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12th, May 1996

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DIsplaced people returning to Jaffna, JPEG, 20KB

Displaced people in massive numbers returning to their homes in the Valikamam sector in Jaffna.



Breaking coconuts at Nallu Kovil, JPEG, 33KB

Actor and presidential Media Advisor Sanath Gunathilleke breaking coconuts at Nallur Kovil, Jaffna during a ceremony for the restoration of peace



More than 60 killed in Batticaloa battle

Government troops in a fierce gun battle with Tamil rebels lost 14 soldiers after killing more than 50 rebels in the Batticaloa district yesterday afternoon, the Defence Ministry said.

Rebels had attacked a security force patrol between Santhimali and Sittandy in the Batticaloa district.

Security forces had summoned reinforcements and were backed up by Air Force fighter aircraft to carryout retaliatory attacks, forcing the rebels to flee, the ministry said.

One officer was among 15 army personnel injured. Earlier reports from Chenkaladi said one policeman was killed when rebels attacked two policemen who were guarding a bank.

In a separate incident one homeguard was killed in the area west of Toppur in the Trincomalee district on Friday.CENSORED


Doctors end strike, demands met

By Anthony David

Doctors last night ended their nine day long strike throughout the country after the Government agreed to meet all demands of the GMOA during a six hour long meeting presided over by the Deputy Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi in the absence of the Minister.

The President of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), Dr. Ananda Samarasekera told 'The Sunday Times' that they were given in writing in a letter signed by Health Secretary, Dr. Dudley Dissanayake that all six of their demands had been met.

"During our trade union action we took steps to maintain the emergency cases, but we are sorry that the Minister took a long time to settle the issue," Dr. Samarasekera said at the end of the second longest strike by doctors in 12 years.

The final discussion to bring an end to the Hospital strike and GMOA dispute started off at 1.00 p.m. at the Ministry with the Deputy Minister being assisted by Health Minister's Private Secretary, Farah Nauzer, but the discussion was interrupted after Ms. Wanniarachchi and the Private Secretary, Ms. Nauzer left the discussion room on several occasions.

The main demand of the GMOA regarding the 10 graduates who had gone for higher education through the Foreign Ministry was among the demands met. Accordingly they will be demoted to fourth category. During the investigations by the one man committee Justice O. S. M. Seneviratne it had been revealed that 10 other foreign qualified students also had been promoted in the list. All of them will be placed in the fourth category. Following the discussion the Deputy Minister of Health directed the Health Secretary to implement the 6 following decisions taken.

* The ten medical graduates who were sent abroad for study by the Foreign Ministry be placed in the 4th category in the post intern list of April 1996.

* All post interns appointments of April 1996 will be re-advertised and filled.

* The interns who completed internship on 25.04.1996 will be employed by the Government as preliminary grade officers w.e.f. 26.04.1996. This matter is already before the Cabinet. They will work in the present stations till post intern appointments are made.

* The medical graduates who went abroad for scholarship study through the Foreign Ministry and have been employed by the Ministry in 1994 will be placed in category 4.

* Similar interns who were given internship in April 1996 will be placed in category 4.

* As the Attorney-General has agreed, the Ministry agrees that internship medical officers could be members of the GMOA.

* Post interns list dated 29th April 1996 ref. no. ECA/177/96 will be cancelled and all posts will be re-advertised and post interns will be requested to apply according to the merit order prepared as in the first clause.

* As requested by the GMOA there would be no victimization in any form against any medical officer including interns, who have participated in the current strike action.

Meanwhile a GMOA spokesman said they will continue to carry out their campaign against the Health Minister A. H. M. Fowzie for failing to take prompt action to settle the dispute.

Minister Fowzie on Friday night left for Iran from where he will be proceeding to Geneva to attend a World Health Organisation Conference. The GMOA has informed the WHO about the strike.


Foreign Ministry studying Saudi snub report

Ministry of Foreign Affairs is studying the situation arising from Ports Minister M.H.M. Ashraff's questionnaire to the Saudi Arabian envoy in Colombo recently about the Saudi decision not to give him accommodation to perform Haj this year.

A spokesman for the ministry said that they are 'digesting' the report sent by the Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Javed Yusuf.

The ministry has also deplored the attitude of Minister Ashraff for having sent the questionnaire to the Acting Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al-Zahrani recently which is against protocol. This should have gone through the Foreign Ministry who could have dealt with the matter, the spokesman said.

Mr. Ashraff in his questionnaire has asked whether Saudi Arabia took a policy decision not to provide accommodation and transport facilities to the delegates of Sri Lanka and seven other countries and the reason as to why the Foreign Ministry 'waited till the last moment' to intimate such a decision.


Pro-LTTE groups bite the dust in Tamil Nadu

From our Madras Correspondent, P.V. Krishnamoorthy

Madras May 11: The pro-LTTE parties in Tamil Nadu like Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDK) led by V. Gopalsamy, and the Pattali Makka Katchi (PMK) led by Dr. S. Ramadas, have been pulverised in the just concluded elections in Tamil Nadu.

The MDMK, which broke away from the parent DMK on the LTTE issue, has not won a single seat in the 234 member state legislative assembly, nor has it won any of the 39 seats set apart for Tami Nadu in the lower House of the Indian parliament, the Lok Sabha.

The MDMK's supremo, the firebrand V. Gopalsamy, has been beaten in both Vilathikulam (for the assembly) and in Sivakasi (for the Lok Sabha).

Everywhere, the MDMK has stood third or fourth, and a very poor third or fourth at that.

The PMK has been slightly luckier, bagging four seats in the assembly. But it won none of the parliament seats it contested. In fact, the PMK alliance had come a cropper with its allies being washed out.

The elections gave the DMK - Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) - Communist Party of India (CPI) - Indian National (Muslim) League (INL) - and All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) alliance, a clean sweep. In the 234 seat Tamil Nadu assembly, DMK got 172, TMC 39, CPI 8 and AIFB one.

Narasimha Rao's Indian National Congress (INC) got nil in both the assembly and the Lok Sabha. Its ally, the Jayalalitha - led ATANMK got just two, the BJP opened its account in Tamil Nadu with one and Dr. Subramaniam Samy's Janatha Party, Janatha Dal and the CP1 (Marxist) got one each.

The DMK - led alliance made a clean sweep of the Lok Sabha elections with the DMK bagging all the 17 seats it contested, the TMC winning all the 20 it contested and the CPI won both the seats it had bid for.

The rout of the pro-LTTE MDMK and the PMK did not come as a surprise, as the pre-poll opinion surveys had clearly stated that the anti-AIADMK votes would not be split and that the overwhelming bulk of it would go to the DMK front.

It was also clear that no party would try to make capital out of the Sri Lanka Tamil or LTTE issue, as this issue had already been marginalised in the polity, thanks to the deeds of the LTTE since 1987, more especially since May 1991 when it killed Rajiv Gandhi in Tamil Nadu itself.

The election manifestos of the various "Tamil" parties did mention the Sri Lankan issue, but none of them, including the MDMK's, mentioned the LTTE. Only the MDMK, and perhaps the PMK too, had said that "Eelam" was the solution to the Sri Lankan ethnic question.

More importantly, the issue was not mentioned in the campaign speeches. Even the MDMK leader, V. Gopalsamy, who never misses out on this, did not breathe a word about it, even in his own constituencies of Sivakasi and Vilathikulam.

In fact, the LTTE was a dirty word for the main contending parties. They accused each other of supporting this outfit at one time or the other. The AIADMK - Congress group accused the breakaway TMD of joining the "killer of Rajiv Gandhi" - the DMK. The DMK, it charged, still had its links with the LTTE.

The TMC the commissions of inquriy had pointed an accusing finger at the DMK. The DMK itself said that it had nothing to do with the LTTE. "In fact it is the AIADMK which was sympathetic to the LTTE in 1990, that is, after the LTTE had massacred the leadership of the EPRLF in Madras in June that year. Ms. Jayalalitha had said in interviews to the Indian Express and the Hindu saying that if the Lankan Tamils were to be saved, the LTTE had to be supported", the DMK supremo, Mr. Karunanidhi recalled.

When Ms. Jayalalitha accused the TMC leader, G.K. Moopanar, of having a link with the LTTE and said that he had something to do with the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Mr. Moopanar retorted by saying that there was circumstantial evidence to say that Ms. Jayalalitha was privy to the LTTE's plan to assassinate Mr. Gandhi.

"I certainly did not wantonly allow LTTE cadres to escape from the jails," an angry Mr. Moopanar said.

On the post-election scenario, the Chief Minister to be, Mr. M. Karunanidhi said that he would urge India to help the Sri Lankan Tamils by putting diplomatic pressure on Colombo to stop the killing of innocent Tamils and the destruction of their property by government troops.

"We want a peaceful, negotiated settlement of the problem. I would be happy with whatever scheme the Tamils there decide to settle for. It does not have to be Eelam, necessarily", Mr. Karunanidhi has said.


Rehab aid waits for govt. proposals

By Shelani de Silva and Arshad M. Hadjirin

Diplomatic missions here have expressed willingness to assist in a massive crash rehabilitation project for the war-torn Northern region, but are awaiting the government's proposals to make a commitment.

Somapala Gunadheera Chairman of the Northern Province Resettlement and Rehabilitation Authority (NPRRA) told 'The Sunday Times' that the crash rehabilitation project is under preparation and would be handed over to the President shortly.

A spokesman for the British High Commission told 'The Sunday Times' that they have already faxed the details of the meeting and the President's appeal to the government and are awaiting a response.

"Although we approached our government about the President's request we have not received any response. It may be because the proposals governing the rehabilitation work has not been sent to us. We hope the government sends us this report, so that funds could be collected," he said.

The German Embassy too had informed its foreign ministry and is awaiting a response. According to an official, a report on the present situation related to the rehabilitation work has been sent to Germany.

"We are positive that our government will be a part of the rehabilitation work in the North. We are expecting a response from them," he said.

According to the Embassy spokesman a Sri Lankan delegation now in Bonn will hold discussions with the German government tomorrow. "These talks will involve the economic condition in the country and also the rehabilitation in the North," he said.

Mr. Gunadheera said that the project would take into account every aspect of the basic amenities needed for a community, which will start a new settling in their own homes. He added that all major sectors, like agriculture, transport, health services, will be carefully looked into when preparing, the funding lists.

"Officials from several ministries concerned, are now in the liberated areas of the Jaffna peninsula. They are assessing the share their respective ministries has to contribute towards this cause," said Mr. Gunadheera.

Meanwhile the Postal Department set up three post offices in the Jaffna district last week, and will add more sub-post offices within this week, as postal workers continued to report back to their partly destroyed offices, Post Master General Soma Kotakadeniya said.

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