![[Image]](fmain.jpg) Former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto is being welcomed by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike at the BMICH, at the ceremony held to felicitate her son Anura Bandaranaike on his completion of 20 years in politics. Pic. by Lakshman Gunatilleke |
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The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) one of the main constituent parties of the People's Alliance government has in principle decided against remaining within the cabinet as it is virtually holding 'responsibility without power,' a party spokesman said yesterday.
The LSSP at a central committee meeting discussed among other issues, the futility of remaining within the cabinet as the public were of the opinion that the party was responsible for all decisions by the government, when actually it was not in favour of some of them.
The resolution was moved after several crucial policy decisions were taken by the government giving the impression that all constituent parties were in consensus.
'We are against privatisation, but everybody thinks that we are in favour of privatisation. When our party members went to express their protest about the privatisation of the Steel Corporation we were told that it was no use joining protest campaigns after agreeing to it at cabinet level' an LSSP senior member said.
General Secretary of the LSSP Batty Weerakoon said that the resolution was based on collective responsibility but a constituent party has to distance itself from certain decisions taken by the government, when it was not in favour of it.
Mr. Weerakoon said that party members were of the opinion that the SLFP had taken decisions without the consent of other constituent parties. Some Cabinet decisions had been taken even without the consent of ministers from other parties in the alliance.
The LSSP's resolution was approved with 34 votes in favour and 11 against.
A senior member of the party said that according to the decision taken, it was resolved that remaining within the cabinet would not serve the people but they would to support the government while remaining outside the cabinet.
The move by the LSSP, which has Mr. Bernard Soysa as a minister and Mr. Athauda Seneviratne as a deputy minister among five of its members in parliament, comes in the wake of serious differences between the government and the New Democratic United National (Lalith) Front which eventually led to the dropping of Ms. Srimani Athulathmudali from the cabinet.
Earlier the NDUNLF made similar complaints pointing out that certain important decisions were taken within the PA without consulting the PA's constituent parties.
The LSSP also resolved that it would launch a campaign to get the PA to keep its election pledges given during the run-up to the 1994 parliamentary polls.
The LSSP will continue to use the parliamentary group meetings and other PA meetings as a forum to protest against decisions, which in their opinion, were not favourable to the people.
An owner of a block of land which was acquired for the proposed presidential residence in Battaramulla has filed a writ application in the Supreme Court stating that the acquisition order issued by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga is illegal and invalid.
The petitioner, C.T. Maliduwa Patirana, Chairman, Southern Group of Companies of Rohini Mawatha, cited President Kumaratunga as the first respondent and Housing Minister Indika Gunawardena, former Housing Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, Lands Minister D.M. Jayaratne, U.D.A. Chairman Suren Wickremasinghe, Kaduwela Divisional Secretary, Colombo Divisional Superintendent of Surveys and AG, as the other respondents.
The petition is to be supported on Tuesday (29) by the petitioner's lawyers before the Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices Mark Fernando, Ranjith Dheeraratne and Dr. Asoka de Z. Goonewardene.
The petitioner states in his petition that, this land was acquired by the President under the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act No. 2 of 1950 amended by Act No. 26 of 1980. But under these, provisions the President is empowered to acquire such land only for the purpose of social development.
In this case the construction of a new Presidential Palace is not a social development project and it gives no power to acquire this land for such a purpose under the provisions of the aforesaid Act.
The petitioner further states that, he purchased this land in 1993 for Rs. 1.9 million and built his house on that land spending around Rs. 55 million and occupied it in April 1997 with his family.
Hurt by exposures in The Sunday Times, have some powerful persons in the security establishment formed their own 'goon squads' misusing officialdom to intimidate, harass and drive fear into journalists? This certainly seems to be the case judging by the experience of Iqbal Athas, a senior journalist with The Sunday Times.
For well over three weeks, groups of well built men positioned themselves around his house — inside a temple, behind lamp posts, telephone poles and even in three wheelers. They kept observing what was going on.
Mr Athas' first response was to contact one of his high ranking police sources. He was told that his residence was under surveillance. The source told Mr. Athas not to be too worried since the exercise was to identify who from the security forces and police were visiting him and providing him with information. The source also revealed that a DIG who visited his residence has also been identified.
But the latter had only arrived at Mr. Athas' residence to collect the copy of a University prospectus. A friend of the DIG had advised that a copy was available with Mr. Athas. But the so-called 'unofficial surveillance' operation appeared to turn sour as days went by. The actions of the men involved showed a more insidious and intimidatory attitude. They trailed household staff who went to grocery shops or a photo copy bureau. Employees in these places were questioned. They were asked what documents were being photo copied. In that instance it was a set of newspaper clippings about the Air Force. They visited neighbouring households and questioned them about visitors to Mr. Athas' house. Upon being questioned, the men replied they were CID detectives investigating terrorist activity at Mr. Athas' house. The men operated throughout the day and night. They blatantly noted down vehicles that arrived there.
It is then that Mr. Athas contacted President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to complain about the goings on. She acted promptly by asking Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera to promptly go into the matter. Mr. Athas had also earlier spoken to Mr. Samaraweera.
Mr. Samaraweera responded after making his own inquiries. He told Mr. Athas he had checked with both the Director of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) as well as the DIG, Criminal Investigation Department (CID). They have both denied that Mr. Athas was under surveillance and that none of their men was involved in any operation around his residence. Mr Samaraweera publicly declared this position when he addressed the weekly post Cabinet news conference last Thursday. Media reports of this, however, mistakenly linked it to a astory of an ammunition ship about which Mr. Athas had written.
This clearly indicated that the 'surveillance operation' on Mr. Athas did not originate at the top level. Nor was it with their awareness. The Police denials also made it clear that the normal surveillance agencies did not have a hand in this.
Investigations by The Sunday Times have revealed more details. One resident, a neighbour of Mr. Athas (who wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons) said he telephoned the Mirihana Police Station after he observed the suspicious movement of the group. A patrol car arrived and checked their identity. The caller was told that the men were from the CID and the Air Force Police and were on legitimate duty. If they were not real CID and Air Force Policemen, were they using bogus identity cards?
It is no secret that Mr. Athas (who writes the Situation Report) in The Sunday Times has been critical of the Air Force in recent times over aircraft losses, alleged corruption and other irregularities. So much so that a senior SLAF officer told a conference recently that "anyone leaking information to Mr. Athas" would be Court Martialled.
An inmate of the temple adjoining Mr. Athas' residence said he telephoned the Air Force Commander to find out what was going on. He said his call was not put through. When he told the 'CID' men to withdraw from his premises, he had a telephone call, purportedly from 'an SP in the CID' asking him to allow the men to remain there for some more time.
Mr. Samaraweera has asked Mr. Athas to make a complaint to the Mirihana Police. He has also told Police that upon President Kumaratunga's instructions, he went into the matter and what he has been able to ascertain.
In a letter to Mr. Athas, Minister Samaraweera has said that the actions by the group of 'strangers' are not only to "intimidate and harass you" but also bring "discredit to the Government."
"Goon squads can not only bring discredit but also pose grave threats to the very survival of free governments and democracies. This has been seen in other countries where power crazy people have initiated dictatorships," remarked a PA top runger who did not wish to be identified.
He added: "the misuse of power under the umbrella of officialdom can pose serious threat to human rights, freedoms and democratic way of life. In that respect Mr. Athas may be a very small cog in a big wheel. But when the cancer spreads, no one, however big they may be, will be safe."
Ex-justice seeks justice
A retired District Court Judge has filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court stating that she had been deprived for her emoluments and benefits at the end of 17 1/2 years of service.
The petitioner Ms. C.M.M. Prematilake, cites the Secretary, Judicial Services Commission S. Withanachchi, Director General of Establishment, Y.T.B. de Silva, Director Pensions B.G. Karunaratne and the Attorney-General as respondents.
The first respondent made inquiries from the second respondent regarding the petitioner's date of retirement. The first respondent then sought the opinion of the Attorney General who is the appropriate authority to express an opinion on this matter. The AG stated that the petitioner completed her 60th year at the end of Jan. 1, 1997 and that therefore she is entitled to the revised salary scale which came into effect on Jan. 1,1997, says the petitioner. Then first respondent by his letter dated March 29 1997 again inquired from the Director General of Establishmen to give his opinion.
The Director General stated that the petitioner's last working day should be the 31st of December 1996 and therefore she is not entitled to the allowances which are given to persons in service on 1st January 1997. The petitioner states that the first respondent should have prepared the petitioner's pension papers according to the revised salary scale coming into effect on January 1, 1997.
A prominent Buddhist organisation has condemned comments made by western diplomats linking aid with the proposed devolution package.
The Federation of Buddhist Organisations (FBO) in a hard -hitting statement pointed out a series of instances where western diplomats had hinted that they could increase their financial aid to Sri Lanka or provide aid without interest if the political proposals were accepted by the people.
'Some western diplomats who have taken a decision to increase their financial aid to Sri Lanka if Sri Lanka accepted the devolution proposals, and made their decision known not only to Sri Lanka but also to the rest of the world, is a disgrace not only to the rest of the foreign diplomats in Sri Lanka, but to diplomats of the entire world as well', the FBO said.
The FBO pointed out four instances where western diplomats had hinted that aid would be increased if the devolution package was supported.
'Diplomats have become senseless and hasty and begin to say to the people of Sri Lanka either you accept the proposals or lose our financial aid', the body made up of several Buddhist organisations said.
'Is this not blackmail, holding the country to ransom, after making the country entirely dependant on foreign aid, and yet go on saying no strings attached'?, the FBO questioned.
The Organisation has called upon the people to be vigilant and act to protect the integrity of the nation. Secretary of the FBO, Gallege Punyawardana told The Sunday Times that it was sad at the stand taken by the diplomats who have taken a decision to increase their financial aid to Sri Lanka if the people accepted the devolution proposals and made their decision known to the world.
![[Image]](f3.jpg)
Sri
Lanka won the Asia Cup when it beat India by eight wickets with 13 overs
to spare yesterday.
Sri Lanka's Captain Arjuna Ranatunga was once again at the centre to steer his side to victory and win the Pepsi Asia Cup thereby adding another feather in Sri Lanka's string of victories since it won the World Cup in 1996.
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