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Foreign
woman brutally killed Police added
that the victim had wounds on her head and shoulder. The victim
said to be between 40 to 50 years of age has not been identified
so far. She is believed to have been killed elsewhere and her body
dumped in the Wanahagoda, Dadawella area of Hanwella. The body was
first spotted by villagers who had informed the Grama Niladhari.
The body is
at the Avissawella hospital. Police are conducting further investigations. JVP
accuses minister of copying The issue came
to a head on Monday when Mr. Samarasinghe moved for Parliament to
adopt the motion amidst shouts of protest from JVP legislators who
said it was a proposal brought by them in February this year but
could not be moved by them due to back tracking by the government. JVP Gampaha
district MP Vijitha Herath who handed over a similar motion signed
by six other fellow legislators in February to the Speaker to be
included in the Order Paper of Parliament told The Sunday Times
that his proposal had been deliberately pushed back so that the
Minister could bring a similar motion. He said he
had queried several times about why the motion was not included
in the Order Paper but there had been no positive response to his
query. He claims that
the matter had been brought up at several party leaders meetings
as well by the JVP's representative but to no avail. Mr. Samarasinghe
however told Parliament that he had got Cabinet approval for the
appointment of the select committee in July and was moving for it's
appointment now. "The JVP had time between March up to now
but did not move it," he said. He claimed
that the motion was similar but not identical. However, the
JVP MP said the Minister had rushed to put the motion on the Order
Paper after he (Mr. Herath) had given notice of an adjournment motion
on the same subject on November 30 due to the delay in the appointment
of the select committee. This was to have been taken up for debate
on December 2 (Monday). However the
motion was later disallowed stating that it violated the "anticipation"
rule under Standing Orders as Mr. Samarasinghe's motion had already
been included in the Order Paper of Parliament for that day. The
anticipation rule states that an order of the day, notice of motion
or amendment of which notice has been given, shall not be anticipated
in a debate upon a motion for the adjournment of Parliament or any
other debate. Both the JVP
motion as well as Mr. Samarasinghe's motions have 13 issues which
are almost similar in nature with some slight differences in wording,
to be examined by the select committee . For example,
the JVP motion states that the select committee be appointed to
examine and make recommendations on foreign employment agencies
that direct people overseas for employment while the government
motion states that the select committee investigate and report on
foreign job agencies/ their role/ problems. One difference between the two motions is section 2 (b) in which the JVP motion had suggested that 30 members be appointed to the committee while the government proposal has suggested the appointment of 19 members. London
Lankans assess federal solution While some
persons from the two major communities involved in the conflict
were happy that a settlement was definitely on the cards, others
were critical of the Sri Lanka government and the LTTE for yielding
too much to their opponents. While disagreement
seemed to mark the response of several Sri Lankans who were willing
to speak their minds on conditions of anonymity- for obvious reasons-,
a leading British quality newspaper The Times, was sharply critical
of the Tamil Tigers in its editorial on Friday which accompanied
a four-column news report on its front page. The news report
by South Asia correspondent Catherine Phlip adduced reasons for
the relatively quick deal that was struck between the two sides. "With
the Sri Lankan economy in ruins and both sides almost bankrupted
by the civil war, neither had much choice than to seek a settlement.
September 11 also appears to have marked a turning point in the
Tiger's thinking as international attitudes towards violence for
political ends hardened and funds from overseas dried up". Some Sri Lankans
who dub themselves Sinhala patriots, argued that the Wickremesinghe
government appeared to have cleared the way for a future state of
Tamil Eelam. "International
and domestic conditions might have made the Tigers climb down from
their demand for independence. But by granting them a federal state
the seeds have been sown for a later claim by the Eelamists to full
independence. It is internal
self determination now and external self determination later",
said a strong critic of the current negotiations who had more than
once publicly displayed his opposition in London. However another
prominent Sri Lankan hailed the announcement and said that sanity
had at last manifested itself as both sides realised the consequences
of continued conflict. Among the Tamils
there were several strands of thinking, depending on their economic
position, length of stay in the UK, their social status earlier
in the north and whether they came from the northern or eastern
provinces. An LTTE-er,
who is now a refugee in London, denounced the leadership for succumbing
to international pressure. He also blamed the leaders for wanting to settle for easier life for themselves, while refugees like himself had to struggle through life here. Gang
strikes at Gampaha fuel sheds They said the
gang in a white van had struck first at Yakkala robbing more than
Rs. 12,000 after pointing a T-56 at the shed worker. About 20 minutes
later they struck at the Nittambuwa shed robbing Rs. 17,000 and
the biggest grab came 10 minutes later when they struck at the Kirindiwela
shed robbing Rs. 56,000. A full alert was launched in the district yesterday.
In a circular
dated December 3, the IGP states that there should be a mutual exchange
of information between the police and the journalists, and that
information given by journalists should be looked into and investigated.
He further
states that since the police and the media are to serve the public,
they should jointly do their job and create an awareness and importance
on the police and media relationship. The circular
adds that the Police Department is going to have a data base on
all journalists, and that the relevant divisions should have a monthly
meeting with the journalists and update them on the current investigations
and give any information which can be divulged. He goes on to say that in the event there are any attacks on journalists, immediate complaints should be made to the IGP or to the Public Relations Division of the police. Patients
suffer as strike continues Hospital clinics
were the most affected with no one to issue drugs or carry out medical
tests. The Cancer Hospital and the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital
were also badly affected. The daily attendance
at clinics of the Colombo National Hospital is between 1000 and
1500 patients. Director National Hospital Dr. Hector Weerasinghe
said all measures to minimise inconvenience to patients have been
taken in consultation with the Director General of Health and the
Health Ministry Secretary. The paramedics
have been on strike since November 28 against the recent recommendations
to increase the nurses' salary. Both the nurses and the paramedics
were on the same salary scale in terms of the recommendations of
the Kodagoda Salaries Commission. The nurses union had, however,
protested and demanded their salary scale remain as recommended
by the B.C. Perera Salaries Commission. The Junaid
Commission report released last week, proposed the nurses receive
two increments when the recommendations are implemented. But the
paramedics had protest that the anomaly be corrected and they be
placed on par with the nurses as before. According to the new recommendations following the nurses trade union action, their salaries have been increased with the increases ranging from Rs. 130 to Rs. 540.
A CID officer
said the man who was arrested by them had been collecting money
from unsuspecting subscribers in the Kandy area, promising a reconnection
of their disconnected phones. He would locate
those with disconnected phones and on the pretext of being an SLT
employer he would tell them that their phones could be reconnected
on payment of an initial amount. He would subsequently
present a cheque to the SLT office and obtain a receipt for it.
Meanwhile,
the SLT had complained to the CID as the cheques had been issued
from closed bank accounts with no funds. On investigations
the CID had found that this man had been doing this for the past
three months. He was remanded
after an identification parade was held. The CID has recorded statements of SLT staff to find out how the man had located customers with disconnected phones. Hotels
scoff at strike threat A senior official
at Hotel Hilton said hotel would not be affected by any strike because
it had enough experienced casual workers to be employed in case
of an emergency. An official of the Inter Company Employees' Union said they would have no option but to strike if their demands relating to duty hours, payments for breakages and other matters were not met. AG's
report out at last The last such
report was presented in 1993. On Monday Finance Minister K.N. Choksy will present to the House the reports for the years ranging from 1994 up to 1999, The Sunday Times learns. |
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