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Justice should
not be suppressed What about the people involved in the killing of priests and civilians at Aranthalawa, Sri Maha Bodhiya and various places in Colombo and its suburbs? Then what about those who ordered the assassinations of President Premadasa, Gamini Dissanayake, Ranjan Wijeratne and former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi? Why not serve indictments on those linked to these incidents as well? At his April 10 news conference, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran claimed that there were only six prisoners of war under the care of the LTTE, though thousands of soldiers have been reported missing. Is it because the LTTE does not believe in taking prisoners? What happened to more than 600 policemen who surrendered to the LTTE on President Premadasa's advice? Geneva Conventions were thrown to the winds by the LTTE when they eliminated the prisoners of war. Peace is only one aspect but law and justice should prevail. D. Panditharatne
Over the years it has dictated terms to elected governments, none of which had the resolve and the commitment to bring it to justice, as they did with the JVP. JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera simply disappeared after his capture, as did several thousand JVP activists and sympathisers. The JVP was declared a terrorist outfit and proscribed. What one should not forget is that the JVP, unlike the LTTE, did not demand Eelam and bring down "facilitators" or "negotiators" from countries which financed and guided the insurrection. An ambitious UNP minister, adept at changing colours, recently warned the JVP that they had strong foreign friends (the USA) and not to monkey with the "peace process". Will these foreign friends ever help us capture the LTTE leader, like they are doing with Osama Bin Laden, and destroy his terrorist outfit? Velupillai Prabhakaran is a mass murderer and is wanted by India for the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. Sri Lanka would
have peace only after the LTTE is laid to rest in peace and not
before.
The strange fact is that 95% of students who have 'completed' the courses held by them are unable to dance when the music starts. Adept at the different steps of six to seven dances they perform a drill display, blissfully unaware of the ludicrous picture they present. With the gurus' encouraging words about the dancing prowess of these students, this breed of 'ball-room dancers" boldly steps forward to display their "talents". The basics in
'timing' are not taught in dancing schools, making the "dancers"
the laughing stock of the world.
These remarks may be correct as far as the 1957 attempt is concerned, but it is a gross misrepresentation of facts, to apply the same theory, in respect of 1965 and 1987. The Tamil Language Special Provisions Bill was approved in Parliament on January 8, 1966 inspite of protests. In 1987, the Thirteenth Amendment was approved by Parliament and implemented inspite of protests. It is grossly incorrect to say that the Sinhala leadership could not contain protests from within their own community in 1965 and 1987. Thus it is clear that the NPC, through its newspaper advertisement, attempted to mislead the country and the world. This is an open
challenge to the NPC to explain this factual error. More on snakebite
treatment While commending this project as a step in the right direction. I would like to give more information on snake-bite. Polonga Tab is an anti-venom serum (AVS) against the Sri Lanka species of polonga (i.e., a monovalent AVS) and as such can be used only against envenoming by the Russell's viper. Several venomous snakes other than the Russell's viper, such as cobra, krait, saw-scaled viper and the hump-nosed viper are responsible for bites needing hospital treatment in Sri Lanka; AVS treatment is necessary, if indicated, for all except bites by the hump-nosed viper. The current practice is to use a polyvalent AVS - i.e., an AVS that is effective against the venom of all the snakes The principal advantage is that the identity of the biting snake need not be known with certainty. On the contrary, use of a monovalent AVS such as Polonga Tab would necessitate an accurate identification of the biting snake; either visually at the time of biting or by recourse to immunodiagonstic techniques, an expensive and time consuming procedure available only for research at present in Sri Lanka. Clearly what we need for general use is a polyvalent AVS effective against all the venomous snakes, as the identity of the biting snake is so often in doubt. I would like to send the following message to the public regarding snakebite. The majority of snakes in Sri Lanka are non-venomous and their bites do not require any specific therapy. The only specific therapy for venomous snakebite is AVS. The AVS currently available in Sri Lanka is imported from India. It is effective against Russell's viper bites. It is a polyvalent AVS raised against the venom of all the above-mentioned highly venomous snakes other than the hump-nosed viper. Polonga Tab is available only for research purposes. It is neither available nor advocated for large-scale use at present. It is also expensive. Sri Lanka does not produce any AVS. Procedures such as support of breathing by artificial means together with the use of AVS contribute significantly to preventing death, particularly after krait and cobra bites. The hospital fatality rate from snakebite has fallen from 3.5 to 0.5 percent during the past 15 years as a result of patients seeking treatment early in hospitals, the rational use, as well as the availability of effective Indian AVS, and the availability of other supportive care such as artificial ventilation. In the event
of snakebite, do not panic. Reassure the victim and immobilize the
bitten limb (no tourniquet). Do not let the victim walk but take
him/her immediately to the nearest state hospital for effective
and safe treatment. HLDM's pole-vault This is in stark contrast to the disparaging and insulting remarks he made last year which were aired on a weekly Sinhala current affairs programme of a Melbourne radio station. Week after week we had to listen to HLDM running down Ranil in the run- up to last year's election, playing up a nexus between the LTTE and the UNP. I was also amused
that in his letter published in The Sunday Times a fortnight ago,
he had referred to the LTTE fighters as guerrillas. Again this is
in marked contrast to his reference to the LTTE as 'Tamil Tiger
terrorists' ad nauseum in the Sinhala radio programme conducted
by Dr. Olga Menis. If Sri Lanka is to be rid of 'racist despotism'
(to borrow HLDM's words) Ranil would have to start with the likes
of HLDM.
There is a new expressway project at the design stage at the Road Development Authority. Named Outer Circular Highway, this project is more expensive than the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway. The estimated value of this project is Rs. 20 billion. A newly-built foreign-owned private hospital disclosed that the building cost of the hospital was Rs. 2.6 billion. Therefore, we can imagine how many hospitals can be built with the money that would be spent on expressways. In many countries, expressways are operated as toll roads. How many Sri Lankans can afford to pay money and travel on toll roads? When the toll rate increases like all other rates, the embarrassment will be on the government and it may become unpopular. Since the proposed
Outer Circular Highway has not been awarded to a contractor yet,
please stop the project and show the country that this government
is saving money when the economy is in a bad state. Helping hand
to differently abled worshippers Even places of religious worship are no exceptions. Infact, they are the corner-stone institutions providing good guidance and direction towards achieving a state of mental well being. At a crucial time when solace is needed very much, especially by the youth, its denial certainly leads to more agitation and unrest also affecting their immediate families. The 'Seth Pavana' Society founded by Preethi Kolonne ably supported by the Ratmalana YMBA have turned invaluable thoughts germinating in their minds into good action. They have just embarked on an appropriate project towards overcoming these barriers, infusing hope and bringing relief to shattered minds. The foundation stone for a 'special project' was laid at a simple ceremony at the Bellanwila Raja Maha Viharaya premises on June 7. The project is designed to assist the disabled devotees, undertaken by the constructors Amtrad, supervised and directed free-of-charge by Upali Jayawardena. It is a great pleasure to note the painstaking efforts taken by him and Mrs. Kolonne. The project is to be completed within 20 days and is expected to meet all requirements of wheelchair users. The sincere
belief of is that, this project inspires similar projects, not only
in other Buddhist temples and religious places of worship, but also
at key public and private buildings throughout the country.
Do we need this?
Is there a need for another golden fence around the sacred tree?
It is similar to erecting a second wall around one's house. Could
not money be raised for better purposes like housing for the homeless
or to feed malnourished schoolchildren?
The main cause for environment pollution is polythene products. Most sili-sili bags are thrown carelessly into drains and by the roadside. Animals die after consuming discarded polythene along with food. It is time to
ban polythene and promote paper products as an alternative. It could
become a cottage industry. We hope that the UNF government will
take steps to ban polythene immediately.
Sometime ago, a doctor removed a few bottles of blood from the Blood Bank for a bomb victim without following the correct procedure. The doctor-in-charge of the Blood Bank questioned him and later penalised him. We have heard
numerous incidents where judges were threatened and a customs officer
was killed for doing right thing. Media personnel have been beaten
and assassinated for doing their job. The crime rate has increased
manifold and this trend needs to be curbed before it is too late.
'Letters
to the Editor' should be brief and to the point.
Address them to: 'Letters to the Editor, The Sunday Times, P.O.Box 1136, Colombo. Or e-mail to steditor@wijeya.lk or stfeat@wijeya.lk Please note that letters cannot be acknowledged or returned. |
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