They were in a sense, guests of the State.
They were accommodated in a building owned by the State. They had all their meals at State expense and lived more comfortably than they would in the jungles of the Wanni.
But their sojourn, in a refugee camp in Vavuniya was shortlived.
NIB sleuths drove all the way from Colombo to spring an early morning surprise on the refugee camp. They picked up the six ‘’guests’’ and drove down to Colombo for interrogation. They are now singing.
The five were rounded up following the discovery, a few months ago, of a set of jackets worn by suicide bombers. Sleuths had a breakthrough in their investigation.
They say the five were the ones who were going to retrieve the hidden jackets and carry out suicide mission.
With the jackets being discovered, they were awaiting fresh instructions, of all places, in a refugee camp.
Brigadier Lohan Gunawardena will be Sri Lanka Army’s second nominee for the prestigious year long National Defence College Course in New Delhi for 1997.
Earlier, Major General Neil Dias was nominated for the first slot. This is a rare occasion when the Army has found two slots.
Currently Major General Lionel Balagalle (Army) and Air Commodore Jayalath Weerakkody are following the NDC course in New Delhi.
Income tax authorities have come across evidence linking godman Chandraswami with some of the Tamil militant groups battling the Sri Lankan government, says the Blitz magazine from Bombay.
The report adds ‘’An item in a diary maintained by the spurious godman, and seized by the Income Tax authorities from Chandraswami’s ashram, shows that a huge amount of money was paid to an unknown Sri Lankan. The Jain Commission has sought this evidence to help it in ascertaining whether it has any link with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.”
Remember the SLAF’s air show at Kalpitiya reported in these columns last week. A posse of VIPs including Service Chiefs had to stare into the sky before the SLAF fighting machines arrived to give a demonstration of their fighting skills.
There is more news now. Among the audience present for the grand show was a group of instructors from an Asian country who arrived to help the SLAF in their counter insurgency operations.
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