 Returning home: Despite difficulties the displaced people of Jaffna are on the trek home. |
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Nearly 70,000 displaced persons now in the Vanni do not get their food and other essentials which are being given to other refugees, as neither Govt. nor any NGO has decided on the status of these people -‘refugees’ or ‘displaced persons.’
According to a senior government official, of the 500,000 persons who moved out of Jaffna during the Riviresa I, II, and III military operations 300,000 have already returned to Jaffna.
Of the 200,000 still remaining 70, 000 are left helpless without any assistance from any quarter.
These people moved into Vanni after April 1996; those who moved into Vanni before April 1996 are the people who are entitled to receive dry rations, medicines etc. sources claimed
The non-categorised men, women and children are leading a miserable life with no assistance forthcoming from any quarter, the source said.These people, though facing severe hardships are not willing to go to Jaffna, for reasons of their own.Meanwhile the Govt. last week decided to stop payment of financial assistance in the form of paying a dole of Rs. 50 a day person . They are instead given only the dry rations. This is to encourage the people to get back to Jaffna,” sources said.This stoppage of financial assistance to these unfortunate people could affect those refugees in the camps in Vavuniya.
Government says that if it continues to give financial assistance these people might continue staying in the camps and would not opt to get back to Jaffna.
With no proper supply of drinking water and the weather being very harsh, the spreading of diseases is not ruled out. The most affected of the displaced are the children and the sick who cannot be treated in an emergency owing to the severe shortage of doctors in the district.
President plants Bo-sapling today
President Chandrika Kumaratunga will today plant at the Sri Maha Bodhi at Anuradhapura a sapling of the Sacred Jaya Siri Maha Bodhi at Buddha Gaya.
The sapling was gifted to Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and his wife, Suganthie last December when they made a private visit to where the Buddha attained Enlightenment.
The sapling was gifted by the Bhikku-in-charge of the Buddha Gaya Centre, the Ven. Maitipe Wimalasara Thero, Assistant Secretary of the Maha Bodhi Society of India.
Sudhir Kumar, District Magistrate of Gaya who is also the Chairman of the Buddha Gaya Temple Management Committee was also present when the sapling was presented.
Ven. Wimalasara Thero said that the gift was spontaneous and unplanned and was made to promote goodwill between Sri Lanka and India and to invoke the blessings of the Triple Gem for peace and unity in Sri Lanka.
Several government Ministers and Buddhist lay leaders were due in Anuradhapura for the ceremony this morning.
A Swiss team headed by a prosecuting magistrate is coming to Sri Lanka soon for further investigations relating to the alleged paedophile Victor Baumann who was deported from Sri Lanka recently while facing charges for sexually abusing hundreds of children here.
Magistrate Pellegrini will be accompanied among others by Mr. Baumann’s lawyer since Swiss law allows defence counsel to join the investigations significantly. The interpreter for the Swiss team will be Sri Lankan Hilmy Marikar who has now settled down in Geneva.
The Swiss team’s visit has received approval from the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is on a reciprocal basis.
Some 5,000 Sri Lankan pilgrims to Mecca who were scattered after the Haj inferno have regrouped and are returning safely to the country, Ambassador Javid Yusuf said.
Mr. Yusuf told The Sunday Times on the telephone that Minister A.H.M. Fowzie and Deputy Minister Alavi Moulana were among the Sri Lankans in the tents when the fire engulfed the area leaving some 340 dead, up to 1,400 injured and more than 70,000 tents destroyed.
The ambassador confirmed that three Sri Lankans had died not in the blaze but in the massive stampede that took place in the aftermath. The Lankan victims have been identified as Toofa Hawwa Mohamed Hassan of Nintavur, Inaya Zainul Abdeen of Bandaranaike Mawatha, Colombo 12 and Ahmad Sulaiman Bhai of Galle Road, Wellawatte.
Mr. Yusuf said the minister and the Deputy Minister had later visited all the pilgrims to see to their welfare while the Saudi authorities were prompt in providing new tents and other relief.
Ban on the use of air-conditioners in computer room where data had to be entered is one of the obstacles faced by the Education Department in releasing the GCE O/Level results early, said officials.
Exams Chief N. Gunaratne said they would not be able to release the results till the first week of May.
One of the main reasons for the delay in releasing the results was the delay in sending the results from Jaffna. The delay has caused concern among students and teachers of a major disruption even in the A/Level schedules.
The proposal for a Broadcasting Authority came under fire from various quarters of politics last week. Many senior and leading politicians voiced their resentment regarding the Bill saying the Bill clearly indicates the extent of authoritativeness that is growing within the government.
Vasudeva Nanayakkara, M.P said he would argue against the Bill in Parliament. He told The Sunday Times that the Bill is a deviation from the PA pledge to form a democratic state.
“It is an unacceptable proposal and we cannot accept it in a democratic society. The government should not try to compete with private media. Introducing such proposals clearly shows the government’s control of media freedom, which is unhealthy to democracy”, he claimed.
Mr. Nanayakkara added that although he had not been able to study the draft Bill in detail he firmly believed that the proposals go against media freedom.
LSSP’s Batty Weerakoon said that the Bill will not be passed in Parliament as it was highly complicated.
“I am positive that the President will be against it and so will the Media Minister. The Bill has some unusual aspects as well as incorrect facts. I personally feel that all MP’s should be given adequate time to study the Bill”, he said.
According to Mr. Weerakoon the best thing the government could do now was to forget about the Bill, and go into the matter more deeply in order to introduce a better Bill.
A.C.S. Hameed (UNP) said,”the very fact that the Bill has attracted so much of opposition from various quarters shows that it should not have been brought forward”.
There can be no national boundaries as far as news is concerned. Though some control is needed this is not the way to go about it. Never have so many bodies challenged a bill. The licence to be renewed every year is unheard of in a democratic government”, he added.
“The Bill is the complete reversal of what the PA promised before it came into power. The bill is being challenged”, he said.
Secretary of the MEP Piyasena Dissanayaka, told The Sunday Times that they have filed a suit in the Constitiutional Courts against the Broadcasting Bill.
“It clearly violates the basic rights of the media”, he said.
“While we must try to strengthen the media there should be no abuse of it either. There seems to be contradictory policies”, said Mr. Ravi Karunanayaka, of DUN(L) F.
He added that an independent committee should be appointed to look into abuses in media
“We are opposed to the legislation,” he said.
Minister Srimani Athulathmudali told The Sunday Times that a white paper should have been introduced and there should be media freedom. However, she stated that she will go along with the decision of the party but so far she has not discussed the matter with them.
NSSP leader Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne pointed out that the Broadcasting Bill was a serious curtailment of media freedom, and said that his party opposed it.
Dr. Karunaratne told The Sunday Times that he was surprised at the way the media is tackling the Bill.
“The media as a powerful force should unite and protest, but sadly there been none. Things would be different if the entire media got on to the street,” he said.
The NDUN(L)F, a constituent member of the ruling People’s Alliance, has decided to boycott the joint PA rally once again as government and opposition parties prepare for the May Day celebrations.
Transport, Environment and Women’s Affairs Minister and the leader of the NDUN(L)F, Srimani Athulathmudali told ‘The Sunday Times’ that she saw no reason why they should join when her party supporters were not happy over the Samurdhi appointments.
It was on this issue that the NDUN(L)F kept away from the PA’s joint rally last year too. Both PA’s General Secretary D.M. Jayaratne and the SLFP Trade Union leader Alavi Moulana were not available for comment.
The UNP’s May Day rally will be held at Dunbar Ground in Hatton at 10 a.m UNP General Secretary Gamini Atukorale said
It will be presided over by the party leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe. Anura Bandaranaike, Renuka Herath, Gamini Lokuge, Sirinal de Mel, Raja Seneviratne and V. Puthirasigamoney will be among the main speakers.
JVP rally: The Workers’ Day rally of the JVP will get underway at 3 p.m. at the BRC Ground which will be preceded by a procession starting from Cooray Park at 12 noon., Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa said that about 15 representatives of international socialist organisations would attend the rally despite the fact that the government had started to harass their supporters abroad by sending a team of NIB officers to a number of countries to watch their movements he alleged.
Among the foreign representatives would be those from France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Japan and India, he added
NSSP and others: General Secretary of the NSSP, Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne said that they would have a United Workers’ Day rally together with several other Leftist political parties and organisations opposing privatisation; genocidal war in the North; inflation and repression.
Thus, the Socialist People’s Front, Marxist Workers’ Tendency, Maoist Community Party, ‘Diesa’ Circle, General Clerical Service Union, Sri Lanka Teachers’ Union, United Federation of Labourers, United Government Federation of Labourers, Progressive Burgher Front and a Female Workers’ Organisation in the Free Trade Zone will team up with the NSSP this year.
The procesion will start at 1 p.m. from De Mel Park and come back to the same venue for the common rally scheduled to be held at 3.30 p.m.
CWC: noon rally
The Ceylon Workers’ Congress which tasted a bitter defeat at the recent Local Government polls will hold its May Day rally celebrations in Talawakelle. CWC spokesman, Harry Sandrasekera said that their procession would start at 9 a.m. and the rally would be held at 12 noon in the Talawakelle town.
TULF Vavuniya
TULF Chief, M. Sivasithambaram said that his party had not yet decided whether to have the rally in Colombo or in one of the provincial capitals. “However, the chances are that we will hold our main rally in Vavuniya”, he said.
ACTC: no again
Leader of the ACTC, Kumar Ponnambalam stated that the Tamil Congress would refrain from celebrating the May Day this year too. “We have not been holding May Day rallies for some years. Even if we want to, it has to be either in the North or East. But these are not areas conducive to holding rallies as they are battle grounds”, he reasoned out.
EPRLF: undecided
EPRLF is still undecided on the matter.
“We haven’t decided as yet whether to hold just a meeting or rally. We really want to have a rally in Batticaloa. However, due to the prevailing security situation there, we have not been able to finalise our arrangements”, EPRLF leader. Suresh Premachandran said.
MEP and SLPF
MEP leader, Dinesh Gunawardene said the Central Council of Ceylon Trade Union and its affiliates would join the MEP on the May Day.
The rally will be held at the Kirulapone playground at 3.30 p.m. on the theme ‘Strength for the Forward March’.
The Sri Lanka Progressive Front will hold a meeting at Nawinna, Maharagama which will be presided over by its Secretary Dr. Kamal Karunadasa. The key-note address will be delivered by the SLPF leader, Ariya Bulegoda.
Deve Gowda told reporters that the United Front’s decision-making Steering Committee unanimously chose Indar Kumar Gujral, foreign minister in the outgoing government, to lead the 15-party alliance and become the next prime minister.
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