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Following
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Following arrest of LTTE pistol
gang member The arrest of a member of LTTE’s pistol gang during Tuesday’s shooting of an army captain at Bambalapitiya has led to the recovery of a haul of items used in the manufacture of bombs from a house at Kalubowila. Seven members of the suspect’s household are being held for questioning, police sources said. The arrested Tiger as described by police is an Electronics Engineering student of the Open University at Nawala. This led to a search of his house at Temple Road, Kalubowila. There the police recovered materials, used in the manufacture of bombs. After the shooting he had attempted to escape in a three wheeler but was captured by police. He had told investigators that his accomplice identified as Suresh had managed to escape after the shooting. Suresh had monitored the movements of an ADC to a senior military officer before they used a 9 mm automatic to fire 9 rounds repeatedly at captain Sanjeeva Wickremaratne and his driver while they were travelling in an army Toyota Land Cruiser near Dickman’s Road around 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday, police said. Captain Wickremaratne was critically injured as he was hit in the neck, mouth and chest and was admitted to the Accident Service. He underwent surgery the same night. The army driver accompanying him was also injured and received medical treatment. Police believe that the two pistol gang members had come on a motor cycle. An empty magazine was found in the possession of the arrested youth along with two grenades and a cyanide capsule, investigators said. Bambalapitiya police recovered from the scene nine spent 9mm shells and a blue pair of slippers left behind by the attackers. Sleuths from Special Investigation Branch recovered from the arrested member’s Kalubowila house two detonator caps, six detonators, a large consignment of cycle ball bearings, tin shrapnel, grease, a pair of pliers and two grenades. Investigators have detained the suspect’s father and mother, his younger sister who worked in a private firm, and an elderly Tamil from Wellawatte who used to frequent the house along with the Sinhalese landlady, her son and brother in connection for questioning. The Temple Road annexe with three rooms had been rented around four years ago at Rs. 4000 per month, police said. The 25-year-old Engineering student was handed over to Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) for further investigation. His accomplice Suresh is still missing, police said. Further investigations are being directed by DIG (Colombo Range) Jagath Jayawardena. Curly haired youth wearing denim jeans fired
at General's aide - Witness A curly haired youth wearing denim jeans jumped from side to side while firing at Captain K. Wickremaratne’s vehicle when it stopped at the Dickman's Road colour lights, in Bambalapitiya said Kapila Gunasinghe, a trishaw driver who witnessed the incident on Tuesday afternoon. He was making a statement to the security officials at the Army Headquarters yesterday. Private Weerasinghe who was on duty at Kirulapone checkpoint who managed to apprehend the assailant was promoted to the rank of Corporal while Kapila Gunasinghe and another person who wished to remain anonymous who also helped to capture the suspect were commended by the military. Military spokesman Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon said that they are planning to give cash rewards to the two civilians as well. "The youth who shot at Capt. Wickremaratne started running after firing. The army driver tried to stop him. Then I went up to him in my three wheeler and told him to get in so we can give chase to the assailant. He got in armed with a big stone," Gunasinghe said. "Before going very far I halted the three wheeler and told the army driver that if both of us chase him he may attack and kill us so I told him to wait and I followed the man. When I spotted him again he was getting into a Rukmalgama bound bus. I got close to the bus driver and told him not to move the bus and went to the nearest checkpoint for help," he said. Gunasinghe said that when the police arrived to search the bus the suspect had gone off and he managed to trace the terrorist's tracks by the information given to him by some alert people. At Kirulapone Corporal Weerasinghe had captured the man and the terrorist was about to consume cyanide but the Corporal had managed to prevent and got hold of his weapons. There were two grenades in the suspect's bag he added. Then he was handed over to the police. President commissions patrol boats for
police marine division President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday ceremonially commissioned five new police patrol boats at the Beira Lake. One of the boats was named "W. B. Rajaguru." The commissioning marked the setting up of the Police Marine Division. For the first time in the history of the police, they are now ready to engage in sea patrolling. Police had purchased five patrol boats for the marine division each valued at Rs. 1.5 million. They are fitted with five zero guns and have a speed capacity of 35 knots per hour. The remaining boats were named after four police officers who sacrificed their lives for their motherland. The purchase of boats and setting up of the marine division was mooted by IGP Rajaguru. One of the boats was named " W. B. Rajaguru", to express gratitude to the IGP, a police spokesman said. This marine division is headed by SSP Premananda Atapattu and ASP Rohan Fernando is his deputy. Speaking of the new addition to the Police Department, senior DIG Gamini Guna-wardena told the media, that the setting up of such a unit is a need of the hour. There are a number of reasons behind this. They are, to avoid sea piracy, to prevent drug dealings on the coast line, to control other crimes in the sea and to assist fishermen and others who face difficulties in the sea. The unit comprises of 30 policemen initially. They were trained on various aspects in different fields such as fire fighting, narcotics and life saving, DIG Gunawardena said. The police now control the sea limits between Kalpitiya and Beruwala, he added. Police also plan to engage two of the boats for sea patrolling in Jaffna and Galle. The families of the police officers, after the four boats were named were invited to commission the boats. Deputy Minister of Transport Reggie Ranatunga, Defence Secretary Chandrananda de Silva, IGP Rajaguru and senior officials of the Ports Authority were also present. Friday last day for appeals for busmen
served with vacated post notices All Sri Lanka Central Transport Board (SLCTB) employees who struck work and were served with vacation of post letters, but wishing to return to work will have to hand in their appeals requesting the revoking of the letters will have to do so by tomorrow Friday (28), Chairman of the Central Transport Board, Ramal Siriwardena told ‘The Island’ yesterday (26). Approximately 375 of the 530 workers attached to the Mattakkuliya bus depot were served with vacation of posts letters under direction from the Minister of Transport and Highways, A. H. M. Fowzie early last week following the trade union action. However following request by the Joint Council of Trade Unions to recall the workers back to work and revoke the letters of vacation of posts, the Minister on August 18, issued a statement to the effect that he was prepared to "consider individual appeals submitted by strikers giving reasons for their action", yet refused to solicit any common appeals made on their behalf. However according to the chairman, not a single worker has thus been taken back to work following the Minister’s directive. He further added that all workers whose services have been discontinued will have time till Friday to appeal for their reinstatement. "Friday will be the last day for appeals, else it will be an injustice for others who have already appealed not to take their cases for examination," he added. According to Mr. Siriwardena, all appeals made will be taken up for examination on Monday (31). He further denied reports that the public were being inconvenienced due to the lack of staff and the buses in the Mattakkuliya depot. According to him, all buses in the depot amounting to 40 have been distributed among a number of other depots to be run till the services in the depot returns to normal. "There is no problem in running the services operated by this depot as we actually have an excess of staff in all the depots. As such the public should not face any difficulty," he added. He added that the Western Province Transport Commission has been directed to provide additional services for the Mattakkuliya-Seemamalakaya (145), Mattakkuliya-Ratmalana (155), Dehiwela-Totalanga (167), Mattakkuliya-Narahenpita (178) and Totalanga-Nugegoda (173) routes. Meanwhile the Commissioner of the Western Province Transport Commission, Wijesiri Soysa, contacted by ‘The Island’ stated that, there were sufficient buses being deployed on these routes. "Earlier the private buses have had to stand in the terminals for a long period till the CTB buses were full, but now it’s the reverse they keep running. There is no shortage of buses or any inconvenience to the commuters," he added. He also stated that he had not received a single complaint of inconvenience from the public. Top police team to probe Watadage
guardstones plunder A top level police team led by SSP S. M. Wickremasinghe has been detailed to probe the plundering of the five priceless guardstones of the ancient Watadage in Medirigiriya. Investigators have already questioned watchers and labourers of the Watadage site. Treasure hunters plundered the site which is over 2,000 years old and removed all five guardstones on Saturday night. They had destroyed the foundations and taken away these priceless treasures. Treasure hunters are haunting the Polonnaruwa and Medirigiriya areas and several attempts to dig ancient treasures were reported during the past three month, police said. No arrests have been made so far. Devananda attack case put off for Sept. 8 Kalutara: The Kalutara Magistrate C. V. Rajapakse yesterday put off hearing into the attack by sixteen LTTE suspects on EPDP leader Douglas Devananda when he visited the Jawatta Prison on June 30 as Douglas Devananda and other witnesses were not present in courts for the identification parade. The Magistrate put off the case till September 8. The sixteen LTTE suspects were brought to courts under strict security by police and armed forces in a prisons vehicle and produced them before the Magistrate. The CID officers, who were conducting investigations told courts that Douglas Devananda MP was not present on courts on Medical advice. The suspects were kept in a special cell until Magistrate came into courts. Government schools islandwide will reopen today (27). However some schools in Colombo which are being used as marking centres for the recently held Advanced Level Examination will reopen on a later date. The first phase of paper marking began on August 20 and will continue till September 2. Fourteen schools will remain closed for that duration, namely- Royal College, Visakha Vidyalaya, Mahanama College, Ananda Balika Vidyalaya, Ananda College, Nalanda College, Gothami Balika Vidyalaya, Thurstan College, Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Isipatana College, Lumbini Maha Vidyalaya, D. S. Senanayake College, Muslim Ladies College and Anula Balika Vidyalaya. Paper marking will take on the second phase from September 3 to 16. Eleven schools will remain closed for this duration, however Muslim Ladies College, D. S. Senanayake College and Thurstan College will reopen for the third term on the September 3. Support
govt’s efforts to solve N-E crisis, says envoy in
Jaffna The British High Commissioner David Tatham during a recent visit to Jaffna has urged the large Tamil expatriate community not to fund the on-going war in Sri Lanka. "What I would urge you to do is to appeal to the Tamil diaspora -- to your relatives and friends living abroad -- to help, not in destroying this island, but in re-building it. I think you should be asking people living in England, Canada, Australia, wherever, to send money to help restore the library, to help restore life in this city. If they have property here they should repair it -- they should come, they should try to restore life to Jaffna," the British High Commission quoted the envoy as saying. Tatham has visited Jaffna twice before. He first visited Jaffna in October 1996 just a few months after combined security forces completed multi-phased Riviresa offensive. His second visit was in January this year. "I have seen very considerable progress being made in Jaffna. One looks at the electricity ; one sees more telephones; one sees the work on the water supplies going on. In the electricity, Britain is involved, in the water supply, Germany is involved. The European Community is involved in various other aid projects about the city and I am proud to see these going ahead," the High Commissioner has told the Jaffna Mayor Pon Sivapalan, councillors and other senior officials. The High Commissioner has also appreciated and admired the work done by the Mayor, councillors and others involved in the administration. The British High Commissioner, in no uncertain terms indicated that the Tamil community should support the government’s ongoing efforts to solve the North-East problem. "He indicated in clear terms that instead of funding the war the expatriate community should support the ongoing development work in the Jaffna peninsula," the source said. Tatham has said that British government want to see negotiations resumed between parties to the ongoing war. He has said that this problem cannot be solved by war. "War was wished on the government," he told the gathering. LTTE on that day broke off a 100-day ceasefire and launched attacks forcing the government to respond. It was not the desire of the government to continue with the war, the High Commissioner has said. Security Forces Commander, Jaffna Major General Lionel Balagalle and the military spokesman Brigadier Sunil Tennakoon were among several officials who said that the High Commissioner has sent out a clear signal to those backing the LTTE campaign. Brigadier Tennakoon said that the High Commissioner’s statement was significant. The High Commissioner has stayed in Jaffna, the military said. Jaffna Municipal Council Mayor Pon Sivapalan said that the High Commissioner expressed his views when some members of the council requested for British assistance to end the war. "Yes, he wanted the expatriate community to end financial support for the war," Sivapalan said. The military or police had not been invited for the meeting. About 60 Municipal Council members and public servants had attended the meeting. The High Commissioner’s visit was the first since unidentified assassins believed to be from the LTTE shot dead Jaffna Mayor Sarojini Yogeswaran, the wife of an assassinated TULF parliamentarian. Talking on the assassination of the former Mayor, the High Commissioner has said that " we have to re-build the democratic structures of local government and I know that the murder of your previous mayor was deplored all over the world. This was a blow to democracy and a blow to representative government and everyone saw this. Everyone saw it was an attempt to impose what you have described as the culture of the gun." Replying the councillors, the High Commissioner has said that "there is no monopoly of suffering in this country -- every community has suffered in this country. Some may have suffered more than the others but no community wishes the war to continue." High Commissioner has reminded the councillors that he is based in Colombo which has a very considerable Tamil population -- a very considerable Sinhalese population. " I am not saying there are no problems but by and large it is a city that works together and works well. If you go to a street in Colombo you will see a Sinhala name, a Tamil name, a Muslim name and an English name," he was quoted as saying. Sri Lankan government has repeatedly urged the European community, the US, South Africa and several other countries to prevent LTTE front offices from collecting and diverting massive funds for their war effort. LTTE operates several offices in UK as well as many other countries. Asked whether he had been accompanied by the British Defence Advisor, Colonel Robert Kendall, the Sri Lankan military replied in the negative. However the High Commissioner accompanied by Colonel Kendall had visited Cheddikulam on the Medawachchiya-Mannar road and Murunkan on the Vavuniya-Mannar road this week. Sri Lankan forces secured the Vavuniya-Mannar road in February last year. Murunkan is headquarters to a brigade deployed in that particular sector. "He had met military officials during brief visits to Cheddikulam," the military said. However the High Commissioner and Colonel Kendall were unable to visit Mannar island administered by the government. Asked for comments, a High Commission spokesman yesterday said that " the High Commissioner was on a routine familiarisation visit to the north with Colonel Robert Kendall, his defence advisor. After visiting Cheddikulam, he decided that there was not sufficient time on this occasion to follow a satisfactory programme in Mannar." The High Commission spokesman did not make any reference to Murunkan. The High Commissioner was expected to make arrangements to visit Mannar again. The military believes that visits by the High Commissioner was aimed at assessing the current situation in northern areas administered by the government. "We hope their assessment will result in some sort of control on LTTE activities on the British soil," a senior official said adding that the recent bombings in Africa, UK and other parts of the world must bring the international community together to fight terrorism. The LTTE has been using their offices in UK both for propaganda purposes, collection of funds and other covert activities. "Almost all the Tamils living in UK and many other countries have to contribute to LTTE coffers or face trouble," a Sri Lankan foreign ministry official said pointing out that if the British takes action against LTTE it will deeply hurt the movement. Both India and the US have banned the LTTE. Police Marine Division to guard coastal
belt The Police Department will launch its newest division today in an attempt to curb piracy and to secure the coastal belt, police sources said. The newest division will be named the Marine Division and will be under Senior Deputy Inspector General (Crimes and Criminal Intelligence) H. Gamini Gunawardena. The director will be Senior Superintendent of Police A. H. M. Premananda and deputy director will be Assistant SP Roshan Fernando, the sources said. Police sources said that the Marine Division will consist nearly 40 officers and men with five boats and will be confined only to the Colombo Harbour areas for a start. The five boats will all be powered by 250 horse power out board motors. "The division will be expanded soon and the final goal is to deploy boats and men in the coastal belt from Kalpitiya in the North to Tangalle in the south. Before this the Harbour Police was incharge of investigations and combatting crime in Sri Lankan waters. However, the harbour police had their limits as there were not enough resources, the sources said. The harbour police at Colombo port had only two boats and both of them were out of commission, they added. Due to the inabilities of the harbour police the fishermen mainly from Modera and Wattala areas were involved in smuggling and also pirating ships which were anchored outside the harbour. In 1996 a Thai national involved in Sri Lankan fishing firm 'Diyakawa' was killed by such a group of pirates. The idea of having a separate division for combatting sea piracy came up about four months ago. Sources said that there has been an increase in piracy in the recent past. Many ships have been attacked and their goods have been removed by pirates, they said. The former director of the Crime Detective Bureau (CDB) SSP Chandra Perera was first called in to head the Marine Division. However, he went on transfer to Jaffna about a month ago. The Marine Division will be headquartered at the Colombo Harbour, the sources said. With the introduction of police to the sea the navy will be relieved of some of their pressure of securing the Sri Lankan water, the sources said. Currently the navy has deployed a substantial number of their fast attack crafts along the western coast mainly to prevent terrorist attacks in Colombo. The establishment of the Marine Division will call for an end to the long awaited necessity of a coast guard service. Until today many governments which ruled had the idea of starting a coastguard service. The present government also tried to do so twice. The Ministry of Fisheries was also reported to have its coastguard service to protect the Sri Lankan fishermen. Registered and asst. medical officers warn of
strike action The Society of Registered and Assistant Medical Officers (SRAMO) has warned the government of 'stern trade union action by its 1,650 membership if the authorities fail to resolve its problems within two weeks'. President of the SRAMO Dr. Ananda Chandrasekera told 'The Island' that it's planning a one-day islandwide token strike initially and unless a positive response is received from the authorities it will resort to a general strike. This decision has been unanimously taken by the membership of the SRAMO at its general meeting held last Saturday (22) at J. R. Jayewardene Cultural Centre attended by around 800 members. According to Dr. Chadrasekera the long-standing demands of the SRAMO are: * Registered or Assistant Medical Officers (R/AMOs) also be paid allowances given to graduate medical officers for doing extra medical duties. * A diploma certificate be issued to R/AMO's instead of the present efficiency certificate issued on completion of their three-year training. * R/AMOs be released from Provincial Council jurisdiction and be taken back under the central government enabling them to get transfers out from the provinces in which they now are employed. "Because the R/AMOs come under provincial administration, they are forced to work at the same province for decades without any chances for transfers. 'In addition the efficiency certificate issued to us by the Ministry is recognised only by the Sri Lankan Government. This has caused much hardships to our membership in pursuing higher studies in foreign countries and when applying for foreign jobs. What we need is an internationally recognised diploma certificate on completion of our training. Though a committee appointed three years ago on this matter recommended the issue of a diploma certificate. It has still not been implemented," he lamented. "With regard to the extra duty allowances, the Minister of Health promised to hold a discussion with the government treasury several months ago but now it seems to have been totally forgotten. The intense interest taken by the Ministry to stop recruitment of new R/AMOs a few years ago, is not visible now to resolve our protracted problems," he said. Dr. Chandrasekera also said, "if we are compelled to resort to a general strike it will greatly affect the North and East areas and border villages in particular because there are over 500 medical institutions in that region which are solely manned by R/AMOs." However, steps will be taken to maintain emergency services if we decide to go ahead with the trade union action, he said. British HC to attend inauguration of ACSC The British High Commissioner David Tatham will attend the inauguration of the first ever Sri Lanka Army Command and Staff College [ACSC] on Friday. The British Army has offered a permanent officer for the duration of the first course, in the rank of colonel in an advisory capacity to the ACSC. Cabinet ministers, both past and present service commanders and members of the diplomatic corps were among the invitees. The ACSC’s aims are met through addressing six principle objectives as follows: [a] Know and be able to apply the functions and techniques of the staff in war and peace. [b] Know and apply the principles and techniques involved in the employment of land forces in particular, and armed forces in general in all types of military operations. [c] Analyse the function of command structure including divisional level. [d] Know the structure , deployment, roles and independence of the Sri Lankan armed forces. [e] Understand how the Sri Lanka ‘defence policy is formulated and its relationship with military doctrine, and [f] Analyse those issues in national and international affairs which influence the defence policies of Sri Lanka and her allies. "Work is also underway to affiliate the ACSC with the University of Kelaniya," the military said yesterday. When this is done and if, the dissertations written by the students of ACSC meet the requirement and standards layed down by the University, they will be awarded a Master of Science degree in Defence Studies. Major General Anton E. D. Wijendra [RAP, USP psc] is the first Commandant of the ACSC. Brigadier Halangoda is his deputy. The directing staff of the college are officers in the rank of colonel, lieutenant colonel or their equivalent. All of them have qualified Command and Staff colleges in the UK, USA, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Malaysia. "The Commander of Army Lt. General Rohan De S Daluwatte decided to start an ACSC to enable selected officers to enhance their professional education as the Army’s expansion has been phenomenal in the last few years," an Army statement issued said yesterday. - [SF] Registration with SLBFE a must for
foreign jobs come Sept. 1 A new regulation coming into effect next week will oblige all prospective migrant workers to produce evidence of Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) registration in order to obtain the mandatory medical certificates required for the issuing of visas. A SLBFE source told ‘The Island’ yesterday that the regulation come into effect on September 1. He said it is yet another step taken by the bureau in its efforts to curb the illegal migration of workers. "A medical certificate is a must for the release of visas to prospective employees," he explained, "By making registration a must for the issuing of these certificates, workers will be obliged to register." The bureau has already obtained the cooperation of doctors attached to the eight medical centres approved by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). These centres examine and issue certificates for workers to Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The source said the Bureau hopes to obtain the cooperation of all other doctors, as well. The medical examination includes a vast number of tests including those for physical fitness and AIDS. It is legally required that all migrant workers register with the bureau prior to their departure. This enables a tab to be kept on Sri Lankan workers abroad. Registered workers are entitled to several welfare schemes, including an automatic insurance scheme. The SLBFE also takes responsibility for registered workers in cases of repatriation and is able to intervene on their behalf when problems arise during their tenure in foreign employment. However, according to the source, there is still a huge number of workers who leave the shores without registration. When these workers find themselves in trouble, it is not possible for the bureau to intervene on their behalf. Neither is it possible to keep records. Registration is not restricted to semi-skilled and unskilled workers - all migrant workers, including skilled must obtain registration. |
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