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NIC
a must at elections? Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake has summoned the Secretaries of all recognised political parties to discuss certain norms that have to be adhered to by candidates and party activists during the forthcoming Provincial Council Elections. The meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at Elections Commissioner's Secretariat at Rajagiriya. The Elections Commissioner has called for this meeting following the expiry of the Uva Provincial Council's term of office on June 6, 1998. The objective of this meeting is to stamp out voter impersonation, rigging and multiplicity in voter registration, Mr. Dissanayake told 'The Island' yesterday. He said he will be calling upon the government to introduce the necessary amendments to the Elections Ordinance to make the National Identity Card compulsory for voting. Mr. Dissanayake was to gazette the notice calling for nominations to Uva province within 7 days of expiry of its term of office and the nominations would be called between June 20 and 25, Elections Department sources said. Under Act No. 2 of 1988 Provincial Council Elections Act Commissioner of Elections was empowered to gazette date of nominations on the seventh day after expiry or dissolution and date of nominations would be 14 days thereafter and date of Elections Commissioner had discretion of a minimum time frame of four to eight weeks maximum time, the sources said when contacted MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena said this move of the Commissioner too had been forwarded to government almost a year ago would be a base to make the national ID compulsory at voting and help to reduce rigging and impersonation. The Department could check with their computer data base and see whether a voter had registered elsewhere because multiplicity is one of the problems faced by contesting political parties . 'I do not know why the government is sitting on the draft of this Bill without bringing forward the necessary amendments’, he said. Even the Commission that inquired into the past Provincial polls in the East recommended to the government to make the national identity card compulsory for voting to eradicate impersonation, rigging, etc. MEP leader said another matter was the re-imposition of the press censorship by the government. This contravenes the elections law and prevents free and fair reporting in the media of elections meetings as any reference to matters under censorship will not be approved by the censor, he claimed. But the government will have the advantage of having anything they want or say inserted without censorship in the media, he said. Yet another matter is the use of electronic media for the polls by all political parties. This facility was allowed for the Local Government polls in the north and it should be given for people to follow the principles and policies of all political parties as it is not safe for all political parties to campaign everywhere in every nook and corner of the country. Meanwhile the term of office of Central PC will expire on June 10, North Central PC on June 14, Western PC on June 17 and Sabaragamuwa PC on June 21. The UNP has decided on Colombo's Mayor Deshabandu Karu Jayasuriya as the party's chief ministerial nominee for the Western Province. For Uva the UNP is expected to field Percy Samaraweera, party sources indicated. For Central Province MP Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Keheliya Rambukwella and MP Tissa Attanayake are contenders but the party was undecided. For North Central Province Themiya Hurulle has made a strong bid with Lal Dhamapriya Gamage and former minister D. M. Ariyadasa also in the fray but the UNP was still undecided. Indo-Pakistan tension casts shadow on SAARC summit DHAKA, June 7 (Reuters) - Foreign ministers of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh on Sunday discussed a forthcoming regional summit, which Dhaka officials said had assumed a new dimension following nuclear tests by India and Pakistan. Sri Lanka's Lakshman Kadirgamar and Bangladesh's Abdus Samad Azad said defusing the mounting tension between India and Pakistan would dominate the planned meeting of leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations, scheduled for July 20-22 in Colombo. The SAARC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Relations between the SAARC's two major partners worsened after they conducted a series of nuclear tests last month. "This has cast a dark shadow on the SAARC, the charter of which forbids bilateral issues to be discussed at the summit meetings," one official said. Kadirgamar was due to leave Dhaka for the Indian capital on Sunday night. Real facts denied A censorship on military news has been imposed by the government to cover up statements made by the President regarding the war and also to cover up the true results of politicisation of the war to avoid a public backlash if the people came to know the real facts of the war Gamini Atu-korale, General Secretary of United National Party (UNP) claimed in a press release yesterday. This is one instance where government is attempting to use the war and freedom of the press for its own political ends, he asserted. At least 81 terrorists and nine army personnel were killed in clashes off Mankulam since Saturday according to reports available by yesterday afternoon. An officer was among the nine Army personnel killed in action. Meanwhile the clandestine Voice of Tigers (VOT) radio monitored in Jaffna and Vavuniya said that ten LTTE cadres including four leaders were killed in an accidental explosion on June 5. The explosion has occurred at an undisclosed location in the Wanni. Kadirgamar wants LTTE foreign funds stalled Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has said there is credible evidence that the LTTE is raising money for its war chest through its array of front organizations around the globe masquerading as religious, cultural, social, educational and humanitarian bodies, and has called for international action against these bodies. The Foreign Minister made these observations in an interview with the Australian Special Broadcasting Services' (SBS-TV) "Dateline" programme focusing on LTTE fund raising activities in Australia, which was telecast throughout Australia on Saturday June 6. The full transcript of the Foreign Minister's telephone interview with "Dateline" Producer Amanda Collinge, recorded earlier last week is given below; Collinge: Firstly, why are you concerned about fund raising activities, about Tamil groups in Australia. Isn't it the case they are purely raising money for humanitarian aid to refugees in Sri Lanka? Kadirgamar: I am afraid absolutely not. We are very concerned with fund raising activities all over the world by Tamil expatriates because we are totally convinced, and we have credible evidence to that effect all the money that is raised goes into the LTTE war chest. For instance, I myself have seen an Internet advertisement coming from the United States from a self-proclaimed LTTE group which called for money for missiles. We also have evidence that the money which purchased the plastic explosives that blew up our Central Bank came from Tamil expatriates in Canada. There is very credible evidence that weapons masquerading as tea have been sent from Australia, no doubt from Tamil expatriate funds there. So that basically is our reason. It is a very, very serious matter internationally that all this money is going to help the LTTE to murder and brutalise the people. As to the second part of your question if expatriate money is coming for humanitarian purposes, as they allege, why does it not go to the UNHCR, the UNICEF,the non-governmental organisations that operate in certain parts of the Wanni in Sri Lanka. These are all reputable United Nations and non-governmental organisations. Not one cent or dollar of the expatriate money goes to any of them, why? I would also say this. If the LTTE is so concerned about rehabilitation and reconstruction of parts of the Northern province why did they murder the mayoress of Jaffna, a democratically elected person. She was gunned down because she was going to help the Tamil people, elected by the Tamil people, and those bullets I dare say have come from money which has been furnished by expatriates. Collinge: Are you satisfied that our Australian Government is doing enough to trace those funding networks to actually monitor the fund raising that goes on here? Kadirgamar: Of course, I have spoken over the years to Australian governments - the present Government and the past Government and I have pressed upon them, as indeed I have with various other Governments in the world, the necessity for going after these fund raising activities because it is very well-known worldwide that the LTTE has a vast array of front organisations - some masquerading as religious organisations, others as cultural, social, educational, humanitarian and so on. There are many of them operating in Australia, a large number of them, and the LTTE in certain places has even admitted that these organisations are theirs or are connected to them. I have been pressing the Australian Government, I must say that the past Australian Government and the present Government have been very receptive and very concerned about this problem. In fact the present Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, when he came to office did say he will not deal with any Tamil organisations in Australia until they renounce violence in writing. Now I am hoping very much that the Australian Government will go a little further and implement a very useful piece of legislation that they have already on their statute books which makes illegal fund raising activities for the purpose of promoting terrorist causes, and now that there is a United Nations Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings to which no doubt Australia has become a signatory or will shortly, that requires all these countries to enact domestic legislation to implement these measures. I am delighted to say that the United States Government declared the LTTE a terrorist organisation last year, the Canadian Government has taken measures to prosecute fund raisers in Canada, the British Government I do know, finally, is working seriously on legislation to curb fund raising and I am very optimistic and hopeful that the Australian Government will follow suit. Collinge: So I take it from your comments that you indeed would like to see the Australian Government ban the LTTE and its front organisations and support groups in Australia? Kadirgamar: Well they can choose whatever method is suitable in the legislative framework of Australia. Not all countries have provision for banning organisations. Some countries have provisions, like in the United States for instance, for curbing fund raising activities by making it criminal to do certain things. Australia has a wide range of choices. The main thing is the political will to go for these organisations and to make it cler to them that they are committing serious criminal offences if they raise money for the purpose of prosecuting the LTTE war. B’desh PM pleased to accept invitation for 10th SAARC summit Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar yesterday delivered to Bangladesh Prime Minister an invitation from President Chandrika Kumara-tunga to attend the 10th SAARC summit in Colombo from July 9-11 according to a statement issued by Sri Lankan High Commission in Dhaka. Prime Minister Hasina was pleased to accept the invitation of the Sri Lankan President. She warmly thanked the Minister and said that she look forward to attending the next SAARC Summit in Colombo. The Foreign Minister explained that Sri Lanka wishes the 10th SAARC Summit to focus on the changing global economic scene and how best SAARC countries could face these challenges in the coming years. The Prime Minister agreed that the selection of an economic theme was appropriate and timely in view of the problems being faced by South Asian countries. She added that she was confident that the deliberations of the summit would be successful. Recalling with warmth the previous meetings between her and President Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Hasina requested Foreign Minister Kadirgamar to convey her cordial greetings.
The Upali Group of Companies continues the tradition of providing Poson illuminations at the Situlpauwa Raja Maha Viharaya from June 8 Ñ 10. Health and Indigenous Medicine Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva will switch on the lights on the Poson Poya (June 9) night. The Poson pinkamas at historic Situlpauwa include seela, bhavana, bana, dhamma discussions, Buddha poojas, Bodhi poojas and other rituals under the guidance and patronage of Ven. Keerthi Sri Gunaratana Wattehene Ratnasara Nayake Thero, the incumbent of the Raja Maha Vihara. About 10,000 devotees are expected to observe sil on this occasion with an equal number visiting the vihara for religious observances. Arrangements have been made to provide basic facilities including health, water and sanitation for the pilgrims. Special bus services will be provided from Tissamaharama to Situlpauwa for the Poson pinkamas. Volunteer organisations and NGOs will offer dana to devotees observing sil. Lanka beat Kiwis by an innings The historic first ever cricket test played at picturesque Galle International Cricket Stadium ended in a convincing innings and 16-run victory for Sri Lanka after just 43 minutes of play on the fifth and final day yesterday. Sri Lanka's latest spin bowling sensation Niroshan Bandaratilleke who claimed match figures of nine wickets for 83 runs and off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan took two wickets each last morning as the visitors lost their last five wickets for 20 runs to be all out for 114 in the second innings. However, young batsman Mahela Jayawardena was adjudged man of the match for his brilliant 167 which contributed more than 50 percent of team total. New Zealand made 193 in first innings while Sri Lanka replied with 323. (Match report). The official launching of the Second SAARC Trade Fair will take place today (June 8) at 5.00 p.m. at Hotel Taj Samudra Colombo. The Minister of Internal and International Commerce and Trade Kingsley T. Wickramaratne is expected to address a large number of Sri Lankan business community. According to Export Development Board sources the Trade Fair which is scheduled for early September this year will be organised by the Sri Lanka SAARC Chamber of Commerce and will be assisted by the Ministry of Trade and Commerce and the Export Development Board. The trade fair is designed to demonstrate the production and the trade potential of SAARC member countries. It will be backed by an intensive marketing campaign to attract the attention of the international business community. |
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