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| President mum on Anura's return President Chandrika Kumaratunga Friday responded with a terse "no comment'' to a question whether Mr. Anura Bandaranaike was coming back to the SLFP. The president was chatting informally with members of the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka at a dinner she hosted for the FCA at President's House on Friday night. The questioner was persistent. He said that there were stories that Anura had been dropped from some UNP committees. "I don't know about that,'' responded the president. "But would you like to have him back in the cabinet?'' asked the reporter. "No comment,'' said the president. "I don't want to say anything.'' Both Mr. Bandaranaike and Mr. A.C.S. Hameed are not in the nomination committee set up by UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to select candidates for the forthcoming provincial council elections. Nominations for some PCs are already being received. UNP sources said that nomination committee are appointed on an ad hoc basis whenever an election comes round. Both Bandaranaike and Hameed were members of the previous nomination committee for last year's local government elections. These sources said that the committee set up this time is a smaller one than before. In addition to the party leader it includes the party chairman (Mayor Karu Jayasuriya), secretary (Gamini Atukorale), treasurer (Milroy Perera), legal secretary (Daya Pelpola), election secretary (Daham Wimalasena) and P. Dayaratna, a former minister. The UNP is uncertain of whether the PC elections will be held at all. The government sought its co-operation to postpone these elections and although the nomination process has begun, Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte is on record saying that it will not be possible to withdraw personnel from the north to provide security for an election. He was quoted telling a public meeting on June 27 that such a step would be "really unwise'' and that it was "highly inopportune'' to hold an election at this stage of the war. Prabhakaran was being hounded by the forces and withdrawal of personnel from the front would give the Tigers a fresh lease of life. |
| Censorship likely to stay awhile President Chandrika Kumaratunga Friday did not respond to an appeal by the president of the Foreign Correspondents Association (FCA) to lift the present press censorship which has been in force since June 5. Proposing a vote of thanks to the president following a dinner she hosted for the FCA and a few others at President's House, FCA President Nirupama Subramanian asked that the censorship be lifted. But there was no response and most correspondents interpreted this to mean that it would continue at least for some time. In a few remarks she made earlier, the president said that press censorship and various bans that had been imposed from time to time in the "best interest of the nation'' at a time the government was engaged in a bitter struggle with a ruthless enemy. The censorship was necessary, she said, due to the actions of a few. By and large the foreign correspondents who were present worked responsibly. In after dinner conversation, the president who was again pressed on the censorship, told the Indian head of the Associated Press (of the USA) that they got their news out anyway. "No, we don't do that,'' explained the AP bureau chief. "At the beginning there was a problem with the censor with copy held up. But that has been sorted out and we get our copy back quickly.'' Dilip Ganguly of the AP told the president: "I told Washington that I was having dinner with the president and they asked me at what time I was going to file. What am I going to tell them?'' "You can tell them that you had dinner with the president,'' countered Mrs. Kumaratunga. (laughter) Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera who was also present said that there was no problem with the foreign reporters. The problem was local. There were some signs earlier of the censorship being lifted as far as the foreign press was concerned as had been done on previous occasions. But then the criticism of "apartheid'' was raised on the basis that the local press was being discriminated against. |
| 1 Lankan Director General for UNESCO? From
Sujeeva Nivunhella in Paris These sources said that at least one influential western ambassador to Paris-based UNESCO had indicated that an Asian, and possibly a woman, would stand a strong chance of being selected. According to these sources, if Sri Lanka is to make a pitch, the support of both India and Pakistan will be needed. There is no indication yet on whether either of these countries is interested in the position themselves. The last occasion when a Sri Lankan had a strong chance of heading a U.N. agency was when Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala, who was strongly tipped for the post of the International Atomic Energy Authority in Vienna provided Colombo backed him, did not receive the support of his home government. Mr. Dhanapala, then serving as Sri Lanka's ambassador to Washington, retired prematurely and was picked by Secretary General Kofi Annan for a senior U.N. position on arms control. |
| Maha Nayaka Thera’s condition improves The condition of the most venerable Aggamaha Panditha Balangoda Ananda Maithriya Maha Nayaka Thera has made a little improvement by yesterday. However, the Maha Nayaka Thera still continues to be on the ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital, according to Deputy Director, Dr. L. U. C. Kumarage of Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital. The prelate who is 103 years old, is treated for pneumonia by a team of consultant doctors inclusive of a physician and a cardiologist. (KW) |
| Island Capers Same old joke Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera soldiers on trying to laugh his way out of the credit card controversy in which he remains embroiled. And his jokes (dry or otherwise depending on your outlook), it seems are specially aimed at foreign correspondent audiences. It was not very long ago that we recorded his crack on putting his credit card, rather than a business card, into a box at the door for a lucky draw at last month's 10th anniversary celebrations of the Foreign Correspondents' Association (FCA). There was a re-run at Friday's President's House dinner for the FCA. Somebody remarked on the elegance of one time fashion designer Mangala's shirt. "It's on my credit card from Odel,'' he said beaming broadly surely exulting at a smile he drew from H.E. herself. |
| Colombo Summit may help improve Indo - Pak
relations There is optimism both in India and Pakistan that a meeting between Prime Ministers A.B. Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif during the Colombo SAARC Summit in July would help improve relations between the two countries. A formal announcement has already been made by Islamabad that a meeting between Vajpayee and Sharif was on, Indian press reports said. They speculated on the possibility that such talks could lead to a renewed meetings between the foreign secretaries of the two countries. The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan last met in New Delhi in September 1997. The preceding June, there was a similar meeting in Islamabad. Some Indian reports, however, were muted on the outcome of a Vajpayee - Sharif meeting in Colombo. They quoted the Indian foreign office saying that such contacts are common during summits as in the case of the last SAARC Summit in Male' in the Maldives when contacts between Prime Ministers I.K. Gujral and Nawaz Sharif grabbed most of the headlines. Subsequently, these two leaders met at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Edinburgh and at Dhaka. The view from Delhi was that a preparatory Indo - Pakistan meeting before the Colombo summit was "difficult'' and it would be premature to speculate on a meeting of the foreign secretaries of the two countries as this would need a "political impetus''. |
| NHDA
to construct 50,000 houses By Azhara Raban This programme will provide relief to the homeless middle and lower income groups. Housing loans, would be provided within six months under this programme. This was said by the Deputy Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Mahinda Wijesekera at the Kurunegala district conference hall last Friday. Besides financial assistance and technological instructions will also be provided by the government. Twenty Jana Udana villages will be set up only in the Kurunegala district. Before the end of this year, loans, grants, building material such as roofing sheets and tiles will be provided to the deserving families. |
| Public interest NGO commends alcohol/tobacco
policy Avadhi Lanka, the public interest NGO, has written to President Chandrika Kumaratunga thanking her for accepting the recommendations of the Presidential Task Force on Alcohol and Tobacco. "We welcome in particular the decision to set up a separate Authority on anti-alcohol and tobacco enforcement, to ban advertising and to remove the duty free concessions for the import, manufacture or sale of such products,'' a statement issued in this connection said. Avadhi Lanka describes itself as an "organisation for the promotion of public morality and civic accountability.'' In their letter to the president, the NGO has suggested that provision be made in the proposed legislation for residents in any particular local authority to petition the Authority and seek a local poll on whether the taverns, liquor bars and liquor shops in such areas be closed. Avadhi Lanka has also called upon the government to stop the future issue of new liquor retail licences and also ensure that the proposed Authority has sufficient funds to act independently. |
| Minister Dissanayake pledges to work for
amity Walter
Nanayakkara in Hanguranketha The venue of the Nuwara Eliya District's Presidential People's Service, the 5th in a series of such services is the Hanguranketha Maha Vidyalaya, Among others present at the yesterday's opening were Ministers S. Thondaman, Lakshman Jayakody, Indika Gunawardane, Berty Premalal several Deputy Ministers and CWC Parliamentarians , S. Sathasivam and Sivalingam. Minister Dissa-nayake, who said the two day PPS in the Nuwara Eliya District will be devoted to achieve the duel objectives of resolving the problems of the people of the District, fifty percent of whom are Sinhalese and the rest Tamils, and to speed up the development process. Nuwara Eliya District comprising the Kotamale—Hanguran-ketha, Walepone and Nuwara Eliya- Maskeliya electorates has a population of appronimately 700,000. Minister of Livestock Development and Rural Industries S. Thondaman who hoisted the Provincial Flag said the large crowd attending the 5th Presidential People's Service in Nuwara Eliya was an endorsement of the policies of President-Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. He said the two day PPS would sort out both short term and long term problems of the people of the District. Governor of Central Province Stanley Thilakaratne said the Government should be commended for its commitment to resolve the problems of the people. The PPS programme is an indication of the President's concern for the people and her closeness to the thoughts of the people. |
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