Poverty stricken people living in a hell hole on a church passage in Kompanna Veediya have vowed to prevent politicians of any party from entering their area for canvassing in the coming local polls. Angry over the double talk of politicians this virtually homeless community is determined not to be fooled again at election time.
Speaking for them R.M. Thadjudin (23) said that initially there had been 64 families in and around this area but their little homes had been demolished by the CMC 10 years ago, with a solemn promise they would be given flats within 6 months. "About 10 families did get 'flats ' if you can call them so. The rest were provided with temporary shelter. One full decade has gone by, yet the remaining flats don't show signs of completion", he charged.
Youths in the area commented sarcastically that even if 10 to 15 bricks were plastered each day, the promised flats would have long been a reality."Politicians come and go with election pledges leaving us in this sorry plight. "Things have got worse not better" they alleged.
We found that about 24 families whose houses down the church passage were demolished have been put up in a strip of land adjoining the city league grounds.
For the past 10 years, 12 of these families have been living in dingy makeshift structures 12 x 4 feet. A female resident, Gnei Farook (43) said there were more than 50 school-going children living in these hovels. 'We are concerned about their health and safety. The mosquito menace is not the only threat. There are serpents all over. The nearest boutique is half a mile away.
The heat inside these containers is unbearable. The Inner walls made of hardboard have cracked. We have only two toilets and a solitary water tap to cater to all the families. In short, this is hell", she complained.
A former CMC storeroom where garbage collecting carts, barrels of tar, crow-bars, mammoties, rakes, shovels and other items were kept, now houses 10 families. Each family has been allocated an area of 10x10 feet partitioned with wooden planks. It is so dark inside that two bulbs hanging at the two ends of a narrow corridor are lit even throughout the day lest the residents should stumble. Ventilation is virtually nil. About 60 people share two toilets and a tap and the situation early morning is hard to bear. In the event of a funeral two units have to be amalgamated by breaking the wooden partition. The residents said they would entertain politicians only if they were given a written assurance that the flats would be built within a specified period.
On the direction of President Kumara-tunge, a 'Help Line' to make child abuse complaints and get information or police assistance has been set up at Police Headquarters under the supervision of DIG Crimes.
The telephone line 441888 is open day and night. Anyone wishing to make a complaint or pass information can dial this number or write to PO Box 1595, Colombo. Strict confidentiality of the information and informant is guaranteed.
All Deputy Inspectors General of Police have been asked to formulate necessary security plans to prevent violence after the local government elections on March 21.
Police Chief W.B. Rajaguru in a circular sets out responsibilities of the DIG's. DIG Ignatius Canagaratnam, who has been entrusted to be in charge of the election since '91, said the police would ensure security with the available manpower.
Police will this year not pull its men from the operational areas in the north-east for elections in the 17 districts, he said.
DIG Canagaratnam said that upto last Friday there were 231 complaints of elelction violence, most of it from UNP members and the more serious ones from the Ratnapura District.
He said the UNP had made 113 complaints while the PA had made 71 complaints followed by the JVP with 15.
A Sri Lanka born Canadian citizen, Kumaravelu Vignarajah who was discovered to be a double-agent for the Sri Lanka govt. Military Intelligence, and the LTTE, has been convicted for breach of trust and theft by an Ontario court.
Mr. Vignarajah later became a 'triple-agent' also working for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) helping them translate wire-taps of telephone conversations of Sri Lankan Tamils living in Canada. He was described as a man with a doctorate in deception - able to deceive on a global scale.
The Canadian Globe and Mail reported the case thus:
A former translator of wiretaps in a major RCMP smuggling investigation was found guilty of breach of trust and theft.
The convictions of the man, who the RCMP believes was a member of the Tamil Tiger terrorist organization and a Sri Lankan Military Intelligence agent, related to the theft of an RCMP tape recorder, wiretap tapes and transcripts.
Senior Crown Attorney Stephen Sheriff told Judge Brian Weagant of the Ontario Court's Provincial Division that Kumaravelu Vignarajah's actions amounted to a "grotesque betrayal'' of the requirement to maintain the confidentiality of telephone intercepts in a criminal investigation.
After a joint submission by Mr. Sheriff and defence lawyer Patrick Clement, Judge Weagant imposed a sentence of nine months and four days, which is the time that Mr. Vignarajah has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest last May. Mr. Vignarajah was released last week.
Mr. Vignarajah was acquitted on a charge of fraudulently obtaining a blank Sri Lankan passport. Judge Weagant, who likened the case to an espionage novel, imposed a conditional stay on a charge of possession of stolen property.
In his closing argument, Mr. Sheriff had said it is unclear whether Mr. Vignarajah's ultimate loyalty was to the Tamil Tigers, who have been engaged in a bloody fight for a separate homeland in Sri Lanka, or to the Sri Lankan military intelligence directorate fighting the Tigers.
''We'll never know,'' Judge Weagant agreed, '' He may have been working for both sides''.
However, Mr. Sheriff said that, for whichever master, Mr. Vignarajah's intent was to use the material stolen from the RCMP, during a major investigation into passport forgery and alien smuggling in Canada's Tamil community, for intelligence purposes.
"This man has a doctorate in deception.........He was able to deceive on a global scale''.
Mr. Sheriff said it was ''fanciful in the extreme'' to suggest, as Mr. Clement maintained, that Mr. Vignarajah had taken the RCMP property home to complete work on unpaid overtime.
If he had been able to prove that Mr. Vignarajah had compromised the RCMP investigation, code-named Project Elias, Mr. Sheriff said, he would have demanded a sentence of at least five years. The Vignarajah case revealed a number of troubling issues.
For example, the court was told that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service knew about Mr. Vignarajah's past but did not inform the RCMP until Mr. Vignarajah, who is now a Canadian citizen, finished his translation work for the Mounties.
The reason why CSIS did not tell the RCMP remains unclear. CSIS agents were not called to testify.
The case also showed how loosely the RCMP vetted part-time employees like Mr. Vignarajah, whose full-time job was as a bank clerk.
When he was hired, Mr. Vignarajah supplied two contradictory reference letters from Sri Lankan military intelligence. One of the letters, which were signed by the same person, said he had not been involved in any of Sri Lanka's internal strife, and the other said that he had provided ''very valuable and accurate intelligence'' to Sri Lankan security forces.
Mr. Vignarajah did not testify in his own defence.
Judge Weagant said one can only speculate how Mr. Vignarajah was going to use the RCMP, wiretap information.
A few AirLanka passengers were in for a shock last week when they had to settle for Economy Class seats after paying and booking Business Class on a flight to India.
The passengers told The Sunday Times that when they had complained about the seating, flight authorities changed the position of a screen which separated them from economy class passengers.
"Just because they kept that screen behind us and excluded us from the rest of the passengers it does not mean that we were travelling in the business class which we paid for. If we had known this earlier we would have bought first class tickets instead," they said.
"There was no leg room. The drinks offered were the same as the ones that the Economy Class passengers received and the menu included food that stewards said were not available. The purpose of buying business class tickets was lost," an angry passenger said.
Asked why they didn't get Business Class, flight authorities had said they were travelling in a special class called the 'Select Class' which enjoys privileges that the Economy Class does not. According to the passengers the only difference between them was separation from the Economy Class by a screen.
A media executive of AirLanka explained: "Flights to India do not include a business class.
There are only three classes, First Class, Select Class and the Economy Class. The select class is equivalent to the business class even though it is not called so.
There are certain privileges that passengers of the select class enjoy.
They get a baggage allowance of 30 kilos, special meal service, reservation numbers and counter facilities".
President Chandrika Kumaratunga in consultation with Chief Justice G.P.S. de Silva has taken steps to expedite cases regarding suspects in grave offences, including murder.
Accordingly, additional magistrates are to be appointed to expedite such cases, legal sources said. The president has cited the Thirimavitana murder case as an example of the long delay involved. This case has dragged on for six years.
The Ranjith Abeysuriya Committee, earlier appointed by the President has recommended in his report that non-summary proceedings should be expedited. Legislation will be presented to Parliament shortly.
Meanwhile the President has ordered law enforcing authorities to take effective measures to arrest those who have unlicensed firearms.
It is around midnight in Colombo's top security zone. Two jeeps and a van are parked across Duplication road. A gang alights and storms the Canton Seafood Restaurant. Firing in the air they hold one of the Security Guards at gunpoint. The others go on the rampage firing at fish tanks, fax machines, music systems and smashing the glass doors and windows into smithereens.
UNP National list MP Sarath Kongahage, the owner of Canton is dining with film actress Sriyani Amarasena, UNP Colombo campaign organiser Bodhi Ranasinghe, lawyer Hemantha Warnakulasuriya, tea exporting executive Ray de Silva and Shiranthi Kongahage at a long table on the left wing while a few other guests are on the right wing of the restaurant.
Gunshots rend the air and shake them all with utter fright. The quiet night is shattered.
A raider with a sword barges into a room where Sarath and his guests are seated and shouts 'Kongahage Ko'. He breaks the glass door, while another with a T-56 stands with a gun pointed at the guests. The firing at the fish tank hits the lights and the room is plunged into darkness. Sarath in dark suit had some luck that day for he had an eye infection and was wearing dark glasses looking like a present day Zorro. So the raiders didn't know that Kongahage was Kongahage.
The guests including popular actress Sriyani Amarasena are standing beside the table with their backs to the wall. Sarath quietly opens a window and jumps into the lawn, only to be confronted by one of the goons standing with a T-56 outside the window.
"Where the hell are you trying to go, he asks Sarath," "We came here to have dinner please let us go," says Sarath, only to get a kick and he goes reeling, he gets another and falls near his kitchen staff who by this time had been made to kneel with their hands up.
The Chicago style drama continues. That the raiders were gunning for Kongahage and not Punchinilame was now obvious to the guests and the Canton staff of about 25. The kitchen staff with their boss now being kicked in front of them look on helplessly but they do not give their boss away despite the threat of death.
After getting a second kick, Sarath discreetly crawls and hides behind a tree.
In another section at the Canton, the cashier like in all hold-ups, has his share of shock when the goons make him put his hands up and take away two days collection amounting to Rs. 75,000. Shiranthi Kongahage's handbag lying on the bar counter is opened and Rs. 22,000 taken.
The whole drama ends in 20 minutes. It is like a Robert de Nero or Mel Gibson movie. But what does all this mean?
The armed security guards of Sarath are outside in his vehicle but fortunately, they do not fire even a single shot. "If my guards had fired all hell would have broken lose and ultimately I might have been a victim. Those who came would have said, someone fired and we returned the fire and Punchinilame escaped.," Mr. Kongahage told The Sunday Times recalling the horror of that Saturday night.
The estimated loss is around Rs. two million. The Canton has a long list of PA Ministers and MPs who patronise it, prominent among them Ministers Anuruddha Ratwatte, Lakshman Jayakody, Mahinda Rajapakse, Jeevan Kumaratunga and others. House catering also was done by them and one of the recent patrons was Minister S.B. Dissanayake, Shiranthi said.
The high security zone which has Police Emergency cars at vantage points had not answered calls by the neighbours about the midnight drama. Police eventually came about one hour after everything was over.
Continue to the News/Comment page 2- * Irish mum claims Rs. 50,000 monthly, * Karate boy in trouble, * Politico's brother on alleged rampage, * UNP won't block devolution - Karu, * A many faceted journalist, * Norton was the sub editors ideal, * Abeysekara wins Gratiaen Award, * Polls publicity only for political ads?
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