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| Muslim
Congress dissidents to meet Premier The high command of the Ashraff Congress, a non-governmental organization, has been pressurising the MPs to make a token boycott of Parliament because Muslim issues and grievances have not been addressed so far, he said. Despite earlier reports that these MPs would be boycotting Parliament, Mr. Muzzamil said in the face of the present situation the group was committed to supporting the government and until the meeting with the Premier they did not wish to create any division. The Prime Minister had contacted the group to schedule a meeting on Thursday but since many of the parliamentarians were in their electorates the meeting was postponed. Seven of the 12 SLMC members in Parliament are Hakeem loyalists while the others have supported decisions taken by Highways Minister A.L.M. Athaullah to form a dissident group. Security
chiefs, LTTE meeting to clear hurdles SLMM head Major General Triggve Teleffsen is to preside over the meeting, SLMM sources said. At a discussion between the SLMM head and LTTE area commander Pathuman on April 8 at the LTTE office at Sampur in Mutur east, it was agreed to hold a high level meeting to sort out several logistical problems in the smooth implementation of the ceasefire agreement in Trincomalee district. This decision was taken following representations made by the LTTE that the Sri Lanka Army has stopped the transportation of food and medicine to its cadres in their areas through the SLA-controlled areas in the district. The high level meeting was fixed for April 21 in no man's land at Kattaiparichchan. However the meeting was not held due to the outbreak of clashes between Tamils and Muslims in Mutur, SLMM sources said. Now the SLMM has revived the idea of holding the delayed high-level meeting on May 28. LTTE Trincomalee district commander Pathuman and his divisional commanders in the district are expected to attend the meeting, LTTE sources said. Two
LTTE cadres re-remanded The two LTTE cadres Nagaratnam Prasath alias Vanmuhilan and Martin Romiel alias Ramanan were arrested with another when they were allegedly transporting explosives in the sea off Trincomalee on May 8. Later one LTTE cadre was released on the determination of the SLMM. The other two cadres were produced in court two weeks ago and remanded till May 22. At that time the Police made an application to allow the Sri Lanka Navy bomb disposal squad to deactivate the bomb weighing 40 kg. Attorney-at-law K. Sivapalan who appeared for the suspects did not object. The magistrate allowed the application and instructed the Police to hand over the remains of the production to the Government Analyst for examination and report to court. When the two LTTEers were again produced in court last Thursday, the Police moved for a date, as the Sri Lanka Navy had not disposed of the said bomb. The magistrate thereafter ordered further remand for the suspects till June 5. Death
penalty may violate int’l conventions In a letter to Interior Minister John Amaratunga last week HRC Chairperson Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy had said that re-implementation of the death penalty could result in the violation of the provisions on the right to life and the prohibition against torture and cruel and inhuman punishment. It is a matter of fact that weaknesses in the criminal justice systems could sometimes result in innocent persons being executed, the letter pointed out. While the government's aim is to reduce the rate of crime, Dr. Coomaraswamy said that there was no evidence anywhere in the world that the death penalty has contributed to a decline in the crime rate. Instead, she said, the government should look at strengthening the investigative and prosecutorial aspects to apprehend criminals and give them just punishments. With Sri Lanka being a party to the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights and also a signatory to the UN Charter, the death penalty may be in violation of some of the provisions. "Sri Lanka is currently being recognized as an exemplary state with regard to the ratification of international instruments of human rights. The re-implementation of the death penalty will be a major step backwards", the letter said. Dr. Coomaraswamy referred to the 2nd Optional Protocol to the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights, which aims at the abolition of the death penalty. Although Sri Lanka is not a signatory, the re-implementation could mean flaunting standards set out in the international protocol.
Gazette
on Development Lotteries Board take-over awaits AG's advice Government Printer Neville Nanayakkara wrote to the Attorney General in the aftermath of a mob attack on the Government Press premises on May 9 asking his advice on whether he should abide by an order from Mass Communications Minister Imthiaz Bakeer Markar not to print the Gazette or go ahead with the printing as instructed by the Presidential Secretariat. "I have a letter from the Minister saying the Gazette notice should not be printed as it is unconstitutional and a letter from the Presidential Secretariat saying it should be printed. So the only thing I could do was seek legal advice from the top most government legal officer who is the AG," Mr. Nanayakkara told The Sunday Times in an interview. Mr. Nanayakkara said he had written to the AG on May 10 and hand delivered it to him along with copies of the two letters he had received from the Minister and the President's Office. "His advice did not come to me. He wrote back saying as this matter concerns the President, he would write directly to her," Mr. Nanayakkara said. Mr. Nanayakkara said he is unable to act unless he hears directly from the AG or unless the Minister decides to withdraw his letter or unless the President's Office forwards him a copy of the letter it received from the AG so that he can act on his advice. "Under the subjects and functions gazette issued by the President, the Government Printer is placed under the Mass Communications Ministry so I have to take instructions from it. However, I cannot say whether the Minister's letter is constitutional or unconstitutional or whether the President's letter is constitutional or not. That is why I wrote to the AG," he said. The Department
has been reinforced with additional police security after a mob
of around 250 persons pelted it with stones and smashed windows
at the entrance to the building and damaged a few vehicles belonging
to its employees, on May 8. Mr. Nanayakkara said that this particular gazette notice was not sent to him as an urgent gazette and would have gone through the normal procedure of printing which would take about two or three days from the day it is received. "Usually if there is an urgent notice to be gazetted by the President, the President's secretary calls me to expedite its printing. There have been instances where we have printed and released a gazette in three or four hours. However in this case I was not informed so," he said. Mr.Nanayakkara said he came to know that the particular notice had been sent to the printer after inquiries he had made following a threatening telephone call he received on the evening on May 9. The caller who spoke in Sinhala had said, 'We are not angry with you but if you print the President's Gazette notice, two or three will be killed (dennek, thundenek bawanawa)'. It was after this that Mr. Nanayakkara had inquired from the computer foreman if the President has sent a gazette notice. " The foreman informed me one had been sent the previous day and when I took a look at it I saw it was to do with the removal of the Development Lotteries Board from the purview of the Ministry of Economic Reforms, Science and Technology" he said. As it was past
five in the evening by then, Mr. Nanayakkara had decided to delay
the printing till next morning as the Department maintains only
a skeleton staff on the night shift and if any trouble ensued there
would be fewer security guards on duty as well. " I advised him to lock all the doors, switch off all lights and computers and take whatever precautions he could. I immediately called up DIG Colombo Bodhi Liyanage and told him there is some problem at the Department and asked him to send some police officers to check what is happening," Mr. Nanayakkara said. At about this time the staff officer in charge of the night shift had come and when the gate was opened to let him in, the mob had also rushed in. However they could not proceed beyond the entrance to the department as the employees had started pelting the attackers from the third floor of the building with whatever they could lay their hands on. The attackers had fled just \as the police were arriving on the scene. Mr. Nanayakkara said that although some of the employees had said they recognised a few of the attackers, none of them had come forward to make a statement to the police. Close to midnight
Mr. Nanayakkara who was at the Department by that time had been
informed by one of the security guards that the amathithuma was
outside. The next morning he had received a letter from the Presidential Secretariat saying the notice should be printed as a gazette. It was at this point that Mr. Nanayakkara had written to the AG asking for legal advice. |
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