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Date fixed for Athas case Colombo High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya on July 18 will hear the bail applications of two Air Force Officers convicted of criminal intimidation, trespass and unlawful entry with weapons into the home of The Sunday Times Consultant Editor and Defence Correspondent Iqbal Athas. The date was fixed on Thursday after Defence Counsel Ranjit Abeysuriya and Srinath Perera filed counter affidavits. This was subsequent to objections raised by State Counsel, P.P. Surasena, over the grant of bail. Mr. Surasena
earlier filed an affidavit from the CID to confirm there, is an
ongoing investigation into alleged threats made to Mr. Athas. Mr.
Athas had made a complaint to the CID. In addition, Junior Counsel,
T.G. Gunasekera, had also received an anonymous telephone call warning
that Mr. Athas and his family would be killed. Proposal
to admit 200 foreign students It was proposed that the number be increased to 200 while UGC Chairman B.R.R.N. Mendis said each foreign student would have to pay US$ 10,000 or Rs. 960,000 annually as university fees. This proposal comes in the wake of a request made by the Maldives to Sri Lanka to grant more places for its students in the local universities Prof. Mendis said broad agreement was reached at the meeting with Minister Hashim but the matter needed to be taken up with vice chancellors. Supporting the proposal, Prof. Mendis said the universities could use this money for paying off most of the debts, as well as meet most of the day-to-day expenses such as electricity, phone and maintenance bills.
By Chandani
Kirinde Engineer Perera told The Sunday Times that he had first seen the object nearly eight months ago from his residence close to Kandy town. He said that in the latest sighting he had spotted an object that was shaped like a pyramid on top and was round at the bottom. "It was two to three meters in diameter and a bright blue light spread around it. There was a yellow glow emanating from inside as well as a red light spreading around it," he said. The object had
been moving side ways at a normal speed as it had remained within
Mr.Perera's view for nearly four minutes. Asked what he thought the object could be, Mr.Perera said it could be a spy plane or something else. The Kotamale
chief engineer's report was among a spate of reported UFO sightings
from several areas that are being being probed, top astronomist
Chandana Jayaratne said. Dr. Jayaratne said indications whether the unusual objects sighted are actually UFOs or some other flying device might be available by tomorrow. TULF
Sec. gets Tiger advice on seat He said the
LTTE had advised him on filling the vacancy and wanted him to make
its views public at the next TNA meeting to be held within the next
few days. TULF's Senior Vice President V. Anandasangaree has supported the appointment of S. Muthulingam, former Udduvil Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman and National list nominee, while the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) is known to be hopeful that the vacant seat would be given to it.Mr. Anandasangaree told The Sunday Times he had already proposed Mr. Muthulingam and was holding strong on it. "I will not go to Parliament again if my proposal is rejected. I have already promised the people in Jaffna that Mr. Muthulingam will be appointed," he said. Editors
honour veteran scribes The three veteran
journalists are Benedict Dodampegama, David Rajhu, and Ms. Roshan
Peiris. Mr. Dodampegama who was born in Galle in 1928, worked as
a teacher for three years before joining the Silumina during the
Editorship of Mr. Sri Lal Liyanage. David Rajhu who started his journalistic career at the Veerakesari as a sub editor, rose to become Acting Chief Editor of the newspaper. Mr. Rajhu worked for 17 years in Saudi Arabia, and is now media consultant to the Thinakkural newspaper. Roshan Peiris joined Lake House as a young graduate of 24 from the University of Colombo with a History Hons. degree and her career in journalism spans almost half a century. At Lake House, Ms. Peiris wrote on politics, features, fashions, women's issues, and excelled in interviewing and profiling Heads of Government and important people. From Lake House she moved to The Sunday Times where she was the Women's page Editor. In previous years the Editors Guild has honoured several senior journalists. They were; in 1998 M.A. Wimal, Chief Editor of the weekly Rasa Katha; in 1999 Siriwardena Subasinghe former Editor of the Silumina and Dinamina, Navayugaya, Mihira and Sathuta and the first editor of the relaunched Irida Lankadeepa, Wijeya and Sirikatha; Sinniah Gurunathan, the Trincomalee correspondent of the Veerakesari and later assistant editor of the Sanjeavy and features editor of the Soothamani; Clarence Fernando, one time editor of the Daily News and Bureau Chief of PTC-Reuters; and in 2001 M.A. de Silva, one time editor of Dinamina and co-founder of Lankapuvath; K.P. Sivam, Kandy correspondent of the Veerakesari and D.B. Udalagama, one time assistant editor of The Times and acting editor of the Ceylon Daily Mirror. Eleven awards
including the Mervyn de Silva Journalist of the Year Award, and
several merit certificates will be presented at the Awards Night
presentations next Tuesday.
The PC who was serving in Oddusuddan, was at the Police Station when it was attacked in 1990 by the LTTE. While the families of those who died during the attack were compensated, the Police had obtained records of those arrested and taken by the LTTE, but the name of this PC was not on the list. Two months ago, he surfaced at the Police Headquarters, requesting that he be given his job back. He claimed he had been kidnapped and kept under house arrest by the LTTE for the past 12 years. Police sources say that they issue letters of vacation of post to officers who have not reported to work. However, since they had no record of his name and he had just disappeared, there was a need for a decision to be taken. The Department has now written to the Interior Ministry seeking guidelines.
His brother Quintus was my classmate at school and my batch-mate at the Peradeniya Campus. I recall pleasant memories of our visits to his parental home opposite the YMCA, Dehiwela. As a matter of temperament and deliberate choice, I would prefer to avoid microscopic biographical data, because those trifles do not serve the cause of assaying the true value of a man or woman. What alas was the man and what did he stand for, in family, in work place, in religious discourse and in public life? His family life in the midst of his wife Maureen and four daughters surpassed the output envisaged for the much vaunted "marriage encounter" programme conducted by the church to which they belonged. The passing away of his devoted wife hardly two years ago, which caused him much grief, is the likely cause of his hastening his journey to the land beyond. Victor was a journalist who did not savour the sensational. His passion was for authenticity, attention to detail and teasing out nuances of meaning. Several pedants and self-proclaimed intellectuals resented the questions he asked at public meetings and parochial seminars where he sincerely and without malice questioned the accuracy of what was stated by a speaker. When I review his career as a journalist and writer, I recall one of Wittgenstein's observations: "Everything that can be thought at all can be thought clearly. Everything that can be said at all can be said clearly. But not everything that can be thought can be said". To him, freedom of speech, which he actively supported, required careful research and analysis. It was in this spirit that he offered his views on matters of public interest. A few of them were his recommendations on the delimitation of electoral districts and his response to the invitation extended to the public by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission for their views regarding the scope of its activities. Victor extended
his passion for reform of political and social structures to cover
the Catholic Church. His attitude was one of absolute acceptance
of gospel values matched to a critical loyalty to the institution
that claims to be the sole representative of Jesus Christ on earth.
His contribution to the Church should be interpreted in the context
of what Bertrand Russell says about the Church, "Organisations
have a life of their own, independent of the intentions of their
founders. Of this fact, the most striking example is the Catholic
Church, which would astonish Jesus, and even Paul". In his
mission to get his religion closer to the intentions of its founder,
he worked along with a group of lay persons that included the late
Dr. N.D.W Lionel and the late Patrick Fernando, poet and writer.
He was the founder member of the Xaverians, a group of lay people
that pledged to apply their critical faculties to ensuring that
Christianity was not confined to pomp and ritual but extended to
cover quality of life in matters of morals, aesthetic values and
religious practices. Unfortunately the Catholic Church, which snuffs
out mild and constructive criticism in the same manner that it snuffs
out candles with a cowl, treated Victor's views and suggestions
with disdain and resentment. Fortunately the rite of passage from
this world to the next is not determined by the Church but by the
Almighty himself. Goodbye dear friend. We shared many thoughts together
about bell, book candle and mace, but not in vain. |
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