Untitled Document

News

Two withdraw from ACBC elections
By Nilika de Silva
The annual general meeting of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) will be held today at it headquaters. Two out of five candidates for the post of presidency elections have withdrawn their candidature in support of a fellow nominee.

Francis Wanigasekere, immediate Past President of the World Fellowship of Buddhists - Sri Lanka Chapter and Sudath Devapura, a former President of the ACBC, have withdrawn their candidatures in favour of Olcott Gunasekera.

Mr. Gunasekera, formerly of the Ceylon Civil Service and the founder President of the Dharmavijaya Foundation, Milina Sumathipala, Business person and currrent Acting President of the ACBC and N.A.H.W. Mendis are the others who filed nomination papers.

Five-judge bench to hear petitions
Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva has appointed a five-judge Supreme Court bench to hear the petitions against the 18th and 19th Amendments. The Bench would comprise the Chief Justice, Justices S.W.B. Wadugodapitiya, Shirani A. Bandaranayake, Hector S. Yapa and Asoka de Silva. More than 30 petitions have been filed, challenging the constitutionality of the amendments.

Right of Reply
Chairman of the Bribery Commission, Mr. S Anadacoomaraswamy, in response to last week's Sunday Times story on 'Bribery Commission tells bank to produce Ratwatte CD's', has sent the following clarification.

I refer to the news item appearing on page 01 of your paper dated September 22, 2002, under the caption "Bribery Commission tells bank to produce Ratwatte CD's".
I wish to point out that the Commission has not run into a legal dispute with the Fort Magistrate's Court as reported in the news item. The Fort Magistrate has at no time requested a Commission representative to appear in Court on September 18th as reported.

The jurisdiction of Court to summon a representative of the Commission to appear before Court has never been in dispute. But no representative from the Commission appeared before Court as there was no such request from Court.

Section 05 of the Bribery Commission Act empowers the Commission to direct notice in writing to the Manager of any bank to produce within specified time any book, document or cheque of the bank etc. in regard to an investigation. It is under the provision of this law that the Commission acted independently of a Court order.

I would, therefore, be thankful if you would please carry a correction in your paper in this regard to avoid a misunderstanding in the minds of your readers

19th Amendment: PA woos members
By Harinda Vidanage
The PA has stepped up its campaign to prevent potential dissidents voting for the 19th amendment, party sources said yesterday.

Senior members have forged into a mini groups and have begun talking to the potential dissidents during these meetings to appeal to them to vote against the proposed amendments, a senior member of the party said.

SLFP stalwart W.D.J Seneviratne told The Sunday Times President Chandrika Kumaratunga had already spoken to some MPs to warn them of repercussions if the 19th amendment became law.

Top Islamic scholars arrive in Sri Lanka
More than 20 world renowned Islamic scholars such as the Afro-American Imam, Abdul Ali Moosa, who is described as the present day Malcolm X, and the Washington-based Islamic leader, Muhammed al-Asi, will be here in Sri Lanka next week for an international Islamic conference.

The conference on the life and methodology of prophet Muhammed - orgainsed by the Al-Islam Foundation together with the Canada-based Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought and the British-based Crescent International - will be held on October 5 and 6 at the BMICH.

In addition to Imams Ali Moosa and al-Asi, ICIT Director Zafar Bangash, Crescent International Editor Iqbal Siddiqui, Harakat Editor Haji Koya, Prof. Yusuf Proegler, Dr. Ghada Ramahi from Dubai, Dr. Parvez Sahfi and Zaibunnisa Kamran from Pakistan will attend the conference.

The Friday sermons on October 4 will be delivered by Imam Moosa at the Fort mosque, Imam al-Asi at the Kollupitiya mosque and Zafar Bangash at the Wellawatte mosque.

Back to News