 "Our Budget won't be like this ," seems to be what Justice and Deputy Finance Minister G.L. Peiris is saying before the dinner which followed the AGM of the Ceylon National Chambers of Industries held at Taj Samudra on Friday night. The minister has been preparing the budget at his ancestral home in Panadura over the past few days. Pic. by Lakshman Gunathilleke |
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The PA-UNP agreement for bipartisanship in solving the ethnic conflict appeared to be in disarray over the weekend with UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe accusing the President of deliberately breaking the accord and resorting to cheap political trickery to divert attention from the Galadari bomb and stalemate in the war.
In one of his most stinging attacks on the President, Mr. Wickremesinghe challenged her credibility and commitment to the peace process.
She was making vituperative speeches and breaking promises of confidentiality, though ministers Lakshman Kadirgamar and G.L. Peiris were trying to foster the spirit of the bipartisan accord, he said.
Making an official statement to clarify the situation the UNP leader said:
"During the past two months, President Kumaratunga has begun to publicly reject the need for bipartisan co-operation between the Government and the UNP. However, she now has the audacity to allege that the UNP has not extended its support and co-operation to the PA Government. The President has also referred to several meetings between her and myself during this year. These statements, made during my absence from Sri Lanka have distorted the facts. Therefore, I have decided to set the record straight.
"During 1997 there were two interactions between the President and myself.
The first occurred when the President invoking the consultation clause in our exchange of letters on the resolution of the ethnic conflict requested a meeting with me. I readily agreed to the meeting in the spirit of goodwill and national interest.
The interaction took place on June 26. During this meeting we sought to identify a common approach that could be taken in the event that the Government were to commence negotiations with the LTTE.
"I also suggested the need to establish a confidence building process between the UNP and the PA to overcome the acrimonious atmosphere that presently exists between the two parties. Once the Government took the initial decision to talk to the LTTE and I was kept informed of that decision, concrete modalities could be worked out to create a climate of bipartisanship between the two political parties.
"The second meeting took place on August 15 at the Indian Independence Day celebrations.
This did not last for more than ten minutes given that the President was entering the reception at the B.M.I.C.H. while I was leaving,
These were the only interactions between the President and myself during this year. On the other hand, I have had several cordial discussions with Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in line with the exchange of letters between the President and myself. I have also enjoyed an ongoing dialogue with Minister G.L. Peiris on matters pertaining to the Select Committee process.
Yet barely two months after initiating the process of confidence building, the President on August 25 stated at a public rally in Hambantota that she did not require the support or the assistance of the UNP to solve the ethnic conflict. This was followed by a series of vituperative attacks on the UNP aimed to reinforce this opinion and to bring the process of mutual trust and bipartisan co-operation to an abrupt end.
According to the exchange of letters, briefings between the President and myself need to be held under the strictest of confidence. It must be noted that this is the second time that a meeting held in confidence has been disregarded by the President - presumably for political advantage.
On that occasion as well, President Kumaratunga stooped to insults as a means of exploiting a gesture of goodwill.
These recent virulent outbursts raise grave doubts both with regard to her credibility and her expressed commitment to bipartisan co-operation.
President Kumaratunga has once again resorted to cheap political trickery designed to detract attention from the Galadari bomb blast and the fact that the war has reached a stalemate."
Three years after the Jaffna peninsula was re-captured by security forces, there is a "gold rush" of sorts.
Jaffna residents who fled the peninsula, first at the behest of the LTTE and thereafter during "Operation Riviresa", are now queuing up to dig up their gold, jewellery and cash buried in their gardens or secret locations.
The "gold rush" began after a family in Mandaitivu appealed to Major General Lionel Balagalle, General Officer Commanding the Army's 51 division (who has since been named as Commander, Security Forces, Jaffna), for help to retrieve nearly Rs. 150,000 worth of gold sovereigns. Troops helped the family recover the buried items.The news received wide publicity in the 'Uthayan', a leading Tamil newspaper in Jaffna, and led to Major General Balagalle receiving 15 appeals from other families.
Anglican
priest Mathew Pieris, released from jail last Tuesday under a general amnesty
after he was convicted on charges of double murder, said yesterday his future
was in God's hand and he was looking forward to a family reunion.
Still in his robes, the 79-year-old priest who hit the headlines in the 1980s over the sensational deaths in his Kynsey Road mission house, denied media reports that he had plans to get married again.
In 1984, the Colombo High Court convicted Mathew Pieris and his secretary Dalreen Ingram for the murder of the priest's wife and Ms. Ingram's husband Russel. The priest's conviction was confirmed by the Court of Appeal and then by the Supreme Court. His death sentence was however commuted to life imprisonment in 1994 and last year he qualified for a general amnesty.
"The release came as a surprise to me. A couple who visited me in jail with a birthday cake drove me back to my sister's home in Moratuwa," the ex-priest told The Sunday Times in an interview last night.
Hurried preparations were being for a party today where he is expecting scores of family members, including great grandchildren.
Still claiming he was not guilty of the murders, the bearded one-time exorcist said his life had changed and a new dimension would begin today after a reunion with his family today.
"The day after I was released I visited my family Church — the Holy Emmanuel Church in Moratuwa. A young priest who was surprised to see me spoke about me from the pulpit. I was deeply touched with the act of goodwill by the congregation that greeted me," he said looking quite healthy despite the ordeal of the past 15 years.
The former priest will be under the supervision of Prison welfare officials until January 1999.
As a special unit of the Bribery Commission continues investigations on the alleged six million rupee scandal in the Cricket Board, backstage moves are reportedly being made to dissolve the Cricket Board.
The Sunday Times learns that a VIP reportedly implicated in the bribery drama and its consequences, met some top board officials and lawyers recently, while moves were underway to collect the necessary signatures to impeach the executive committee of the board.
One of the lawyers present, a political figure, had earlier also been directly involved in moves to challenge Cricket Board president Upali Dharmadasa and other members of the executive committee.
On October 20, Sports Minister S. B. Dissanayake had written to Mr. Dharmadasa giving him two weeks time to give further details regarding his allegations that another senior official of the board had sought a bribe of six million rupees from the Worldtel television company for the provision of exclusive rights on all international matches played here.
Mr. Dharmadasa said he had a tape recording of a conversation with a Worldtel agent who said the Cricket Board official had already been given Rs. 3m and was demanding the balance on the basis that part of which was to be given to the minister.
As the two week deadline given by the minister to the Crie et Board President nears its end, The Sunday Times learns that Bribery Commission detectives have recorded statements from Minister Dissanayake, Mr. Dharmadasa and Sports Ministry Secretary R. M. Ratnayake regarding the alleged bribery scandal.
Dr. Ratnayake who had made the official complaint to the Bribery Commission on behalf of the minister said action would be taken against the Cricket Board official if sufficient evidence was found. Otherwise, the case would have to be dropped.
Dr. Ratnayake said the Board President had wanted him to listen to the controversial tape because as secretary he did not want to get involved in the matter.
Meanwhile, Cricket Board Vice President Thilanga Sumathipala, whose name has also been mentioned said he did not wish to make any comment as he had not officially been informed of any allegation.
Worldtel boss Mark Mascarenhas, another figure in the centre of the controversy, has repeatedly denied the allegation that his company offered or gave a bribe for the contract which has yet not been finalised though a memorandum of understanding was signed in June this year.
According to reports, Mr. Sumathipala is among those strongly objecting to certain provisions of the proposed contract with Worldtel.
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