.

JVP denies any post-polls arrangement with PA

by Franklyn R. Satyapalan
The JVP has categorically denied a news report that it intends to use a possible balance of power position that might emerge at the forthcoming Northwestern Provincial Council election to help the PA to form an administration in the Wayamba.

Mr. Bimal Ratnayake, National Organiser of the Socialist Students Union who is leading the JVP in the NWPC election denied a report last week quoting him saying that the JVP would help the PA to set up an administration in the Wayamba in return for a powerful portfolio.

Ratnayake said that their slogan was Ali - Putu Horu - that both the UNP with the elephant election symbol and the PA whose symbol was the chair were rogues. They of the JVP would never support either of these two parties.

He said that the UNP and the PA had similarly destructive economic and social policies. Right now their members were facing the terror of the PA in the NWP. They had no intention of co-operating with the PA or the UNP "which destroyed the nation" in any post-election arrangement.

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva stressed that they would never support either the PA or the UNP to win office. They would support policies that would benefit the people and be in the national interest. But there was no question of their supporting either the PA or the UNP.

Ratnayake said in a statement: "All I said was that we would support anything that benefitted the people and not that we would help anybody to set up an administration."

He said that he had not said that they expected to be the third force after this election as stated in the report. What he had said was that they were the only alternative to the capitalist forces represented by both the PA and the UNP. These two parties were rapidly losing ground and it is clear that at this election the people regard the JVP as the "first force."

"Our position is that both the PA and the UNP are the same and both should be defeated. Hence our chief slogan at this election is `let us defeat the ali - putu horu'," he said.

One party show at Wayamba, says women's activist

A women's activist against political violence from the Movement for Inter Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE) has reported that she had found "one party politics" like in the totalitarian countries emerging in the Wayamba.

Ms. Nimalka Fernando of the Women's Collective Against Political Violence said in a statement that she went to Puttalam on January 5 to participate in a discussion convened by the Democratic Peoples Movement in relation to the Wayamba election. The objective of this discussion "was to ascertain the mood of activists, democratic movements etc".

She said that as she entered the district, it was all covered with blue flags with only some UNP posters in Chilaw and a few green flags seen at the party office there.

"Beyond that what dominated was the overpowering presence of blue flags and Ms. D.M. Dassanayake's posters. In between, posters of other candidates of the SLFP was seen", she said.

She said that she did not see any green flags from Chilaw up to Puttalam and on the way to Karuwalagaswewa about 10 miles off Puttalam on the Anuradhapura Road. There were no green flags or posters of any opposition candidates. There was not even a red flags of the LSSP/CP candidates and the only red flag of the JVP she saw was at a pocket meeting between Chilaw and Puttalam.

"I am not a UNPer nor a JVPer, but for democracy's sake I wanted to see at least the presence of other colours - the least I expected after hearing of political violence", she said.

She also expressed concern that a PA woman candidate has as a bodyguard a muscle man once used by the UNP who has now become a PA/SLFP supporter.

She alleged that Mr. D.M. Dassanayake who is campaigning for his wife had come to Puttalam town and demanded that all scooter taxis should have a blue flag and carry his wife's posters.

"When they refused, he had threatened them with violence and gone away. Another Muslim MP of the district had intervened subsequently to defuse the situation".

Ms. Fernando also alleged that a few days ago the children of a UNP candidate had been stripped naked and forced to eat mud by supporters of one particular PA candidate. She alleged that this candidate's campaign centres each had at least two weapons.

"I am totally shocked to note the one party domination and violence experienced. A woman is campaigning for her election without condemning any of these acts. Obviously she is condoning this politics - or is she?

"Yes, SLFPers had in the past faced similar violence at the hands of the UNP, but is it a justification to act beyond all human decency where you humiliate children of our society by getting them to eat mud - shaming them in public?", she asked.

Balapatabendi to quit Lotteries Board

Mr. K. Balapatabendi, the Secretary to the President, who is also Chairman of the National Lotteries Board (NLB), has told a meeting of NLB staff and some agents that he would be soon relinquishing this position.

Mr. Balapatabendi had said that the president had wanted him to do more work at Air Lanka. But it was not clear whether he was being appointed Chairman of the national carrier where Mr. W. R. P. Jayawardena, Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation, has been acting as Chairman since the recent resignation of Mr. D. H. S. Jayawardene.

In his address to NLB staff, Balapatabendi had said that theirs was the only institution where monthly bonuses were paid. He said that no decision has yet been taken on who his successor at the NLB would be.

At this meeting which was expected to be the last to be addressed by Balapatabendi as chairman, NLB staff were given presents.

184 election-related incidents
Polls fever gathers momentum in NWP

By Kalinga K. A.Weerakkody
One hundred and eighty four election-related incidents have been reported upto yesterday morning from the North Western Province as political activity gathered momentum for the January 25 poll.

Police Election Secretariat said that UNP activists had lodged 98 complaints while PA members had made 60 entries and the JVP 13.On an individual basis 10 complaints had been lodged.

The majority complaints were reported from Mawathagama police division with 21.The least number of complaints,two from each area,were reported from Polgahawela and Alawwa.

So far, no complaints have been reported from Ambanpola,Polpithigama and Bingiriya areas,the Secretariat said.

Police said no deaths due to pre-election violence have been reported so far.

Meanwhile JVP general secretary Tilvin Silva has made an official complaint to the IGP accusing the police of inaction to end the violence directed at the party.

He says that violence against the JVP is increasing day by day and several party members have been assaulted. 'It's the duty of the police to take action against all undesirable elements and ensure law and order',Silva stated in his leeter to the police chief.

Meanwhile the IGP had ordered all police stations in NWP to take into custody any vehicle operating without number plates or unregistered, used in the election campaign.

President says injustices during colonial rule done away with by 1956 people's victory

Walter Nanayakara reporting from Panduwasnuwara
The process of reversing the historic injustices caused to the people of Sri Lanka during nearly 500 years of foreign rule began with the people's victory of 1956, said President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who was addressing an election rally at Panduwasnuwara on Friday in support of the candidature of PA candidates for the North Western Provincial Council elections.

January 8 also marked the birth centenary of the late S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike.

The rally was held in the Panduwasnuwara Madya Maha Vidyalaya grounds.

The school was upgraded as a National School and was named after Mr. Bandaranaike by the President to mark the leader's birth centenary.

She also declared open the library of the school and laid the foundation stone for an auditorium. The cost of both these commemorative facilities was Rs. 72 million.

The President said that the birth of Mr. Bandaranaike on January 8, 1898, turned out to be an epoch making event.

The revelation in the country's political set up, spearheaded by late Prime Minister saw the beginning of the reversal of injustices caused to the nation by the foreign rulers for nearly 500 years.

It was the government formed by Mr. Bandaranaike in 1956 that ended the foreign domination of the nation.

The revolution in the political perceptions of the colonial period did not die. It persisted with added vigour and still continues she added.

She said she faced an uphill task when she assumed office as president in 1994. The 17-year UNP rule had mismanaged everything and she had to spend a greater part of the last four years to correct the mistakes of the UNP regime.

"The UNP not only ruined the economy of the country but also discarded and spurned values nurtured by the country for 2500 years," the President said.

She said that the demand of the people who supported the People's Alliance in the 1994 election was to restore and protect their rights and freedoms which had been denied them by the UNP. Today they enjoy their personal freedoms. The media enjoys its freedom to report in their media in any manner.

Referring to the war she said her government believed that the ethnic crisis could not be resolved by war alone. It needed a political solution and knowing this her government had worked out a devolution package. "But the UNP would not support it. We have to find alternative ways to circumvent this. In fact we have decided on a course of action to push through the devolution package despite UNP obstructions she said.

"We should give the peace loving Tamil people a guarantee that they can live without their rights being violated and in freedom. The constitutional package is meant for this," she said.

The President said "I am not J. R. I won't say the things JR, said such as I am firm as the Sigiriya Rock, and the only thing the parliament cannot do is to turn a man into a woman and a woman into a man. I am not used to such boastful pronouncements"

She said her government would be able to push through development plans with greater speed during the remaining two years of the present government's term of office. "A greater part of the last four years had to be spent correcting errors and mistakes committed by the UNP for 17 years.

She said her government had pumped in millions of rupees to the North Western Provincial Council.

But no one knows what the UNP administration had done to the money," she said.

She said the ruling PA was fielding a team of candidates whose hands are not soiled by blood or corruption unlike those of the UNP.

She asked the people of Panduwasnuwara to be a party to the victory of the People's Alliance in the coming NWPC elections and help the process of speedy development of the province.

Chief Ministerial candidate S. B. Navinna and Kurunegala District candidates Jayasena Rajakaruna, Dharmasiri Dassanayake also spoke.

Stanley denies he's on the way out

Central Province Governor Stanley Tillakaratne yesterday denied a press report saying that he was on the way out.

"That report is not correct," the Governor said reacting to yesterday' Island political commentary under the headline "Governor Stanley on the way out?"

Saying that he would issue a detailed statement later, Tillakaratne said that he had not attended the funeral of a prominent Buddhist monk due to a previous engagement he could not adjust and it was arranged that the Deputy Foreign Minister would represent the government on that occasion.

"That was about four months ago. I explained my difficulty to the president and it was agreed that Mr. Lakshman Kiriella would represent the government.

As for allegations that I am flirting with the UNP, a UNP MP took me to court for withdrawing permission for the use of a school building for what was claimed to be a charity event. When I found it was a political show, with several political speakers, I withdrew the permission I had previously granted," Tillakaratne said.

ASP, IP and five PCs accused of torture

By Franklin R. Satyapalan
Police are awaiting instructions from the Attorney General to file charges against an ASP,IP and five PCs accused of torturing a businessman in Galle,a senior police official said yesterday.

The Police Department will also be charge-sheeting these policemen as an inquiry revealed that they had abused their powers by re-arresting the victim after he was arrested earlier and released.

DIG (Ranges 2) T. A. Anandarajah who investigated the incident submitted his report to IGP Lucky Kodituwakku.DIG (Southern Range) Seneviratne Banda has also been directed by the IGP to take action in this connection.

Police are awaiting AG's instructions to file charges against the policemen concerned,the police official said.

The victim businessman had been arrested by the police special strike force in Galle on a complaint made by Sriya Gems that he had allegedly misappropriated gems valued at Rs. 1.5 million.

Tenders evaluated for Alupotha landfill
World Bank promises 'serious consideration' of concerns

The World Bank's Resident Representative in Colombo last week met with a consultant engineer and concerned citizen about the proposed Municipal garbage landfill at Alupotha near Kalubowila on which work with World Bank assistance is expected to be started shortly.

A spokesman for the resident groups said that Mr. Roberto Bentjerodt, the World Bank representative, had agreed that aspects of waste management other than landfill had not been given sufficient consideration in developing the project and would give serious consideration to the concerns that had been expressed.

Residents at Alupotha, fearing a variety of problems, say that they would never allow this project, for which tenders have been evaluated, to take off. Mr. D.M. Hemapala of the Residents Action Committee of Alupotha expressed this position at the meeting with Mr. Bentjerodt. The World Bank was urged not to thrown money on a dream that would never see light of day.

Mr. Tissa de Silva of South Asian Regional Development Consultants, who are consultants to the Community Group Environmental Association of Kalubowila East and the Resident Action Group of Alupotha has urged that waste management procedures have changed the world over in the last few years and landfill is no longer considered the solution for garbage.

He said that the present proposal for the waste disposal for Colombo would only encourage the use of landfill as a source of waste management.

"It is like putting the cart before the horse. We suggest that all legal, management incentives and procedures towards waste reduction and recycling should be in place before the World Bank funds the landfill," de Silva said.

He said that their own efforts of distributing compost bins to 500 residents of Colombo and Dehiwela - Mount Lavinia has been a success in reducing waste for landfill and urged that such projects to reduce household waste should be encouraged by the World Bank.

"Our recent studies in the UK indicate that there are stringent design procedures for landfill than those proposed for Alupotha. All this add cost to the landfill as environment is the primary consideration. At Alupotha where the rainfall in 1995 was about 4,500 mm. and where drinking water for Colombo is taken at a lower level at Ambatale, many experts consider it suicidal to have a landfill," de Silva said.

He said that all their studies had been carried out at their own expense and in the interest of Sri Lanka. It is but right that the World Bank as a lending institution, to safeguard its investment, should get many other extensive studies carried out before this project is funded.

"We would offer our maximum co-operation to you to get the best approach to waste management, as accepted by the world community," de Silva said. "Such an approach will incorporate community education and participation, legislation and incentives, appropriate technology and environmental cost that would not compromise future generations."

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Editors Guild complains of Daily News "distortion"

The Editors Guild of Sri Lanka has issued a press statement complaining about a "distorted news item" on the front page of the Daily News of January 4 under the heading "Editors Guild allegedly uses UNP Leader".

The following is the text of the statement:

"The (Daily News) story says The Guild "almost wholly comprises of anti-government Editors", and that although there are several Editors in the Guild most of them do not participate in the proceedings and that a decision by the (presumably the "anti-government" Editors) is considered by the others as an arbitrary move.

":False. A majority of members attend the meetings of the Guild and all decisions have been unanimously carried.

"The other part of the story is that The Guild has prevailed upon the UNP Leader to move a motion in Parliament to prevent journalists from being charged for criminal defamation.

"True, but not the whole truth. The Guild decided, unanimously, to meet party leaders and canvass their support inter alia, for the abolition of the draconian and archaic laws of criminal defamation, the introduction of a Freedom on Information Act and the creation of a Media Council with a majority of non-government members to replace the Press Council.

"This was the same argument put forward by a delegation of The Guild before the all party Parliamentary Select Committee on Media Laws Reforms. The Editors Guild salutes whoever those, from whichever political party, that support The Guild's endeavours to liberalise the laws that inhibit a free media, and in its efforts to introduce a modern liberal democracy in Sri Lanka".

CID says forensic expertise available to probe alleged grave

Jaffna's District Judge S.A. Eganathan has ordered that the alleged mass burial site at Chemmanai near Jaffna be guarded and suspended further hearing on a CID application to conduct exhumations there.

On Thursday, SP (CID) Nandana Munasinghe forwarded a report to court saying that forensic experts Prof. Chandrasiri Niriella of the Ruhunu Medical Faculty, Government Analyst A.M. Mendis and other ballistics and soil experts will be available for the exhumation.

The judge noted that the incidents are alleged to have occurred between May and September 1996. As two years have passed since then and the alleged graveside has been inundated by the monsoon, the services of senior forensic experts were needed. He postponed further hearing for Jan. 29.

Police sources said that the CID had video-filmed the area.

The Jaffna law courts which had not been sitting for the past several months due to LTTE threats resumed work last week with the courts at Jaffna, Mallakam, Point Pedro and Chavakachcheri taking up criminal cases. (FRS)

Monara Air perplexed at ban on domestic flights

by Zacki Jabbar
Monara Airlines Chairman Rohan Wijeratne disgusted with the long wait for the resumption of civillian flights to Jaffna says he is perplexed at the ban on domestic airlines to the peninsula following the crash of the Lionair flight 602 off the Mannar coast on September 29 last year.

"Nowhere in the world does this happen. Just because the LTTE shot down a Lionair aircraft doesn't mean all other civillian flights should be banned. We have always used the safe route along which the LTTE cannot touch us. Would the government ban all buses travelling from Colombo to the South just because one meets with an accident" he querried.

Wijeratne who is a professional pilot with nearly 16 years flying experience says he continues to maintain the terminal in Ratmalana and offices in Colombo and Jaffna at tremendous cost following assuarances by the authorities that the flight ban would be lifted soon.`

"Daily expenses run into nearly 200,000 rupees. I cannot retrench staff unlike in any other business because it is not easy to find trained personnel in the event the government gives the green light" he said.

Wijeratne pointed out that it was easy to smuggle explosives and other banned items into ships that set sail to Jaffna than into an aircraft.

The government slapped a ban on all domestic flights to Jaffna shortly after the Lionair flight 602 with 48 passengers mostly Tamils and a crew of six and a labourer was shot down by the LTTE about 14 minutes after take off from the Palaly airbase.

Informed sources said the inquiry into the Lionair crash which was concluded recently has been reopened with the recovery of a highly decomposed body of a male washed ashore on the Mannar coast last Sunday believed to be from the ill-fated flight.

A few weeks after the crash 31 bodies were washed ashore on the Mannar coast. About a month ago the wing of an aircraft found in the Mannar sea by some fishermen was handed over to the Civil Aviation Department Inquiry team.

More recently a life jacket and a window believed to be from the Lionair aircraft found in the Mannar sea was also handed over to the inquiry team.

Former MP for Horowpatana passes away

The death occurred of Dr. T. B. Herath, former M.P for Horowpatana on Thursday at a private nursing home in Colombo. He was 66 years old.

Entering politics at the early age of 23 years, he contested unsuccessfully Sir John Kotelawela, the then Prime Minister at Dodangaslanda in the 1956 General Elections.

In 1970 General Elections Mr. Herath won the Horowpatana seat ousting a UNP stalwart Edwin L. B. Hurulle who retained the seat even at the 1956 polls which proved disastrous for the U.N.P. In the 1977 General Election, Mr. Herath however lost the seat to Mr. Hurulle by over 4,000 odd votes.

Mr. Herath held various important positions in State Corporations. At the time of his death he had been the Managing Director of Chatham House Ltd. Colombo.

The funeral will take place tomorrow (Monday). Cortege leaving residence 487/7 A, Thimbirigasyaya Road, Colombo 5 for General Cemetery Kanatte at 4.30 p.m.

He leaves his wife Chandra and two children Samantha (USA) and Dharshi.

Sri Lankan honoured by Canada's Royal Society

Indira Vasanti Samarasekera of the Department of Metals and Materials Engineering of the University of British Columbia has been elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Election to the Royal Society is an accolade bestowed on Canada's top scholars and scientists and its fellows are considered the country's best and the brightest.

Mrs. Samarasekera who is the daughter of Dr. A.C. Arulpragasam, FRCS, Consultant ENT Surgeon and Mrs. Balasundari Arulpragasam, is best known for her outstanding work on the continuous casting of steel. An excerpt of her achievement s published by the Royal Society said that she had in this work combined mathematical modelling of the heat flow and stress fields in the system with unique in-plant measurements. These results have led to major improvements in continuous casting in plants throughout the world.

"She has made important contributions to our understanding of the hot rolling of steels, and has done extensive work dealing with the growth of large semiconductor and optical crystals pulled from the melt, among other activities. Her outstanding work is recognised internationally,'' a Royal Society news release said.

International Medical College spells out its conditions for admissions

From Sujeeva Nivunhella, our London Correspondent
Politicians or any other people will not be allowed to interfere with the selection process to enter the 'International Medical College' affiliated to Aberdeen University in the United Kingdom which is to be set up here.

That is the message from Mr. Alistair Smith the international director of the Aberdeen University who looks after the interest of the International Medical College.

In an interview with the 'Sunday Island' Mr. Smith said that he being a regular visitor to Sri Lanka for the last 16 years, understands the problems and pressure that would be applied on Lankan Faculty over student selections and that would then be unfair to the other students. Therefore only Aberdeen University personnel will conduct the interviews and do the final selection. They will have the final say and he had insisted on that. "That is the way it will be done," he said.

"We are insisting that no one would get in to do our medical degree who does not have the same score that would be required of Sri Lankan students having the Sri Lankan A/Levels to get in to Medical College in Sri Lanka. So there would be no easy option in the way that you may recall caused all the problems North Colombo Medical College had", he said.

Smith said that the college is set up by Sri Lankan consortium of medical people in Colombo with the approval of BOI and it will offer the University of Aberdeen M.B.B.S. degree. The fee will be determined by the Sri Lankan board of directors. Aberdeen University is already deeply involved in setting up the curriculum and making all the necessary academic arrangements for the opening of the college.

According to Smith, the chairman of General Medical Council in Sri Lanka has agreed to the project and the plan is to open the college either in late September this year or January in year 2000. Initially 100 students will be admitted and they expect to expand it later.

Any student of any nationality with the required marks can apply for a place in the college. Mr. Smith said that other than the students in Sri Lanka, the Maldivian government has shown their interest to send their students to this college. A new building for the college and a new teaching hospital are being built at the moment and until the teaching hospital is fully equipped they plan to use some private hospitals for the clinical training.

Aa at present a doctor holding a M.B.B.S. degree from a Sri Lankan University needs to pass the PLAB (Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board) examination to work in a hospital in Britain. When asked whether it will be the same for the doctors passing out from 'International Medical College', Mr. Smith said that at the moment they will have to take the PLAB examination to be able to practice medicine in the UK. But he will soon apply to the General Medical Council in London for the appropriate recognition.

Jayalath for U.S. meeting on children and tobacco

Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, MP, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Parliamentary Lobby for Child Rights and member of the International Medical Parliamentar-ians Organisation has been invited by three US senators to attend an international policy conference on children and tobacco to be held in Washington from March 17 to 19.

This landmark conference will bring together legislators and other leaders to identify key policies that countries throughout the world can pursue to reduce tobacco use among children.

Additionally, the conference will help to establish an on-going international network of policy makers committed to tobacco control, the organisers said.

The three US senators associated with this meeting are Richard J. Durbin, Ron Wyden and Susan M. Collins. The American Cancer Society, The American Public Health Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, WHO, UNICEF and the Organisation of American States are among the sponsors/participants of/at this meeting.

Dr. Jayawardena said that the US senators had over many years worked with their colleagues to protect US children from tobacco addiction. They recognised the need to learn from other nations' experience that there must be united action to protect the projected 200 to 300 million of today's children who may become addicted to tobacco.

He said that the conference will provide an opportunity of meeting leaders of other countries who have successfully implemented tobacco policies.

"These discussions will help highlight the challenges surmounted in enacting tobacco reforms and the impact these policies have had within the respective nations", he said.

Experts on the tobacco industry who will focus on the industry's marketing strategy, law suits against the industry and health and economic trends will be present at this meeting.

Dr. Jayawardena said that Sri Lanka was the first country in this region to establish a parliamentary lobby for child rights.

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