Govt. guns for the guns
Amnesty for surrender of illegal arms, tough action after that
By Chris Kamalendran
The new government which has identified the soaring crime rate and the
breakdown of law and order as priority areas to be tackled will shortly
offer an amnesty for the surrender of some 20,000 firearms believed to
be in the hands of the underworld and certain politicians, Interior Minister
John Amaratunga told The Sunday Times last night.
Mr. Amaratunga said Police had estimated that more than 10,000 Chinese-built
T-56 automatic rifles, more than 10,000 9mm revolvers and an unspecified
number of hand grenades were in the hands of criminal elements.
Some of these weapons had been issued to unauthorised persons from government
institutions or had been pilfered from the armed forces while the balance
had been imported into the country officially and issued to those in the
underworld and to political agents.
Ranil Wickremesinghe kicked off his official duties as the new Prime
Minister by meeting Police Chief Lucky Kodituwakku to discuss ways to tackle
the breakdown of law and order.
The UNP during the election campaign identified improving the law and
order situation as one of the main priority areas other than settling the
ethnic issue and improving the country's economy.
Mr. Amaratunga said soon after the amnesty to surrender illegally held
arms and ammunition ended the search would begin and a committee would
be appointed to advice the police on ways of handling the recovery of weapons.
Mr. Amaratunga said he had information that around 300, 9mm revolvers
issued to the Field Force Headquarters had gone missing few weeks ahead
of the parliamentary elections and orders had been given to trace those
weapons.
He said in a similar fashion the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation had imported
between 300 and 400 T-56 weapons claiming they were required for CPC security,
but the weapons were not used for that purpose. Mr. Amaratunga said they
would rely on teams sent from Colombo to carry out raids on those possessing
weapons illegally as the area police might be reluctant to take action.
The decision by the UNF government to recover illegally held weapons
comes in the wake of information that weapons were being provided to unauthorised
persons by the police and the Presidential Security Division while weapons
were also being sold by army deserters.
A T 56 weapon is being sold at Rs. 50,000 and a revolver for about Rs.
35,000.
The waiting game again
PA-UNP team at SAARC
President Chandrika Kumaratunga — current chairperson of SAARC — will represent
Sri Lanka at the long-delayed summit to be held in Katmandu from January
4 to 6.
With Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando also joining the delegation it
will be the first time that Sri Lanka is having two-party representation
at a SAARC summit.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces,
was 45 minutes late for her first meeting with her new Defence Minister
Tilak Marapana on Thursday.
President Kumaratunga who had earlier refused to hand-over the ministry
to a nominee of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, eventually agreed
to do so after she was persuaded by former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
and former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar not to provoke a crisis
and enter into a confrontation course with the new government.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had told President Kumaratunga that she
would remain commander-in-chief of the armed forces and could preside over
the National Security Council meetings as well as summon the defence minister
for consultation whenever she wished. The day after the swearing-in of
new ministers, Defence Minister Marapana called on the President. She arrived
from her upstair apartment 45 minutes late for the appointment, and found
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe waiting with Mr. Marapana.
The discussions were focused around cracking down on crime and taking
steps to prevent post-poll violence.
At the meeting it was also decided to extend the period of the armed
forces commanders by three months. The appointment of Chief of Defence
Staff Rohan Daluwatte as the smbassador to Brazil was approved, but no
time limit for the appointment was fixed.
On Tuesday, at a scheduled meeting with her new prime minister at 4
p.m., she fared better being 15 minutes late and still better when she
was on time for the 10 a.m. cabinet meeting, the first with the UNF ministers,
on Friday.
Police pounce on PA politicos
By Chris Kamalendran
Police have begun a crackdown on some 150 absconding PA politicians and
their supporters who are in possession of unauthorised weapons and were
allegedly involved in election related violence.
After the arrest of Puttalam district PA Parliamentarian D. M. Dassanayake
— widely alleged to be the key figure in the hot bed of election violence
— police are hunting for more than 100 supporters, some of whom are believed
to be military deserters or underworld figures linked to the MP.
Anamaduwa Police Inspector R. M. K. B. Ratnayake told The Sunday Times
that the Police who found a virtual private armoury in Mr. Dassanayake's
residence on Thursday had carried out another raid on the same residence
on Friday after the MP was remanded.
Inspector Ratnayake said they had arrested 13 suspects linked to Mr.
Dassanayake but at least another 100 were known to have gone underground.
Puttalam district was the worst affected by the election violence with
more than 330 incidents and high tension. But Inspector Ratnayake said
the tension had been defused with the remanding of the MP.
In other areas, police said they had also carried out a series of raids
on the houses of former ministers Anuruddha Ratwatte and Reggie Ranatunga
and deputy minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon.
A special CID team sent from Colombo raided the residence of Gen. Ratwatte
and found a part of a damaged windscreen which is believed be of the vehicle
involved in the incident at Madwala where 10 Muslim Congress supporters
were killed on election day, police said.
They said that in Mr. Tennakoon's residence at Laggala, police had found
two revolvers, camouflage uniforms and masks.
Police also searched a guest house owned by North Central Province Chief
Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake and found weapons.
Police sources said that they were on the hunt for some 150 suspects
wanted in connection with election violence and the possession of unauthorised
weapons but the figure could be much higher.
Power cuts to continue till June, says CEB
By Faraza Farook
Staggering power cuts which were lifted during the election campaign have
been reimposed.
Ceylon Electricity Board General manager D. G. D. C. Wijeratne told
The Sunday Times 30-45-minute power cuts were being imposed any time during
the peak period of 6. 30 p.m. - 9.30 p.m. on days when the CEB was unable
to meet the demand.
Since the power cuts were officially lifted, sudden unannounced power
cuts have continued and now the CEB has decided to announce a schedule
of power cuts so as to minimise inconvenience, another CEB official said.
In addition to the 45-minute power cuts, there might also be other cuts
resulting from sudden breakdowns as the turbines have been overworked during
the past few months, the official said. He said the problems were aggravated
by the premature lifting of the power cuts and the low rainfall in the
hydrocatchment areas.
The official said normal power supplied could not be ensured until the
major power-generation plants now being overhauled went into full operation
— that would be next June at the earliest.
As a small consolation, the CEB has also informed consumers that in
the event of prolonged power cuts, they could find out what is happening
by calling 466660 or 4666611-3. Information on power interruption can also
be obtained on telephone numbers 324476-7. |
