The Leader of the Opposition and UNP Ranil Wickreme-singhe yesterday (31) met with the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Lyonpo Jigmi Yoeser Thinley head of Royal Government of Bhutan, a party source said.

According to the source, Mr. Wickre-mesinghe has met the Indian premier at 12.30 p.m. and the latter at 2.00 p.m. and had friendly talks for about half an hour with each. — (SG)

The two Telecom men arrested on Wednesday in connection with the brief interruption occurred when the microphones stopped functioning at the time President Chandrika Kumara-tunga was addressing the 10th SAARC Summit at the BMICH, were released on Police bail after questioning on Thursday morning.

Cinnamon Gardens Police are investigating the incident further.

Former Army Commander and Defence Secretary, General Hamilton Wanasinghe, accused in an assets case was yesterday discharged by Colombo High Court Judge Tissa Ekanayake.

High Court upheld the defence objection that there was no certificate filed in Court to establish that the cause shown by the accused is unsatisfactory in the opinion of the Bribery Commission.

The Judge in his order observed that filing indictment under the Bribery Act without annexing a certificate of the Bribery Commission expressing its opinion that the cause shown by the accused was unsatisfactory is wrongful.

High Court rejected the other objection of the defence that the offence contained in the indictment was not the offence for which accused had been afforded an opportunity to show cause.

In this case the accused had been indicted under the Bribery Act whereby it was alleged that the acquisition of his property could not have been on his own income.

Senior Defence counsel Tilak Marapana had on the last date raised two preliminary objections.

He argued that the offence contained in the indictment and in respect of which the accused was being presented was not the offence for which he had been afforded an opportunity of showing cause.

He further stated that there was no certificate filed in Court to establish that the cause shown by the accused is unsatisfactory in the opinion of the Commission.

Mr. Marapana submitted that under the Act 11 no prosecution for an offence under this Section shall be instituted unless he has failed to show cause or that the cause shown by him was unsatisfactory.

There should be proof of the above requirement prior to the institution of a prosecution.

The Court derives its jurisdiction to entertain an indictment only upon furnishing of such proof. This is usually accomplished by the filing of a certificate by the Commissioners, Mr. Marapana concluded.

Assistant Legal Director of the Bribery Commission Shamindra Fernando prosecuted.

Tilak Marapana (PC) with Dulinda Weerasuriya and Nalin Ladduwahetty appeared for the accused.

The case had flowed from the findings of the Bribery and Corruption Probe Commission that General Wanasinghe was unable to show means of acquisition of 7.5 million assets. He was served indictment in terms of Clause 11 of the Bribery and Corruption Commission Act No. 19 of 1994.

The indictment stated that assets amounting to Rs. 7.5 million could not have been earned by the General during the period between September 3, 1994, and September 30, 1994, but as he owned the assets, he had committed an offence under the Act.

The High Court which had released him on Rs. 10,000 cash bail with two sureties also ordered him to be finger-printed and produced him in Court within two weeks.

Some parents of Royal College hostellers have complained to 'The Island' that the juniors are being ragged by the Year 9 students. 'The Island' reliably learns that the juniors are being bullied into giving up their money and even toiletries such as soap. The parents of these students said that they were reluctant to complain to the authorities because they feared their children would be victimised even more if the raggers were identified.

The principal of the school H. L. B . Gomez however denied all allegations that there had been such incidents. He said that there are three wardens resident in the hostel and if there had been such ragging the reports would have reached him at once and he would have put a stop to it.

"I have not received any complaints from the children's parents or from the wardens. The allegations are totally false and there have never been such ragging incidents in the college hostels,” he emphasised. But some parents complain to the contrary.

Tamil United Liberation Front [TULF] Thursday briefed the Indian premier Atal Behari Vajpayee of the current situation in the North, East and Colombo. Party leader S. Sivasithamparam said that a four member delegation including himself and MPs, R. Sam-panthan and Joseph Pararajasingham and Dr. Neelan Thiru-chelvam had told Vajpayee of the suffering of their people in Colombo and North-East regions.

He listened attentively Sampanthan said.

There has been no response from the Indian leader he admitted.

The Indian leader had met the TULF delegation separately of other Tamil groups.

Both Indian and Sri Lankan sources said that the premier did not make any promises during his brief meetings with selected representatives of Tamil groups.

They have been pressing for meetings with the Indian leader to press for Indian intervention to end the ongoing military campaign against the LTTE and also bring them [LTTE] to the negotiating table.

In a memorandum submitted to Vaj-payee, Eelam People’s Democratic Party [EPDP] leader and Jaffna District MP Douglas Deva-nanda has requested India to facilitate talks between the government and the LTTE. The EPDP leader who recently survived an attempt by a group of detained LTTE cadres to assassinate him, has also requested India to provide rehabilitation assistance.

Apart from the TULF and EPDP several other parties have sought India’s support to bring LTTE back to the negotiating table sources said. Government officials said that LTTE and certain other interested parties made attempts to highlight serious food shortages in the Wanni, the scene of the ongoing offensive and Jaffna to discredit the governemnt during the SAARC summit. "They failed badly," a senior official said adding that India did not raise the effects of the ongoing action against the LTTE during bi-lateral talks.

India recently extended the ban imposed on the LTTE by six more years. India banned LTTE after Prabhakaran ordered the assassination of former premier Rajiv Gandhi. — [SF]

There is a drop of 1,087,895 kilos in the production of black tea in Sri Lanka in June this year compared to the production figures during the corresponding month in 1997, Sri Lanka Tea Board has announced.

This constitutes a 4 per cent drop in the production in June this year.

The total production of black tea during June 1998 amounted to 25,325,984 kilos as against 26,413,879 kilos during the same month last year. However, the black tea production during January/June 1998 had increased by 4% when compared to production of the corresponding period in 1997. 135,273,536 kilos were produced during the period in 1998 as against 129,928,245 kilos during the same period last year, Tea Board sources disclosed.

The "Colombo Declaration" adopted at the concluding sessions of the 10 th SAARC summit yesterday says that stability peace and security in South Asia cannot be considered in isolation of the global security environment.

The declaration calls upon all nuclear states to engage constructively through a transparent and credible process of negotiations at the conference on disarmament.

On the question of enhancing political cooperation the heads of state agreed that stability and amity and accelerated socio-economic cooperation may be best achieved by fostering good neighbourly relations, relieving tensions and building confidence. A process of informal political consultations would prove useful in this regard they said.

On the economic front the declaration said that the challenges and opportunities inherent in the fast evolving developments could best be met and the full potential of South Asia realized through effective practical regional and bilateral cooperation among member states.

The declaration dealing with economic cooperation said it has been decided to accelerate progress in the next round of SAPTA negotiations and remove structural impediments in order to move speedily towards the goal of SAFTA.

On links with other international and regional organisations it was decided that priority be given to establishing contacts with those regional groupings which have experience in economic cooperation and functional regional cooperation.

The heads of State also directed the Council of Ministers to draw up a Social Charter among other matters.

As was to be expected SAARC had its share of slip ups but on the whole everyone concerned should be congratulated for having pulled it off in the manner they did. Perhaps the worst 'slip up' was not by the government but by the security at the Indian reception for their PM, when security took stupid proportions. Even our First Citizen, the friendly Mayor was given the 'going over' (and was heard to say, "a va al laner apa" - don't touch those!) even after he had been identified. Quite a few well known personalities turned away and left instead of suffering the indignity of subjecting themselves to a search for hidden weapons which extended even to the crotch.

Another security hiccup during the SAARC Summit was at Taj Hotel where Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar hosted reception and later a dinner in honour of departing Bangladeshi High Commissioner Masum Chowdhary.

Guests who drove their own vehicles were turned back as they had no vehicle passes. Many owner drivers who received invitation cards but no passes went back home.

No 'Island' at the Taj
Some foreign delegates at the Taj who wanted to read 'The Island' were unable to do so. Only state owned Daily News had been distributed. One delegate wanted to know whether it was a 'rope trick' which particular nationals specialised in.

The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) has requested India to issue necessary directions to those responsible for the rehabilitation and repatriation of persons of Indian origin from Sri Lanka to provide decent settlement, habitat, housing, educational facilities to children and employment as fully fledged citizens of India. There are at present about 500,000 persons of this category in India of which 80 percent are in conditions of destitution in various parts of South India, CWC has pointed out.

This is stated in the memorandum handed over to the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee by a CWC delegation headed by Saumyamoorthy Thondaman yesterday.

The following are excerpts from the memorandum:

Sri Lankan repatriates in India:

Following the Sirima Shastri Agreement or the Indo Ceylon Agreement of 1964 India invited persons of Indian origin to come to India for resettlement and rehabilitation as a part of this Agreement. According to the Sirima Shastri Agreement for every seven persons who had repatriated themselves to India four persons were to be granted Ceylon Citizenship.

The facilities provided by the relevant authorities in India for the reception and rehabilitation of the people of Indian origin invited by the Government of India has not been properly implemented. Although large amount of funds have been provided by the Central Government of India to the various states, it is unfortunate that this relief has not reached the people concerned.

The delegation urges your good self to give active and positive consideration to provide funds to augment the vote of the Estate Infrastructure Ministry by a similar amount as has been allocated by the Government of Sri Lanka annually.

Having regard to the fact that the people of Indian origin have been deprived for over the decades of their nationality rights and educational opportunities, an enhanced attempt should be made to raise the educational profile of this community in higher and professional education.

The present scholarship system offered by the Government of India does not meet the needs of the community. Therefore, we request the Government of India to provide 50 scholarships per year for higher, professional, technical and cultural education in India for the children of persons of recent Indian origin. We suggest that this Scheme could be implemented in consultation with the Ministry of Estate Infrastructure.

The Tamils of recent India origin have been unable to preserve or develop their cultural heritage and intellectual accomplishments of their forefathers pertaining to literature due to the cultural deprivation throughout several decades of confinement to the estates.

The enhancement of the cultural levels of this community could pave the way for a multi-faceted development to reach the standards achieved by the other communities in Sri Lanka and it is important that assistance be given by India for the development.

It has been planned to establish a Department/Faculty of Fine Arts and Aesthetic Studies at Sri Pada College of Education which is located in the Nuwara Eliya District. Already certain initiatives have been taken by Hon. S. Thondaman with regard to this matter.

The present Cultural Exchange Programme between the two countries has not directly benefited the Tamils of recent Indian origin. There is a strong link between their culture and that of South India where they originally came from.

The health services in the Plantation area woefully inadequate. One of the crying needs of the community is a well equipped modern hospital.

We request the Government of India to assist in the establishment of fully equipped modern hospital facility in Kotagala which is in the heart of the plantation area.

Displaced Sri Lankans of Indian Origin in India: Consequent to the ethnic disturbances in 1983 a very large number of Sri Lankan families of Indian Origin had to seek refuge in India for reasons of security and safety. Initially they were received with sympathy and understanding and were permitted to reside in India.

They were provided assistance to start businesses and engage in other entrepreneurial activities. Presently they are denied permission to continue to reside in India. This causes severe hardships to many families of Indian origin and subjects them to prosecution for overstay. Applications for Citizenship of India from this category has been kept pending for a long time.

Five hundred small size buses and 500 engine kits for the state sector public transport service purchased from India, at a cost of approximately Rs. 850 million, are ready for shipment to Sri Lanka official Transport Ministry sources told "The Island" yesterday (31). They will arrive here within a month.

According to these sources, following the Cabinet approval for the purchase of 500 buses and engine kits, the tender for the supply had been awarded to TATA , and Ashok Leyland of India. Sources further revealed that TATA will be supplying 500 small buses while of the 500 engine kits 300 will be supplied by TATA with Ashok Leyland supplying 200 engine kits.

Cabinet has approved recently the release of approximately Rs. 850 million for the purchase, following a request by Minister of Transport and Highways, A.H.M. Fowzie earlier this year according to these sources.

The Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, Tilak Collure, contacted by "The Island" stated that following approval being granted the 500 buses and the engine kits were expected to arrive in Sri Lanka within a month.

"Under phase one of the Minister’s plan of adding 1500 buses to the existing fleet by the end of this year, the 500 buses will be added and under phase 2, the 500 engine kits which will be assembled here will come into operation. In phase 3 another 500 large buses for the Cluster companies will be imported. For this approval from the Cabinet Appointed Tender Board is yet to be granted." He added. He further added that duty free facilities for the import of buses by the private sector which was still in operation will be revoked by the end of 1998. "At the end of this year, the Cabinet will have to take another decision with regard to the extension of duty free facilities for the import of buses for the private buses," he added.

There is presently a severe shortage of buses in Peoplised Bus Companies (now turned to 11 Cluster Companies). It is reported that 6200 buses are required to give a satisfactory service to the public. At present only 4500 buses are in operation. There was over 9000 buses in the fleet but approximately half the buses lying in need of repairs. The Sri Lanka Central Transport Board embarked on selling some buses by public auction as a means of getting funds for repairs to other buses.

Continued mismanagement of the Peoplised Bus Companies formed under the United National Party regime, resulted in a severely deteriorated service being offered to the public. Such mismanagement by the Managerial Boards of these Companies led to with over a Rs. one billion as unpaid loans inclusive of an alarming Rs. 385 million as Employees Provident Fund payments. It is also reported that at the time of the 93 Companies were clustered to 11 each bus had to maintain 12-15 employees.

None of these Companies were also reported to have up to date paid even the 5% down payment when purchasing over 3,000 buses under a scheme of the UNP regime.

The Nepalese Prime Minister was accorded a royal welcome at the Biya-gama Export Pro-cessing Zone by the staff of BOI and BEPZ. Girija Prasad Koirala, the Nepalese Premier, stated during yesterday’s visit to the Biyagama Export Processing Zone that his government’s ambition was to change the existing economic scenario of Nepal. He said that economic liberalization methods would be adopted "if possible" and officials of the Nepalese government will be sent for further discussions to Sri Lanka. The Nepalese PM made these observations in reply to offers from the BOI chairman Thilan Wijesingha to provide the expertise of the long standing employees of the BOI.

The Nepalese premier admired the leadership qualities of President Ban-daranaike and indicated that SAARC is directed towards newer dimensions under her Chairmanship.

Mr. Koirala observed that his country’s rules, laws and climate was vastly different but he was reserved in expressing his thoughts about the concept of dismantling trade barriers by offering liberal economic incentives that were instrumental in bringing increased foreign participation. The Premier however said that it was a part of his ambition to make a change in many sectors of his country. Mr. Wijesingha said that there was 60% foreign equity participation in enterprises signed under BOI to Sri Lanka. He further said that there were 1000 enterprises signed under BOI and 1% of GDP was Foreign Directed investment. The BOI of Sri Lanka is a one stop shop — a central facilitation point for the investors, he added. The liberal trade policies adopted by Sri Lanka was instrumental in transforming the exports sector.

The Nepalese Ambassodor, Minister of Agriculture several other Nepalese officials were a part of the delegation present. The BOI chairman said that it was the first such visit of a foreign head of state to the BEPZ. He said that in 1980 and ’82, during the time when China and Malaysia were economic backwaters, the current leaders of both countries visited the Katunayaka Export Processing Zone for observation. The Premier was given an introduction to the BOI including the liberal incentives offered to investors.

The Premier made whirlwind visits to several factories in the BEPZ which is situated 24 kilometres from Colombo. Agio Tobacco Pro-cessing Co. (Pvt) Ltd., Ocean Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. situated in the BEPZ which employs a total of 23,000 workers, were some which he visited.

Former Army Sergeant Wadisinghe Dharmadasa found guilty of possession of obscene photographs of his six year old niece was sentenced to 7 years rigorous imprisonment by Colombo High Court Judge Mahanama Tillakeratne yesterday.

High Court also ordered the accused to pay one million rupees as damages to the victim child in default a further 5 years RI.

High Court further imposed a fine of rupees one lakh in default 2 years RI.

State Counsel Saliya Sumanatilaka prosecuted.

High Court Judge Mahanama Tillekeratne in his Order stated that the Parliament amended the relevant section to give teeth to the statute in the context in which the children of the country had been subjected to such acts of cruelty.

State Counsel Sumanatilaka submitted that the accused had gone to the house of his late elder brother and taken photographs of his child. They were obscene photographs.

Later the accused had given the film to a leading studio for processing and printing. On seeing that they were obscene photographs, the Manager informed the police when the accused came to collect them. As he collected them he was nabbed by the police.

Veteran photographer, L. E. Samararatne FISLP, ABIPP, is one of the recipients of "Kala Bushana" sammana awards this year.

Minister of Bud-dhasasana, Cultural & Religious Affairs, Lakshman Jayakody made the sammana awards presentations to 109 recipients in the presence of a large and distinguished gathering at the John de Silva Memorial Hall. This annual event had been organised by the department of Cultural Affairs, to recognize the achievements of many individuals who have excelled in many fields of Art & Culture.

Samararatne, a well known professional photogapher, celebrated fifty years of professional practice a few years back with his first exhibition. He was the recipient of the Best Wedding Photographer award in 1987. In recognition of his fifty years service to the profession, and the use of a Rollieflex Camera all his life time, a brand new Rollieflex Camera was gifted by its manufacturers in Germany in 1996.

Recently the British Institute of Professional Photography of which Samararatne is a professionally qualified member since 1955, had entered their qualified members names from all over the world, in the "Internet" for the world wide buyers of photographic services, recommending the services of their members.

On the page for Sri Lanka, only two names appear, and one is that of Samararatne.

Presently Samara-ratne, the President of the Institute of Sri Lankan Photographers has pledged to safeguard, uphold and induce professionalism to its members.

Samararatne is also busy preparing for his second black & white exhibition on Portrait Photography at the Lionel Wendt Gallery in early October this year.

The Medical Education Centre of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, is organising a 10-day workshop for medical teachers on the "Basics of Medical Education", under the auspices of the World Health Organisation.

Participants are scheduled to include academic staff of the Medical Faculty at Ragama and other medical faculties in the country, as well as trainers of health personnel from the Maldives and Bhutan. The workshop will be inaugurated on August 3 by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, Prof. Senake Bandara-nayake.

The main aim of the workshop is to improve the quality of medical teaching. Special emphasis will be given to developing ways of inculcating better attitudes in medical students and also to ethics in health care, an area of great importance in the current context of accountability of doctors. In keeping with the trend to use modern technology to facilitate student learning, a whole half-day session will be dedicated to computer-aided teaching-learning and computer-aided instruction. Participants will be able to get hands-on experience at the Faculty's own Computer Centre.

The University Grants Commission has already accredited this workshop as being a suitable induction training programme for probationary lectures in medical faculties. It is envisaged that it will be the first in a series of workshops conducted by the Medical Education Centre, to upgrade the skills of medical teachers.

The special unit of the Health Ministry called ‘Port Health’ (PH) by which Sri Lankans travelling abroad and going for foreign jobs are immunized against four dangerous diseases, has been housed in an un-hygienic dirty place within the premises of the Medical Research Institute (MRI) in Borella, medical sources said.

The ‘Port Health’ unit vaccinates those who travel especially to African countries, and those going for foreign jobs in Middle East against Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Cho-lera and Meningitis. The staff of the unit comprises a doctor, nurse, clerk, peon and a labourer. According to the sources, around 20 people both locals and foreigners come to this unit every day for vaccination.

"This is the only place in Sri Lanka where people are charged for vac-cination. They have to pay Rs. 500.00 for each yellow fever or meningitis vaccine while the cost of cholera or typhoid vaccine is Rs. 100 each. A person has to pay around $100 to get these vaccines injected in an African country once they get there and also has to spend ten days in quarantine," sources said. Sri Lankan unit had earned over Rs. 50,000 within the last two months alone.

The ‘Port Health’ Unit was earlier housed in the Central Chest Clinic at the Suwa-siripaya where the Ministry of Health is housed till May 21. But the Ministry later removed it to the MRI premises citing possible security threat.

"The unit is housed in two little rooms which is insufficient to accommodate even the staff. Those who come to be vaccinated are greatly inconve-nienced. Just in front of the room, is the place where loads of cement and sand brought for construction work at the MRI are unloaded and waves of dust blow in to the rooms causing much hardship to the staff.

"Being a place where people are charged for the service provided, the autho-rities are bound to provide a convenient service to those who pay for it. WHO and UNICEF provide grants for preventive health care services and this unit is also a part of the preventive health. It may reflect badly on the preventive health care of the country.

Meanwhile, a top official of the MRI said that the MRI was now in a quandary how to accommodate some units including the one in question as some of its buildings were under renovation. "Even the present location was found with much difficulty by sending away those who were occupying those two rooms. We are aware of the situation of the unit and will make every possible attempt to find a good place for it soon," the official said.