.

Talks fail to revive Indo-Sri Lankan trade deal

by Amal Jayasinghe
COLOMBO - Fresh talks between India and Sri Lanka to review a tottering trade agreement have ended in failure once again with no agreement on key issues, officials here said.

India’s Commerce Secretary P. P. Prabhu held talks here with Sri Lankan officials Monday but both sides failed to resurrect the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement that should have gone into effect in March.

"There was no breakthrough at the talks although there were high expectations," a Sri Lankan official said, expressing disappointment.

Indian diplomats, however, were more upbeat, saying there had been a narrowing of differences between the two sides and that they were close to reaching a compromise.

The agreement signed between Indian premier Atal Behari Vajpayee and Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga in December was scuttled when New Delhi made a U-turn on promised tariff concessions.

India had originally agreed to allow Sri Lanka’s main export commodities, tea and rubber, concessionary duty rates in a bid to reduce the huge trade gap that currently favours India by a ratio of 13 to one.

Without Sri Lankan tea — better known by the country’s previous name Ceylon — having easier access to the vast Indian market, the trade agreement would be of little value to the smaller country.

Sri Lankan officials said that India last month offered export quotas for Sri Lankan tea subject to a maximum of five million kilograms (11 million pounds) a year not exceeding a cash value of 10 million dollars.

In March, India rejected a Sri Lankan call for a 50-million-kilogram tea quota. At Monday’s talks Colombo sought a quota equivalent to 15 percent of annual Sri Lankan tea production or about 45 million kilograms.

India for its part is demanding a concessionary duty for its cars and motorcycles to enter the Sri Lankan market. Sri Lanka currently imposes a duty of 30 percent on cars but allows buses and trucks duty free.

Tea trade officials here said India had gone back on promises following intense pressure from three tea-growing states in India which feared competition from cheaper Sri Lankan tea. - (AFP) 

JVP opposes Indo-Lanka Trade Pact

The JVP last week announced its opposition for the Indo-Lanka trade pact and said that any attempt to revive this agreement which seemed dead could lead to protest.

The party which in 1987 mounted protests against the Rajiv-JR Pact told a meeting of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association (FCA) on Wednesday that the trade agreement was heavily in India’s favour and they were opposed to the haste with which the government concluded it without a public debate.

The JVP’s Wimal Weerawansa told the meeting that they had turned the Indo-Lanka Trade Agreement into an issue at the Southern Provincial Council election campaign. "We believe the agreement is dead now, but if they try to revive it, then we will have a much bigger agitation islandwide,’’ he said.

"We believe that any accord should have equal benefits to both parties and that it should be done with the full knowledge of the people of both countries,’’ Weerawansa said. "We don’t consider India our enemy, but there should be no interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.’’

He reminded that they had opposed the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord under which the Indian Peace Keeping Force was deployed here. 

Committee to stop publication of cabinet, state secrets

The government has set up a committee headed by a Cabinet Minister to look into the possibilities of cancelling licenses of newspaper organisations which publish sensitive state and cabinet secrets.

The committee chaired by Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Prof. G. L. Peiris and comprising senior government officials is expected to outline preventive measures to halt the publication of such classified information and the obstacles in place which prevent the provisions of the official Secrets Act being evoked to deal with such situations, sources said.

 The committee is due to submit its report within the next fortnight.

The Attorney General, Secretaries to the Justice and Media Ministries are also members of this committee. The government will decide on the nature of action it intends to take after the report is submitted.

The committee will focus attention on the prevailing laws in this regard and ascertain whether they are inadequate to deal with media organisations publishing official secrets, the sources said.

The government has asked the committee to find ways of effectively implementing the Official Secrets Act while leaving room for the media to expose corruption and injustices in society. 

NMAT & Sinhala Weeravidhana protest march on June 2

The National Movement Against Terrorism and the Sinhala Weeravidhana have called a protest march convening near the Mahaweli Centre, Green Path, at 2.30 pm on Wednesday (June 2) "to proclaim in unison the nation’s opposition and repugnance’’ to:

(1) The failure on the part of the authorities to deal according to law, with Mr. Thondaman and his armed supporters when they resorted to armed thuggery and intimidation on April 29 and 30 at Nuwara Eliya.

(2) The transfer and political victimisation of the SSP Nuwara Eliya, Mr. Pujitha Jayasundera on the diabolically racist, blatantly false allegations and on the bidding of Mr. Thondaman.

(3) The readiness of political leaders to grant any outrageous demand made by rabid, racist minority politicians, so they could remain in power even by the sacrifice of the security the law-enforcement and the entire civil structure of the country.

(4) The failure on the part of the government to take action under the law proscribcing the LTTE, against persons and organisations participating in "conferences’’ convened lby the LTTE - such persons and organisations that act as political fronts of the LTTE.

Buddhists celebrate thrice-blessed day

by Chittaranjan de Silva
Bhuddists throughout the country yesterday celebrated ‘Vesak, the thrice blessed day which commemorates the birth, enlightenment and the demise of Lord Buddha. Ceremonies were organised islandwide and special ‘pinkama’s and ‘dansal’ were part of the events.

The streets were illuminated with Vesak lanterns, and buildings were lit up.

Pandols which depicted stories and parables dating back to the period of the Buddha were major attractions drawing people by the thousands. As people thronged the streets to go to their places of worship and to view the Vesak illuminations, philanthropists and various organisations offered food and refreshments to the weary sight-seers.

Vesak lanterns which adorn the night are displayed mainly to remember the Buddha. Buddhists believe that by showing the way out of suffering the Buddha was like a light shining in the darkness and they light the Vesak lantern to remember him.

By giving alms to those journeying on Vesak day philanthropists hope to secure merit by helping others who are travelling in samsara.

The Vesak pandals which mainly depict ‘jathaka stories’ which relate the past lives of the Buddha and some of his parables attracted large crowds in the Colombo city and its suburbs. Some of the places in the city which were illuminated by the giant pandals were, opposite police headquarters in Fort, Pettah, Dematagoda, Borella, Kirulapone, Grandpass, Thotalanga, Peliyagoda, Ratmalana and Maharagama.

The Buddha Sasana Ministry has declared May 27-31 as the wesak week.

N’Eliya SSP transfer not cancelled

The transfer of Nuwara Eliya SSP Pujitha Jayasundera will not be cancelled despite last week’s series of protests, police headquarters sources said.

SSP Jayasundera has been transferred to police headquarters with effect from June 1.

It’s claimed that this senior police official was being moved out of the Nuwara Eliya district on a request by Minister S. Thondaman following the May Day confrontation between CWC and Sinhala Veera Vidhana activists.

However, Mr. Thondaman last Friday denied that he had a hand in the transfer of the SSP.

Election printing despite unpaid bills

Despite the build-up of unpaid bills for PA election printing running into millions of rupees, demands continue to be made on Lake House for printing propaganda material for the forthcoming Southern Provincial Council polls, well informed sources said.

The latest of these was a letter last week to the Lake House chairman from the coordinating secretary (news) of the Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Media, Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, requesting the printing of 50,000 copies of a statement of the president to the southern voters.

ANCL Chairman Aloy Ratnayake has minuted to the company’s commercial printing manager and manager printing: "Please attend to this carefully and expeditiously."

Meanwhile three Lake House unions have got together and to form an organisation to protect Lake House. They are urgently seeking an appointment with the president for the appointment of a finance director to the company. Among the matters worrying them are uncollected bills and payment of unprovided gratuity to "political victims" which they fear are undermining the financial stability of their employer. 

Multi-million-rupee racket on outdated pesticides

by Shamindra Ferdinando
The Registrar of Pesticides investigating a multi-million-rupee racket in issuing outdated [expired] pesticides to ignorant farmers last week raided one of Sri Lanka’s major agro-chemical companies, a senior Agriculture and Lands Ministry official revealed.

Officials from the Registrar of Pesticides launched the raid last Wednesday, a week after a routine inquiry conducted in the Gampaha district led to the recovery of a massive consignment of outdated pesticides.

The Registrar, Dr. Manuweera said that initial inquiries have revealed that the "racket" has been going on for some time. There was no doubt hundreds, if not thousands of farmers had been cheated he said. Those involved will be charged in courts in this connection. "By using outdated pesticides farmers could not achieve the desired results," he said adding that they have not detected a similar case before.

Dr Manuweera said that since the inquiry began early this month, two large stocks of outdated pesticides had been sealed by his officials.

The Agriculture and Lands Ministry has been informed of the investigation, he said. The ministry’s co-ordinating secretary, Berty Galahitiyawa, said that the people involved in the racket had covered the labels of bottles with new labels.

Dr. Manuweera and Galahitiyawa said that a certain person had sought approval from the Registrar of Pesticides for "re-packing" pesticides. He had been operating at Mirigama, Dr Manuweera said. "We wanted to inspect the place before authorising the re-packing," he said. However, officials who visited the place had seen a huge stock of outdated pesticides. A closer look had revealed that old labels of expired pesticides bottles had been covered with new labels.

Even before obtaining approval, they have been re-packing pesticides.

Later, officials raided the agro-chemical company which had issued the expired stock and found another outdated stock. Officials of the Registrar of Pesticides have talked to company officials with regard to the recovery of expired pesticides.

Agriculture and Lands Ministry official Nelson Silva said that issue of expired pesticides is a "crime." On one hand the buyer does not get the required results and on the other hand the possibility of the consumer being the ultimate sufferer could not be ruled out.

Officials said that the recent Mirigama detection has compelled them to conduct inquiries in other areas to find out whether similar "rackets" are taking place. The Registrar is expected to step up inquiries in other areas as part of an initiative to curb the illegal issue of expired pesticides. 

Island Capers
Hundred million bucks, anyone?

Business circles are buzzing about the meeting convened by Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte who met a group of leading business people recently and sought their co-operation to counter what he said was the malevolent effect of a statue in South India looking in the direction of Sri Lanka.

According to Ratwatte, there was no end to the war because of this ``curse’’ on the island. The way to counteract it was to have another statue here pointed in that direction so that the ill-effects should be neutralized.

He said that this statue, which is now ready, should be erected in a proposed religious complex on the reclaimed Muthurajawela marsh. Land for all religions professed in the country will be allotted in the reclaimed area.

While the entire reclamation would cost a large sum, the minister was looking for Rs. 100 million from the business sector.

Ranil tells President: Implement decisions taken by Elections Monitoring Committee

Opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe yesterday requested President Chandrika Kumaratunga to implement decisions taken by the Elections Monitoring Committee with a view to holding free and fair elections in the South.

The following is the full text of Wickremasinghe’s letter to President Kumaratunga, dated May 29.

"In the run up to the Provincial Council Elections held on 6th April 1999, certain decisions were taken by political parties that attended the meetings of the Elections Monitoring Committee chaired by yourself. You will no doubt agree that it will be both prudent and necessary that such decisions should be implemented also at the forthcoming elections to the Southern Provincial Council in the interest of electorate, the contesting parties and free and fair elections.

I am accordingly recording hereunder the principal matters upon which there was agreement, so that requisite directions could be given by yourself and the government to the appropriate authorities to implement the same in the three electoral districts in the Southern Province.

The police to take action to enforce the provisions of the election laws in regard to the Southern Provincial Council elections, to take prompt action to prevent elections related violence and prosecute offenders irrespective of party affiliations, the prohibition of the use directly or indirectly of official vehicles and equipment by any contesting party or candidate, prohibition of officials and personnel of public corporations and statutory bodies from participating or assisting in the campaign of any party candidate, no transfers be made of police personnel stationed in the Southern Province until the conclusion of election, adequate steps be taken to prevent the unlawful removal of polling cards from post offices, that a mobile patrolling system be implemented by the police from two days prior to the poll and until the polling is concluded and that security personnel engaged on election duty shall wear their uniforms while on duty.

Establish (as was done for the polls held on 6th April 1999) an Elections Monitoring Secretariat to function at election day, 10th June 1999, under the aegis of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs and Plantation Industries, representative of all contesting parties to monitor the conduct of the poll, receive complaints if any, of, election law violations and take immediate action thereon."

India, Pakistan sliding into fourth war
"SAARC has no role to play in bi-lateral issues"

by Shamindra Ferdinando
The seven nation South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation [SAARC] has no role to play in restraining member countries, India and Pakistan despite the two nuclear powers sliding into their fourth war since independence. " SAARC Charter prevents member countries from involving in bi-lateral issues," a top Sri Lankan diplomat told The Sunday Island yesterday.

Sri Lanka, the current SAARC Chairman has no way of playing a role in restraining the association’s two nuclear capable nations, he admitted pointing out that the regional grouping’s Charter ensures member countries could not interfere in bi-lateral issues.

India’s air strikes against Moslem insurgents in Kashmir last week were the first Indian Air Force action since aerial operations against LTTE positions in Sri Lanka’s North and East during the deployment of Indian forces between July 87 - March 1990.

Pakistan has claimed that her forces shot down two Indian aircraft and one helicopter.

Senior Advisor to Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar yesterday declined to comment on Sri Lanka’s position on Kashmir issue. Kadirgamar was not available as he was leading a top level delegation on a Indo-China tour.

The diplomat said that the SAARC avoids bi-lateral issues.

During the last year’s SAARC summit in Colombo, Indian and Pakistani leaders met separately to discuss bi-lateral issues.

India has repeatedly insisted that bi-lateral issues should not concern SAARC. India, diplomatic sources said had previously blocked attempts by member countries to raise bi-lateral issues by member countries.

Sri Lanka, The Sunday Island learns has no objection to discussing bi-lateral issues.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ravinath Ariyasinghe too was not available to comment. Ariyasinghe is accompanying Kadirgamar’s delegation seeking cooperation from Indo-China countries to fight the LTTE.

Sri Lanka came under fire last year after the government reportedly justified South Asia’s dominant power India’s decision to resume nuclear tests. The US called for explanation while Kadirgamar had to explain Sri Lanka’s neutral position both to China and Pakistan, two key allies, diplomatic sources said.

Forced to subsidise competitors
NTT - run Telecom slams Sri Lanka regulator

COLOMBO (AFP): Japanese managers of Sri Lanka’s main telephone company slammed the industry regulator Tuesday, saying an interconnection ruling forced them to subsidise their competitors.

The Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT), which owns 35 percent of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) and manages it, said it was "surprised and disappointed" by a recent order of the regulator.

This ruled that SLT must share its international phone revenues with two private operators who say they are being asked to pay too much for overseas calls originating from their networks.

Sri Lanka Telecom argues that it was given a five-year monopoly on international voice calls to subsidise expansion in rural areas and develop the phone network.

Its chief executive officer Hideaki Kamitsuma said they were given to understand at the time NTT bought into SLT that the monopoly on international calls would be the basis for financial viability.

"We don’t like to subsidise our competitors at the cost of our subscribers," Kamitsuma said, adding that they were seeking a court ruling against the interconnection agreement ordered by the regulator.

We said SLT had also filed action against two other phone companies which he alleged were breaching the monopoly given to SLT.

"We are surprised and disappointed by the actions of the TRC (Telecom Regulatory commission," Kamitsuma added.

When NTT paid 225 million dollars for the 35 percent stake in SLT in 1997, the company was granted permission to raise tariffs every year for the next five years.

Last year SLT raised its tariffs by an average of 25 percent and from June this year is set to raise tariffs again by another overall 25 percent.(AFP)

Pakistan looks to warm up cool start to regional tea party

By Amal Jayasinghe
COLOMBO (AFP) - When South Asian tea producers met to form their first regional body, growers cheered the concept of the quasi cartel but two weeks later there is a queasy feeling over a demand from a key buyer.

The Tea Association of South Asia (TASA) was off to a rocky start when Pakistan failed to turn up at the inaugural meet earlier this month in India and the meeting failed to draw up a constitution for TASA.

Pakistan, the most important buyer in the region and potentially the world’s largest, dropped a bombshell by telling a visiting Sri Lankan delegation it wants to establish the port city of Karachi as an international tea centre.

Now Pakistan wants to be the centre of attention by picking up from where London left off in June last year when its tea auction houses closed their doors for the last time, ending a 300-year tradition.

London had lost out to regional markets in former colonial outposts which are now key tea centres in Africa and Asia.

"We can understand why Pakistan wants to become an international centre for tea," Sri Lanka’s Tea Promotion Board director Hasitha de Alwis said. "Our problem is that we can’t force our industry to go there".

Pakistan is strategically placed to serve the tea-drinking central Asian countries as well as Iran, Iraq and other Gulf states. It also wants help to grow its own tea.

De Alwis said Sri Lanka, which holds the world’s largest weekly tea sale, has no control over producers. Market forces decide where producers will sell but traditionally, the weekly auctions here give them exposure to more buyers.

Sri Lankan officials have promised Pakistan their wishes will be conveyed to other producers in the region but there is no guarantee of an early consensus.

Pakistan has agreed to host the next meeting of the proposed TASA which will hopeful adopt a constitution and set an action plan to lift the industry from its current slump.

A previous attempt by Sri Lanka to form a tea producers council in April 1995 ended in failure when Kenya, a leading producer, decided to boycott.

This time, the tea industry had hoped for success because the grouping is being set up under the umbrella of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) which ropes, in Banglasesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

India and Sri Lanka together account for nearly two thirds of the world’s black tea market. India is also the world’s largest grower of tea and has the biggest domestic consumption.

Pakistan on the other hand buys about 140 million kilos (308 million pounds) of tea annually and is set to oust the two top tea importing nations of Britain and Russia in the next eight to 10 years.

The idea to form a South Asian tea forum involving the world’s tea heavyweights was mooted mainly by Sri Lanka where the tea industry is suffering due to steadily falling prices.

Prices have been falling at weekly Colombo tea auctions since Russia stopped its heavy buying because of the ruble crisis last August.

TASA is expected to benefit producers at a time when prices on the decline but for the moment, it is a buyers’ market and Pakistan is in a position to call the shots.

Monument to honour fallen heroes

The Committee of the Royal College Old Boys Union, for the commemoration of Old Royalists killed in action, has constructed a monument to honour the fallen heroes, in front of the College Hall. It will be unveiled ceremonially on June 2 at 9.30 am.

A considerable number of very senior serving officers of the three services and the police are due to attend this function, in addition to past Old Royalist commanders of the armed services and Inspectors General of the Police and retired Old Royalist senior officers of the armed services and the police.

The next of kin and parents of those killed in action will be honoured guests on this occasion.

The youngest Old Royalist disabled officer from the army will have the distinction of unveiling the monument.

The Sri Lanka navy will provide their Programme Band. The Army will provide personnel required for ‘vigil’ duties and the Police as well as the armed services will provide trumpeters to sound the "Last Post".

The College Cadet contingent and the Cadet band will provide musical backing for the College Anthem.

Gang gives illegal water connections

An organised gang of unidentified persons had given a series of water connections to consumers in Colombo and Greater Colombo areas after charging several thousands of rupees, a senior National Water Supply and Drainage Board official told The Sunday Island yesterday. "We have detected 53 cases so far this year," the official said adding that the board intends to step up raids with the help of the police.

Some have paid over Rs. 5000 to obtain an illegal water connection. The board charges Rs 11,300 for each new connection, the official said.

Asked whether they have been able to identify the members of this gang, the official said "no".

Those who have been produced in courts for obtaining illegal connections, had refused to identify the gang members. "They are scared," the official said revealing that the number of illegal connections in the city and the greater Colombo areas could be at least 10,000.

The official admitted that out of this figure, the number of illegal connections given by the gang under investigation could not be many. However, these illegal connections had caused considerable losses to the board.

He believes that the majority of these connections had been obtained by people living in some 1600 "Wattu" in the city.

Approximately 77,000 persons living in the city had obtained legal water conenctions.

Officials said that obtaining water through an illegal connection is an offence and those who have been found guilty will be penalised.

Asked whether the underworld is involved in this "racket" the official said " I don’t think so".

He said that arrangements are being made to step up "operations" against illegal consumers. At the moment raids are conducted on information provided by people instead of raids followed up by inquiries. [SF]

S.Lanka says cut Tigers’ weapons link

BANGKOK, May 29 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka said on Saturday that Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos had agreed to crack down on weapons sales in their countries to Tamil Tiger guerrillas fighting for a separate homeland in northern Jaffna.

Visiting Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar told Reuters Colombo was considering joint intelligence and security operations with authorities in Cambodia and Thailand to cut off any arms supply routes to the guerrillas.

The minister has visited the four countries over the past week and Bangkok is his last stop.

"I expressed concern that there are reports from time to time that arms are coming, broadly speaking, from this region. We are not able to pinpoint where," he said in an interview.

"All three (Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos) went out of their way and gave me asssurances that they would try their utmost to see such things did not take place," he added.

"It was even warmer, I would say, in Thailand," he said. "I had assurances from the Prime Minister (Chuan Leekpai) last morning they would certainly do their most to interdict any such activity... and to monitor such activity."

"I am looking forward to a new phase of cooperation."

The guerrillas of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are said to have procured more sophisticated weapons lately such as surface to air missiles from Indochina.

Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict between the government and the Tigers, who are fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the north.

Regional intelligence sources have also said that the Tigers were still using the southern Thai holiday resort island of Phuket as a staging point for movement of arms and personnel.

This was despite Sri Lankan appeals to the Thai authorities a few months ago to curb such activity, they said.

Kadirgamar said he was told in Cambodia that with the demise of the Khmer Rouge the government there would be able to improve its grip on the supply of weapons circulating in the country.

"We are thinking now of joint intelligence and security cooperation... to have joint exercises in this respect. The details are not spelt out yet. We are now in a new chapter in jointly trying to tackle this," he added.

Sri Lanka spends about six percent of its gross domestic product in its bloody war against the Tigers. Past initiatives to bring about peace between the two sides have failed and the leader of the LTTE Velupillai Prabhakaran has evaded capture.

Kadirgamar said his government had no choice but to continue spending lots of money that could be better used to develop the country, in order to wage a war of attrition against the Tigers.

"These separatists have no popular support among the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. There are still some military operations going on as we are in the process of taking back the territory of the country occupied by these people," he added.

Government troops succeeded in driving the Tigers out of their long-time stronghold of the Jaffna peninsula in mid-1996.

Despite the setback, the LTTE continues to throw guerrillas into combat with the authorities. Sri Lanka says the LTTE gets financial support from some Tamils living abroad.

Kadirgamar said his government had proposals for autonomy, for some areas, including the minority Tamil-speaking region in the north. The proposals had been accepted, "by and large", by the Tamil democratic parties represented in parliament.

"But they are apparently not acceptable to the Tigers. This whole thing doesn’t hinge on the Tigers. The Tigers have the guns, but the guns are not going to solve anything," he said.

"Ultimately there must be a settlement that will prevail for all time ... to address the grievances the Tamil people have."

Kadirgamar confident Indo-Pak tension won’t escalate

BANGKOK, May 29 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka said on Saturday it was confident high tension between India and Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region this week would not escalate further.

Visiting Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar told Reuters there was an "enormous amount of good sense on both sides" that would prevail and they knew how to handle their disputes.

"For those of us who live in the region we are not all that alarmed. We are confident they know how to handle their dispute," he said.

"We feel very confident that they will never allow, particularly now that they are both nuclear-armed, a border problem like this to escalate into something serious," he added.

India and Pakistan are embroiled in their worst direct confrontation in nearly three decades after Indian forces began attacking what they say are Pakistani-backed infiltrators in the Indian side of Kashmir.

Pakistan said it shot down two Indian jets on Thursday and said they had been downed after they violated its air space.

Sri Lanka is the current chairman of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) which groups India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives.

Kadirgamar said SAARC conventionally would not comment as a grouping on contentious issues affecting member countries.

"India and Pakistan have been embroiled in conflict for 50 years now. We would certainly wish that the day will come soon... we all hope and pray...when the problem between them will be resolved," Kadirgamar said.

The Lahore Declaration signed recently between the two countries when the Indian premier Atal Behari Vajpayee went to Pakistan should be the basis for rapprochment between them.

"We believe that it (the declaration) is not a flash in the pan and is a deliberate step boldly taken by both parties to be on the road to rapproachment and peace," Kadirgamar added.

"I am very optimistic of the outcome of negotiations between India and Pakistan," he said.

Pakistan said on Saturday that its foreign minister would travel to India early next week in an effort to ease tensions in the disputed Kashmir area.

n2
‘Heroic mother’ sent all five sons to forces

by Shamindra Ferdinando
The National Movement Against Terrorism [NMAT] on May 20 honoured Rupaswarage Danawathie, a sixty year old mother of five sons from Polgahawela for contributing to the war effort. Danawathie was given the title "Weeru Mawa" by ven. Madihe Pannasiha Maha Nayaka Thera of the Amarapura Nikaya.

She was among six persons honoured by the NMAT for their contribution for national defence. Danawathie has been honoured for sending her sons to the battle front, at a time many parents seek to keep their children out of the armed forces and police.

"She should have been honoured by the government," an armed forces officer told The Sunday Island last week.

Danawathie’s eldest son, I. Cecil Senadeera [Police] has been stationed at Batticaloa. Her second son, corporal I. Nimal Chandralal [Airforce] has been stationed at Ratmalana. Chandralal had joined the service 13 years ago. He had been stationed at Morawewa in the Trincomalee district, Batticaloa and Vavuniya before coming to Ratmalana.

Danawathie’s third son I. Gamini Seneviratne [Army] had been serving in operational areas since he joined the service 12 years ago. He was involved in the recent Ranagosa operations in the western part of the Wanni region.

Danawathie’s fourth son, I. Sarath [Navy] had joined the service 11 years ago. After serving in operational areas for 10 years, he had been transferred to Welisara camp.

Her youngest son, I. Sanath [Police] has been attached to Pothuhera station.

Danawathie has never asked her sons to leave their colleagues. A true warrior mother, Danawathie has showed the country that sacrifices are needed to win the battle against the separatist LTTE.

Her contribution to the armed forces was immense and significant, senior officers said when asked to comment. A section of armed forces and some politicians have proposed conscription to overcome problems faced by military recruiting authorities.

NMAT supporters believe that the government media should use contributions made by people like Danawathie to inspire other parents to send their sons to fight the LTTE.

" Today, only sportsmen and women are heroes," one said pointing out that the government media ignores events which honour courageous woman. The May 20 event was not covered by the state media.

The NMAT is campaigning for an aggressive combined armed forces campaign against the LTTE and steps to counter other organisations backing terrorist claims for a separate state. Rupaswarage Danawathie living at Thotupalawatta in the Polgahawela police area is a living "Viharamahadevi" people say pointing out that there are many other families which have sent more than one member to fight the LTTE. Some families, sources said had sent members even after losing loved ones.

Among the other five persons honoured were lieutenant colonel W. G. Chandima Gunaratne who died in action on April 20 last year. Gunaratne had volunteered to save a Main Battle Tank [MBE] stuck in mud during a fierce confrontation with LTTE terrorists at Olumadu in the eastern part of the Wanni region.

Law to bind children to maintain parents

The Bar Association of Elpitiya has put forward proposals for draft legislation for children to be bound by law to maintain their parents, to the Law Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.

The letter accompanying the draft states that "We in Sri Lanka, who belong to the highly respected Eastern culture having a lifelong bond of attachment to the family and parents, should provide legal remedies to parents who are unable to maintain themselves against children who fail to maintain their parents."

n3
‘Grave injustices’ to be remedied

Mr. Upali Gooneratne, President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, speaking at the 25th annual convocation at the Bishop’s College Auditorium, said the Association will endeavour to remedy the grave injustices resulting from the denial of access to justice to a large segment of people, due to poverty, ignorance and like causes.

"We will also make an effort to redress the denial of legal representation to our people at the all important stages of arrest and custody during criminal investigation" he said. "As a country where violation of fundamental rights have been made justifiable by its Constitution over two decades ago, we must now strive in the interests of justice, to make such right of representation legally recognised. These are matters of great and urgent concern to the Bar. So should they be to the State."

He added that the Association would continue jealously to preserve the honour and independence of both the judiciary and the profession. If the respect for and the independence of the judiciary is to be maintained, appointments to it should be made purely on merit, promotions primarily on seniority, with an appropriate process of consultation.

Similarly, conferment of any honour by the State on members of the Bar should also be on merit and after due consultation. They should not appear as political favours reciprocated. Neither should even a single member of ours be denied such recognition purely because of his or her political beliefs or affiliations.

Another matter of concern, Mr. Gooneratne said, is the adequacy of our Code of Ethics and of the regulatory machinery to meet the demands of today.

"Can we live in this era of globalisation and trans-national legal practice, or expect to step into the much talked about next millennium, without skills training, an organised system of continuing legal education, computer literacy and the like for our practitioners ?" he asked, adding that lawyers of Sri Lanka can, undoubtedly, hold themselves against the best anywhere in the world. They could do still better with modernised training and advanced technology.

Radhika to probe allegations of abuse of women in Yugoslavia

Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has requested Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, to look into the allegations of abuse of women in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

This was done when she presided at the Third Minority Rights lecture "A question of honour; women, ethnicity and armed conflict" delivered by Ms. Coomaraswamy in Geneva on May 25.

The lecture was attended by members of the UN Working Group, the diplomatic and human rights community in Geneva. Previous lectures in this series were delivered by Henry êteiner, Professor of Law of Harvard University and Veena Das, Professor of Sociology at the University of Delhi.

Payphone to be installed in rural areas

by Sanjeevi Jayasuriya
The Ministry of Posts, Telecommunication and Media will go ahead with a subsidy scheme to encourage the installation of payphones in rural areas, Deputy Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said. A subsidy of Rs. 50,000 per payphone would be given to an individual operator, who is expected to install a maximum of 25 payphones, subjected to a limit of 100 units per district.

The installation of 2,500 payphones would achieve the objective of bringing Sri Lanka on par with countries of similar economic standing with regard to the number of payphones, he noted.

The Deputy Minister said that the Ministry has accepted, in principle, the policy advice given by the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), that rural post office telecom access be provided through competitive tenders.

The three fixed access operators (SLTL, Suntel and Lanka Bell) as well as the cellular operators (Celltel, Mobitel, Dialog and Hutchison) and the wireless payphone operators will be eligible to compete for these tenders, once the details are worked out.

The Deputy Minister was speaking at a news conference held in conjunction with a workshop on "Wireless Applications for Rural Areas" , inaugurated on May 25, at the Kandalama Hotel, Dambulla. It was organised by the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) and was hosted by the TRCSL.

The workshop was attended by 25 telecommunications professionals from the Asia-Pacific region, in addition to 25 participants from the telecommunications sector in Sri Lanka.

The need for rural telecommunication has a high level of unmet demand, second only to the need for medical facilities. This was revealed in the course of a survey on rural telecommunication needs, the Director General of Telecommunications Prof. Rohan Samarajiva said, adding that rural telecommunications is a major initiative adopted by the TRCSL this year.

The introduction of the satellite telephone system to the country, subject to the clearance of the Defence Authority is currently in progress, K. C. Logeswaran, Chairman, TRCSL said. Though, the service is quite expensive, it could offer a useful solution to the problem of communications in the absolutely remote and inaccessible areas.

He pointed out that the biggest single barrier to rural communications is not technology or lack of frequencies, but the widely held perception that the people in the rural areas do not have money; that they will not use the telephone, and that the lines will be unprofitable. He said it was essential to combat this myth.

The three day workshop was also attended by the executive Director of Asia Pacific Telecommunity, Jong-Soon Lee and the Chairman of the Study Group, Dr. Kang Min-Ho.

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