CBK's anti-terror call draws nod from C'wealth
From Neville de Silva in London
Apparently embarrassed by its recent gaffes in badly downplaying the dangers
of international terrorism, the Commonwealth Secretariat here has quickly
endorsed President Chandrika Kumaratunga's call for a Commonwealth coalition
against terrorism.
President Kumaratunga in a message to Commonwealth leaders said:
"For the past 18 years the Tamil Tigers have engaged in an armed conflict
against the democratically elected government of my country. Over 62,000
men, women and children have died in this conflict. I urge the governments
of the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia-countries with large and mainly
law-abiding Tamil communities- to demonstrate their determination to stamp
out the fundraising and propaganda work of the Tamil Tigers.
"Today I call on the Heads of the other nations of the Commonwealth,
which represents nearly one third of the world's population to adopt a
declaration condemning all forms of terrorism wherever they might be practised,
and to commit themselves to taking every action at their disposal to root
out and eliminate all campaigns of terror, whilst employing democratic
means to resolve general issues of contention."
Responding to a letter by President Kumaratunga headlined "Presidential
call to act on terror" in the October 11 issue of TheTimes, London, Commonwealth
Secretary-General Don McKinnon said "Many of the principles that bind Commonwealth
countries together, such as democracy, the rule of law, human rights and
pluralism are threatened by terrorists.
"When our leaders gather for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
in March, they will have an unprecedented opportunity to address again
the issue of terrorism. I am confident that they will take steps to ensure
that our organisation and our membership are at the forefront of the fight
against terrorism," Mr. McKinnon said.
This clarion call to arms sits pretty uncomfortably on a Secretary-General
and a Secretariat that only the other day did not even include terrorism
as a major issue for discussion in the original agenda of the summit which
was to have been held in Brisbane earlier this month.
It was only after the terrorist attack on the United States on September
11, that the Commonwealth frantically moved to include the issue of terrorism
as a separate agenda item.
In an earlier report The Sunday Times said that Secretary-General McKinnon's
biennial report to the Commonwealth summit did not even mention terrorism
once. When asked by this newspaper why this was omitted if the Commonwealth
considered global terrorism a danger to the principles of the organisation,
McKinnon said the report was printed before the attack on the US.
The implication was that had the attack not occurred, terrorism would
have been somewhere in the backburner of the Brisbane agenda.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General's current support for President Kumaratunga's
proposal was also bashed by an Asian Commonwealth diplomat who said the
Secretariat should have taken the initiative and come up with such a proposal
rather than leave it to a member government.
Curb on misuse of state resources at polls
By Nilika de Silva
Private investigators are to be deployed by a human rights organisation
as part of a multi-pronged attack to combat the misuse of public property
at the forthcoming general elections, the project director of the organisation
J.C. Weliamuna said yesterday.
The Institute of Human Rights is spearheading the campaign to curb the
misuse of state property during the polls.
With seven weeks to go for the December 5 election, and none of the
proposed independent commissions in place to safeguard the public, the
Institute of Human Rights (IHR) is formulating the corruption combat machinery
prior to setting it in motion next week.
At the General Election last year the IHR worked to reduce the corruption
and malpractices taking place and through experience it has noted that
common abuses are the use of Government and Corporation vehicles and utilisation
of public servants and Corporation employees.
The IHR calls on the public to forward information regarding abuses
of public property, including vehicles, manpower, buildings and finances,
to the Programme for Prevention of Misuse of Public Property, Institute
of Human Rights, No. 10, Purana Vihara Mawatha, Colombo 6. Telephone or
Fax messages can be directed to No. 674436.
Tamil parties plan alliance
By Chris Kamalendran
Five main Tamil parties are planning to contest as a joint alliance in
the North and East provinces and back the future government if it pledges
to resolve the ethnic crisis.
Formal and informal talks were in progress on Friday and is expected
to continue over the weekend before plans are finalised for nominations,
party sources said.
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation
(TELO) and the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front - Suresh Wing
(EPRLF) met formally on Friday while moves were under way to bring the
All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) and the Democratic People's Liberation
Front (DPLF) better known as the PLOTE into the alliance.
The parties were planning to contest as an alliance but were yet to
decide how they would contest.
TULF Vice President V. Anandasangari told 'The Sunday Times' that on
Friday they began the discussions amidst indications that there were positive
signs Tamil parties would be able to contest as an alliance.
'The Tamil parties have realised that when they contest separately it
has been to their disadvantage as they have been gradually losing numerical
strength in Parliament. Therefore this time they want to contest as a common
front', he said.
He said modalities would have to be worked out and added four of the
Tamil parties will be meeting in Colombo to finalise plans for nominations.
He said the alliance would also contest in the Colombo district as well
in a bid to secure minority votes.
TELO leader Selvam Adaikalanathan told 'The Sunday Times' he was supporting
the idea of contesting the elections as a united front as they would be
able to have a better representation in Parliament and bring pressure on
the government to resolve the ethnic crisis.
'The problems of the Tamils cannot be resolved if there was no unity
among the parties', Adaikalanathan whose party had three representatives
in Parliament said.
Suresh Premachandran, who heads the EPRLF - Suresh Wing told 'The Sunday
Times' that the main idea of contesting unitedly was to form a strong representation
of Tamil MPs and assist the future government to resolve the ethnic conflict.
He said his party which has been operating from the Eastern province was
planning to field candidates wherever possible under the alliance.
ACTC leader A. Vianayagamoorthy said his view was that the LTTE should
be accepted as the sole representative of the Tamils and whatever government
comes into power should abolish the executive presidency.
He said that if the other Tamil parties do not agree with these views,
his party may even consider contesting on its own.
Meanwhile PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Siddarthan told 'The Sunday Times'
that his group was also keen in contesting under a united alliance in the
North and East province.
However if other parties do not want to accommodate us on the grounds
that we continue to assist the security forces we may contest on our own,
he said.
'If other militant groups can join the alliance I do not see any reason
why we should be kept out', he said.
'The Sunday Times' learns there have been questions raised about the
PLOTE group which is assisting the security forces in their operations
against the LTTE.
Cabinet discards as presidential advisors
By Tania Fernando
Three ministers who were dropped from the slashed cabinet have been given
government advisory posts with perks similar to those of a deputy minister.
Sumedha Jayasena has been appointed as Presidential Advisor for Land
and Irrigation, Leslie Gunawardene as Presidential Advisor for Science
and Technology, and H B Semasinghe as Presidential Advisor for Food and
Co-operative. As ministers they had been in charge of the same subjects.
According to Mr. Semasinghe, the appointment was given to him so that
he could work with the minister concerned.
Ms. Jayasena said that although this was an appointment as an Advisor
to the President, the perks would be of a Deputy Minister. "Although its
not given in writing, the President told me verbally that I will enjoy
perks similar to that of a Deputy Minister. I will continue to have three
vehicles, fuel and staff of a deputy minister," she said.
Under the PA-JVP agreement, which now hangs suspended in view of the
dissolution, the cabinet was slashed to 20 and those left out were not
to be given the same perks and privileges in different posts.
Foreign and local observers for December polls wanted
By Shelani de Silva.
Plans are underway by the main political parties to bring down foreign
election observers for the December 5 polls.
The two independent monitoring groups PAFFREL and CMEV will be monitoring
the elections, while the UNP, PA and JVP are planning to get down foreign
observers.
PAFFREL will commence monitoring from October 20, the day of nominations.
Executive Director of PAFFREL Kingsley Rodrigo told 'The Sunday Times'
that monitoring will be done in all districts.
'We had already started our work when the referendum was fixed for August.
We will deploy our officers in all districts. We have also started the
voter education program' he said. Meanwhile political parties too have
come forward to bring down foreign election monitors. The UNP which brought
down around 200 foreign monitors for the last election is scheduled to
do the same.
The People's Alliance which operated its own polls monitoring unit-the
PA Polls Watch-will commence monitoring from this week. The unit will comprise
of lawyers, with one for each district.
The JVP will also bring down foreign observers but is yet to work out
the details. The JVP has also decided to request the Elections Commissioner
to bring down observers which he can decide to do on request from registered
political parties.
Blood needed urgently
Retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice I.M. Ismail who has undergone emergency
coronary by pass surgery is urgently in need of blood of the type "B Negative",
and requires up to six pints of blood each day.
Family members of Justice Ismail request donors to please call over
at Nawaloka Hospital Blood Bank or contact one of the following telephone
nos. 077878337, 072246499, 077324440 or 686625.
CPC is mismanaged and extravagant says COPE
By M. Ismeth
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is presently burdened with a massive debt
running at over Rs. 42 billion, according to a report submitted by the
Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and tabled by its Chairman John
Amaratunga in Parliament.
According to the report the CPC has lost Rs. 16.5 billion in the year
2000.
The Committee has noted with 'displeasure' a transaction where the Corporation
has rented the present head office building at a monthly rental of Rs.
3.4 million by paying an advance of around Rs. 20 million for six months.
The Committee was also seriously concerned that Rs. 69 million has been
spent for furbishing this building at a time the Corporation is saddled
with a massive debt and huge interest payments.
To offset the losses the CPC had revised diesel prices on three instances-
November 16, 2000, December 7, 2000 and April 15 2001, resulting in a more
than 110 percent increase in the price. Similar increases have been effected
in prices of kerosene and other primary petroleum products. Even after
these price revisions the Corporation is expecting a projected loss of
Rs. 1.6 billion on their sales.
The Committee has observed that the increase in primary petroleum products
has badly affected the people as well as industrial development. The committee
is of the view that price increases should not be the solution to cover
up losses due to inefficiency and mismanagement of the CPC.
Administrative and other costs have been on the increase adding to the
losses. The total overheads which were Rs. 2183 million in 1995 have gone
up to Rs. 8714 million in 2000 reflecting a more than four fold increase.
Salaries of employees which cost Rs. 903 million in 1995 have more than
doubled to Rs. 1898 million in 2000.
The Corporation which did not have a realistic cadre has been recruiting
employees which have increased from around 6000 in 1995 to 7300 in 2000.
The committee has also observed that a large number of employees have
been released for work outside at Corporation expense.
The Corporation which was doing fairly well in the past has been brought
to a parlous situation mainly because of its mismanagement as could be
seen from the results achieved by the corporation since 1995, the committee
observed. From profits of Rs. 542 million, Rs. 407 million and Rs. 7689
milion in 1995, 1997 and 1998 respectively, the Corporation plunged to
losses of Rs. 66 million and Rs. 16,062 million in 1999 and 2000 respectively.
The CPC has also incurred heavy expenditure amounting to Rs. 36.6 million
in refurbishing another Ministry building located at Flower Road, Colombo
7. The committee strictly recommends that no further increases in diesel
and kerosene oil should be permitted as the people as well as industries
are badly affected even by the present prices.
The committee is also of the view that a Commission should be set up
to carry out a detailed investigation into the causes for losses suffered
by the Corporation. |
