Telecom Officers (UPTO) N. P. Hettiarachchi yesterday warned of fresh trade union action if Minister Mangala Samaraweera failed to meet their demands without further delay. He claimed that the Minister gave an assurance to UPTO that the government will take immediate steps to redress their grievances when we called off our trade union action on May 8. "We have summoned a special meeting of the General Council of UPTO for next Sunday, to discuss these matters and if government fails to meet our demands, as promised we will have no other option than to resort to trade union action again from next Monday, he said. "Barely five days after assurances were given by Minister Samaraweera that there would be no victimisation of our members who resorted to strike action, one of our members attached to Wellawatte post office had been served interdiction papers on May 13, he asserted. "We were given firm assurances by the Minister that we would be given an opportunity of a meeting with President Chandrika Kumaratunga to air our grievances, but we find that there had been no action in this regard", he said. The General Council of UPTO has been requested to take appropriate action by the end of this week if the government failed to honour assurances given. "Even the main condition for calling off the strike action was a pledge by Minister Samaraweera that a cabinet sub committee will go into allegations against Post Master General Mrs. H. M. S. Kotakadeniya, has not been implemented", Mr. Hettiarachchi lamented. Mail bags are still accumulating and our members had not resumed normal work until action was taken on assurances. So their is a backlog of mail to be sorted and delivered and we would have to resort to trade union action again by next Monday, he warned. Private bus services to
South disrupted Private passenger bus services from Colombo to Galle, Matara and Kataragama were disrupted yesterday morning following a wildcat strike by private busmen. All private buses on long distance routes along the Galle road were operative only up to Aluthgama, as a result of the strike. Chairman of the Western Province Private Bus Transport Authority Wijesiri Soysa said that the Southern Province Transport Authority has decided that each outstation private bus which enters the Southern province should pay a levy of Rs. 400 per month. He said this was too high when compared to the amount that they are charging from all outstation private buses, which is Rs. 300 per month. He said there are two main private bus terminals in Pettah in Bastian Mawatha and People’s Park. All outstation buses that come to Colombo must pay Rs. 10 per day to the Western Province Private Bus Transport Authority. This am-ounts to Rs. 300/- per month. He said with the new decision taken by the Southern Authority buses have to pay Rs. 400 at the beginning of each month including ‘non operating days’. Chairman of Southern Province Transport, Authority M. L. G. Dahanayake told ‘The Island’ they act according to the legal structure and they had already received the permission of the Provincial administration to increase this levy to Rs. 400. He also said this is a reasonable increase because workers had to be paid and maintenance work had to be attended to. There was no choice but to increase the levy. The funeral of Special Task Force Commandant, DIG Dhar-masiri Weerakoon will take place at Borella General Cemetery Kanatte at 4 p.m. today. The cortege will leave his residence at Swastika Gardens, Peliyagoda at 3.00 p.m. DIG Weerakoon was drowned at sea while on an outing with his family last Sunday afternoon. Army
sergeant shot dead An army sergeant was shot dead and eleven civilian vehicles set on fire by an armed gang attired in camouflage uniforms at Galge, on the Kataragama-Buttala road (Raja Mawatha) around 9.30 p.m. on Monday, police said. The armed group had consisted of about 10 persons. They had emerged from the jungles at a point about 2 miles from the Galge army post and withdrawn after wreaking havoc, according to reports. Police suspect that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were behind the raid. The gang had been stopping passing vehicles at gun point when they spotted an army jeep and opened fire killing a sergeant and injuring another sergeant. The armed men had removed cash and other valuables from the occupants of the vehicles saying they will not be harmed. They had said they were on the lookout for government vehicles, according to police who recorded the statements Of eye witnesses. After taking the vehicles into the jungles and torching them, the attackers had escaped in a hijacked lorry, one of the eye witnesses had told police investigators. They had not harmed any of the civilians who were in the vehicles. The lorry in which the armed group escaped belonged to a businessman, police said. The army sergeant killed in the attack has been identified as Ruwan Pathirana while the injured was admitted to Matara hospital, police said. A massive joint police-army search operation was launched in the area to track down the gang involved, police said. No one asked for package,
Malwatte Nayaka Thera tells us envoy "We totally oppose the so called package of proposals. No one has asked for a package. This country does not want the package" Ven. Rambukwelle Sri Wipassi Mahanayake Thera of Malwatte told the US Ambassador Shaun E. Donnelley, yesterday (02). Ven. Wipassi Mahanayake Thera was responding to the Ambassador who asked for the views of the prelate on the package of proposals when he (the ambassador) paid a courtesy call on him at the official monastery. The so called package of proposals was one that the politicians had introduced and the people had never asked for such a package the Mahanayake Thera noted. We oppose the package in toto. We believe that affairs of administration will be complicated with several rulers. When there are problems with one administrator the rule by many will give rise to a multiplicity of problems, he said. The prelate said, there will be no development in the country nor would there be peace and harmony with several administrations as is proposed by the package. We have throughout opposed the package and we continue to do so. The Ambassador: What is your opinion about the amity among the different human groups of the country? Mahanayake Thera: There is perfect harmony among the different communities. Ambassador: What have you to say about the economic development of Sri Lanka? Mahanayake Thera: We are very backward in our economy. Our economy is further deteriorating. Our economy will not develop until we develop our agriculture. We must give pride of place to agriculture because ours is an agricultural society. 80 percent of the population of the country are villagers and their economy is based on agriculture. Sri Lanka can never be developed by industry alone. Sri Lanka is a country that exported produce to other countries. Now the country is depending on other countries. We live on imports. This has to be corrected. Ambassador: You mean to say Sri Lanka should act aloof. Mahanayake Thero: I do not say so. Sri Lanka should have friendly relations with all countries. Ambassador: Are there any challenges to Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Mahanayake Thera: Yes, ofcourse, the worst is that attempts by certain groups to convert the poor rural Buddhists to other faiths by offering them incentives in the form of assistance in food and other material. This type of conversion is rampant in several parts of the country mainly where the people are economically backward. There is yet the destruction of Buddhist shrines by treasure hunters. Invaluable archaeological treasures are wantonly destroyed by these treasure hunters who are unaware that these shrines do not have valuable treasures hidden. The Ambassador made inquiries about many other areas pertaining to the social and religious status of Sri Lanka. The Ambassador later called Ven. Palipana Sri Chandananda Thera. He presented to them a book titled "White House" authored by him to the prelate. The prelate of Malwatte Ven. Wipassi presented to the Ambassador a book on Kandy authored by Prof. Anuradha Seneviratne. Present on the occasion were Prof. Seneviratne and Ms. Mano Karunanayake, Director, US Information attached to the US Embassy. 'Jayabhoomi' operation
destroys LTTE bases in Trinco Several LTTE bases used by the Tigers to launch attacks on the army were destroyed by troops during the 'Jayabhoomi' operation launched last Saturday in Trincomalee district, Task Force (Two) Commander Major General Nihal Jayakody, said yesterday. The areas captured during the military thrust were Sagarapura, Thoduwakattu, Thiriyaya and Kallasu extending from Kuchchaveli to Pulmudai, he told 'The Island'. In the three day operation the army also captured a mobile hospital, a food store and a major Tiger camp from which provided combat training to LTTE cadres. There was a large number of bunkers put up around this camp, he said. Tiger terrorists who had been operating from bases in this area for a considerable time had forced civilians to seek protection in refugee camps. They had also abandoned cultivation of their paddy fields due to LTTE, Major Geneal Jayakody said. Arrangements are underway to open army camps in those areas to provide security to the civilians, he added. India seeks end to world's nuclear arsenal NEW DELHI, June 2 (Reuters) - India urged nuclear weapons states on Tuesday to move towards destruction of their atomic arsenals, as the rest of the world intensified efforts to put South Asia's nuclear genie back into the bottle. The five nuclear powers must prepare a programme for elimination of such weapons instead of "sermonising" to others on conducting tests, the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee as saying. SLFP central committee still
undecided on chief ministerial candidates Except for confirmation of Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake as chief ministerial candidate for North Central Province, the Central Committee of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was undecided on the other Chief Ministerial candidates when it met, presided over by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga at Temple Trees on Monday night a spokesman for SLFP said yesterday. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva had expressed preference to spearhead the PA's political campaign in Uva the sources said. On the matter of Sabaragamuwa Province the SLFP Central Committee was undecided as the problem arose over Deputy Minister Athauda Seneviratne being a LSSP member and not a SLFP member. On the issue of nominee for North Western Province there was some consensus somewhat on Deputy S. B. Nawinne being Chief Minister. But the decision was also postponed to a later date. Though it was felt that Colombo's Mayor UNP Chairman Deshabandu Karu Jayasuriya could inflict some damage to the PA in Colombo. Central, the PA Central Committee members were confident that Susil Premajayanth as chief minister nominee for Western Province could do better than any other PA candidate in Kalutara and Gampaha districts but this decision too was postponed. Meanwhile the final decision on quota of candidates for five constituent political partners of PA to contest forthcoming provincial polls was put off for Monday night next week as General Secretary of SLFP Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake was away in London. The meeting of the five constituent party of PA was presided over by General Secretary Minister D. M. Jayaratne on Monday night. The Desha Vimukthi Janatha Pakshaya (DVJP) was represented by General Secretary Western Provincial Councillor P. M. Podiappuhamy SLMC by MP M. M. Zuhair, Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya (SLMP) by General Secretary Ranjith Navaratne, Lanka Sama Samaja Pakshaya (LSSP) by General Secretary Wimalasiri de Mel, Sri Lanka Communist Party (SLCP) Rupavahini and ITN W. Chairman Dew Gunsekera, while the New Lalith Front led by Srimani Athulathmudali was absent at Monday's meeting. A final decision on Chief Ministerial candidates and nominees for the five provinces will be taken by 25 member Central Committee of PA on another date. The constituent partners of PA meeting commenced at General Secretary PA Minister D. M. Jayaratne's residence at 6 p.m. on Monday and continued till 11.30 p.m. Outbreak
of dengue epidemic The Health Education Bureau (HEB) has warned the regional health authorities of a possible outbreak of dengue epidemic in the country with onset of the monsoon, a spokesman from the HEB told ‘The Isalnd’ yesterday. According to the spokesman, an out-break of a dengue epidemic has been reported from Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia during the last few months of this year. "In Sri Lanka 46 suspected dengue cases were reported from the beginning of this year from Colombo, Gampaha, Anuradhapura, Kalutara, Kandy etc. Of them 26 cases were from Colombo District alone while eight from Gampaha District. They have still not been con-firmed positive and no deaths have occurred, according to reports. In 1996, during the worst dengue attack, 1294 suspected cases of dengue haemorrhagic fever were reported and of them 401 were confirmed positive and 54 patients died. The government declared December 5,1996 ‘Dengue Day’ to fight the epidemic and launched a massive awareness programme with the assistance of school children all over the country. In 1997 the number of suspected cases was 980 of whom 193 were confirmed positive while 17 lives were claimed by the dengue haemorrhagic fever. Almost all the victims were children. To combat the situation, the government had to declare a ‘Dengue Week’ in 1997 which brought good results, according to medical experts. "This time still it has not developed into epidemic proportion. But it is advisable to keep the health services on alert at this juncture," the spokesman added. A message issued by the HEB on dengue said, "Dengue is a deadly disease and let’s get rid of the breeding places of the dengue mosquito". "In the majority of instances dengue fever does not end up with complications like bleeding. If your child develops fever, rest your child at home, for a day or two even after the fever subsides. Give extra liquids, use paracetamol to get relief from pain and fever but not more than four times a day". "If the child has fever, for 2-3 days without a cough or cold or any other obvious symptom he may be having a dengue infection. Other early manifestation that you may find are redness in the face and palms and marked pain in the limbs and joints. Then you must seek medical advice immediately," the message said. It also added that the early warning signs of complications of dengue fever are upper abdominal pain with persistent vomiting. If the vomit is altered in colour to brown, black or red meet a doctor immediately. "In a fair child, you may notice red spots like mosquito bites in the skin. Regular blood tests will help to identify any complications early". "Serious complications of dengue infection like haemorrhage and shock are more likely to occur around the 4th to the 7th day after the onset of fever. At this stage the child may not have fever and apparently be looking well," it added. Notice
re-issued Colombo High Court Judge Raja Fernando hearing a revision application by Premalal Ganwasam Gamage, husband of former Bribery Commissioner Nelum Gamage, yesterday re-issued notice on respondent Acting Director General of Prevention of Bribery and Corruption Commission. The case was put off for July 20. In this case the revision application filed by the accused petitioner through his lawyer S. Chandana Perera stated that on September 1, 97 he was directed to appear before the Bribery Commission on September 3. When he did so he was directed by the Commissioner to furnish a statement. But the reasons that necessitated his making the statements were not revealed. Thereafter criminal proceedings were instituted against him before Colombo Chief Magistrate on February 9, 1998. During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the accused raised jurisdictional objections on the basis that the charges had been improperly constituted. But the Magistrate rejected the application. The authority of Director General to institute criminal proceedings against any persons arises only upon a direction validly issued by the Commissioner under Section 11 of Act No 19 of 1994. Further, at present in the eyes of the law there can't be in legal existence a statutory entitled "the Commission to investigate bribery and corruption." This Commission cannot purport to execute its authority as the present Commission has, from January 1997, been constituted by only 2 members while the express statutory stipulation is that the said commission shall consist of 3 members. The revision application sought an order to set aside the order of the magistrate. US envoy condemns Maligawa attack KANDY: The Ambassador for the United States of America Shaun Donnelley yesterday (02) condemned the LTTE bomb attack on the Sri Dalada Maligawa the most venerated shrine of the Buddhist world. Asked for his comments on the brutal attack on the Sri Dalada Maligawa, Ambassador Donnelley told journalists present at the Sri Dalada Maligawa that the entire world leadership had condemned the bomb blast on the sacred place. We should condemn this type of destruction of ancient places of religious and archaeological value, Ambassador Donnelley added. Mr. Donnelley visited the Sri Dalada Maligawa yesterday. The Defence Ministry in a press release said that on information received from the army on Monday around 10.25 a.m. regarding two suspicious boats close to Tiriyai in the Trincomalee district the Navy despatched Naval craft to investigate. "Naval craft observed two fibre-glass boats moving close to land and fired a few warning shots to stop the boats. The two boats kept moving in the opposite direction without responding to the warning shots. Naval craft engaged them with Naval guns destroying one fibre glass boat. Subsequently two suspects who were in the destroyed boat were rescued by the Naval troops and handed over to the Army for investigation. Naval troops recovered one body of a suspect and another fibre glass boat which was concealed on the beach. Scramble
for STF top post Several senior police officers have expressed willingness to take over as the new Commandant of the Special Task Force [STF]. The post fell vacant on Sunday when 59-year-old Deputy Inspector General of Police [DIG] Dharmasiri Weerakoon drowned at sea at Moragolla in the Kalutara district. Police headquarters has already submitted a list of all senior DIGs and DIGs to the Defence Ministry."We have sent in all names including those who have been with the STF," a police spokesman said. Mr.Weerakoon was due to retire in September this year. The Commandant is assisted by two Deputy Commandants incharge of Operations[senior SP Jayantha Gamage] and Administration [senior SP Gamini Abeyratne]. It was not clear whether the government wanted an officer who had been with the STF or an outsider to take command. DIG Lionel Karunasena based at Vavuniya [in charge of police in Vavuniya, Mannar and Jayasikuru areas] has been the longest serving Commandant. DIG Dharmasiri Weerakoon replaced DIG Lionel Karunasena in September 1995. Karunasena offered to step down after the Criminal Investigation Department [CID] claimed that STF was responsible for at least 20 extra-judicial killings [Bolgoda Lake killings]. Police said that DIG Weerakoon was forced to assume command in September 95 despite indicating his desire to continue in normal police work. Police officers said that major changes were neecssary in the STF to meet the new challenges. Since September 1995, STF came under heavy pressure in the Ampara-Batticaloa region."Terrorists were able to mount devastating attacks on isolated detachments in the region," police said adding that considerable quantities of arms and ammunition including 60mm mortars were lost. Apart from DIG Lionel Karunasena, Bodhi Liyanage was the only other DIG [in service today] who commanded the STF.At the moment, DIG Liyanage functions as the Deputy Commander of the Operations Command Colombo [OCC]. He was the first Commandant of the STF. At that time there had been two platoons.He was in command for about six months. Then in Deceember 1983, Dharmasiri Weerakoon replaced Liyanage. Dharmasiri Weerakoon had been there for nine months and in August 1984. DIG Zerny Wijesuriya took over the STF. During his time, the STF grew rapidly. By the time he left in February 1986 the STF remained on top with a series of successful strikes against the LTTE and other Tamil terrorist groups in the Ampara-Batticaloa region. Lionel Karunasena replaced Zerny Wijesuriya in February 1986 and remained Commandant until September 1995. However in the past two and half years, STF had suffered serious setbacks in the East where the LTTE had increased pressure on the isolated detachments held by the STF. Police commandos were trained both here and abroad. Special Air Services [SAS] and Israeli instructors were involved in the training and some squads of commandos were sent to Israel for counter-terrorist training. Later more personnel were trained here in the art of VVIP protection, sources said. Senior SP Nimal Lewke had been among the first group of officers who played crucial roles in rise of the STF.Lewke, the Deputy Commandant of the Police Reserve was among the first Sri Lankan special forces officers engaged in air-borne operations. Several police commandos later left the unit to join other departments.One of them has become a key National Intelligence Bureau [NIB] operative and another body guard to Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte. The STF which operated independently of the Police Department since its establishment in 1983 was placed under the Inspector General of Police [IGP] in January 1997 for administrative purposes.In January this year the STF was fully placed under the IGP’s command. Some have suggested that the previous setup was better. The Commandant of the STF represented the organisation in the highest level meetings of the security authorities. Security officials said that the government must take steps to re-build the STF. "Sometime ago officers left armed forces and various departments of the police to join the STF," officers said. Not any more they said adding that in the past two - three years the STF had been unable to find the required number of personnel for training. Midweek
Politics Which political party has got more up-market government apartments: UNP or PA? Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera during the cabinet briefing last week, had a list of names of UNPers whom he claimed had been given luxury flats built during the administration of late President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Minister Samaraweera mentioned the names of UNP Parliamentarians: Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, Sarath Kongahage and that of Senior Superintendent of Police, Douglas Peiris now in exile. Mr. Samaraweera told newsmen that he do not wish to lose his precious time by announcing the names in the entire list who occupied these flats. The UNP has taken up the challenge of the Media Minister and will attempt to show how many in the present cabinet occupy these flats built during the regime of President Premadasa. UNPers claim that on top of their list is a media consultant close to the ‘palace who has two ‘luxury flats though being a bachelor. The UNP argues that this handsome personality obtained the first flat during the administration of President Premadasa and the second during the present administration. The UNP which claims to have documentary proof regarding the purchase of flats by present Cabinet Ministers, who were then in the opposition, claims that a Minister who hails from the East was given a ‘luxury flat’ at Manning Town by the late President Premadasa. Manning Town luxury flats’ was the focus of Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera when he briefed the media men last week. The UNP also claims that a Deputy Minister from the Gampaha district who lives close to Colombo too has a flat at Manning Town. It further claims that a former SLFP MP who was an Advisor to the incumbent Prime Minister, too was given a flat at Manning Town. A UNP spokesman described this person as a brother of a now Deputy Minister. A Cabinet Minister from the Uva province too has been given a flat at the same premises, claimed the UNP. The UNP says it has a list of those PA men who had met President Premadasa and obtained flats when the UNP was in power. UNP Kandy District MP Sarath Kongahage was interviewed by this columnist on Monday over the allegation made by Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera about the purchase of a flat at Manning Town. Mr. Kongahage said that he had asked for this flat on a ‘rent basis’ during the regime of President Premadasa and though it was allocated to him he was not given possession of it during that time. Mr. Kongahage was the Chairman of the Central Provincial Council at that time. He said that after the PA came into power, a Cabinet Minister had stalled his possession of the flat. Mr. Kongahage added that he went to the Supreme Court and the Court ordered that he be given this flat on a ‘rent basis’. It had taken Mr. Kongahage three years to occupy this flat and he had got possession in September 1997 on a ‘rent basis.’ The adjoining flat of Mr. Kongahage is occupied by a sister of a powerful Cabinet minister who hails from the Colombo district. This Cabinet Minister's son is a member of the Colombo Municipal Council. Mr. Kongahage's case number in the Supreme Court is Appeal No. 118/96. Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera during last week's Cabinet briefing alleged that the wife of UNP Parliamentarian Dr. Rajitha Senaratne had purchased a flat at Manning Town for only rupees six lakhs when the actual value was Rupees 1.8 million. Dr. Senaratne when asked by this columnist about this allegation stated that the six lakhs he had paid was the first down payment as required and he had the receipt to produce. Dr. Senaratne added that he had paid the second instalment of six lakhs already and would be paying the balance in due course. Dr. Senaratne met his lawyers on Monday to prepare a letter of demand to the respective authorities on the allegation made against him by Minister Samaraweera. Political sources say in fairness to those who had sacrificed their lives to protect the governments, politicians and the people should have been give priority be it luxury or middle class flats when they were allocated. Thousands of military and policemen have laid down their lives for this cause and their families are shelterless today. A political analyst said that these flats of the luxury class should be given at least to the families of the top rank men in the armed forces and the police who had laid down their lives for this country. During the administration of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, those who walked into his residence at Sucharitha, and appealed to him, after many such appeals were allocated a flat. Peoples from all walks of life were given flats. When Mr. Premadasa was Prime Minister, a late senior journalist posed a question to cabinet spokesman, Anandatissa De. Alwis as to what development had taken place under the then President J. R. Jayewardene. Minister De Alwis, a former journalist in his own inimitable style quipped, ‘I say..., you have been given a flat, your son has been given a flat and your daughter was given a flat at Ratmalana last week. That shows the development progress of our government’. That was the first and the last question of that journalist at that weekly cabinet briefing. While UNP and PA politicians are battling over which party got more flats, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was concerned about arriving at a decision on his senior parliamentarian Wijayapala Mendis, before the live, Parliamentary deate takes place on June 23. Mr. Wickremasinghe on Monday directed his party General Secretary Gamini Atukorale to speed up the disciplinary inquiry process and summon Mr. Mendis before the committee probing him by early next week. Mr. Mendis, according to his close associates is very unlikely to appear before this committee as he had already challenged the legal right of the committee to probe into his conduct. Authoritative sources said that the chances are that Mr. Mendis would be deprived of his party positions he now holds, by early next week. They said the second step of the UNP leader would be more drastic in the days to come. Meanwhile, the battle between the PA concerning Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and Ravi Karunanayake is in suspension, with Fernandopulle not responding to Karunanayake's challenge. This issue is likely to surface in court early next week. |
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