10th August 1997

The convocation of the Kotelawala Defence Academy was held at the BMICH on Friday, Here, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Deputy Defence Minister General Anuruddha Ratwatte are seen flanked by (from left to right) Defence Secretary Chandrananda de Silva, Commandant of the academy Commodore E.M.K Fernando, Chancellor Lt. Gen. Dennis Perera, Chief-of-Staff of the Army Major Gen. H.S. Hapuarachchi. pic. by Lakshman Gunatilake.

Contents CWC links peace package with three key issues Miss World here next week Select Committee to examine Media Laws Arms ship in LTTE hands? Show of force by UNP

CWC links peace package with three key issues

Cabinet Minister and CWC chief, Saumyamoorthy Thondaman has highlighted three of his longstanding demands to the government again hinting he would promote the devolution package among the plantation sector population if the demands are met.

Mr. Thondaman who has been non-committal on the devolution package in the recent months has called on the government to resolve issues regarding estate land, continuing Treasury support for the state plantation agencies and to levy an extra cess from tea exports for the building of an estate welfare fund.

The move has been seen as an attempt to capitalise on the government's ambitious devolution package

In a five-page letter to PA General Secretary D.M. Jayaratna, the CWC chief has said that the devolution package will have little meaning to the plantation workers if the government does not address their deep-rooted and continuing problems.

Mr. Thondaman has said there are many outstanding issues for which little or no effort has been made to find a solution. "In these circumstances, if at least these three issues could be addressed satisfactorily, it would remove some of the hurdles in my path to propagate the merits of the devolution proposals among the Indian Tamil community particularly the plantation workers," the letter said.

The CWC's support had been sought by the PA at a meeting held on July 23 to launch a national campaign to promote the devolution package.

Mr. Thondaman in his letter has given details of the three main issues for which he is seeking immediate redress.

Mr. Thondaman had also met President Chandrika Kumaratunga early this week, but the three demands were not taken up for discussion.

'The Sunday Times' learns that the issue of appointing Mr. P. Chandrasekaran as a Deputy Minister to Mr. Thondaman had been discussed in the wake of the new portfolio of Estate Infrastructure assigned to Mr. Thondaman.

Miss World here next week

For the third successive year, a reigning Miss World, this time Greek beauty Irene Skliva will visit Sri Lanka on the invitation of the Rotary Club of Colombo East.

Miss World will arrive here next Sunday August 17, to attend the installation ceremony of the twelfth president of the club Dharshan John, that evening. As in previous years when two other Miss Worlds Aishwarya Rai and Jaqueline Aguilera visited Sri Lanka for the installation of the Rotary East's new presidents, The Sunday Times is the official newspaper for the visit and will bring you a detailed coverage of her three day stay.

Select Committee to examine Media Laws

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti

Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera is expected to move on August 19 the appointment of a Select Committee of Parliament to change the country's media related laws.

The Sunday Times learns that Mr. Samaraweera has now agreed to the UNP's amendments to the original motion by the Leader of the House to appoint such an all-party Select Committee.

The Media Law reforms come in the wake of a call by journalists to liberalise archaic and oppressive laws that inhibit media freedom.

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe welcomed bi-partisan approval to change these laws when he spoke at a discussion on Criminal Defamation and Media Freedom last Friday organised by the 'Friends of the Media'. Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera was present at the discussion.

The motion seeks the establishment of a broadcasting authority repealing the Sri Lanka Press Council Law and establishing a Media Council.

The UNP has also proposed many sweeping reforms like the repeal of Section 479 of the Penal Code Criminal Defamation, Official Secrets Act, Public Security Ordinance and Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act and other amendments.

Arms ship in LTTE hands?

There are increasing fears that a cargo of 32,400 rounds of 81 mm mortar bombs destined to Sri Lanka from Zimbabwe has been seized by the LTTE.

This is prompted by reports intelligence circles in Colombo have received that Tigers inveigled unsuspecting Zimbabwean authorities into loading the military cargo into one of their ships. One report even spoke of the cargo being moved to an Asian country and plans to smuggle them in small quantities into Sri Lanka.

An intelligence source told The Sunday Times "we are investigating reports arriving from our sources. There is strong evidence pointing to an LTTE involvement but we are yet to establish it conclusively......''

Suspicions on the LTTE heightened after confirmation that the whereabouts of the ship transporting the military cargo became unknown since it left the east African port of Madagascar on July 2. Today is the 39th day and there has still been no word.

Friendly governments whose assistance was sought to locate the ship have said their respective state agencies have not been able to track down the mystery ship. They include the United States, Britain and India. Similar responses have come from Interpol and the British-based International Maritime Organisation.

Iqbal Athas reports on how the mystery of the missing ship has begun to unravel in today's Situation Report on Page 7.

Show of force by UNP

In its biggest ever show of force since 1994, the UNP will hold 150 protest meetings this Saturday in all parts of the country to highlight what it sees as three years of misrule by the PA Government.

The protest meetings will coincide with the third anniversary of the PA's assumption of office.

The party will also carryout what it calls a 'yellow ribbon campaign' throughout the island urging the government to ensure free and fair elections in the future.

The campaign would be on similar lines to what Corazone Aquino carried out against the Marcos regime in the Philippines demanding free and fair elections.

UNP sources said that 150 electoral rallies would be held islandwide followed by various other protests.

A senior party member told 'The Sunday Times' that meetings would be used also to measure the strength and capability of the party organizers in the electorates who are mainly Members of Parliament.

As a part of the campaign, organisers will also make offerings at the Kalutara bodhiya, and there would be a series of meetings to tell the people of PA's legacy of broken promises and nonperformance, the spokesman said.

He said the protests would mainly focus on three main issues such as pressurizing the government to ensure free and fair polls, the plight of the youth and their unemployment and the failure to solve problems plaguing the local farmers.