Forty four terrorists were killed over the last two weeks and a LTTE bunker west of Mankulam destroyed by the security forces, military spokesman Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon told yesterday’s cabinet press briefing in Colombo.

He said that the security forces lost four men while one officer and eighteen soldiers were injured.

Brigadier Tenne-koon said that government troops also killed 18 tigers in Kok-kadicholai in the Batticaloa district and Kattaparichchan and Samur in the Trincomalee district.

"In this limited operation we lost eight men while 15 soldiers received minor injuries. We were able to recover three improvised explosive devices, three small arms, four claymore bombs, one three wheel tractor and a large stock of rations.

He said that since August 1, the security forces have removed 197 anti personnel mines in the Olumadu, Kunchikulam and Mankulam areas..

Offensive patrolling to the west of Kilinochchi over the last two weeks had resulted in the recovery of a large quantity of small arms, ammunition, one RPG, 3 RPG bombs, and dry rations.

Brigadier Tennekoon said that during limited operations in the Nagar Kovil area in Jaffna four soldiers were injured. The security forces were able to recover four claymore bombs, 10 hand grenades and twelve 60 mm bombs.

"Over the last one month 1,164 Tamil civilians from Wanni have crossed over to Jaffna. This brings the total number of civilians who have crossed over to Jaffna over the last few months to 24,101".

He said 41 goats were donated to 41 families in Palaly recently, while 525 telephone lines have been provided in the Jaffna district. A total of four thousand persons in the district have applied for telephone connections.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs G .L. Peiris yesterday described the UNP’s All Party Conference (APC) planned for September 14 as " insincere and an evasive exercise"

Prof. Peiris told the cabinet press briefing held at the parliamentary complex yesterday that he had not received an invitation for the UNP initiated APC but saw in the media that all parties would be invited for the conference.

"The government has no intention to amend the constitution any further.

We do not believe in ad hoc amendments or half baked constitutions. It is not the government’s intention to go in for the 17th, 18th or 19th amendments to the constitution. What is needed is a whole new constitution incorporating power sharing and we have already submitted our proposals in this regard. There will be critical elections in the months to come ".

The American constitution he said came into force nearly 200 years ago but it has seen only 20 amendments. In contrast Sri Lanka has amended its constitution 16 times since 1972.

"The UNP asked for six months to submit its alternate proposals. However ten months has come and gone but they have not said anything about land, unitary state, devolution and police powers. It is in this background that the UNP has called for an All Party Conference. Where is the sincerity? -- They are playing party politics" he alleged.

Asked if the UNP was acting in the same manner as the government Minister Peiris said that was something for the people to decide.

"The present constitution imposes certain constraints on constitutional reform. It is not our making. This was done by the J. R. Jayewardene regime. If the earlier electoral system prevailed the PA would have obtained a two thirds majority .Then none of these problems would have arisen. The six months time frame was postulated by Ronnie de Mel. To be fair by Mr. De Mel I must say he played a useful and constructive role in the deliberations of the Select Committee on Constitutional Reform".

Minister Peiris expressed disappointment at Sri Lanka being left behind when countries such as Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Burundi, Cyprus, Palestine and Bangladesh were making much progress towards resolving national issues.

Prof. Peiris said the government will be conducting a seminar on devolution on September 6 in Colombo with the participation of two academics from Northen Ireland who played an active role in their country’s peace process.

"All political parties" many NGOs and academics have been invited for this seminar".

The Island is pleased to announce that we have been able to obtain first serialisation rights of E.C.T. Candappa's novel "The Palm of His Hand."

Candappa, a former Sri Lankan journalist, now domiciled in Australia, was one of the finest writers of Lake House in the 1950's and sixties.

Based around the events that led to the assassination of Mr. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, it is the first time the event that changed the course of politics in Sri Lanka has been written as a cohesive story in a fictional form with authentic information supplied by some of the leading players still living.

E C T, also known as Manny, the name under which he writes in Australia where he lives, researched the story for three years before writing it, in eighteen months.

The author takes the reader into some hitherto vague territory. He gives an almost minute by minute account of what happened at Rosmead Place on that fateful day, September 25 1959, of Bandaranaike's final hours in the operating theatre and even a skillful insight into the working of his mind during the tumultuous years of his troubled stewardship.

You will also meet some truly unforgettable characters. Raj, the Jaffna Tamil Catholic journalist who hopes to accompany the Prime Minister to New York, gets hospitalised and falls in love with a Kandyan Buddhist nurse. Bill, an Australian member of the International Young Christian Workers movement unwittingly gets touched by the assassination plot. Fr. Grutzner, a Catholic missionary who falls foul of Philip Gunawardene, then fiery Minister of Agriculture and Food, because of his involvement with the highly volatile trade union movement. And a lovable group of patients in Ward 37 of the Colombo General hospital.

Basically it is a sensitive and scholarly attempt to unravel the historic causes from ancient times of the ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka.

The novel optimistically indicates a path to peace. "The Palm of His Hand" is a spell-binding, readable book.

Serialisation begins in The Sunday Island of August 30 and ends on 29 of September.

Make sure you do not miss a single instalment.

A Juki machine training Institute was recently set up in the Yatinuwara electorate by the Gamini Dissanayake Foundation. The Director of the Foundation Naveen Dissanayake and Parliamentarian Lucky Dissanayake participated at the inauguration ceremony. Here, Naween Dissanayake is seen in conversation with a trainee of the Institute.

The Alumni Association of Colombo University meets at 10.00 a.m. on Sunday 30th at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Independence Avenue, Colombo. The Chief Guest, Sarath N. Silva, Attorney General will make a speech. This will be followed by a fellowship lunch open to all Alumni and their Guests.

Tickets for lunch (Rs. 250 each) available with Ms. Asoke Abeyratne at College House, Tel: 588244 or Ms. Harshi Wijekoon at the Sri Lanka Business Development Centre, Tel: 446667.

The production crew of TVT (The Video Team) has lodged a complaint with police headquarters in a bid to bring to justice the assailant responsible for the attack on their production manager, it was disclosed at a news conference. The production crew had been staying the night on the 19th of August at the Hanguranketha rest house to proceed to their location the next day when the production manager of this team was badly beaten by a drunken visitor in the Rest House for closing the door loudly. The crew claimed that assailant’s arrest is being held up and he is being protected by ‘powerful friends’.

The team lodged a complaint with the Hanguranketha police on their way to the hospital with the victim. Hanguranketha police is alleged to have refused to arrest the assailant on suspicion. The police had expressed fears to arrest the man. His friends had taken him from the rest house after the incident. The culprit is a resident of Mirihana and is believed to be backed by powerful friends. Police did not even record the statement of the victim who was hospitalised after the incident. There is an attempt to hush up the whole incident as a drunken brawl, the crew alleged.

Just before the attack around 9 p.m. the team was discussing their work for the next day inside one of the two rooms they were occupying. The production manager had come out to make arrangements for dinner while the others continued their discussion.

Meanwhile a noisy group of people were getting drunk in an open area of the rest house. The noise was audible to the team who was inside the room. The production manager came out to order dinner and to go to the other room he was occupying. He had walked past two people who obviously belonged to the group that was getting drunk. When the production manager came out of his room the door had accidentally banged behind him. The two people who were in the corridor had become annoyed by this noise and the victim was tackled to the ground in a drunken rage. The production manager was bleeding profusely when he staggered into the room where the TVT team was discussing. The production manager was beaten once again in front of the crew by the man who was obviously under the influence of liquor, it’s alleged. TVT Director Parakrama Niriella expressed disbelief and shock at the way the victim was beaten by a man in a drunken rage. The eye brow of the assaulted Production Manager was cut needing stitches and his jaw cracked needing an operation.

Their production work is suspended till the victim recovers. The TVT crew led by Parakrama Niriella is convinced that the police officials do not want to bring the culprit to book out of fear.

The Ceylon Bank Employees Union (CBEU) expressed dissatisfaction yesterday at the slow progress of talks with the managements of nine private banks centered around the revision of a collective agreement.

A CBEU source told 'The Island' that the earlier collective agreement covering the banks, lapsed on March 31. Talks aimed at a new agreement were commenced by the union and the Employers' Federation of Ceylon (EFC, which represents the managements) but have now run into troubled waters with the main bone of contention being the salary issue. The bank union started negotiations with a demand for a 50 per cent increase but managements have proposed a 15 per cent increase.

The union said they expect a higher figure as all the private banks are churning profits through the efforts of their "hard-working employees". "A few people at the top share the profits for themselves in the form of huge salaries but when it comes to the revision of salaries of those at the lower grades, they are not responsive enough", the source criticised. He said the union - which has a strong membership in all the banks - is "willing to fight hard."

The next meeting between the two parties is scheduled to take place on September 2. About 6,000 employees will benefit under the collective agreement. They are distributed among the Commercial Bank, Hatton National Bank, Hong Kong Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, State Bank of India, Habib Bank and Habib Zurich Bank.

A fire works factory in Negombo was completely gutted last night after some crackers caught fire accidently, police said.

The damage is estimated at rupees eight lakhs according to police.

Mr. Lantilus Fernando owns the factory known as "Three Lion Crackers" is at Iddalgoda, about five miles off Negombo ruled out sabotage. - (IP)

Galle: The one day general strike resorted to by the employees of the Governmental Mental Hospital, Unawatune, Galle, on Thursday was called off yesterday morning following the arrest of three persons involved in the attack on one of the male nurses of the hospital, the Secretary of the Southern Province Nurses Association D. Boralessa told "The Island" yesterday .

The employees of the hospital nearly 50 including the doctors, nurses and the minor staffs went on strike on Thursday following the failure by the Habaraduwa police to arrest those involved in the assault on the male nurse.

The male nurse Sirisumana Dhanapala was assaulted on Wednesday (26) night.

The UNP yesterday (28) launched its campaign of 60 protest rallies organised within the five dissolved Provincial Council areas against the postponement of the Provincial Council elections, a party spokesman said.

All the 60 protest rallies which began yesterday will be concluded within tree days. The rallies are organised by UNP MPs and activists in respective electorates, according to the spokesman.

The cabinet on Thursday approved a sum of Rs. 57 million for the renovation of the Bogambara stadium, cabinet spokesman and Media minister Mangala Samaraweera said.

He told yesterday’s cabinet press briefing that on a proposal by the Youth Affairs and Sports Minister S. B. Dissanayaka the cabinet also approved the transfer of the Bogambara stadium and the Nuwara Eliya Race Course ground to the Sports Ministry.

The race course grounds will also be renovated he said.

In the latter half of the twentieth century, the greatest challenge to international human rights comes from cultural relativism and religious extremism, said Dr. Radhika Coooma-raswamy.

Speaking at the eight, Kanchana Abhayapala Memorial Lecture organised by the Sarvodaya Legal Movement, held at BMICH Friday she said, it could be argued that there are two mutually antagonistic discourses which challenge the international human rights frame work as it constructed today. ‘The first is feminism, the second is cultural relativism. Both argue that their voices have not been recognised by the dominant paradigm of human rights.’

Delivering the welcome speech, a board member of the Sarvodaya Movement, Niranjan Sinnatambi said, this lecture which is to commemorate Kanchana Abhayapala, who was a lawyer by profession and decided to stand up for the rights of his fellow human beings who were suffering from the loss of their human rights. He paid the ultimate price, but his example lit a flame that today serves to inspire the work of many others, he added.

Dr. Coomaraswamy, present director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies in her lecture titled " Question of Honour, Women’s Ethnicity and Violence" said, though feminism attempts to strengthen the human rights frame work by making it apply to a larger segment of the

population, cultural relativism seeks the opposite. It often challenges the very substance and basis of human rights as a Eurocentric world-view, which ignores the diversity of the world’s culture.

"Cultural relativism and religious fundamentalism are important challenges to international human rights and particularly women’s rights. What is needed to combat them is, in Isabelle Gunning’s words, a mixture of ‘ arrogance’ and ‘playfulness’. Arrogance? Yes, International standards must be articulated and imposed on recalcitrant state," Dr. Coomaraswamy observed.

"This is essential and accountability requires that frame work. The arrogance is the communal arrogance of the international community. Playfulness? At the same time, we must engage societies at the human level, with cultural understanding and open mindedness. This playfulness will bring down boundaries, create net works and allow individuals to bond across cultures. As a result human rights will not only be an ideal in international textual law but in every day life of individuals. A combination of strategies which clearly set out norms but which respect the dignity of the world’s people is the only method that will bring us the results we desire," Dr. Coomaraswamy said in the conclusion of her lecture.

The Supreme Court Friday granted leave to proceed with the Fundamental Rights application filed by the Officer-in-Charge of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe's security division.

The petitioner, Police Inspector Sudath Rohana Kumara Chandrasekera says in the petition that on the right of 20.8.98, he had received a police message from the Director of the Ministerial Security Division, informing him that he had been sent on compulsory leave with immediate effect. No reasons had been given.

The direction to place him on compulsory leave had been given by the Director Personnel of the Police. The petition added that he has had a good service record, and there had been no disciplinary inquiries held against him into any allegations.

He had never been called upon to give explanation on any issue.

This sending him on compulsory leave has affected the security of Mr. Wickremasinghe, whom he had served for 15 years.

The decision to send him on compulsory leave is arbitrary and in violation of Article 12 (1) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

The petitioner has sought interim relief, to stay the operation of the order to send him on compulsory leave.

The petitioner has also moved Court to grant leave to proceed and to declare a violation of his Fundamental Rights.

The Supreme Court Friday granted leave to proceed and fixed the hearing for November 19.

The respondents cited to the petition are the I.G.P. The Director Ministerial Security Division, S. C. P. Jayasuriya, Senior Superintendent of Police (Personnel), D. S. C. Kohambalawithana, Secretary Defence R. K. Chandrananda de Silva and the Attorney General.

The respondents were given time till October 9, to file objections.

The petitioner was given two weeks time to file counter affidavits.

Senior State Counsel, Shavindra Fernando took notice on behalf of the Attorney General.

The petition was supported by Tilak Marapona, President's Counsel appearing with Nalin Ladduwahetty, instructed by Dhammika D. Yapa.

The application for interim relief was fixed to be supported on September 14.

The bench comprised, Justices Mark Fernando, Ranjith Dharmaratne and Lakshman Weerasekera.

Reference our news story headlined 'Kiriya Company faces legal action for refusing to destroy condemned ghee' carried in the issue of August 25, Kiriya Milk Industries of Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. states the report gives a false impression and is contrary to the correct position.

The company states:-

"It was we at Kiriya Milk Industries of Lanka Pvt. Ltd., who first determined that some 28 metric tonnes of ghee lying with us since 1994 was unfit for human consumption because the time determined for its consumption had expired. It was Kiriya that advertised this fact in Ceylon Daily News (May 30, 1998) and put it up for sale. The objective was that it could be used either for purposes other than human consumption or that it could be refined for use because it is neither poisonous nor infected. We do not have the means to handle the refining; hence the advertisement.

The possibility that such a large quantity of valuable material should be allowed to go waste through destruction appears to us to be very unfortunate. In the event the stock was sealed and stays sealed. The allegation that the seals have been broken and that a part of the ghee has been removed is nothing but a malicious fabrication.

Kiriya has tried neither to misrepresent the ghee as fit for human consumption nor tried to sell it for human consumption. The court ruling, as of now, gives us a month's time from August 18th to resolve the issue of the manner of the disposal of the material in consultation with the Chief Food Authority."

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) asked Indonesian President B. J. Habibie on Thursday to abandon a government proposal to introduce a licensing system for journalists, saying it would contravene human rights and impede economic development.

In a letter to the Indonesian President, WAN expressed serious concern about a statement issued by his office late last month saying that every working journalist should have a 'licence' to practise their profession.

"We respectfully remind you that any licensing system is open to abuse and almost inevitably leads to censorship or self-censorship," said the letter from WAN President Bengt Braun. "We also believe that such restrictions are in contravention of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Article 19 states that 'everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the right to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

"We would also like to point out that measures which inhibit the free flow of information not only contravene fundamental human rights, but also impede economic development," the letter to Mr. Habibie said. "Suppression of information goes hand-in-hand with corruption and, we believe, was an aggravating factor in the Asian economic crisis."

The letter asked Mr. Habibie to reject all calls for the licensing of journalists and to uphold international norms of free expression.

The Paris-based WAN, the global association of the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom and the economic independence of newspapers as an essential condition of that freedom. Its membership includes 55 national newspaper publishers associations, individual newspaper executives in 90 countries, seven regional press organizations and 17 news agencies world-wide.

'The development of Anuradhapura as a sacred city was the vision of my late father, Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike,' said President Chan-drika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga at Anuradhapura on Wednesday (26).

The President was addressing a public rally in the Anuradhapura New Town after unveiling a 30ft bronze statue of the Late S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike.

The President in company of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandarnaike, paid floral tributes at the statue after unveiling it.

The President said, that Anuradhapura, is one of the oldest cities of Sri Lanka and the world.

She said that Anu-radhapura was so named after two princes who made the city their abode. One of them being a member of the retinue of Prince Vijaya, and another, by the same name Anuradha, who sometime later lived in the city. It was both a place of worship as well as a living monument to the country's glorious past.

The ancient kingdom founded by king Pandukabhaya went into the limbo of forgotten things with the change of the kingdom to Polonnaruwa in the 10th century A.D.

The President said that under the British rule, the ancient city of Anuradhapura was further neglected despite the British in 1873 making it the capital city of the North Central Province.

'The mission of reclaiming the forgotten sacred area, and restoring its past resplendence was taken up by her father who in 1941, as a Minister of the State Council, made an important pronouncement about the bringing back this ancient city to life.

The President said her late father was able to take more meaningful steps to transform his lifetime dream into reality, as a Minister of the first Cabinet of Independent Sri Lanka, under Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake in 1949.

She said the idea of erecting a statue of the late Mr. Bandaranaike in the new town of Anuradhapura was first mooted by the present speaker of Parliament K. B. Ratnayake in 1997.

The erection of the 30ft bronze statue commenced in that year.

"When the speaker made the proposal I added my own ideas too and the proposal was expanded to include a Museum and an Information Centre.

"The Museum will house all available archaeological finds relating to the Anuradhapura period."

"We have completed the erection of the statue which we unveiled today. The construction of the Museum and the Information Centre will be started next year", the President said.

Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandara-naike issuing a statement said, "Anuradha-pura which symbolised our proud history as free and independent nation, has already been declared a world heritage."

"Believed to have been founded in the 6th century BC, Anuradha-pura, is an epic that unfolded our glorious past which had been buried in the sands of time."

"The British rulers, declared Anuradhapura the capital city of the North Central Province. But they paid no respect to the sanctity of the city, when they built roads, put up buildings and carried on their development programmes. The situation worsened as time passed. Citizens were allowed to construct houses, amongst the historic monuments."

"The first step to reverse this menace was taken by the late S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike when he was Minister of Local Government in the State Council".

"He once declared that Anuradhapura had a life and understood clearly the need to restore it as the principal city of the country. Thus he started the construction of the new town and the shifting of buildings etc., from the old town to the new town in 1949."

"The work progressed over a several periods of time and has come into fruition, as he wished."

"The programme which saw the commencement of the construction of the New Town of Anuradhapura in 1949, followed by the declaration of a Sacred City culminated with the celebration of the 2500th Buddha Jayanthi in the Sacred City of Anuradhapura."

"There is no dispute that the development of the city of Anuradhapura as we see it today is solely due to his understanding and effort. It is my own fortune that I had been able to take part in the Anuradhapura development activities along with him when he was living, and to have been able to contribute my own part when I was the Prime Minister of the country".

"I appreciate very much the decision taken to erect his statue close to the Malwathu Oya near the entrance to the Sacred city, so that the prosperity will be able to know the architect of this whole programme and his contribution to the country".

I also pay my tribute to speaker K. B. Ratnayake for initiating action to erect a statue of Late S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike here."

Speaker K. B. Ratnayake said: "We must apologise to the people for the failure to erect a statue of late S. W. R. D. Bandarnaike in the Anuradhapura New Town for so long.

"Anyway things might have turned out that way, so that his own daughter, who is the President of the country along with his wife, who is the present Prime Minister, together could take part in the ceremonial unveiling of his statue. We could be happy about it."

The function commenced with Pansil being administered by Anuradhapura Atamasthanadhipathi the Ven. Pallegama Siri Niwasa Thera and a religious sermon by Ven. Pallegama Hemaratana Thera.

Earlier in the day the President presided over the annual convention of the Anuradhapura SLFP organisations, the proceedings of which were not open to media other than the state owned.

There is a clear distinction between regulation and supervision, although both are often used interchangeably said, Deputy Secretary General, Basle Committee on banking supervision, Charles Freeland.

Speaking at the 48th Anniversary Lecture of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka titled "Banking Supervision and Regulation", held at the Staff Training Centre, Rajagiriya on August 27, he said, bank regulation means constraints and prohibition on the manner in which banks conduct their activities. "We are living in a strongly deregulatory global climate with many such controls have been or being lifted," he noted.

"New freedom and activities mean new temptations in areas where banks will by definition lack experience. That is exactly where the Central Bank needs to step up its on and off site supervisory capabilities. Supervision means oversight of bank’s activities and action where necessary to prevent excessive risk- taking. This is a far more flexible approach than regulation can ever achieve. How ever, its very lack of precision means it is inevitably more difficult to operate effectively," Charles Freeland added.

"The most recent product of the collaborative efforts has been the issue of last September of the "Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision". This is a document that set out a broad framework of guidelines for effective banking supervision. As such, it is designed to be used as a reference document by national authorities and international institutions," he observed.

Explaining the important aspects of the Core Principles, Freeland said, it is the philosophy that underpins them. Conceptual approaches to banking supervision have developed radically over the past twenty years or so, both as a result of the work of the Basle Committee and in response to the rapid evolution of the financial markets.

Freeland briefly explained the role the banks have to perform in order to achieve the prime objectives of the bank supervision and stated that he expects the steps would be taken in order to ensure what the Core Principles can achieve, need to be set at a realistic level. It will inevitably be a long and hard road but, he hoped the banks will start along it from now.

The welcome address and the introduction to the lecture was made by the Governor of the Central Bank A. S. Jayawardena.

Minister of Science & Technology Batty Weerakoon has appointed, Vidya Nidhi Dr. N. R. de Silva, the new Chairman, of the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI), with effect from August 1.

Dr. de Silva, replaces Vidya Jyothi Dr. R. O. B. Wijesekera.

Dr. de Silva first served on the Governing Board of the then Bureau of Ceylon Standards from November 1976 and subsequently became the Director of the Bureau in March 1983. He served in this capacity until January 1984, at which time he was appointed the Director General of the successor to the Bureau of Ceylon Standards, the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI), in which capacity he served until November 1989. In 1994, he was appointed Chairman of the SLSI, a post he held up to the point of his appointment to the ITI.

Dr. de Silva has been actively involved in the field of Standardisation and Quality management at a national level, having initiated several programs in education and training both at school level and in industry. He was responsible for the establishment of Quality circles in selected industries and also for formulating the first Laboratory Accreditation Scheme in Sri Lanka.

He has a Special degree in Chemistry from the University of Ceylon, in 1957 and Masters and Doctoral degrees from the University of Bristol where he specialised in Analytical Chemistry.

Dr. de Silva has served on the Governing Boards of the Centre for Industrial Technology Information Services (CITIS), on the Boards of Directors of the Sri Lanka Ayurvedic Drugs Corporation, the National Textile Corporation and the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission. He has also served on the Faculty of Science Board of the University of Kelaniya. Presently he is a member of the Faculty of Science Board of the University of Colombo, a Council member of the Open University of Sri Lanka and an elected member of the Governing Board of the Institute of Fundamental Studies (IFS).