A leading Colombo businessman, said to be the Managing Director of seven companies is being hunted by police narcotics sleuths in the wake of the recent 400 million rupee hashish haul which revealed that Sri Lanka was one of the main trans-shipment points for this drug.
So far four persons including a European have been arrested after the detection of 10,000 kilos of hashish being off-loaded in Chilaw.
The police detected a 60 ft. trawler off Chilaw while it was unloading the contraband into small boats close to the shore. A lorry allegedly involved in transporting the drugs was also detected.
A police detective said they believe the drugs had been smuggled into the country from Afghanistan and loaded into the trawler at a location in the south.
The foreigner arrested had arrived in Sri Lanka as a tourist and had met the businessman, who is the prime suspect in the case.
During the discussion he is reported to have made arrangements for the trans-shipment of the drugs.
Police said according to recent reports there were only a few hashish addicts in the country.
A survey conducted by the National Dangerous Drug Control Board, nearly 98 per cent of drug addicts in the country used heroin indicating that most of the hashish was meant for other countries.
A member of the Union of Post and Telecommunication Officers (UPTO) whose extension of service was not approved by the Post Master General has been awarded Rs. 25,000 compensation by the Supreme Court along with reinstatement in service.
The bench comprising Justices Dr. A.R.B. Amarasinghe, Ranjith Dheerarathne and S.W.B. Wadugodapitiya in a unanimous judgement also ruled that the arrears of salaries of about one and a half years be paid along with the cost of litigation.
Petitioner Premasiri Manage, also an editor of the UPTO Journal, was a Post Master attached to the Nugegoda Post Office. He was interdicted and then retired from service. His application for an extension of service upon reaching the age of 55 years was refused.
The bench observed, inter alia, that the refusal to extend the service of the petitioner was not based on adequate grounds and on the other hand, the petitioner pointed out that his problems began after his trade union Journal of which he was the editor, criticized, the first respondent the Post Master General.
The judgement said that the petitioner had been the victim of unequal treatment and discriminatory conduct and this entitles him to a declaration that his fundamental rights under Article 12 (1) of the Constitution had been violated.
The services of about 150 language teachers in the North-East province, have been extended till February 28, pending a decision by the President.
These teachers had been appointed in 1993 by the North-East Provincial Council to teach Sinhala to Tamil students and Tamil to Sinhala students.
The Ministry of Education had ordered their discontinuance from December 31 as these appointments had not been approved by the ministry.
Although President Chandrika Kumaratunga has called for a report about these teachers, she has not taken any decision to continue their services.
But the Ministry of Education has now extended the services of these teachers for two months, pending the President's decision.
For Tamil political parties 1996 has been a year of hardwork and disappointment.
They claimed they tried their best to address and focus the grievances of the Tamil populace in local as well as the international fora but they achieved little to offer anything to the Tamil people.
TULF President M. Sivasithamparam said that in 1996 the situation in the North and East got worse and more complicated though the government claimed that the forces had brought a good portion of the Jaffna peninsula and other part of Vanni under control. But it is clear now that this claim is exaggerated and not true.
Mr. Sivasithamparam said as a result of the military action hundreds of Tamils had been made helpless refugees who were being herded together in refugee camps in Vavuniya and other places. "The conditions of the refugees in Vavuniya are appalling and the government does not seem to be taking any meaningful steps to alleviate the suffering of the poor Tamil people. At the same time the search for the political solution for the ethnic problem is painfully slow," he said.
"The legal formula for a political solution was placed before the Parliamentary Select Committee in January 1996 but no satisfactory decision has yet been made. The government's efforts to arrive at a consensus with the principal opposition party, the UNP, has not borne any fruitful result," Mr. Sivasithamparam said.
He asked how the government was going to fulfil its promise of setting up a framework for political solution by March next year.
"Anyone observing the political picture in this country does not see how this can be achieved. There is also talk of non-binding referendum. This is still in the realm of conjecture.
"But one happy development is that most people agree now that a political solution must be found and that it is necessary a third party should be brought as a facilitator. We can only hope that this will become a reality in 1997," Mr. Sivasithamparam said.
PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Siddharthan said they could not claim they have achieved what they should have achieved but expressed hope that they could do better in the coming year.
"We entered into the democratic mainstream in 1987 after an assurance given by the governments of India and Sri Lanka that the basic Tamil issue could be solved amicably and peacefully by means of non-violent political dialogue. But we have witnessed the contrary without peace or tranquillity in the country," Mr. Siddharthan said.
"We formed a five-Tamil-Party Alliance (TPA) in 1996. It can be called a loosely connected alliance but we believe that in 1997, it will develop into a formidable alliance. In 1996, all our parties took a united stand on several issues such as supplies to the North, refugee problems and the suffering of the Tamil people. We believe that we have succeeded in these efforts at least in a limited way," the PLOTE leader said.
"Even on the proposal to find a lasting solution, we have submitted our amendments to the devolution package. We in the TPA have faced all issues - major or minor - unitedly," Mr. Siddharthan said.
EROS leader Shankar Raji said they gave up arms and entered the political mainstream to find a solution to the Tamil issue, but they could not cite any significant achievement in their projected course.
"If any achievement is to be cited, it would be the participation in the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) together with the alliance of five Tamil parties.
"Our initiatives to meet foreign missions and international agencies like the ICRC, the UNICEF, the UNHCR and other embassies to highlight the difficulties and the problems faced by the people, we believe, led to the search for a third party mediation. This is a major initiative we have made," he said.
Some 700 government surveyors have threatened an islandwide strike from next Monday in support of two demands, a spokesman said.
An official of the Government Surveyor's Association (GSA) said that during the past few months of disputes and discussions, the government had granted only one of three demands relating to salaries, service conditions and payments for a recent strike period.
He said a new dispute had arisen over plans by the government to recruit even O-Level qualified people as surveyors and this matter might have to be taken to Courts. The surveyors are scheduled to meet on January 5 to take a decision on strike action.
Ex soldier Indika Dinesh Silva, who surrendered to police, after the killing of business magnate and sportsman S.S. Kumar on the Colombo Golf links has been given permission by a Magistrate to make a statement to the CID regarding the sensational killing.
Colombo additional Magistrate Priyasena Ranasinghe also ordered that the three suspects including a woman be remanded till January 8. The suspects are Welikada Police Inspector P.R. Siriwardena, Shanti Kumar's mistress, Sriyani Wijeratne Rambukwella and ex-soldier I.D. Silva.
CID detective Linton Ratnayake told court that 15 persons, including an ASP had made statements to the CID, some of which were important. CID sources believe that two more suspects are involved in the shooting and are expected to be taken in soon.
The Sri Lanka Progressive Front (SLPF) and People's Liberation Solidarity Front (PLSF) after their election agreement, have invited three recognized political parties to forming a broader alliance to contest the local government polls, a spokesman for the SLPF said.
SLPF leader Ariya Bulegoda said that the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), Sri Lanka Bhumiputra Party and Ruhunu Janatha Party were invited on Wednesday.
No problem would arise over the symbol as the party which is the strongest in a given local government area would be permitted to contest under its own symbol while accommodating candidates of the other parties.
The SLPF and PLSF have decided to agitate for self-determination within a unitary framework as a solution to the ethnic and development problems and to oppose the executive presidency, destruction of national resources in the name of privatization and all kinds of terrorism.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kamal Karunadasa, the Chairman of the People's Liberation Solidarity Front, a group which broke away from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) lately, told "The Sunday Times' that his party would contest the polls in the Southern Province and in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Badulla Districts.
"The party is being organized at the district level and we have appealed to the Elections Commissioner for permission to use the "Lantern' as our party symbol," he said.
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