.

LTTE maximises use of seized artillery

by Shamindra Ferdinando
The military has expressed fears of fresh artillery attacks on security forces positions in the Wanni region, senior military officials said.

"We are expecting more LTTE attacks," one officer said adding that last Wednesday's artillery strike on Thallady brigade headquarters could be the beginning.

Wednesday's attack, the first artillery strike against forces in the region this year claimed the lives of 19 soldiers and five civilians, employed by the army. Dozens more were wounded.

Thallady headquarters had not come under artillery fire in the past few years. "It was a shock," a source who did not want to be identified said adding that last week's strike could be a part of the LTTE strategy to challenge government efforts to bring in more Wanni territory under control.

Two 122 Chinese-built guns were used in the attack. At least twenty rounds were fired, sources in Mannar said. "Only a couple of rounds fell within the camp and did some serious damage," the sources said.

At least seven military vehicles parked within the camp were badly damaged. One of the vehicles had contained ammunition.

The two weapons were among several mortars including Pakistani built 120 mm mortar and artillery guns seized by terrorists during earlier attacks on army camps. The LTTE in the past few years had used these weapons with devastating success against selected targets both in the North and the East. Their targets have included the army's main battle tanks [MBTs] and other infantry fighting vehicles [IFVs].

The military said that LTTE's guns have the range to engage targets both on the eastern and the western flank and also positions along the Vavuniya-Mannar road.

There has been no serious fighting in the Wanni since the linking up of Puliyankulam, Nedunkerni, Oddusuddan and Mankulam with each other bringing in approximately 135 square km under armed forces control in early December last year and the subsequent attempt on the life of the Deputy Defence Minister Anurudda Ratwatte.

The December operation was to expand the area under control in the eastern part of the Wanni. It has given the army Oddusuddan a town just 15 miles west of Mullaitivu on the Mullaitivu-Mankulam road.

This month troops moved westwards from their earlier held positions between Vavuniya-Mankulam and northwards from Vavuniya-Poovarasankulam to expand the area under their control west of the Vavuniya-Jaffna road. Over 500 square km were brought under control without a shot being fired.

Military officials said that the LTTE could create chaos by launching artillery attacks on military targets situated close to civilians.

AG favours shift to humane execution

Attorney General Sarath. N. Silva favours Sri Lanka moving away from the gallows into a more humane form of execution like the electric chair, gas chamber or lethal injections.

With the government deciding not to routinely commute death sentences handed down by the courts into life sentences by using the presidents prerogative of executive clemency, the AG said yesterday that ``we have to do something to move with the times and the rest of the world."

He said that there should be some sort of alternative to the outdated system of execution by hanging and called upon knowledgeable people to make suggestions.

Justice Minister G.L. Peiris is on record saying that none of those already sentenced to death before the decision on implementing the death penalty under certain circumstances was announced would go to the gallows.

So over a hundred prisoners who entered death row before March 14 can be certain that they will have no tryst with the hangman.

n
Polls chief's hands to be strengthened?

There appears to be a developing consensus among the political parties running at the April 6 provincial council elections that the elections commissioner be empowered to declare the poll as void in stations where irregularities have occured.

This emerged at a meeting of the All Party election Monitoring Secretariat held on Friday with Public Administration and Plantations Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake in the chair.

Several of the participants inlcuding the UNP, JVP, MEP, New Left Front, National Union of Workers and the SLMC favoured the urgent amendment of the law to make this possible. But Mr. Raja Copllure on behalf of the CP, LSSP, DJVP and SLMP said that they did not favour ad hoc tinkering with the election law.

The SLMC's Rauf Hakeem said that while they welcomed the commissioner being given more powers, the whole picture had to be looked at without making piecemeal changes.

The proposal will now be taken before the All Party Monitoring Committee chaired by the president at its next meeting on March 25.

The official news release on Friday's meeting made no mention of strengthening the law for the commissioner to annull the poll in stations where there were irregularities.

The proponents of the amendment to the election law said that a special meeting of parliament could be convened to have this legislation on the statute before the April 6 elections.

Mr. Kingsley Rodrigo, secretary-general of the People's Action Front for Free and Fair Elections (PAFREL) welcomed strengthening the commissioner's powers. He also said that a public inerest organisation in Horana had got an order from the local magistrate authorising them to remove illegal political propaganda displays if these are not taken off by March 29.

Demobilised cops recalled for duty

by Suresh P. Perera
Hundreds of police reservists, demobilised from service over the years for 'inconsequential transgression' of regulations, are now being recalled for duty in a bid to beef up depleted ranks in police stations outside the North-East theatre of operations, senior police officials disclosed.

The decision to turn to reservists, axed from the beat, was taken by IGP Lucky Kodituwakku as the dearth of sufficient manpower in police stations, particularly in the city and suburbs, has led to an alarming escalation of criminal activities, the officials said.

Already 500 of them are back in place to bolster city police stations, badly crippled by inadequate men to handle even basic routine duties.' This group was taken in last week after a seven-day refresher course', said senior SP Upali Hewage, Director, Sri Lanka Police Reserve (SLPR).

'We are perusing thousands of files of reservists demobilised for trivial violations, such as failure to report for duty five days after expiry of their leave', Hewage explained. Among those recalled are Sub Inspectors and Women Police Constables (WPCs). All of them have to face fresh interviews.

Another batch of 500 has already been selected and will be deployed within the next few days, he said. The police department is concentrating on raking in these 'dismissed' personnel as they possess the required training and hence tailor-made for the job. 'It costs the government Rs. one lakh to train each fresh recruit', SSP Hewage pointed out.

According to reports, some police reservists, cast aside for whatever reason, had been involved in armed hoists and in certain instances, even joined ranks with underworld elements.' That's right. They have an arms training and some of them had engaged in such criminal activities. There is rigid screening and those who have court cases pending against them, are completely left out', the SSP said.

Some of these men had been serving in far flung areas. It takes about two days for them to reach their homes and a similar time lag for the return journey. With seven days approved leave, under these circumstances, they have just three days left to stay at home. So they tend to exceed their authorised leave, he explained.

If extended leave is not sought and duly granted, a message is sent through the respective police station asking them to report for duty immediately. Those who fail to turn up for work, five days after the expiry of their leave, are demobilised from service by the SSP of the division, Hewage said.

'Sunday Island' learns that the police department is also exploring the possibility of recalling for duty policemen in the regular service on whom vacation of post notices had been served for similar trivial offences. However, the process is more difficult in this regard as those whose period of dismissal exceeds six months have to be referred to the Public Service Commission (PSC) for re-appointment. In the case of regular personnel whose period of termination is less, the IGP is legally empowered to take a decision, a high ranking police official said.

The reservists recalled for duty will not be deployed in the North-East. The principal objective of this endeavour is to strengthen police station in the city and other parts of the country, which are badly depleted, SSP Hewage said.

Rights classes for top cops battling LTTE infiltrators in the city

Police Legal Division last week educated senior officials involved in anti-LTTE operations in the city on arrest, detention, interrogation and other related matters as part of the ongoing efforts to improve discipline, a Police Headquarters spokesman said on Friday.

The director of the Terrorist Investiga-tions Department [TID] was among the operatives who atten-ded a series of lectures at their headquarters at Galle Buck, previously used by the Immi-gration and Emigra-tion Department. Rights classes take place amidst indications the LTTE was seeking to target officers in charge of investigations into their activities.

A woman suicide bomber last week launched herself on Chief Inspector, M. M. Nilabdeen's car. He survived but suffered injuries.

The TID, placed under a DIG who previously commanded the elite police commandos plays a crucial role in operations against LTTE infiltrators. The Headquarters spokesman said that before the TID, officials of both the Criminal Investigations Department and the Crime Detective Bureau were educated of the need to respect laws when conducting operations.

Police, reeling under a series of Fundamental Rights [FR] cases filed against its officers, has begun holding classes for senior officers in a bid to arrest the situation.

A senior official said that the department was under tremendous pressure to conduct law enforcement operations within the law. Things have changed in the past few years and most policemen do not want to risk facing FR cases, officers said.

Police said that many policemen were not aware of rules, regulations and various restrictions that have been imposed.

The Legal Division intends to conduct classes for senior officers deployed in the provinces including the North-East province - [SF]

Island Capers
Wrong footed!

A little bird whispers that Lake House is having problems collecting many millions due on account of election printing done for the Wayamba battle. Billings have been as high as a cool Rs. 150 million but collections have been a measly ten.

And now there is the problem of printing done for the next round of provincial council elections. With the government pledged to stamp out posters and the cops shamed into doing something about enforcing the law, those who have ordered them printed are not taking delivery!

Who is going to settle the bills? Lets wait and see whether there will be a further donation like the lorry loads of old tyres sent off by the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. for the Wayamba fray.

Brig. Ranasinghe exonerated of all charges

The former Southern range military commander, brigadier Bandula Ranasinghe has been exonerated of all charges by the military inquiry board, security sources said.

Brigadier Ranasinghe faced ten charges including the beating up of a married couple and later kidnapping the husband.The inquiry board which probed the charges against the brigadier exonerated him last Friday, the sources said. The army inquiry board was headed by Brigadier Ananda Suriyabandara and comprised Brigadiers Lalith Peiris and Ratnasabhapathy and Colonel Ranjith Wijesinghe.

Brigadier Ranasinghe has been removed as Southern commander and posted to the Army headquarters.

Brigadier Upali Bandaratilleka has replaced Brig. Ranasinghe in the South.

Poster-busting will not end violence: concentrate on preventing violence, say police

by Shamindra Ferdinando
Law enforcement officials fighting a losing battle against pre-PC poll violence in five provinces said that the multi-party Election Monitoring Committee should concentrate on curbing violence than removing posters, banners, billboards and other propaganda displays.

The Committee comprising representatives of the PA and the UNP and ten other parties, since its establishment on February 25 has been concentrating on removing propaganda displays, a senior police official said. But sadly both the PA and the UNP leaderships have failed to control their candidates and supporters involved in a wave of pre-poll violence, particularly in the Central Province, police said.

According to records maintained by Police Headquarters, the PA and the UNP have made 292 complaints against each other upto Friday [19] morning. The PA, police said has made 158 complaints against UNP'ers. The UNP in turn has made 134 complaints.

The JVP has lodged 37 complaints, most of them against PA activists. Police said that there was no evidence to suggest that the JVP was engaged in pre-poll violence.

Police said that the Election Monitoring Committee and its Secretariat based at the Public Administration Ministry will have to compel the PA and the UNP candidates to refrain from violence. Police believe the two main parties will have to take disciplinary action against members who violate election laws.

"Candidates must be given a signal that indiscipline will not be tolerated," police said adding that even if they succeeded in removing all propaganda displays on Saturday and Sunday there is no guarantee that fresh poster campaigns will not be launched.

A senior officer said that even after the Election Monitoring Committee last Wednesday [17] declared that all displays will be removed by Saturday, more posters, banners and billboards appeared. In many areas billboard and huge banners have been displayed very close to the local police station.

Police said that parties have not given a guarantee to Police Headquarters and the Election Commissioner's Office that fresh poster campaigns will not be launched after the clean up. An Election Department official said that they have been forced to meet additional expenses in view of the poster cleaning operation. Contrary to reports, police will not be involved in the actual cleaning up. Police will provide security to workers employed by the Elections Commissioner's Department to remove displays.

A junior policeman said that if the PA and the UNP were really concerned about poll malpractices, the two parties should have deployed party supporters for the cleaning job. Police has been compelled to provide armed protection to workers tasked to do the clean up because the PA and the UNP activists were likely to oppose.

Police said that they will be able to handle election security with existing manpower in the five provinces if the PA and the UNP leaderships take effective action against their people. "We have approximately 16,000 personnel in the five provinces," an officer said. Some time back, a senior police official said that 12,000 additional personnel will have to be deployed in support of the 16,000 men.

Police reported a staggering 2600 pre-poll, polling day and post -poll incidents of violence in the North Western Province comprised Kurunegala and Puttalam districts in the recent PC poll. PA and the UNP activists figured in the violence in the North Western Province with the former blamed for at least two thirds of incidents.

How much more can we tighten our belts, ask consumers on World Consumer Day

by Himangi Jayasundere
To commemorate World Consumer Day, a march was staged last Monday by members of the Housewives Association, the Federation of Consumer Associations and other consumer organisations. The participants carrying placards of their demands and the plight faced by consumers proceeded to the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute at Independence Avenue for a seminar. Among the slogans on the placards were "How much more can we tighten our belts? and "Bring down the cost of living". The theme for this year is "Consumer protection ....where do we stand".

Minister of Internal and International Trade and Commerce Kingsley T. Wickremaratne speaking on the occasion said that the country's development process should ensure that the entire population has access to the minimum goods and services necessary to maintain their basic needs. The market economy to which we are committed requires the consumer protection mechanism to be fair and transparent. This will be possible to the extent that the consumer has the ability to put ethical limits on the market. This is the area where the organised consumer movement can play a vital role, he noted.

He said that new legislation was introduced to cover very important aspects of consumer protection; the administration of weights and measures, which is considered very vital for Internal and International Commerce, was completely restructured by establishing a new department namely, the Measurement Standards and Services Department.

Significantly a Consumer Protection Authority bill is to be tabled in parliament soon providing greater opportunities for combined efforts to protect the consumer, while ensuring the consumer legal entity to seek redress for disputes.

The minister said that a consumer redressal machinery has been established by the Department of Internal Trade and its hands will be strengthened by the proposed bill for the speedier, inexpensive and easily accessible dispute settlement procedure.

He stressed the importance of consumer education to make a proper choice. "I have given priority in my consumer administration agenda for consumer education not only in the area of consumer education, but also in other aspects that will lead the consumer to be a better citizen and a trusted partner in the economy. He added that the education programmes carried out by the Department of Internal Trade will be intensified and absorbed into the curriculum of basic secondary education. Every encouragement will be given to consumer organisations which volunteer to undertake these functions. The entirety of the consumer protection fund is being used for this purpose.

The president of the Sri Lanka Housewives Association Mrs. Estelle Joachim told "Sunday Island" that "consumers have become complacent". Lack of awareness is not really the reason for the lack of interest in consumer protection in Sri Lanka. Most people grumble and do nothing about it, she complained. A problem faced by many consumers is that often goods are not price marked and therefore sold at any price that pleases the trader. She opined that if price control was in effect the lot on the consumer would be less.

Chairman of Consumer Education, Mrs. Chitra Seneviratne was of the opinion that the regulations in force were sufficient. She lamented that consumers did not make use of the laws. The Fair Trading Commission has the power to take an errant trader to courts however such available facilities are not being made use of.

The Assistant Commissioner of Internal Trade T. B. Dassanayake said that the department did not have sufficient teeth to deal with consumer protection issues. However the proposed laws give authority for competitive business practices, monopolies and mergers. The new laws will also give the powers to strengthen the redressal facility.

SAARC ministers meeting: discussion of controversial issue put off for next meeting

By Amal Jayasinghe
NEWARA ELIYA - Radical proposals to establish free trade and ease political tensions in the South Asian region were put on hold by ministers Friday amid squabbling between India and Pakistan, officials said.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said a 35-paragraph recommendations to make the regional group more business-like and give it a road map in the next millennium was put off for their next meet in September.

The ministers of the seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation were to have discussed the reform proposal made by a panel of independent "eminent persons", but Kadirgamar said it was too controversial to be adopted immediately.

"We decided to have a more sharply focused discussion on that report in September," Kadirgamar told reporters here, adding there were differences over the contents of the reform proposals.

Asian diplomats said that the two-day ministerial meeting, which ended in this Sri Lanka hill resort Friday, was largely consumed by bickering between India and Pakistan over the wording of a final meeting report.

Kadirgamar played down the differences and said they managed to reduce the country-of-origin rules for trade within the region from the present 50 percent to 40 percent to ensure foreign-collaboration venture better access to markets within the region.

However, diplomats from smaller members of SAARC, which groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, said there was little time spent on trade issues, much of it involved with the wording of two paragraphs in the final conference report.

"The trade arrangements that could really have an immediate impact for our people have been put on the back burner because India-Pakistan tensions dominated our time and energy," said a diplomat from a smaller SAARC member.

The report has called for the establishment of a South Asian Economic Union similar to the European Union by 2020 and suggested a series of measures to establish a free trade agreement by 2008 and then customs unions.

This report will be taken up in September by the ministers, who are due to meet in New York.

There was little discussion on the key economic and trade issues, even though SAARC had earlier agreed to have a "frame work treaty" on their South Asian Free Trade Agreement by the end of this year.

Asian delegations said they were disappointed by the lack of greater discussion on trade issues because of India-Pakistan bickering.

However, in a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the SAARC ministerial, the two foreign ministers vowed to speed up their talks aimed at easing tensions that were intensified following their unclear tests in May last year.

India opposes any mention of their bilateral problems with Pakistan being included in SAARC documents, while Pakistan maintains that there cannot be progress on the economic front without better political ties. (AFP)

Opposition to acquire more land around Palaly air base

By Franklin R. Satyapalan
Tamil political parties and the Tamil people living in Colombo, Jaffna and even abroad are perturbed over the President's efforts to solve the country's ethnic problem by the acquisition of 12,000 acres of land around the Palaly air base for a planned colonisation scheme. They feel that this will be a total failure.

In this connection EPDP leader Douglas Devananda raised the question in Parliament last week but did not get an answer from the Deputy Minister of Defence.

Representations have also been made against this move by the leader of the DPLF Dharmalingam Siddhathan and the senior Vice President of the TULF Veerasingham Ananda Sangari, and by the General Secretary of the All Ceylon Hindu Congress Neelakandhan Kandiah, who has sought a meeting with the President to discuss this matter.

The All Ceylon Hindu Congress has also written to the Attorney General stating that the government intention to acquire an area where two historic temples, Keerimalai Naguleswaran and Mahavaddipuram Kandasamy Temples are situated would amount to a denial of the fundamental rights of the people guaranteed in the constitution.

The leader of the Congress and the leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress Kumar Ponnambalam is now considering filing legal action in this connection.

When the Secretary General of the TULF, R. Sampanthan made representations to the President's Secretary Kusumsiri Balapatabendi last week, the latter denied any knowledge of such proposed acquisition, contradicting what a senior Army officer said in an interview on MTV on Thursday night.

Mr. Sampanthan also pointed out to Balapatabendi that the proposed acquisition would adversely affect thousands of displaced refugees who are now living in camps and were waiting for an opportunity to return to their ancestral lands.

Senior Vice President of the TULF V. Ananda Sangari yesterday said that if reports of this proposed acquisition were true and that the government had directed the Surveyor General to measure the proposed area earmarked for acquisition, comprising over 35 Grama Sevaka divisions and covering almost the entirety of Kankesanturai and parts of Manipay and Kopay, then the President was "digging her own political grave".

"All the efforts she has taken to solve the ethnic problem will go down the drain" Mr. Ananda Sangari said, and compared what was being done to what the UNP had done during the Iranawila VOA and Digavapi problems.

He said that depriving farmers and fisher folk of their livelihood will ultimately end up in thousands of people becoming unemployed and dependent entirely on government assistance.

This move, he said, would deprive the people of education because four A grade schools in KKS will have to close down.

Mr. Sangari said the people ask what will happen to the proposed development of the KKS cement factory and the harbour.

He reiterated that what they were asking was that they be given the opportunity to discuss this matter with the President before any acquisition took place.

Landing of MI-8 Bulgarian choppers
Contradictory versions complicate situation

by Chittaranjan De Silva
The mystery of the landing of the two MI-8 Bulgarian passenger transport choppers and their subsequent detention by the Defence Ministry is yet to be solved. The Civil Aviation Department and the Defence Ministry have given contradictory versions further complicating the situation.

Unauthorised entry of the choppers to Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) could have had serious repercussions on its security, said M. S. Wickremarachchi, additional secretary to the Defence Ministry.

The choppers landed without prior information and their flight was not listed in the schedule, he said. Taking into consideration the prevailing war situation in the country the Air Force is authorised to shoot down such air craft that make such entry to BIA, Wickremarachchi warned. He said that the sudden landing of the choppers or any other aircraft posed a serious threat to the security of the country in the present context.

An authoritative Air Force source told the "Sunday Island" yesterday that choppers are not authorised to fly into Sri Lankan air space without the approval of the Defence Ministry.

Wickremarachchi's statements were however contradictory to what Civil Aviation sources said as they insisted that the landing was legitimate.

According to Assistant Director Operations, Department of Civil Aviation H. M. C. Nimalsiri permission was sought by Euro Lanka Services, the local agent for the Bulgarian company, and as customary with other aircraft, the two helicopters were authorised to land at BIA. " There was nothing illegal about the landing which occurred according to accepted norms in aviation," Nimalsiri said.

The two choppers piloted by Russians claim to have been travelling from Maldives via Trivandrum in India . But these choppers had been allegedly turned away from landing at Trivandrum. "This has given rise to suspicion regarding their flight path, and have subsequently been detained mainly for security reasons," Wickremarachchi said.

However, permission has been sought by the owners to service and conduct trials on these choppers and the matter is being considered at present, he said.

The choppers belonging to a fleet of three ordered initially by the Maldives are being returned to Bulgarian owners since one of them carrying tourists crashed in the Maldives, Nimalsiri said.

He also said that the seats of the choppers have been removed for extra fuel tanks to be installed in view of the long journey intended. Reports also speak of the two choppers to be shipped to Bulgaria from Sri Lanka. Hence the question arises as for the necessity for the extra fuel tanks.

State commercial banks won't be privatised assures president

by Sumadhu Weerawarne
Governor of the Central Bank, A. S. Jayawardena said that the two principal state commercial banks would not be privatised. He added that when the matter had been raised with the President she had categorically said that there would be no privatisation.

But he did not rule out the possibility of either selling or merging those branches of the state banks running at a loss.

The President of the Bank of Ceylon branch of the Bankers' Union Kingsley Mendis was a little more sceptical. He did not rule out the possibility of government moves to privatise, but said that such an eventuality was unlikely within this year. "We will however, thwart any attempts to close down any branch," he said.

In terms of a new transfer-pricing system adopted as part of the rationalisation of the function of state banks envisaged in the agreement signed between the state banks and the government last year, has seen a turn around in the number of branches relegated to the ranks of non-profitability. The Union spokesperson said that the transfer-pricing system adopted under the agreement the number of Bank of Ceylon branches grouped as being non-profitable, had reduced from 131 to 15. "Under the agreement the attempt is to take stock of the performance of these branches and close down or sell those branches that continue to lose money," he said. He added however that there was a political rationalisation for ensuring the functioning of those branches which ensured a good branch network.

The Governor himself said that the loss making as recorded earlier was a result of "careless accounting" and that the number of loss making branches had come down. He said that the aim of the agreement between the government and the Bank of Ceylon and the People's Bank was to decide the profitability of the two banks. He said that the review was an attempt to identify the best way of apportioning costs within the network, and on revaluation the loss making branches had come down in number.

On the question of closing down he said that the branches would be given time to recover, failing which there was the possibility of merging them with other branches or selling them to a commercial bank.

A top international financial source said that the new transfer pricing system was part of what was envisaged in the agreement. The accounting system adopted by the Bank of Ceylon and the People's Bank is different from general practice, and so a new system was adopted. By way of example he said that in the case of a branch located in a high security risk area the cost of staff for extra security would be assigned to the head office, immediately improving the profits indicated by that particular branch. He said that the agreement had set certain performance targets that the banks must necessarily conform with. "It is not only important that the branches are not making losses, but the question must be asked whether they are sufficiently profitable," he added. "The agreement calls for greater aggression in pursuing loans and cutting down on those activities that do not bring in profits," he added. What is necessarily meant is that concessionaire loan schemes for which there is a political rationalisation would have to be discontinued.

The President of the Union said that in the last three years there had be no recruitment of staff, and that those who served were those drawn from the Bank of Ceylon Management Services at half the salary that would ordinarily have been paid.

SL women in UK prostitute ring

By Tina Edwards
Recent revelations in the British Media about the discovery of a Labour MP patronising a Thai massage parlour has highlighted another startling revelation that girls are brought over to the United Kingdom from Sri Lanka for prostitution.

In recent times Sri Lanka has gained infamy for being a country that has a large number of its people seeking asylum here, a fertile breeding ground for paedophiles and a country where there is scant regard for human rights. This new revelation is bound to tarnish the country's image even further.

The 'Daily Mail' newspaper in its Monday edition stated that massage parlours are part of the growing problem of sex slavery spreading across the United Kingdom.

The 'Daily Mail' goes on to say that many of these women from the Far East and Eastern Europe, are flown into the country by organised Gangs. These women are lured from their homes with false promises of a better life, only to be forced in to prostitution with little or no way of getting out. The victims are given money and contact names by the Gangs to get them through immigration checks on a visitors visa. The women are then put to work immediately and are forced to hand over all their earnings.

The 'Daily Mail' quotes Mike Hames, a former head of Scotland Yard's obscene Publications Branch who said that thousands of women a year are coming into the UK alone from places like Thailand, Sri Lanka, Russia and Romania. They are told they can make good money as hostesses or glamour girls, not that they are going to be prostitutes kept in a locked room?

A while ago the local newspaper in Sudbury, Middlesex, carried an advert which read 'Sri Lankan beauty offers sensuous services, discretion assured.' In Baker Street, London a calling card was seen inside a telephone booth advertising 'services' by a 'Sri Lankan Tigress', the card also carried a picture of a scantily clad Asian woman.

It was only a few years ago that a body of a Sri Lankan girl was discovered in an exclusive apartment block In Ireland. Police investigations later revealed that this murdered Sri Lankan girl from mainland Britain was working as an escort girl in Ireland while her parents were away on holiday.

National Nutrition Week begins today

by Danielle Boekel
National Nutrition Week, seven days dedicated to educating people about the values of good nourishment, begins today (21) and will from this year become an annually commemorated event.

The theme, "Better birth weight, better life" is specially targeted at pregnant mothers as well as mothers with new born children. National Nutrition Week is being co-ordinated in Sri Lanka by the Ministry of Health and will be implemented by the Ministry of Plan Implementation together with UNICEF.

Colin Glennie, UNICEF representative in Sri Lanka told a news conference on Friday that Sri Lanka was no exception from the fact that more than half the malnourished children in the world live in South Asia. He said that although Sri Lanka's nutrition status was considerably better than the other South Asian nations, this could not be taken as a favourable comparison.

Despite its remarkable achievements in increasing the survival chances of children and mothers, one out of every three mothers in Sri Lanka is malnourished and stunted...", he said. He added that whilst the average weight gain during pregnancy of a healthy mother in developed countries was between 10-12 kilograms, an average Sri Lankan mother gains weight of only 7-8 kilograms. "Unlike other public health or social problems, malnutrition is usually not visible, but slowly and silently taken its toll, causing damage to growth and development of babies in the womb and young children in their early years", Glennie said.

According to the UNICEF, one out of every five babies born in Sri Lanka has low birth weight, which is less than two-and-a-half kilograms. "Maternal malnutrition needs special attention if we are to effectively reduce the number of low birth weight babies in the country", the UNICEF representative said.

Glennie added that the World Summit for Children in 1990, "confirmed the commitments for a global action to address malnutrition and nutrition goals were set for the year 2000".

The goals, he said, included the reduction of severe and moderate malnutrition among children under 5 years of age by half of 1990 levels; reduction of low birth weight babies to less than 10%; reduction of prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia among pregnant mothers by one-third and virtual elimination of vitamin A and iodine deficiency disorders.

Mothers islandwide, including the war-torn areas, are to be given special instructions on care and nutrition during the week March 22 to 29. Minister of Health, Nimal Siripala de Silva, who also attended the news conference pledged that steps would be taken to gradually eliminate malnutrition in the country. He said that the launch of National Nutrition Week was a first step in educating the people on proper health care and better nutritional values.

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