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An LTTE local area leader in Batticaloa has been remanded for allegedly roaring into Army controlled areas with dangerous weapons.
An STF source said the Araiyampathi area leader Konamalai Nanthakumar alias Gokolathasan had come to Kaththankudi on a motorcycle with a grenade, a cyanide capsule and Rs. 6000 in cash.
He was handed over to the police, produced in courts and remanded.
A major restructuring of the Police, Prisons and Immigration Departments is being planned by Interior Minister John Amaratunga. The Minister told The Sunday Times three committees of experts were being appointed to study and urgently recommend the measures for restructuring.
Mr. Amaratunga said his aim was to make these key departments more efficient and effective.
By Nilika de Silva
The bail application filed by the wife of one of the convicts in the intimidation case of The Sunday Times Consultant Editor, Iqbal Athas will be taken up on May 22.
Notice was issued on the Attorney General when the bail application was taken up by Colombo High Court Judge, Sarath Ambepitiya on Thursday.
The application was filed by Kumudumali Indika Herath who is requesting bail on behalf of her husband Squadron Leader Rukman Herath who was the first accused in the case.
State Counsel Dileepa Peiris objected to the bail application.
Squadron Leader Herath and Squadron Leader D.S.Pradeep were found guilty on two counts namely for committing the offence of enetering the Athas residence on February 12, 1998 and for criminal intimidation towards Mr. Athas by threatening to cause grievous hurt by using a firearm.
Both of them were sentenced for seven years RI each for the first count and two years RI each for the second count. They were also ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000 in the event of default one year RI. Both of them have appealed in the court of appeal against the conviction.
Srinath Perera, the lawyer moving the bail application for the petitioner, said his client and her seven year old daughter were suffering due to the trauma of having the first accused away from home. He cited humanitarian reasons for the release of the convict.
Twenty one present ministers and former ministers have been appointed to a Parliamentary committee that will screen high level appointments to the public service and the foreign service.
The Parliamentary high post committee headed by Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando will comprise John Amaratunga, Alick Aluvihare, Ananda Kularatne, K.N.Choksy, Karu Jayasuriya, Arumugam Thondaman, P. Dayaratne, S.B.Dissanayake, Tilak Marapana, M.H.Mohamed, W.J.M.Lokubandara, Rauff Hakeem, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Mahinda Rajapakse, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Lakshman Kadirgamar,Mangala Samaraweera, Dinesh Gunawardene, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Richard Pathirana, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Bimal Ratnayake, A.D. Lalkantha, R. Sampanthan and M.L.M.Hisbullah.
The committee will hold its first meeting tomorrow.
The Sunday Times economic analysis
By the Economist
After two decades of war there appears to be a more realistic attitude towards the conflict. At last the cost of the war has sunk into the minds of most persons, even the LTTE. By this we do not mean the annual financial costs that the government and the Tigers have had to bear. We are not even referring to the incalculable human cost. We are referring to the lost economic opportunities. We are referring to the fact that the economy would have been in a very different state had we not fought this meaningless war. Everyone has been rendered poorer, particularly the poor of all communities, by twenty years of war burdens.
This is especially so with respect to the Tamils who have suffered the worst set- back to their development. A battered and destroyed Jaffna is what the Prime Minister witnessed on his recent historic visit. Anton Balasingham has said that what the people of Sri Lanka want is a prosperous country, where all communities can live in self respect. He has noted the fact that the whole country has suffered economically owing to these years of conflict and war. Peace has potential for prosperity for all. What he has said are self-evident truths that should have been obvious to all for a long time.
Yet the truth has been masked on both sides of the divide by considerations of various injustices of the past, fears of all sorts in the minds of both the majority and minority communities and deceptions and misinterpretations.
In the process all communities suffered economically. The youth were denied the benefits of economic growth in terms of more and better employment opportunities and the people of higher per capita incomes. There can be no controversy about the fact the incidence of poverty in the country is as high primarily owing to the costs of the war. There can be no doubt that the war has been a determining factor in the inability of the economy to grow significantly.
Other Asian countries, particularly in South East Asia, have decreased their poverty significantly and increased their per capita incomes to levels that we can't now aspire for quite some time. For instance Malaysia's per capita income is around US$ 8000, Singapore's about US$ 30000 and Thailand's a more modest US $2200 approximately, compared to our paltry per capita income of US$ 815 in 2000 and a lower one in 2001. The economic dimension of the conflict must be foremost in the minds of all our people when looking at the ethnic problem. The failure to appreciate the costs of the war in financial and economic terms, especially the foregone benefits as a result of the conflict, must be uppermost in our minds, if we are to have a pragmatic approach to solving it.
Failure to resolve the problem means that the country would have to remain as one of the poorest nations in the world. Unemployment and poverty will surely persist, as the capacity of any government to address these problems will get more and more difficult. Far more than any other constraint to economic growth is the civil war. The economy can never achieve a high growth sustained over a ten-year period without peace and re-deployment of resources.
We have the additional benefit of promised foreign aid for the reconstruction of the North and East. These funds and their use in the North and East will have spin-off benefits on the rest of the economy. Already several firms have sensed the real possibilities of peace and the inevitable reconstruction of the North. They have moved into the area to gain a head start on the projects there.
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