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No headway made on missing letterheads Criminal Investigations Department (CID) sleuths probing the mysterious disappearance of 15,070 letterheads, including 1090 ‘IGP’s official letterheads’, among others from the police stationery stores, have so far failed to make any headway, senior police officials said. The CID has seized stock books and inventories, but a breakthrough remains elusive, they admitted. The storekeeper, a clerical employee of the department and an Inspector of Police have been moved out of the Supplies Division following the shocking discovery. ‘The items appear to have simply vanished into thin air’, a police official said. Inspector-General of Police, W. B. Rajaguru called in the CID early last month to probe the mystery behind scores of items found missing from the stores housed within police headquarters itself. Fears have been expressed about these letterheads, particularly the IGP’s official ones, falling into wrong hands. Police officials concede that they could easily be used for many illegal purposes, including issuing ‘forged’ police clearance certificates and character certificates, if they find their way into wrong hands. Among the other items gone missing were scores of briefcases issued to police gazetted officers, reams of white shirt and trouser material, ballpoint pens and envelopes. The detection was made by Director, (Supplies), senior Superintendent of Police, Lalith Lekamge. Investigations had also revealed that no proper internal audit had been done for years and there could be more to it than that meets the eye. A CID team led by IP Palitha Ratnatileka under the directions of ASP M. D. Arlis has been deployed to probe the mysterious ‘leaks’. Police suspect that the goods, including the ‘sensitive’ IGP’s official letterheads may have been smuggled out, but investigations have so far drawn blank. Investigators believe that the siphoning of these items must have been continuing over a period of time as no proper internal audit had been done and if not for the timely detection by SSP Lalith Lekamge the ‘operation’ could have reached alarming proportions. They are also concentrating on all aspects of the missing letterheads as, unlike the other items which had vanished with them, they have no monetary value, second hand or otherwise. They can be used only for illicit purposes, including issuing ‘forged’ certificates, police said. Govt. to decide in two days whether to hold
PC polls or put off COLOMBO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - President Chandrika Kumaratunga said the government would decide in the next two days whether or not to postpone elections to five provincial councils, or states, scheduled for the end of the month. Speculation has been rife in local media that the government might delay the polls for security concerns. "I would like to hold the elections. But there is some opinion within the government and outside the government...who feel that this is the most difficult period of the war. The LTTE is putting all that there is remaining of them," she said. "It is rather foolish to have a democratic election where political leaders from all side will be exposing themselves to LTTE's terror," Kumaratunga said. Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte said earlier it would be difficult to withdraw troops from the warfront to provide security to candidates and elections booths during the polls. The provincial council election, if held, will be a testing ground for Kumaratunga's far-reaching political proposals to end the 15-year-old ethnic war that has claimed thousands of lives. The government has proposed a draft constitution aimed at devolving powers to regional councils, including one administered by Tamils. But the proposals have been opposed by the main opposition United National Party (UNP), which says it is necessary to make the centre strong. Kumaratunga's ruling People's Alliance needs the support of the UNP to get the draft constitution through parliament. When asked if the political package could be pushed through without UNP's help, Kumaratunga said: "There are means of circumventing the UNP opposition." But she declined to give details on how she proposed to get past the problem. "That is a state secret," she said. Govt. says sees no India role in SL COLOMBO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga said on Sunday she did not agree with local Tamil parties that Indian mediation was required to end the country’s ethnic war. "I don’t agree with that view and I don’t think India will accede from what we have discussed with India," Kumaratunga told Reuters in an interview. "For the last several years India has followed a policy of leaving Sri Lanka to settle its own internal problems. We appreciate that stand. I don’t think India can interfere in our internal problems," she said. Parties representing Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority said on Saturday they had called upon India to once again intervene and mediate to find a solution to the 15-year-old ethnic war that has claimed thousands of lives. The latest request came at a meeting between Tamil party representatives and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Colombo last Thursday. Vajpayee was in Colombo to attend the three-day summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Kumaratunga said Vajpayee had not raised the ethnic war or issues concerning the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels during their bilateral meeting in Colombo last week. The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka’s north and east since 1983. India sent its troops to Sri Lanka in the late 1980s to implement a peace accord that it had brokered, but later withdrew them in 1990 after they became embroiled in a bitter struggle with the rebels. "Mr Vajpayee did not raise the issue. But I always keep the leaders of the region informed of the present situation of the war and the peace proposals," Kumaratunga said. Kumaratunga earlier told India’s Hindu newspaper in an interview that her country had a good political relationship with the new Indian government. "We have very good political relationships with the Indian government. We do not interefere with India’s internal problems and India does not interfere with ours," she said in the interview published on Sunday. She said Sri Lanka needed to have no apprehensions as long as the policy adopted by the previous Indian governments of leaving Sri Lanka to solve its own internal problems continued. A fledgling coalition government led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power earlier this year in New Delhi after inconclusive elections. "At the moment, the Indian governments have followed a consistent policy of respecting Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and its independence in taking decisions," Kumaratanga told the newspaper. "As long as that remains, there should be no problem at all." COLOMBO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka does not expect the Tamil Tiger rebels to come to the negotiating table even after they are pushed in a corner militarily by the on-going offensive in the north, President Chandrika Kumaratunga said on Sunday. "The doors are open. We have told them they can discuss with us under certain conditions. The right time is anytime," the president told Reuters in an interview. "I don’t think they’ll ever talk at all. When they were on a strong footing they stopped talking and started the war," she added. Kumaratunga’s government began peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels soon after winning power in 1994, but the negotiations ended when the LTTE broke a ceasefire and blasted two naval boats in the eastern port city of Trincomalee in April 1995. Since then the war has escalated and government troops have successfully captured the former Jaffna peninsula and are now in the midst of a long campaign to take control of a key northern highway that would give the military land access to the former LTTE stronghold. Kumaratunga said the military had alrady captured two-thirds of the highway that connects the northern government-held town of Vavuniya with Kilinochchi, further north, in the offensive begun last May. She declined to predict when the road might be opened, but said that once it was captured the LTTE would be militarily marginalised. "It is a bit immature if one thinks that a campaign like this can be concluded in a day or two, or two months," she said, adding the capturing the road could break the LTTE’s backbone. "It is a part of a very well though out strategy," said Kumaratunga, who also hold the defence portfolio. The Colombo Consumers' Price Index (CCPI) for last month (July) was 2323.8. This shows a decrease of 23.7 index points or 1.0 percent from the June index number of 2347.5. This is a decrease of Rs. 47.98 in the Expenditure Value of “Market basket” when compared to June, 1998, Census and Statistics Department announced. The decrease in the CCPI for July, 1998 is due to decrease in prices of rice, garlic, limes, red onions, coconut oil, most varieties of fresh fish and most varieties of vegetables — beans, long-beans, carrots, brinjal, bitter gourd and snake gourd etc., in the food group. These price decreases in food items can be attributed to higher supply to the main markets in Colombo City. However, prices of dried chillies, dried fish — koduwa, salaya and potatoes etc., decreased during this month. Seized arms to be returned Arms and ammunition seized by the army from the PLOTE offices in Batticaloa will be returned soon, military sources said. The army in Batticaloa in a sudden move took over arms and ammunition belonging to the PLOTE offices in Batticaloa last week for what was described as 'security reasons'. There was no intention of disarming these Tamil political organisations as those were of immense assistance to the army, these sources said. Censorship
to continue COLOMBO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga said on Sunday that censorship of war reporting by local and foreign media would not be removed any time soon. "It (censorship) is likely to continue for sometime," Kumaratunga told Reuters in an interview. "The local media will have to prove to us that they have learnt to be responsible. We have given them several chances and they have consistently shown their irresponsibility," she said. Kumaratunga said there were various reports that the leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels read certain Sunday newspapers to learn the government’s strategy in the 15-year-old war. "Even in the mother of democracy, Britain, (then prime minister) Winston Churchill took over the information ministry during World War II and completely banned all military information from being reported," Kumaratunga said. The president said she believed censorship had been relaxed for the foreign media, but when reminded that all war reports still had to go through the military censor, she said: "Naturally, because the LTTE can read what is in the foreign media also." The government imposed censorship after the military intensified its campaign against the LTTE to capture a vital northern highway that would give it road access to the former rebel stronghold of Jaffna. Challenging findings of SPC Assistant Superintendent of Police, Don Sarachchandra Senadhira Lugoda, had filed a Writ application in the Court of Appeal, challenging the findings made against him, in the report of the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry which probed the killing of Mr. Lalith Athulathmudali. The respondents cited in the petition are, retired Supreme Court Judge, Mr. Tissa Dias Bandaranayake, Chairman of the Special Presidential Commission, High Court Judge Mr. G. W. Edirisinghe, Member of the Commission, and the Attorney-General. The petition said that the petitioner was not heard by the Commission, but however, the Commission, in the report, had said that the petitioner is guilty of misconduct. This is a breach of natural Justice, the petition said. The petition requested the Court of Appeal, to transfer the petition to the Supreme Court, since the Chairman of the Presidential Commission is a retired Judge of the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal directed the Registrar to transfer the application to the Supreme Court, forthwith. The petition was supported by President's Counsel D. S. Wijesinghe, with J. C. Weliamuna, instructed by Mr. Dhammika Dharmadasa. The Court of Appeal bench comprised, Justice H. S. Yapa and Justice P. H. K. Kulatillake. Forged currency notes seized Police seized a haul of forged currency notes along with equipment used to print them from a house at Jayamalpura in Gampola on Saturday. The Rs. 500 denomination fake currency notes seized by the police amount to Rs. 146,000. A 19-year-old son of a wealthy planter and his friend from Ampitiya near Kandy were arrested by police in this connection for questioning, police said. The two youths were arrested and the machinery including a modern computer seized. The raid was conducted by a team of police officers of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) attached to the Central Range Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), headquarters in Kandy. Police searched the house which belonged to a wealthy planter following information from a young man taken into custody earlier carrying 118 forged notes of Rs. 100 denomination, police sources said. Among the articles taken into custody are computers, scanner machines and paper used to print the fake currency notes. The raid was carried out by K. M. S. Bowala, OIC (SIU), SI Yatawara, SI Ranasinghe, SI Rafaitu, PS Tennakoon, PS Ranaweera, PCs Abeykoon, Karunasena, Gunaratne, Nihal, Dias, Shanmugam and WPC Nandawathie with PCD Tilakaratne on the directions of DIG Sirisena Herath and Kandy SSP Nimal Mediwake. Further investigations are in progress. Operational headquarters reported that on Saturday 1998 around 11.15 a.m. Jayasikuru troops operating ahead of defences confronted a group of terrorists east of Mankulam and killed 03 terrorists. During the day North east of Kunchikkulam troops observed a group of terrorists and engaged them with small arms and mortars. Troops confirm 03 terrorists killed and a few others injured. Troops continue to dominate area ahead of defences. On Friday around 10.05 p.m. at Kulankulam in Vavuniya District, troops on fighting patrol observed a group of terrorists and engaged them causing terrorists to withdraw with their casualties. Subsequently troops searched the area and recovered a terrorist dead body along with 01 T 81 weapon, 02 hand grenades, small quantity of small arms ammunition and a few military items. On Saturday during daytime at Gurunagar in Jaffna district. 37 persons of 16 families reached Gurunagar Jetty from uncleared areas, Op, Hq. said in a news release. Govt. to pump money in highways COLOMBO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The Sri Lankan government will put in money to build key highways after planned foreign investment fell through because of the Asian financial crisis, President Chandrika Kumaratunga said on Sunday. "We have now scheduled the development of three major highways from next year, the work has already begun," Kumaratunga, who is also finance minister, told Reuters in an interview. "We were hoping to bring in the private sector, but as the private sector we had signed with collapsed in East Asia the government is giving the money," she said. She said a finance line was also available from the Asian Development Bank. Malaysia’s Renong Berhad was planning to invest up to $200 million in Sri Lanka to build two highways, but the deal fell through because of an economic slowdown in Southeast Asia triggered by a fall in currencies, Sri Lankan officials said in June. Kumaratunga said the highway connecting Colombo to the international airport at Katunayake would cost some five billion rupees ($76.22 million), while feasability studies on two others -- a new road to the country’s southern regions and another to the central hill city of Kandy -- were still not complete. "We are looking at part government finance, part private on a BOO (build-operate-own), BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis where it is profitable for them. They would obviously be toll roads," Kumaratunga said. She said the government was also keen to improve Sri Lanka’s air and sea cargo handling capacity. Sri Lanka last month initialled a $240 million deal with a private consortium which includes the local conglomerate John Keells Holdings and units of P&O for the expansion of the Colombo port. Kumaratunga said the government was working on a project to expand cargo capacity at the international airport in Katunayake, which lies some 30 km (18 miles) north of the capital Colombo. Japanese children in
voluntary programmes KANDY: A group of children from Japan under the auspices of OISCA (Organisation for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement) International have arrived in Sri Lanka to participate in a number of environmental and voluntary programmes. According to a programme designed by the OISCA Sri Lanka with its headquarters at Nugegoda the children are to engage in two shramadana projects today Monday (3) and Tuesday (4) in Kandy district. They will be participating in a shramadana campaign at Pallekele Sri Dalada Maligawa land on Monday and on the following day they will be attending a shramadana campaign at Dunhinne Vidyalaya, Rohana Harischandra of the OISCA Sri Lanka headquarters said. |
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