• UNP to attack Govt. on rupee float
• Judicial slip held up widow's release
• Legal eagles elect officials amidst confusion
• Watchdog to protect public property
• Snippets
• Vulcanising is her livelihood
• UNP gunning for Mervyn
• Estate protest drags on
• Daring daylight robbery claims life
• Who dragged children for terror show?
• Millions for Devananada while people are crushed
• Deputy ministers want more rights
• Closed court hearing for Prabhakaran
• New immunization schedule from April 1
• Attack on the church: ten suspects at large
• Dushantha to head journalist body
• Sathosa's shelves empty
• Overstayers beware
• CPJ expresses concern over delay in Athas case
• Allow them to go home, says Tamil Congress
• Right of reply
• CEB chief explains financial crisis
• EU team raises rights issue
• Surcharge puts traders in price dilemma
• JVP bashing goes on unabated - PARLIAMENT
• Recalling events of Vijaya Kumaratunga assassination - Focus on Rights
• Seeing 'eye to eye' with the President
• Proposal to keep politics, corruption out of police
• Mass rape ruled a war crime

UNP to attack Govt. on rupee float

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti

The UNP will make a two-pronged attack on Minister G.L. Peiris' statement in Parliament on Friday on the reasons for floating the rupee, by immediately studying the possibility of impeaching the President for intentional violation of the Constitution and calling for a comprehensive Parliamentary debate on the statement itself.

Opposition chief whip W.J.M. Lokubandara said the UNP firmly believed that the Cabinet has been deliberately kept in the dark about the decision to float the rupee, claiming that a serious violation has occurred with Parliament being bypassed when a step of this magnitude was taken.

He said that the minister's reply was completely unacceptable as it came one month late and was full of unsatisfactory jargon that didn't explain why procedures and practices were violated.

UNP whip Tyronne Fernando claimed that the UNP was compelled to extract a statement from the minister by pressing the matter at the week's party leaders' meeting.

The UNP claims that a serious undermining of Parliament has been done by the arbitrary decision to float the rupee without consulting the Cabinet which has been finally confirmed by the deafening silence maintained when queried whether its members have been informed of it in their private or official capacities.

The UNP argues that under Article 148 of the Constitution Parliament had absolute control over public finance, which has been observed in the breach in addition to subverting finance discipline and practices.

At a debate on the statement made by the Deputy Finance Minister, the UNP intends querying as to why Parliament was not taken into confidence and a departure from precedents made and as to why a statement was not made at the appropriate time.

Meanwhile, UNP parliamentarian Mano Wijeyaratne alleges a certain official heading a state bank made this vital financial decision to float the rupee arbitrarily and forced it down the government's throat undermining the duties of the Cabinet.

When Minister Peiris made his special statement in Parliament, Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe seeking a debate on the same queried as to why the House was not informed of the development. He added that traditions maintained and nurtured by the likes of J.R. Jayawardene, U.B. Wanninayake, Dr. N.M. Perera and Ronnie de Mel who have immediately informed the House once vital decisions regarding public finance were taken, were spurned by the bypassing of Parliament this time, in stark violation of the Constitution which holds the Executive President responsible to Parliament.

Judicial slip held up widow's release

An omission in the signed copy of a judgment delivered by Chief Justice Sarath N.Silva in a fundamental rights application resulted in a 48-year- old widow being held in remand unduly for a period of nearly three months.

The signed copy of the judgment though awarding the petitioner, Seenithambi Thaverasy who had been illegally arrested, detained and brutally tortured, Rs. 50,000 as compensation for violation of her fundamental rights, did not include an order for her release from custody.

Correcting the error of that judgment delivered on December 6, 2000 by Justices Ameer Ismail and Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake and himself, the Chief Justice conceded that the last line of the signed copy of that judgment which should have read "we direct that the petitioner be discharged from custody forthwith", had been omitted though it was part of the draft judgment and the journal entry.

Ordering that the omitted sentence form part of the original judgment, the Chief Justice further ordered the Registrar of the Supreme Court to send the amended judgment to the High Court of Batticaloa for the petitioner to be discharged forthwith.

The omission went undetected until the instructing attorney for the petitioner, Mr. E. Mariampillai addressed a letter on February 9, 2001 to the Registrar of the Supreme Court requesting the order of December 6 discharging the petitioner be communicated to the Registrar, High Court of Batticaloa, as the judge was not willing to release the petitioner without such communication. The Registrar of the Supreme Court sought clarification from the Chief Justice who mentioned it for last Thursday, stating the original judgment should be corrected.

The petitioner, a widow and a mother of four children was arrested on October 24, 1999 subsequent to the bomb explosion at the Mandur public market. While running for cover she was arrested by personnel of the Vellaveli police station with no reasons given.

She was detained at the Vellaveli police station for one day where she was ill treated and assaulted several times. She was later handed over to the Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) of Batticaloa and further detained until December 20, 1999. Thereafter she was produced before the Batticaloa Magistrate who ordered her remanded under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

At the CSU she was assaulted again, beaten with poles, slapped with open fists and her head dashed against the wall. Her legs were tied with nylon rope and she was assaulted with the butt end of a gun. She was forced to admit that she was a supporter of the LTTE and forced to place her signature on unexplained documents typed in Sinhala. She did so merely out of fear of further assault. A case against her was then instituted in the High Court of Batticaloa.

Legal eagles elect officials amidst confusion

By Laila Nasry

The Bar Association elections were held last Tuesday with Mr. Ajantha Athukorale and Mr. Bandula Wijesinghe being elected as President and Secretary respectively.

Results from Jaffna, Chavakachcheri and Anuradhapura have yet not been received till yesterday for the Secretary's post but those results were not going to alter the final outcome, Bar Association sources said.

Confusion was more like the order of the day however with most lawyers being unaware of the fact that the elections scheduled for the 20th of February were going ahead as scheduled, some of the members said.

The confusion had arisen because of speculation that fresh nominations would be called due to the sudden death of Chula de Silva PC., one of the candidates for the post of president.

Though it was claimed that polling cards for Colombo had been dispatched by early Saturday (three days prior to voting) and outstation polling cards by the Thursday before, many of the lawyers had not received it by election day.

This resulted in poor voter turn out on the day of the polls. Of some 4,000 lawyers registered to vote in Colombo only around 1500 cast their vote.

Though voting is permitted without the polling card not all lawyers were aware of this fact. Thus polling in almost all stations were poor with around 50% not voting. The polling centre in Gampaha which should have been in operation from 8a.m. to 5p.m. started operations at 2p.m.as the permanent judge who was to preside on election day was on leave and the judge who took over did so after adjourning the days proceedings. Thereby denying most lawyers a chance to caste their vote.

The post of President of the BASL went uncontested to Mr. Ajantha Athukorale. The post of Secretary was keenly contested between Mr. Bandula Wijesinghe and Ms. Anoma Goonetilleke, the first female to contest for the post.

Both Mr. Wijesinghe and Ms. Goonetilleke agreed that though the elections were conducted well there was an element of confusion. In an ugly twist, rumours were spread of Ms. Goonetilleke being politically biased and slanderous leaflets of her were circulated, reportedly by a group of young lawyers opposed to her.

In a separate election, Mr. Hemantha Warnakulasuriya, a senior practitioner was elected as the President of the Colombo Magistrate Court Lawyers Association, defeating Mr. Joseph Charles and Mr. L.A Cardos.

Mr. Warnakulasuriya was a former Secretary of the BASL during 89/90 and 90/91 and was in the forefront of the struggle against terror and human rights violations. He was also Chairman of the Legal Aid Comission for ten years and established Legal Aid Centres in different parts of the country. He has also contributed to newspapers regularly, writing on many topics including the law, sports and the arts.

Watchdog to protect public property

By Nilika de Silva

The Institute of Human Rights has come forward to investigate the misuse of public property and will follow up all complaints from the public pertaining to irregularities which have taken place after January 1, 1999.

This organisation comprising lawyers is providing voluntary services towards reducing the mass scale corruption that is prevalent today.

"This kind of investigation is vital in a democratic country," Project Director of the institute J.C. Weliamuna said.

The investigations cover all types of public property including public finance, services of public servants and all movable and immovable properties. Furthermore, it covers the employees and transactions of all government departments, statutory boards and all institutions supported with public funds.

The Institute of Human Rights begun in 1994 to protect the civil and political rights of the people, comprises a legal division and a rehabilitation division and has desk offices located in Ampara, Batticaloa, Vavu-niya, Trincomalee and its headquarters in Colombo.

Complaints are to be forwarded to the 'Programme for Prevention of Misuse of Public Property', Institute of Human Rights, No. 10, Purana Vihara Road, Colombo 6. Telephone No. 817692, Fax No: 820467 and E-mail address: ihr@sti.lk

Snippets

Ranil in fighting mood

Leader of the Opposition and the UNP Ranil Wickremesinghe was in a fighting mood on a private TV show this week. When the interviewer asked him what he had to say about the lady in the UNP organised Janabala Meheyuma who imitated the President with a eye patch, Mr. Wickremesinghe said "I did not see it, but if I had known it was insulting the President, I would'nt have allowed it."

But he asked the interviewer, if that was an insult, everything else said and imitated about politicians too should be stopped. He cited how the then SLFP government in its May Day rally insulted the late Premier Dudley Senanayake with the slogan "Dudleyge baday masala vadai". This was after he signed the Dudley-Chelvanayakam Pact.

Next he told the interviewer "ask Chandrika after President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated who said, 'Now the enemy is dead let's drink champagne'."

Green tea and black tea

A one-time socialite, who was the cynosure of all eyes at the races and fashion shows was at a five star hotel on Valentine's Day. She ordered a cup of green tea, now becoming popular like in China and Japan.

The steward served her with black tea. She told him I want 'green tea' and the steward replied it was 'green tea'. The lady who certainly knows the difference between green tea and black tea told the steward, "Can't you see it's not green tea. The steward, the young buck shot back, "it's green tea, why don't you smell it?" Talk of five-star courtesy. The customer is never right, it seems even if she is.

It's all happening to security men

Recently six officers of the Prime Minister's Security Division (PMSD) were injured when the bus in which they were travelling crashed into a bowser at Kohuwala. Hope they recover soon .

But more interesting is how two security officers and two drivers also of the PMSD were involved in another act. Sri Lanka does not have red light areas like in Mumbai which is of course legalised.

However, all work and no play makes jack a dull boy. The foursome had visited a brothel close to Temple Trees while on duty on Monday.

They were caught by a mobile police unit. As usual brawls take place in a pub or brothel. The officers who had visited the house of ill fame had got involved in a fight which left one driver seriously injured. Of the drivers one was a Police driver whilst the other was a civilian. Both are attached to the PM's backup vehicle .

When incidents of this nature take place, punishment too is meted out immediately. The two officers were charged that they had visited the hot spot while on duty and were to be interdicted but sympathy too plays its part at times. They were later transferred to the MSD. The two were with the PM when he was a Minister.

What a way to seek election

A director of a semi-government electronic media institution contested the post of Secretary-General of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association yesterday.

In a pamphlet issued by him he says if elected he would completely rid the association of politics. Political differences will not be considered in granting services and privileges of the association. The last line says "I think I am the most suitable person to get anything done for the association from the present government."

How could one completely get rid of politics in the association and still have strong government influence, asked those who voted at the AGM.

Not even reasonable use of Tamil

The government with all its publicity campaigns both here and abroad telling the world that it is doing everything for the Tamil people, is yet to send a media release from the Government Information Department with a Tamil translation of whatever it sends to the media for publication.

The latest of its releases was received by the print media on Thursday informing it of the President's visit to India. It had two paragraphs about the visit, one in English and the other in Sinhala.

Where are you, Thilanga?

Cricket Board President Thilanga Sumathipala according to a report in a daily this week had said that the next ICC Executive Committee meeting will be held in Colombo in October.

But he added something more by describing the underlying benefits that could accrue to the country. Sumathipala said, "All that the world knows about us is of bombs and suicide killers. This will be a great opportunity for us to show that there is more in Sri Lanka than that."

Has he forgotten that our cricket team put Sri Lanka on the map after winning the World Cup in 1996, and recently Susanthika Jayasinghe did it again by winning a bronze medal at the Olympics after 50 years?

Vulcanising is her livelihood

This woman at the age of 67 is determined to make her own living after her husband died some years ago. She has inherited the cycle workshop from her husband and makes her living from this workplace where she has serviced thousands of motor cycles and bicycles over the past few years.

Leelawathie Gunaratna , the mother of four children, says that she was able to give her children in marriage by earning money from this job.

'I was in the habit of coming and spending the time at this workshop with my husband. I used to be here in the morning, going back home and then returning in the evening after feeding the children. That is how I learned about the job', she said.

'In the good old days the money earned from this job was sufficient, but now it is not sufficient even if I work the full day. I am not in a position to increase the charges for patching cycle tubes, though the cost of living has increased', she said.

UNP gunning for Mervyn

The UNP is to draw Speaker Anura Bandaranaike's attention to the unruly and unbecoming conduct of Deputy Minister of Social Services Mervyn Silva as they feel that parliamentary debates have become either impossible or distasteful with the Hambantota member's constant interruptions, UNP sources said.

The UNP confirmed that the deputy minister who interrupted JVP group leader Wimal Weerawansa for a full forty- five minutes a fortnight ago has certainly become a problem for the House and specially certain speakers.

It was recently reported that a hecklers' group of the PA has been formed to disrupt opposition speakers, specially JVP members, a task that was reportedly entrusted to Deputy Ministers Mervyn Silva and Mahindananda Aluthgamage.

Opposition chief whip W.J.M. Lokubandara said that it was a time honoured parliamentary tradition not to interrupt the maiden speech of a legislator- which however happened on Friday when Hambantota parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa moved an adjournment motion calling for immediate relief for Hambantota farmers affected by the prevailing drought. He added that it was unfortunate that a newcomer from Hambantota was so rudely treated by a senior legislator, who also hailed from the same district.

Estate protest drags on

By S. S. Selvanayagam

Amidst contradictory claims by the Employers' Federation of Ceylon (EFC) and plantation trade unions, the passive resistance campaign spear-headed by the Ceylon Workers Congress enters its seventh day today without any settlement in sight.

The unions are demanding an additional cost of living allowance of Rs 400 a month and have warned of an all-out strike if it is not given, but the EFC says a strike would be illegal and would cause chaos.

CWC spokesman R. Yogarajan said public and private sectors employees had been given an extra allowance to meet the rising cost of living and it was unfair to exclude lakhs of plantations workers on the basis they were covered by collective agreements.

The EFC which represents 21 plantations management companies claims that under the collective agreement signed in June last year, plantations workers could earn an extra Rs. 400-500 a month.

The unions also claim estate companies could now earn more from tea and rubber because of the devaluation of the rupee.

But the EFC says the devaluation has only increased production costs.

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