Gunning for a gunman

By Ruwan Weerakoon

Six suspects were already in the net, but the main culprits including the gunman and the mastermind behind the shooting were at large.

The drama began to unfold, when a key suspect, a soldier known to the gunman had been arrested in Vavuniya and brought to Colombo last week, leading the Police closer to the arrest of the alleged gunman.

The Police had in their possession the cellular phone of one of the suspects through which they monitored telephone calls while allowing the owner to answer the calls.

It all began when the alleged gunman called his colleague in custody and said he wanted to meet him urgently. The colleague said he would do so, the day after Vesak in Kiribathgoda town, close to the bus stand. The police already had a photograph of the gunman.

The appointment was set for 10.00 a.m.

But, 15 minutes later, the wanted man called again saying he could not make it at 10.00 but would come to the meeting place at 12.00.noon.

Police were forced to call off the initial ambush.

But the police party arrived at the meeting place before 12.00 and at around 11.45 the suspect arrived with his fiancee. 

The suspect was arrested and his fiancee released, thus ending a major part of the seven week long investigation. 

Police said the gunman identified as Saman was a marksman of the Army and had allegedly shot Mr. Perera while riding on a motorcycle of which the rider was a wharf clerk who allegedly had close contacts with the main suspect Assistant Superintendent of Customs Anura Weerawansa.

The Wharf clerk identified as Vajira and the motorcycle used for the crime are also in Police custody.

With the arrest of the suspected gunman more details of the brutal killing have begun to unfold as investigations continue, police said.

They said the suspect who had allegedly got many financial, benefits from Mr. Weerawansa, was from Bellanwila.

He had come into contact with Mr. Weerawansa through his mother who lived closed to Mr. Weerawansa's mother.

Saman had joined the Sri Lanka National Guard Battalion and had undergone training at the Boosa camp. During his training he was found to be a good marksman. He was later selected to the Army Riding Squad and had undergone training at the Maduru-oya camp.

Police said that during this time Saman had come into close contact with an underworld gang member known as Dilantha, one of a gang of six, who was brutally killed inside a car at the Delkanda junction about two years ago. 

After Dilantha's death Saman too had received death threats. 

During this period Saman who was in the army stayed away for serving about 10 days for the first time, but had re-joined without any punishment as he had obtained a medical certificate.

Police also alleged that he was working closely with Anura Weerawansha at this time.

This year too Saman had deserted the army again on February 5, but re-joined. He was stationed in Vavuniya. Once again he had gone missing from the camp on March 16, - exactly nine days before the killing of Sujith Perera took place.

Mr. Weerawansa is alleged to have contacted him around this time, and told him he wanted a favour done but had not divulged any details. Saman too had not questioned him. 

Just two days before the killing Saman had reportedly been introduced to the Wharf Clerk in front of the Kiribathgoda YMCA by Mr. Weerawansa. On the same day they had seen Mr. Perera's vehicle passing, but had not attempted to do anything. On another occasion too the vehicle had passed, but no attempt was made on his life.

But, on March 24 the wharf clerk Vajira who took the suspect along with him had followed Mr. Perera's vehicle at Vedamulla Kelaniya and when they got close enough to the vehicle the rider had said shoot, police said.

Mr. Perera was pronounced dead soon after admission to hospital.

Police are now hunting for the alleged mastermind behind the killing, Mr. Weerawansa who has reportedly escaped from the country.

Snippets

The goodies keep rolling in

It's bonus time

When asked for reasons for the domestic's departure, the man lamented that she had asked for a bonus during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. "If others can get bonuses, why can't I," she had queried from the dumbfounded man. Talk of changing times.

Walking on blue, green and red

When asked what the colour would be,"Blue and green with a dash of red," said the Speaker.

Deputy Defence Minister General Anuruddha Ratwatte who was on his feet at the time said he hoped the new carpets would help clean up the minds of some of the MPs. "They are meant to clean your feet," the Speaker quipped.

Poor show on May Day

Two new districts

By Nilika de Silva

He told the Government Group meeting that President Kumaratunga had instructed him to present the necessary legislation.

Mr. Pathirana said he had also proposed the formation of a separate administrative district comprising Mahiyangana, Ududumbara and Dehiattakandiya. This is because the people of Mahiyangana have to travel a long distance to Badulla, the people of Ududumbara to Kandy and the people of Dehiattakandiya to Digamadulla to attend to their problems.

Vehicles vanish for VIP visit

By Shane Seneviratne

The reason was that President Chandrika Kumaratunga was in town and the roads had to be cleared.

Police had not been given a prior warning about the visit.

The clearing operation took place along the Prince Street and Temple Street. 

Visa fees: Much ado-then nothing

By Hiranthi Fernando

In the budget this year, resident visa fees for foreign spouses was reintroduced as a revenue measure after it had been rescinded in 1979.

The budget proposal stated as follows. "Several categories of foreigners are exempted from the payment Resident Visa Tax. It is proposed to remove this exemption and make all categories of foreigners except staff of diplomatic missions, liable to Resident visa Tax. The visa fees for these categories will also be increased to Rs.5,000. Charges of the issuance of Citizenship Certificates will also be revised. Anticipated revenue from these changes is Rs. 200 million."

Several foreign spouses who applied for their annual Temporary Resident Permits were shocked to learn from the Department of Immigration and Emigration, that new legislation had been enacted requiring them to pay an annual fee of Rs.20,000. "This is a violation our human rights," said one Sri Lankan husband with a foreign spouse. "The Budget proposal has not yet become law. The budget proposal figure of Rs. 5,000 has mysteriously been increased to Rs. 20,000," he said.

What they were not told was that the confusion was caused by a mistake in the budget proposal itself. While certain categories of foreigners such as foreign spouses, clergy, students, children under 16, were exempt from paying resident visa fees, other categories of foreigners were charged a Visa Tax of Rs. 10,000 and a Visa Fee of Rs. 5,000. 

The proposal was intended to remove all exemptions except for diplomatic staff and increase the Visa Fees by Rs. 5,000 and not to Rs.5,000 as stated. This would increase the total to Rs. 20,000 for all categories. A clarification to this effect was sent to the Department soon after the budget by the Finance Ministry.

There were many protests and appeals by affected Sri Lankans with foreign spouses. An annual payment of Rs. 20,000 is a substantial amount for most Sri Lankan spouses and unaffordable for some, they said. Also the foreign spouse is not permitted to work and earn a living. Further, in the case of a Sri Lankan female married to a foreign husband, the children are not entitled to Sri Lankan Citizenship since according to Sri Lankan law, citizenship comes through the paternal side. 

In such cases, the children were also liable to pay visa fees. Following the protests and appeals to the President, the imposition of the visa fees on foreign spouses and other exempted categories was withdrawn on April 26. Fees that have already been paid have now to be refunded.

Priest was strangled - 27 injuries on body 

Rev. Fr. Alfred Bernard Costa, affectionately known as Fr. Aba was found dead in the mission house of St. Joseph's Church at Malwatte when nuns from the adjoining convent forced open the door after he failed to turn up for his daily Holy Mass.

The 76-year-old priest - a poet, lyricist, artist and pioneer in bringing the Church closer to the culture and traditions of the country - was found dead with about 27 injuries on his body, police said.

Negombo police ASP, K. Arasaratnam said last night the cause of death was strangulation after multiple injuries was inflicted. He said it appeared that more than one person had been responsible for the killing.

The spokesperson for the Archbishop's House said inquiries made by the Church had left it mystified as to what the possible motive could be. Initial reports indicated that nothing had been taken from the mission house and thus robbery may not be the motive. But the Archbishop's House spokesperson said there had been talk about a recent land sale and the possibility that the cash might have been at the mission house.

ASP Arasaratnam said police were looking into the possibility that the killing might be linked to the setting up of some unauthorised structures near the Church and indications that this had caused a dispute between Fr. Costa and some persons. Fr. Aba had been an outspoken critic of social evils and injustices such as the illegal liquor and herion trade, child abuse and nefarious activities at the nearby free trade zone.

As the investigations continued the Church has finalised arrangements to give a fitting farewell to a priest who had served the people with deep conviction and commitment for upto 50 years.

The Archbishop of Colombo, other bishops and hundreds of priests and nuns along with the people of the Malwatte parish will take part in a concelebrated Requiem Mass at the Bolawalana Church tomorrow evening. 

As the Church says "thank you" to Fr. Aba, the Lord he served so faithfully would also say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant'.

'Time to translate cry for peace into reality'

The peace support group of the Centre for Policy Alternatives said the disastrous consequences of the recent operation Agni Khiela provided yet another indication that a military solution would only lead to a bloody stalemate.

"In this context, we regret the decision of the Government to allow the truce to lapse at the end of the 5-day period and to launch an all out ground offensive. We also regret the LTTE's decision to allow its unilateral cease-fire to lapse on April 24. The present situation can easily lead to an intractable impasse and the de-railing of peace initiatives on which peace-loving peoples on both sides of the ethnic divide have pinned their hopes.

"We strongly feel that the Government has the primary responsibility now, in initiating a process leading to a full-fledged ceasefire and cessation of hostilities with the good offices of Norwegian facilitation. Since the LTTE has already stipulated the need for a ceasefire, the prospects for a mutually reciprocated cessation of hostilities could be put in place immediately. The draft proposals for the necessary monitoring mechanisms of the ceasesfire and cessation of hostilities, arising out of Norwegian facilitation, can then be activated by mutual consent.

"As peace initiatives relating to internal armed conflicts elsewhere have shown us, the de-proscription of an anti-State movement inevitably takes place with advances made at the negotiation table. In this, the LTTE has the primary responsibility to ensure that the issue of the ban is treated as a negotiable demand, along with other political and humanitarian demands, and not as a non-negotiable pre-condition for commencement of peace talks.

"It is time to translate the anguished cry for peace of the Peoples of this country into a reality," said the statement signed by Sunila Abeysekera, Sunanda Deshapriya, Rohan Edirisinha, Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu and Javid Yusuf.

Awards for journalists in 15 categories

A record number of awards and merit mention certificates in 15 categories selected by the independent panel of judges on behalf of The Guild will be presented at ™™the Awards Night along with Honorary Awards for long service in journalism, the Guild said.

The recipients of the three Long Service Awards this year are M.A. de Silva, a former Editor of the Dinamina and journalism teacher, K.P. Sivam, a long-standing correspondent of the Virakesari and D.B. Udalagama, a one-time Associate Editor of the former Times of Ceylon.

More than 300 nominations were received this year by the seven-member panel of judges. These came from all three language media and from all the country's newspaper publishing houses from Colombo to Matara and Jaffna to Batticaloa.

The panel of judges comprised Amal Jayasinghe (Convenor), Bureau Chief, Agence France-Presse; Hema Gunawardene, Senior Journalist; James Lanerolle, Secretary, Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka; Prof. Tissa Kariyawasam, Senior Lecturer in Sinhala and Mass Communications, University of Sri Jayawardenapura, Vijitha Yapa, former Editor of Island and The Sunday Times and L.E Samararatne, Immediate Past President, Institute of Sri Lankan Photographers.

In addition to the regular D.R. Wijewardene, Sepala Gunasena, Upali Wijewardene and Mervyn de Silva Awards, three new Awards are being presented this year. They are in memory of D.B. Dhanapala, B.A. Siriwardene and Prof. K. Kailasapathy, three accomplished and distinguished Editors of yesteryear.

The Awards will be presented by journalism practitioners, teachers and others connected with the print media in Sri Lanka.

Hands off Gampola

By M.Ismeth

Mr. Jayaratne who is also General Secretary of the ruling PA and chief organiser of the Gampola district said that after the incidents in Mawanella he had called a meeting of religious and civic leaders along with the police to pre-empt any moves by trouble makers in Gampola.

Mr.Jayaratne told The Sunday Times he had come to know that some mischief makers were planning to attack the minority community in Gampola. Trouble makers would be taught the lesson of their lives,so that they would never again indulge in such acts.

"Any member of any community who has come to a good position in life today has achieved it by hard work and perseverence. Those jealous of it cannot be allowed to create havoc. This is not "jathi vadi alaya" its mankolla alaya," he said.

Mother's day plea for peace

By Shelani de Silva

The Satyakriya is being organised by the association of relatives of servicemen missing in action . Association president E.P. Nanayakkara said the mothers are calling for a peaceful solution to the ethnic conflict through talks and for urgent steps to enable relatives to visit the Wanni and see the prisoners being held there.

He said they had earlier planned a peace march also, but this had been cancelled following last Wednesday's emergency regulations banning marches.

If you see CC they are Consular Corps

The sticker has the letters CC in white against a black background.

Foreign Ministry transport officer Muditha Edirimanne said steps would also be taken to issue special number plates for vehicles of members of the Consular Corps.

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