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Bugs worry Dhanapala
Former United Nations top diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala assumes duties formally as Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat on Tuesday (June 1).

However, he is already involved in work related to the peace process and has visited the tenth floor (west tower) office of the Peace Secretariat at the World Trade Centre in Fort.

One of his first tasks was to ask officials there to carry out a full sweep for bugs. He wants to make sure no one has bugged the offices to spy on activity inside this all important Secretariat.

Bugging is something that has plagued security experts at the UN on many occasions.
Officials who conducted a check say no bugs were found except for one or two of a different type - those blood sucking ones hiding in chairs. The only other exception, one wag said, would be the two legged ones. How do we catch them?, he asked.

More the merrier
Whenever Governments come or go, there are politicians and bureaucrats who come up with novel ideas.

The UPFA Government is no exception. One of its top bureaucrats, Tilak Ranaviraja, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, Law and Order wants a Coast Guard set up in Sri Lanka. This is besides the Sri Lanka Navy which is now carrying out the work of a Coast Guard besides involving in other duties.

Who says defence expenditure should be pruned down to save money. The more new organisations are set up the better it is. At least for some!!

Nod for an airforce
Remember the packages that were brought in through the Colombo airport by Tiger guerrilla delegations that went for peace talks abroad? There was a heated controversy when such packages were cleared in large numbers without being checked at the Customs.

Intelligence sources now say this was the modus operandi used by the guerrillas to smuggle in a light aircraft into the country. It came in knocked down condition in many packages and is now doing trial flights.

Responding to the spotting of this aircraft, Air Chief Donald Perera was quoted as telling sections of the media that the LTTE could fly them only in their own territory and not elsewhere. Does this mean the Sri Lanka Air Force now acknowledges that the guerrillas could have an air force of their own in areas held by them? That is the billion dollar question.

What's he doing
The Fort Police on Friday nabbed a resident of the north frequenting the area around Ceylon Continental Hotel where President Kumaratunga was taking part in a ceremony. It was the awarding of the Ceres medal to her by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

The same person is said to have trailed Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar when he was in the Opposition. That was when he had gone to the BMICH to attend a public function.

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