Parliament reporters who were making their way to the media gallery in the Legislature last week were surprised when some of the policemen on duty told them they could not take pens inside.
The new officers on duty thought it would cause a threat to the lives of Parliamentarians. Reporters were naturally annoyed. "The next thing, they would ask us to come without our clothes," said one irate lobby correspondent.
The reporters had to seek the intervention of Sergeant-at-Arms Anil Samarasekara. He summoned a top police officer on duty in Parliament and urged him to advise his subordinates to allow the media to carry their pens.
Alas! Bomb boomerangs
A controversial businessman turned politician is to face charges over a bomb explosion at his own residence.
The incident had occurred during the Presidential election in January this year.
Police sources say though the businessman claimed he was in his house at the time of the incident, investigations had revealed that he had been out. He had been using his mobile phone from a different location to speak to persons when the attack had gone on.
These sources declined details except to add that their findings are "quite revealing."
Promotion for failure
"Failures are the pillars of success" is how a Foreign Office official in Colombo described the transfer of a Lankan envoy.
Even if he failed in his much-publicized efforts, some of them media spin, to secure the continuation of the GSP Plus concessionary trade facility, the man is in for a promotion.
He will soon go as our top man in gay Paree. This is whilst another who is much in the news over a purported sex trap is to head the External Affairs Ministry's media outfit.
Lying abroad for his country
The talking point in the corridors of the External Affairs Ministry is about a counsellor in a Sri Lanka diplomatic mission in the West.
He had sent a forged certificate to show that he is fluent in French. The immediate boss wants his recall but the matter is kept a secret.
The reason - the bureaucratic big boss is due to go to that capital and spend a fortnight at this counsellor's apartment.
Coconuts dashed, cracks appear
Leaders of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) failed this week to persuade their Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) colleagues to take part in a ceremony.
Of all things, it was a ceremony to dash coconuts at a kovil in Mirissa to invoke the blessings of deities to release retired General Sarath Fonseka from custody.
Only two MPs — Tiran Alles and Arjuna Ranatunga — participated in the event with a group of supporters.
JVPers have also been conspicuous by their absence during court cases against Gen. (retd.) Fonseka.
Mat music finale
Ministers and Government Parliamentarians began a workshop at the Riverina Hotel in Beruwala yesterday. They are all billeted in the nearby Eden Hotel.
The event is to end today with a peduru party where all the Parliamentarians will take part.
School uniform:
No uniformity
There was a debate among Ministers at their weekly Cabinet meeting last Wednesday.
It was over whether material for free uniform for school children should be imported or bought from the local manufacturers.
Those in favour of importing it said the local material was not good enough. Some even imported the material here and used cheap dye to colour it. Others argued that helping local industrialists would assist them to sustain jobs.
They have now agreed to work out a fair quota, both for imported and local material.
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