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Hakeem
tells LTTE: Don't harass Muslims
SLMC leader and Minister Rauff Hakeem yesterday met LTTE political
wing leader S. P. Thamilchelvan in the Wanni and took up the issue
about cease-fire violations by the LTTE, political sources said.
They said Mr.
Hakeem, who was on his way to Jaffna to attend the funeral of TULF
leader M. Sivasithamparam, stopped at Wanni for the meeting with
Mr. Thamilchelvan.
He told Mr. Thamilchelvan that despite the LTTE leader Velupillai
Prabhakaran's assurance, Muslims in the east were continued to be
harassed by LTTE cadres in violation of the ceasefire agreement,
though in some areas the situation had improved.
He also said he wanted to meet Mr. Prabhakaran after the dates for
talks in Thailand were fixed.
Mr. Thamilchelvan
assured Mr. Hakeem that he would convey his request to Mr. Prabhakran
and discuss his complaint with the LTTE leader. In April, Mr. Hakeem
met Mr. Prabhakaran who gave an assurance that harassment to Muslims
and collection of tax and extorting money from them would be brought
to a halt.
Despite the
assurance, there have been a series of complaints to the Sri Lanka
Monitoring mission (SLMM) about harassment to Muslims and collection
of taxes.
The SLMC had also set up a special unit to receive complaints regarding
ceasefire violations.
Most of the
cases reported to this unit were from the eastern province and were
about extortion.
Bus
operators to strike tomorrow
Private bus operators demanding the imple-mentation of a national
fare policy have threatened an island-wide strike from midnight
tomorrow.
Private bus
operators Chief Gemunu Wije-ratne said they were forced to resort
to this action because the response from the National Transport
Commission (NTC) was not encouraging. But NTC Chairman A.B. Thalagune
said a decision would be taken within weeks regarding the national
policy.
Wilpattu
national park to open soon
The Department of Wildlife Conservation has sought the assistance
of security forces to reopen the Wilpattu National Park in the North
Western Province, to the public after a lapse of 15 years, Director
of the Depar-tment, Dayananda Kari-yawasam said.
"We are trying to reopen the Wilpattu National Park and we
hope we can do it very soon" Mr. Kariyawas-am told The Sunday
Times.
Mahanayake:
lift the ban after talks
By
Shane Seneviratne
Ven. Rambukwelle Vipassi Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter
yesterday called on the government not to lift the ban on the LTTE
immediately, describing it as a dangerous move. The Mahanayake made
these comments when Minister and UNP deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya
met him in Kandy.
The Mahanayake said there was no legal impediment to start the talks
with the LTTE while the ban was on. He, however, said the ban should
not be lifted before talks started.
British
bus expertise for ailing SLCTB
Officials of a top British bus company are in Sri Lanka to study
the feasibility of their company entering into partnership with
the SLCTB as planned by the government.
The government has planned this move with a view to injecting efficiency
into the state bus services, which are at present in a very poor
condition, with overcr-owded buses plying at dangerous speeds trying
to compete with private buses.
Minister of State Transport Upali Piyasoma said the government proposed
forging a link with a supportive partner to bring in capital and
expertise to improve the transport service and give a better deal
to the commuters. At present the state bus service is not efficient,
with insufficient buses that do not run late at night, the minister
said adding that it is in order to change all this that the government
was looking at a partnership.
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