      |
||||
|
||||
Army advancing further north from Mankulam The army which wrested control of Mankulam town advanced further northwards from newly captured areas on Saturday amidst a barrage of mortars fired by the Tigers, security sources said. Advancing troops repulsed LTTE mortar attacks causing heavy casualties among the terrorists, these sources indicated. 'Troops are continuing their advance from Mankulam' security officials said without elaborating. Around 4.30 p.m. security forces cleared terrorist trench lines north west of Mankulam and killed 6 Tigers, Five T-56 assault rifles were also recovered. North West of Olumadu and Kuisuddakulam areas troops conducted a search and clear operation and recovered 5 claymore mines, an anti tank mine, 3 anti personnel mines and a LTTE map, Operational Headquarters reported yesterday. Consolidation of newly captured areas is in progress while Operation Jayasikuru is continuing, it said. On Saturday at Thandikulam in Vavuniya district terrorists exploded 3 claymore mines at army vehicles plying from Thandikulam to Vavuniya. A soldier and civilian were killed and 2 soldiers were injured due to the explosion. Subsequently troops searched the area and recovered 2 claymore mines from the area. Last Friday north west of Paranthan in Kilinochchi district troops operating ahead of defences sniped and killed 6 terrorists. The same day time at Gurunagar in Jaffna 83 displaced civilians of 30 families reached gurunagar jetty from uncleared areas, official sources said. UNP appoints team to look into welfare of wounded soldiers Colombo Mayor, Desabandu, Karu Jaya-suriya and a team of UNP parliamentarians had visited wounded soldiers at the Colombo National Hospital and other hospitals where they are under treatment. The UNP has also appointed a team of parliamentarians to look after the needs and welfare of these woun-ded war heroes, UNP news release stated. The UNP calls upon all political parties, other voluntary organisations and individuals to shed all political differences in this hour of need and come forward to donate blood required for the injured security personnel. The party through its Youth Front has organised several blood donation campaigns islandwide to fulfil the needs of the wounded soldiers the press release added. Tigers recover 27 bodies of ill-fated Lion
Air passengers The Tigers are reported to have recovered 27 dead bodies believed to be those of passengers of the ill-fated Lion Air aircraft, last Saturday, according to reports. The Navy found three bodies and a life jacket floating in the sea off Iranathivu last Wednesday. The 27 bodies had been found close to Mandikulam Colombuturai and in Kalmunai seas according to reports. As these bodies were in a highly decomposed state they had been buried with the assistance of the fisherfolk of the area. Gold jewellery and other valuables found on the dead bodies had been removed by the LTTE according to informed sources from Jaffna. But so far not a single piece of the wreckage of the plane has been found defence sources said. It is suspected that the LTTE may have taken away the remains of the aircraft according to these sources.
Teachers to protest on 'World Teachers Day' A protest and a picketing campaign by the Sri Lanka Teachers Union will be launched tomorrow Tuesday to mark the 'World Teachers Day'. It will take place in front of ̉Siri Kotha' at 2.00 p.m. a UNP news release stated. It will be followed by a meeting to highlight the following: * Debasing of teachers by the present government
leadership. Bomb thrown at UC chairman's house KALUTARA: An unidentified person hurled a bomb at the residence of the chairman of Beruwala Urban Council Mohamed Marjana around 9.20 p.m. on Saturday. Police said that the roof of the house and the ceiling of the room where the chairman sleeps, have been damaged. Mr. Marjana was not at home at the time of the attack, police said. Beruwala police are conducting further investigations. PSD Chief Inspectors son killed The son of a Police Inspector was killed at a wedding house at Beruwala last Saturday. The victim was thirty year old R. M. K. Suriya Bandara of Kankanam-goda, Beruwala. He was the son of M. K. Premananda, Chief Inspector of President's Security Division. He met with his tragic death while trying to intervene in a quarrel between two parties at a wedding house. He was assaulted and died thereafter. No suspects have so far been taken to custody in this connection. An airman was killed and another seriously injured when the rotor blades of a helicopter struck them at Vavuniya airbase last Saturday. The two airmen were attempting to alight from another helicopter that had arrived from Mankulam when the mishap occurred. The dead airman has been identified as Y. D. R. T. Wijeratne (34) while the injured is S. Ariyaratne Vavuniya police and officials of Vavunia airbase are conducting investigations. Death sentence set aside by Court of Appeal,
re-trial ordered Death sentence imposed on two accused in a murder case by Hambantota High Court was set aside by the Court of Appeal comprising Justice F. N. D. Jayasuriya and Justice P. H. K. Kulatileke last week. Court also ordered re-trial. The convicts K. Premasiri and P. Wijenayaka appealed against their conviction and sentence. The appeal was supported by President's Counsel R. I. Obeysekera. The prosecution story was that the two convicts armed with knives stabbed the deceased several times. The identity card of the second accused was picked up from the scene of the crime and handed over to Inspector Gunatileke. But the Inspector in his evidence told that he himself picked up the identity card from the scene of crime when he visited the scene. The second accused making a statement from the dock said that his identity card had been robbed from him by armed persons at the height of the insurgency in 1989. Senior Defence Counsel R.I. Obey-sekera in his submissions pleaded that the trial judge had failed to draw a distinction between similar intention as opposed to common intention since the deceased had several injuries, which were knife injuries and they could have been caused by either of the accused. Obeysekera argued that the failure to establish which accused caused the fatal injuries was all the more important in the context of the absence of the existence of a common murderous intention shared by the accused. The inference of common intention had to be established beyond reasonable doubt and should be a necessary inference from which there is no escape. Obeysekera concluded that the Court of Appeal had consistently held such view in a long line of cases. State Counsel Sanjeeva Samara-nayake while conceding that the learned trial judge had not drawn a distinction between similar intention and common intention submitted that there was sufficient evidence on record to sustain conviction. President's Counsel R. I. Obeysekera with Dinith Pathiraja and Chinthaka Mendis appeared for the convicts. State Counsel Sanjeeva Samara-nayaka appeared for the Attorney General. First to pass the 'CISA' exam in Sri Lanka Mr. T. J. Pathirage, Chief Manager (Information System Audit) of Seylan Bank has been the first to pass the highly competitive, globally recognized Certified Information System Auditor (CISA) Exam from the Sri Lanka Chapter of Information System Audit and Control Association (ISACA) of USA. Mr. Pathirage was one of nearly 5000 professionals from around the world who sat for the examination held in June 1998. CISA is developed and administered by Information System Audit and Control Association of USA with 10,000 CISA qualified members around the world, the CISA Exam is offered in more than 60 countries and Sri Lanka is one of them. It tests candidates' expertise in Information Technology (IT) audit, control and security, their application of professional standards, and their proficiency in the industry's procedures and practices. Information Technology being the back-bone of the national development and the financial industry in the next millennium Mr. Pathirage's achievement would be an another turning point in producing the experts in the Information System Audit and Controls profession in Sri Lanka specially when there is a severe short supply of IT professionals in the country. Mr. Pathirage has been endeavouring to develop this high-tech profession through practising of IT Audit for many years. He has been a Banker for 25 years and started his career in Bank of Ceylon and obtained IT audit technical training under World Bank Consultants and pioneered in establishing the IT Audit Unit of the Bank Of Ceylon. He had been on IT audit missions abroad for two years and recently joined Seylan Bank to form its Information System (IS) Audit Unit. Seylan Bank is the only Bank where a CISA qualified professional leads the IS audit team. He had obtained his B.Sc. in Business Administration from Sri Jayawardenapura University. He as an Associate Member of the Institute of Bankers. He is also the CISA Co-ordinator in Sri Lanka. He is very often invited to talk on IT Audit & Control topics in professional seminars. (Fn: CISA Press Release) Samurdhi and Govi Sevana workers
to protest The Union of Samurdhi and Govi Sevana workers have decided to launch a poster campaign and a widespread protest meetings complaining that their demands have not been satisfactorily met during the past few months and as the government is not going to change its stand to make only section of the Samurdhi Govi Sevana workers permanent. The Union suspended trade union action a few months ago on the request of the mulberry group. The niyamakas expected a solution with the intervention of the government mulberry group members. The union states that after 3 months they have not got the desired results. The union was hoping that with the intervention of the mulberry group their demands will be fulfilled. Their demands include a meeting with the President, to make the Niyamakas permanent on terms they were recruited, and to give equal benefits to 30,000 niyamakas. The mulberry group has not been able to get the niyamakas’ demands, the Union states. The niyamakas are not satisfied with the offer to make 10,000 Samurdhi niyamakas permanent initially according to the new criteria drawn up regarding qualifications. The union states that they cannot agree to the offer of making 3,500 govi sevana workers out of 11,000 permanent under a new entry scheme. The union seeks a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture to discuss the issues. Daya Perera elected President SLWJA Daya Perera of Lake House was elected President of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association, at the election of the office bearers, held at the Sri Lanka Moors Association Headquarters, Colombo last Saturday (3). The other contenders for the post were sitting President Mahinda Abeysundera (ITN) and Newton Seneviratne (Ravaya). Daya Perera was elected by a majority of 44 votes securing 179 votes against sitting President Mahinda Abeysundera who secured only 135 votes. The third contender Newton Seneviratne received only 109 votes, at this election of office bearers which recorded a low turnout of voters. Chandraguptha Amarasinghe of Ravaya and S. N. R. Pillai of Express Newspapers Ltd, were elected to the two Vice Presidents' posts of the Association. Dushyantha Samarasena of Vijaya Newspapers Ltd was elected General Secretary and Sirimevan Kasthuriarachchi of Upali Newspapers Ltd was elected Treasurer. Bandula Abeyratna of Lake House and Sudharman Rada-liyagoda were elected, Asst. Secretary. A. P. S. Moses and M. M. M. Ismuth were elected Asst. Treasurers. Twenty two members of the working committee were also elected. The elections coincided with the Association's Annual General Meeting. |
||||
 |
||||
