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Govt.
threatens to ban LTTE
President discusses with cabinet following
Friday’s suicide attack
The government on Friday explored the possibility of proscribing
the LTTE as an immediate step following the failed attempt on
the life of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa who met with his key cabinet
ministers on Friday evening discussed the matter at length.
According to highly placed government sources, the government
may stop short of a proscription but issue the threat of
proscription if the LTTE continues with its terror campaign. The
government will accordingly inform the international community
of its decision.
Several key diplomats in Colombo had also raised the issue of
proscription with the government and had queried as to why the
government had failed to take this step when the US, EU, UK,
India and several other powerful countries including
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The
Jathika Hela Urumaya monks protested at the Vihara Maha
Devi Park yesterday urging the government to reimpose
the ban on the LTTE. - Pic by Ishara S. Kodikara
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PTA to make a come back
The government is seriously considering the re-introduction of
the Prevention of Terrorism Act which was suspended following
the signing of the Cease Fire Agreement in 2002.
It is the position taken by the government that an act of
Parliament could only be nullified by Parliament and not
otherwise and certainly not through an agreement.
Article 2.12 of the Cease Fire Agreement states thus: The
parties agree that search operations and arrests under the
Prevention of Terrorism Act shall not take place. Arrests shall
be conducted under due process of law in accordance with the
Criminal Procedure Code.
Highly placed government sources pointed out that even the
western world and the US have special laws against terrorism and
to check persons who are propagating, harbouring and promoting
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NEWS |
Bauer told to stay off
K’nochchi
Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer will be
advised to remain in Colombo without making his
scheduled visit to Kilinochchi today.
Security sources said that his trip to Kilinochchi would
be at high risk since the government cannot guarantee
his security when he is in the LTTE controlled areas.
They said that the LTTE could do some harm to him and
try to put the blame on the government. Hence the advice
from the government ...“I’m
going to shoot you,” Harry tells Vittachi
 One
of the biggest conglomerates in Sri Lanka headed by
Harry Jayawardena, is undergoing a crisis due to the
arbitrary decision taken by Mr. Jayawardena to remove
Mr. V. P. Vittachi as the Chairman of the Distilleries
Company of Sri Lanka.
Petroleum dealers don’t want
to be distributors
The Petroleum Dealers’ Association is to appeal to
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the Finance
Minister, to remove petroleum dealers out of the
‘distributor’ category and to reduce the Economic
Service Charge (ECS) payable to the Treasury, The Nation
learns.
The Petroleum Dealers’ Association Administrative
Secretary Asoka Mallawarachchi said that they are
thankful to the President for bringing down the ESC paid
by distributors from 0.1 percent on the gross turnover,
to 0.05 percent with effect from April 01, 2007.
UNP, SLFP talks on final
solution to N-E crisis soon, says Ranil
UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that the UNP
and the SLFP can commence talks on a final solution to
the North-East problem shortly once the Expert’s panel
report is handed over to the All Party Conference.
Wounded civilians recall
Friday’s horror
Most of those who were caught in Friday’s suicide blast
targeting Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, were
innocent civilians who were on their daily errand.
According to the eyewitnesses the road was cleared for
the convoy to pass through. One lane of the road was
thus cleared while the other was jammed with vehicles.
Stalemate in CWC, estate
employers talk
Discussions between the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC)
and the Sri Lanka Employers’ Federation (SLEF) ended in
a stalemate Friday after both failed to reach an
agreement regarding wage increase to the plantation
workers.
The CWC that placed before the Federation its request
for a considerable wage increase demanded that the
workers be paid a sum of Rs. 295 per day along with
other perks.
Kfirs hit M’thivu LTTE base
Sri Lanka Air Force fighter planes strafed a Sea Tiger
base in Mullaithivu around 11.30 am yesterday, SLAF
Spokesman, Group Captain Ajantha Silva said.
Harry J. creates a commotion
at PERC
On Monday, November 27, officials of the Public
Enterprise Reform Commission (PERC) and representatives
of several other leading organisations were witness to
some interesting theatrics by business tycoon Harry
Jayawardene.
On that day a special meeting was convened by PERC, as
advised by the Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE) to
resolve an outstanding issue regarding the privatisation
of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation. SLIC was
acquired in 2003 by a consortium, headed by Harry
Jayawardene.
Major, five others detained
further
Six suspects including a senior officer of the Army
Intelligence Unit, who are alleged to have been involved
in spying to the LTTE were produced before Colombo Chief
Magistrate and Additional District Judge Ms. Sarojini
Kusala Weerawardena and further detained. |
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 The
damaged vehicle in which Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa travelled is seen after the explosion. - Pic by
Ishara S. Kodikara. |
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POLITICS |
Pallihakkara and our
foreign relations
Even at the risk of embarrassing the self-effusive,
modest, workaholic Foreign Secretary, Pallihakkara,
one is provoked into responding to a statement of
the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The minister in response to a ‘charge’ by Mr. Rauf
Hakeem that the Foreign Secretary has gone on ‘leave
prior retirement’ because there were too many
outsiders interfering in the work of the Ministry,
has stated that all public officials are entitled to
leave prior to retirement. It is of course, a fact,
but how many foreign secretaries or for that matter
how many permanent secretaries have availed
themselves of this entitlement?
Oracles, peace-traps and the
impending doom of war
 The
Oracle has spoken, but what he had to say last week
was quite an anti-climax indeed. It was his deeds
that spoke louder than his words.
The ‘Heroes Week’ address of Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is
now perhaps the most awaited of speeches in this
country, whether we like it or not. But this year,
he appears to have disappointed the ‘diaspora’-to
use a fashionable word- as well as everyone else.
Mihin Air flies
into stormy clouds
The second week of the 2007 Budget debate was somber
a backdrop of excruciating boredom but the only
sparkle came in the adjournment debate on Wednesday
evening proposed by Colombo District UNP MP Ravi
Karunanayake who raised queries on the proposed
budget airline- Mihin Air.
The former Trade and Commerce Minister, himself a
shipping and aviation professional, queried on a
series of allegations bordering on the very
logistics of the proposed airline , especially
whether it even had Cabinet approval , sending the
very newly formed airline company through some
stormy clouds.
Taking the tirade to the government ranks, he
pointed out that the government itself was yet to
spell out its aviation policy at a time where the
industry was transgressing turbulent times with sky
rocketing fuel prices. |
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NEWS FEATURES |
Recapture of a ruthless rapist
Don Nishadhi Buddhika, a resident of Wilwatta, Meerigama, was
brutally raped and murdered on November 3, and her body was
found the next day, abandoned near a paddy field. After three
weeks since the incident took place, the suspect, W. A. Samantha
Thilakasiri was caught by the police and the CID. Out on bail
after seven months spent in remand on a similar charge, the
suspect had committed the crime only three days after being
released. This is an account of the conduct and capture of a
rapist who went on a rampage, taking the life of an innocent in
the process.Interpreting Prabha’s Heroes Day speech
The
Maveerar Thinam (Heroes Day) speech delivered by the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has
caused concern among the civil and political society in the
South.
Though the majority of the people in the South sought to ignore
Prabhakaran’s speech, they could not stop discussing it.
While some interpreted his speech as a declaration of war, some
viewed it as purely a traditional speech made by any rebel
leader.
Questions are raised whether or not the government should take
Prabhakaran’s speech seriously.
Many people The Nation spoke to were of the view that the
government should simply ignore his speech or the contents of it
and go ahead with its peace formula. They opined that what the
LTTE was demanding for, significantly differed from what the
Tamils needed at this juncture. |
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SPORTS |
China takes charge
DOHAR (AFP)- China took charge on the opening day of the
Asian Games Saturday, winning the first three golds on offer in
an ominous signal of its intentions as the sporting extravaganza
finally got underway.
Bomb blast leaves Asiad host in
dismay
Friday’s bomb attack on Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa has aggravated matters for the Sri Lanka Rugby
Football Union (SLRFU) which longs for peace in the country to
host the much looked forward to Asian Rugby Championships.
Sri Lanka Cricket takes over
Premadasa Stadium, Rangiri Dambulla on line
The controversial Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium
will come directly under Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) control when a
30-year lease is signed by the cricket authorities with the
Dambulla Temple, owners of the land on which the stadium was
built.
Thilina and Anuruddha record wins
for Lanka
Sri Lankans Thilina Piyadasa (Table tennis) and G.C Anuruddha
(Chess) gained rare honours when they recorded wins in their
respective events on the second day of the Asian Games in Doha
on Saturday.
HARD TARGET
Sri Lanka’s rugby players are within reach of the door that
would lead them to be full time professionals. All the players
in the national sevens squad are assured a pay-pack at the end
of the month by their employer, Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU).
But the monies that these rugby players earn by playing sport
aren’t adequate so they still have to do a job when not playing
rugby.
Wettimuny strengthens SLCA’s hand
 To
former record-breaking Sri Lankan Test opener and chairman of
selectors Sidath Wettimuny, his role as the new president of the
Sri Lanka Cricketers’ Association (SLCA) maybe something
unfamiliar to him, but in the eyes of his committee members he
is the ideal choice for that position.
Flashback to Sri Lanka’s maiden
overseasTest win
When Sri Lanka recorded their maiden Test victory over India at
the Saravanamuttu Stadium on September 11, 1985, by 149 runs,
Kapil Dev the Indian captain incensed by some poor umpiring
decisions that went against his team vowed that Sri Lanka would
never win a Test match abroad.
The Old Man and the Sea
 To
Bertie Weerasooriya fishing was more than just a sport or
pastime. It was a way of life. Learning patience and
concentration; using one’s skill to reel in a fighting fish;
getting away from the concrete jungle to enjoy the beauty of
nature and sharing the close brotherhood amongst anglers were
the attributes that lured him into fishing. |
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POLITICAL COMMENT |
On the political dimensions of lament and
salute
 Here’s
a challenge to all our readers, a quiz of sorts. What are the
names of those who perished with Major General Parami Kulatunge?
Did it happen too long ago to remember? Let us take something
more recent. What was the name of the policeman who died of
gunshot injuries when TNA parliamentarian N. Raviraj was shot
dead? |
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