Saving
the nation
One time Police Chief and Defence Secretary Cyril Herath has been
named by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga as National
Security Advisor. The appointment made last month is to be effective
until the Presidential elections on November 17. The sudden appointment
appears to have left Mr. Herath without letterheads. So his official
correspondence is now going on the letterhead of the National Savings
Bank. As one wag remarked, national savings and national security
are both inter-related. In one, by inculcating savings to save a
nation. In national security, it means just the same.
Only
holy ash!
A parcel arrived from India for Colombo district UNP MP T.Maheswaran
to Parliament. When it was received, security men on duty who scrutinised
the parcel found it contained some powder and was put aside fearing
it was anthrax. They made a call to the MP’s house to be told
he was out of the country but they informed his wife about the suspicious
parcel.A few more inquiries revealed that the parcel contained some
holy ash that a priest had sent Mr. Maheshwaran and was perfectly
harmless.
Propaganda footage
The Ports and Aviation Minister has directed the Rupavahini Corporation
Chairman to release all footage of LTTE bombings as well as footage
of the extra-judicial killings that took place in the 1988/89 period,
for use by the JVP for election propaganda. These pictures are to
be used to stir up a backlash against the UNP before the upcoming
election. Insiders say the request to release such footage is totally
against Corporation policy.
Really
prickly
Hot on the heels of JVP patron Somawansa Amarasinghe getting snubbed
by the Colombo District Court refusing him permission to stop a
private television channel using extracts of his speeches from the
Presidential campaign, chief campaigner for Prime Minister Mahinda
Rajapakse, Ports Minister Mangala Samaraweera has now got his lawyers
to write to the local press warning them not to use advertisements
with his photograph in them sans his permission.
His
lawyers say that " such publication.. for a commercial purpose
would violate my client's rights and will result in my suffering
irremediable loss and damage ". As if that it not enough, he
says "Furthermore, such a publication also would be illegal
and unlawful". Minister Samaraweera, the 'brains ' behind many
poster campaigns against UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe appears
to have become really prickly when it comes to anything against
him, it seems.
They can’t take as good as they give, can they ?
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