Despite
all the war drums and rumous of violence, the gentle peace of Christmas is
filling the air as it did when the police laid down their arms to play and sing
carols. As usual a large gathering was present at the popular annual police
carols at the Police Park at Bambalapitiya with a band playing under the baton
of Lancelot Perera. Pic. by Lakshman Gunatilleke.
Prospects of Christmas season peace talks were emerging over the weekend amidst reports that former Janavegaya leader Kumar Rupasinghe, now coordinator of a world conflict resolution group, would be going to the north for a dialogue with the LTTE.
Mr. Rupasinghe who was earlier married to President Kumaratunga's sister and was a powerful member of the ruling family, is reported to have met both the President and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to brief them on his mission.
According to political sources Mr. Rupasinghe as the coordinator of International Alert - a group involved in conflict resolution all over the world - is expected to go to Mullaitivu shortly with official approval for initial talks with the LTTE leaders.
Last Monday Mr. Rupasinghe hosted a lunch in Colombo for Government and Opposition MPs to brief them on IA's goals and outline practical examples such as the recent Sierra Leone peace deal which the group had helped to negotiate. Mr. Rupasinghe emphasised the need for the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka to be peacefully resolved soon, UNP spokesman Karunasena Kodituwakku who attended the luncheon meeting told "The Sunday Times."
At the meeting, EPDP leader Douglas Devananda said he felt the LTTE would be open to a dialogue for peace, but it was also necessary for the major national political parties to reach some consensus on the issue.
Mr. Devananda also proposed that an interim administrative council be set up for the NE to sort out the day to day problems of the people so that there would be overall participation in the peace process.
The People's Alliance and the Democratic United National (Lalith) Front (DUNLF) on Friday failed to reach compromise over contesting of the proposed local elections amidst strong indications that the DUNLF led by Srimani Athulalthmudali will contest on its own in all districts.
The PA's constituent parties on Friday met at Temple Trees presided over by President Chandrika Kumaratunga to decide on the allocation of the number of candidates for each party. The DUNLF at this meeting had insisted it wanted 20 per cent of the candidates in areas where it hopes to contest with the PA.
General Secretary of the PA and Agriculture Minister D. M. Jayaratne soon after the meeting told The Sunday Times that "if we give the DUNLF 20 per cent in the list some of the parties may not get any place."
The DUNLF in a letter to Mr. Jayaratne earlier in the day said that it would only be satisfied if it was given 20 per cent in the list of candidates as it had been able to gain 754,000 votes in the last Parliamentary election. The DUNLF also said that to maintain its identity, it had decided to contest on its own in various parts of the country in the forth-coming local elections.
The PA had sent out an urgent message to the DUNLF earlier requesting it to declare the number of candidates from the party.
Political sources said that with the earlier indication that the DUNLF would go on its own in certain districts and a failure to reach a compromise on Friday, the party may decide to go it alone for the local elections which are now likely to be held early next year.
A DUNLF spokesman yesterday maintained the party would stick to the 20 per cent demand.
At the meeting headed by President Kumaratunga on Friday, the PA was expected to iron out various differences between them over the elections.
Mr.Jayaratne said that a committee was appointed at the end of the meeting comprising at least one member from each of the constituent party to work out an electoral formula, without taking into consideration the performance in previous elections.
Vehicle owners would have to pay Rs. 1000 each to obtain a new number plate early next year with the introduction of a new vehicle numbering system, a top Motor Traffic Department official said yesterday.
Motor Traffic Commissioner A.W.D. Perera told The Sunday Times owners of vehicles and motor cycles would have to adhere to the new change and all numbers would be changed.
According to the Transport Ministry, the changes are being made as under the present system they would run short of numbers. Already the Motor Traffic Department is reaching the end of the 19 dash series and would be unable to issue new numbers as already the 20 Sri series had been issued earlier for another category of vehicles.
Transport Ministry officials said the new system would include special security features . The new numbers will also identify the location of a vehicle on a provincial basis and have letters corresponding to each province at the beginning of a number. "This would help expand the numbers to over four million vehicles," a Transport Ministry official said.
The present system identifies the type of vehicle, fuel used etc. But this has little practical value as it is useless to have a separate series for buses and lorries according to fuel type used, the officials said.
The ministry will also introduce a vehicle identity card and tamper-proof license stickers. According to the Transport Ministry more than 90,000 vehicles are registered annually.
An unprecedented 500 oral and adjournment questions raised by the opposition in parliament have not been answered. This was brought to light at the party leaders' meeting held recently.
According to sources, some of the ministers who have failed to answer are Mangala Samaraweera, Kingsley Wickremaratne, S. B. Dissanayake and Anuruddha Ratwatte. Questions have been asked by UNP MPs and some of them who have raised many questions are Sarath Gunawardena, Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku, Tissa Attanayake and A. H. M. Azwer.
The non-answering of questions by the government ministers was mentioned by A. C. S. Hameed at the meeting presided over by Speaker K. B. Ratnayake. The Speaker said, "Why not we allot one full day for oral and adjournment questions."
However, it was said Minister G. L. Peiris was prompt in answering questions, sources said. The UNP has also protested on the indiscriminate expunging of words from the Hansard.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hameed suggested that a committee be appointed to look into what words should be and should not be expunged.
The LTTE in a Christmas goodwill gesture has released 16 Sinhala fishermen who had been held captive for upto four years, an ICRC official said.
The fishermen were handed over to the ICRC at Mankulam and brought to Colombo for a joyful reunion with their families.
Eight of the fishermen were from Colombo, five from Trincomalee and three from Anuradhapura.
The leader of the People's Liberation Solidarity Front (PLSF), a faction of the JVP, Ariya Bulegoda claims he and his party members have been threatened with death by the JVP, and says he would expose all those responsible.
Mr. Bulegoda in a letter to Police chief W.B. Rajaguru has stated that his life is in danger and requested police protection for him and his party members. The IGP has assured Mr. Bulegoda protection and has appointed a DIG to look into the threats.
"The party has been receiving death threats over the phone for sometime. The threats are directed at my wife, Dr. Kamal Karunarathne and myself. They use very abusive language and demand that Dr. Karunarathne be removed from his post as Chairman, and tell us not to create any problem for Mr. Galappatthy, if not we would have to pay the price," Mr. Bulegoda told The Sunday Times.
Mr. Bulegoda said that because of death threats the party had to cancel three meetings.
"I was asked not to attend any public functions, and my lawyers have requested me to stay away from courts, despite the party having to attend court. We postponed a meeting scheduled for today and also two other functions in the outstations," he explained.
However, Mr. Bulegoda stressed that the party was not going to give up its political activity but would expose the culprits. "It is not that we don't know who is behind all this but we were marking time hoping they would stop. But now it has gone too far, and something should be done," he said.
According to Mr. Bulegoda the party has been asked to give all details of the calls for the police to begin investigations. "Even last week unidentified people had visited homes of six of our party members and threatened them".
The Party has already written to President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the Attorney-General giving details of the threats. Meanwhile Amnesty International and several other human rights organisations including one in the UK have written to President Kumaratunga to take immediate action and to put a stop to the death threats.
The ban on vessels from South India entering the Colombo Port has been relaxed following strong representations made by the Indian government.
The ban had affected hundreds of traders in both countries. Defence Secretary Chandananda de Silva directed the Port Authority that the ban on vessels from South India had been relaxed enabling two to enter the port a day.
The ban sparked protests from both, Indian and local businessmen on the ground that they were forced to divert the vessels to the Galle harbour and were incurring heavy losses. According to Colombo Port officials, the ban on vessels from Tuticorin was imposed for security reasons.
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