Mystery looms over an incident at the Navy's Welisara training centre where a youth after a rigorous physical training as part of the interview for a navy post, collapsed and lost his memory.
Twenty one year old Gihan Senaratne had applied for a Supply maintenance post despite protests from his parents. Last Monday he was called for the interview. He was asked to be present at the Welisara camp by 8.30 am, with a list of item's including a running kit, swimming trunks, towel and lunch.
Gihan left home around 7.30 a.m. but because of a bus delay he reached the camp late. After going through the routine check he and others were put into groups of ten, and asked to run ten laps. Gihan completed it.
Security
checks intensified in Colombo city - Air Force using snifferdogs to detect
explosives. Pic by Dunstan Wickramarathne
The events after that are vague. Gihan remembers getting into a boxing ring around 10.00 am and being told to fight. Then he went blank. Next he woke up on a bed late in the evening. He does not know what happened, neither were the officers willing to explain to him. Once he was able to sit up he was asked to go home by bus. Gihan had pleaded with them that he found it difficult to walk. When he asked to make a telephone call to his parents for them to pick him up, the officers had volunteered to send him in a jeep.
All along the way Gihan had been pleading to know what had happened to him, but the officers remained tight lipped. Finally when the jeep neared his home an officer had asked Gihan to get off the vehicle promising he would follow him to talk to his parents. But the moment he got off, the vehicle sped away.
Upto date the Senaratne's do not know what happened to their son. The navy has not informed the family. The only way they can unravel the truth is through Gihan but they can get little from him as he is still suffering from memory loss.
Nimal Senaratne, Gihan's father told The Sunday Times they were not only disappointed but disgusted over the attitude of the navy. "They should have the decency to tell us what exactly happened. At a time when the country needs officers is this the way they treat the youth who come forward to fight for the country. The only thing Gihan could remember was that he was injured. He even kept asking us where he was and what had happened to him. We had no answers" he said.
The moment Gihan walked into the house around 6.30 pm he sat down and asked his parents whether the officers said anything. The parents had at first thought it was a joke. But he kept saying he was injured and asked what happened to him. They rushed him to the accident ward. All along the way he had been mumbling about his injury. Even the doctors had asked the parents as to what happened and whether any treatment was given. The parents had no answers.
The next day the doctors asked the parents whether Gihan had vomited or any other medical treatment was given. His mother phoned the Welisara Camp to get some details. At first they were polite. When I said my son who had come for an interview had fainted and I needed more details they said they couldn't connect the line. They asked me to phone in the evening. When I said it was urgent, they gave me another number where no one answered the phone," she said.
After two days Gihan was recovering. His memory was coming back but slowly. Gihan was discharged on Thursday. The family was due to consult a Neuro surgeon to get a second opinion.
Gihan who still cannot recall what exactly took place said more than the physical pain he was hurt by the attitude specially the manner he was dropped off without any explanation.
As his memory slowly returns, Gihan remembers his opponent in the boxing ring as being big made. "I remember the officer telling us to hit below the face. But my mouth was so badly injured I was unable to even eat after that. I woke up on a bed, still in my running shorts. I was asked to get dressed", he said.
Gihan who had always wanted to join the forces, was thrilled when he saw the paper advertisement for the post. He had the required qualifications. "Even at the interview board I remember some officers commenting on my physique and one officer asked whether I did weights. I was sure I would get through. But after this incident I will never join the forces" he said.
Meanwhile when The Sunday Times contacted officials of the Navy they were still tight-lipped.
Hard on the heels of the alleged bribery scandal in the Cricket Board, comes the news of a backstage TV battle among three companies for the live telecast of the current Pakistan Independence Cup tournament in Lahore.
The state run Rupavahini and the 'Swarnavahini' station were involved in the battle with the Trans World International (TWI) which had obtained exclusive rights from the Lahore organisers.
Rupavahini which eventually went down fighting, however, fired out a strongly worded letter to TWI charging it had acted unlawfully and unethically.
Rupavahini Director General W.D. Jayasinghe in a letter to TWI Vice President Andrew Wildblood accused TWI of trying to mislead Rupavahini and the Pakistani Cricket Board.
He said the offer to telecast the Pakistan Jubilee Cup was made initially by Chris Guinnes of the TWI's Hong Kong branch in November 1996 and Rupavahini had accepted the rights for US dollars 150,000.
Subsequently Mr. Guinness met Rupavahini officials in Colombo and had said they accepted the offer, but had not given written confirmation. Mr. Jayasinghe said several attempts thereafter by Rupavahini to obtain written confirmation had failed as they were told Mr. Guinness was out of the country. On September 17, 1997 a fresh offer of US dollars 180,000 was made.
On September 20 Mr. Guinness had responded saying the rights had already been awarded to another company in Sri Lanka. His letter said 'I decided to license the rights elsewhere as I felt it was important to give other stations the opportunity of telecasting cricket events involving Sri Lanka'.
Mr. Jayasinghe said Rupavahini had further pursued the matter with the TWI and the Pakistani Cricket Board. The TWI then sent a fax on October 28 night saying it was willing to offer the rights to Rupavahini and the money should be remitted on the same day. Rupavahini sought clarification whether the rights were exclusive and also appealed for time until October 31 on account of the bank holiday.
Rupavahini received a response on October 30 from TWI saying the rights were exclusive. The SLRC had informed the Bank of Ceylon to transfer the money. The London branch of the Bank of Ceylon undertook to give a guarantee to TWI's bank that the transaction would be made. The TWI accepted the guarantee, Mr. Jayasinghe said.
However later the same day, Rupavahini was informed that the SLRC could not be given exclusive rights to telecast the matches, but TWI could offer a delayed telecast or a telecast of highlights.
Subsequently TWI's Mr. Wildblood had sent a fax to Rupavahini saying the rights could not be given as the correct fee had not been deposited in the TWI account.
Meanwhile, Swarnavahini Director Rosmund Senaratne said they obtained the rights in a professional manner and did not believe in the rights being given to the highest bidder. "We finalised the deal several months ago," he added.
Swarnawahini Director Jeewaka Edirisighe said his station felt justified in fighting for the rights as his station was available to some 60 percent of TV viewers in Sri Lanka. He was referring to claims by Rupavahini that the national TV should be given preference as it's transmissions were beamed to a islandwide audience.
A teenage schoolboy soccerite was killed when a drug gang leader’s son accidentally fired a pistol he was showing off at Kompanna Veediya on Thursday, police said.
Mahanama College A/Level student and soccerite, Iraj Sharmika Nervin, who also played for Young Victory Sports Club was passing by the house of the drug king when the tragedy occurred. Police said they had arrested the drug gang leader’s teenage son, along with the pistol and seven rounds of live ammunition. He had found the pistol hidden somewhere by his slain father Delu and was showing it off to some associates when the innocent passer-by was hit.
“I thought it is about time my mother had a party,” said Dulanjalee Jayakody after she arranged a surprise b’day get together for Hema Premadasa breaking a four year self imposed mourning period for the slain president’s wife.
Since my father’s death she never attended a party even in our home. She was in continuous mourning. I decided she cannot mourn for ever and so with my husband and brother Sajith we organised a dinner for a hundred and fifty people at her official residence at Stanmore Crescent,” Dulanjalee told The Sunday Times.
The birthday girl cut an orange mousse cake amidst clapping and singing “happy birthday, dear Hema’. Dulanjalee said her mother wore a beautiful outfit, a pale pink suit with a long skirt and an edging of light pink bead work.
“My mother has done a lot for us and my father’s success was in part due to her. I invited her friends both political and personal.”
It is reported that opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was there to wish her. So was media minister Mangala Samaraweera.
“My mother is a great lady with charm and charisma ,” said Dulanjalee in a B’day tribute to her mother.
“My father often gave her an expensive piece of jewellery for a her birthday and so I decided I must keep to this tradition”, said Dulanjalee though refusing to reveal what kind of jewellery it was.
“She did not know about the party till the last moment since she was away on the estate when preparations were made. It was a total surprise to her so much so that she came late for her own Birthday party”, Dulanjalee added.
The Netherlands Embassy in response to a news story in The Sunday Times last week, says only Sri Lankans who do not have the right to reside in Netherlands would be repatriated.
The embassy also said the number of Sri Lankans residing in the Netherlands was 12,000, according to an estimate by the Lankan Embassy in the Hague and not 10,000 as mentioned.
“The recently concluded agreement between the governments of Sri Lanka and the Netherlands refers only to those Sri Lankan nationals who do not or do no longer have the right to reside in the Netherlands, the total number of which is much lower than the figure mentioned in your article,” the statement said.
“It should also be mentioned that the agreement stipulates that the repatriation will be carried out in a phased manner initially in limited numbers,” it said.
At the end of a lively debate, the Colombo Municipal Council decided to hand over the collection and disposal of solid waste in Colombo Fort to the the private sector as a pilot protect. The resolution was accepted with the UNP voting for and PA against.
C. Mahendran moving the resolution said that to provide an improved and efficient service to ratepayers in the city, solid waste disposal be privatised or handed over to the public sector.
Garbage removal was privatised even in many socialist countries. Workmen collecting garbage in the busy Fort and Pettah areas could be posted to other areas so that they may not lose their jobs he said. M. Azath Sally seconded.
PA’s L. R. Stephen said the PA was opposed to the move as it was a shrewd move to privatise the entire garbage disposing system in CMC.
Dr. Wickremabadu Karunaratna said CMC possessed very efficient officials led by an able Mayor. Political interference has messed of the CMC administration.
Why is the Transport Board delaying to carry out orders issued by Transport Minister, A.H.M. Fowzie for the interdiction of six top officers of the Kalutara depot?
During a lightning raid on October 24, Mr. Fowzie found that two directors and four supervisors had not reported for duty even by 10.00 am. He ordered that they be interdicted pointing out that the depot was running at a huge loss largely due to inefficiency and indiscipline.
Though a week has passed after the Minister’s crack- down, officials say, the order has still not been carried out.
The death occurred on Friday of Meelin Nona Dharmadasa, wife of H. K. Dharmadasa, a well-known entrepreneur and chairman of the Nawaloka Group of companies. The funeral will take place today at 3.30pm at the General Cemetery, Kanatte.
Sarath Kodagoda, Chief Executive Officer of Perera and Sons Bakers Ltd. passed away on Friday.
He is the only son of late Mr. Albert Perera and Mrs. Margie Perera. The funeral will take place at the General Cemetery, Kanatte, at 1 p.m. today. Mr. Kodagoda, who was also the Hony. General Secretary and Vice President of the Sinhalese Sports Club has been a member of the club for over thirty years, and served as a member of the executive committee and Treasurer.
All members attending the funeral are requested to be at the main gate by 12.30 p.m.
The Government in Budget proposals to be announced on Wednesday is likely to commit itself to implement the Goods and Services Tax replacing the Business Turn Over Tax among other measures to bridge a staggering deficit of Rs. 99.5 billion.
But veteran former Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel, who has a record of presenting ten successive budgets, said he feared there would be little or no relief for the common people at a time when the rising cost of living was becoming impossible.
The GST for which necessary laws have been passed has been widely accepted as a better tax system, but is bound to have a bearing on all sectors varying from businessman and industrialist to housewives. The GST system has been debated for the past two years, but no threshhold has been fixed.
With the government revenue from the sale of public enterprises expected to decline next year the GST is likely to be operative from sometime next year.
But Minister G.L. Peiris who will be presenting the PA's third Budget told a meeting of the Ceylon Chamber of Industries on Friday that the GST threshhold had still not been fixed and industrialists and small time-businessmen were being given more time to make their case.
Dr. Peiris, in his capacity as Deputy Finance Minister, in a Budget speech to be broadcast live from parliament on television and radio will present proposals to bridge a massive budget deficit of Rs. 99.5 billion.
Ronnie: no
forecast on budget
Analysts believe that the government's economic performance was this year helped by the sale of shares of the Sri Lanka Telecom, National Development Bank and the plantations, but it would be difficult to raise revenue in such a manner during the coming financial year.
In a pre-Budget warning former Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel who prefers not to make any forecasts on the Budget said: "I can tell you one thing. This budget will not address any of the serious economic problems of the country such as the rising cost of living, rising unemployment and youth unrest.
"People are finding it impossible to live. What is the government doing about it? The people want practical solutions to their day-to-day problems. As far as I can see, the entire Budget will be geared towards one thing and one thing alone — meeting the requirements of the IMF."
Analysts point out that this year the government had been fortunate as there were no weather crises such as the 1996 drought that led to prolonged power cuts.
The much wanted suspect in the ragging of the Peradeniya undergraduate was sent to the police with a lecturer, but officials there had failed to even record a statement of the suspect.
The suspect, Prasad Satheshkaran was sent along with a lecturer to the police station before the ragging victim, S. Varapragash died, but the police had sent him back.
The suspect has now gone missing and the police is on his trail.
A family member of the suspect told The Sunday Times that the suspect is due to surrender to the courts through a lawyer on Monday.
As the search for the chief suspect continued, Police have recorded a statement of a professional photographer who is the house owner's son where the ragging incident took place at Penideniya.
The owner told "The Sunday Times' that they were unaware of the ragging incident until the police came to question them.
Meanwhile students and academics throughout the country condemned the ragging incident and called for tough action against those involved in inhuman ragging.
The Senate of the University of Colombo in a statement said it calls upon all staff and students of the University of Colombo and the whole university system, to recognize, once and for all, that any form of ragging is criminal conduct, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment.
Ragging must be recognized for what it is - an infringement of basic human rights. It is our collective attitude of permissiveness for the so called tradition of mildly ragging that had led to the recent death of a fresher, and has consistently prevented us from eradicating ragging in our campuses," a statement from the university said.
The Senate of the University of Colombo expresses its support for the efforts that are being made by the Vice-Chancellor and the staff of the University of Peradeniya to maintain discipline, prevent ragging and bring the culprits to justice.
We reaffirm our commitment to giving leadership in our Universities to prevent ragging. We also call upon all students of our University and the whole student body in Sri Lanka to support these endeavours by developing consciousness of the urgent need to create ragging free campuses, schools and universities in our country," it said.
The University Teachers Association (UTA) of the Sri Jayawardenepura University has strongly condemned the 'Freshers Rag' saying that the escalation of this brutality that led to the death of a fresher at the Peradeniya University can in no way be condoned by any civilized community.
The UTA adds that they have not been unaware or inactive as regards this repulsive behaviour throughout several decades and have responded appropriately as members of the UTA with limited results.
Whilst pointing out that only a minority of senior students are perpetrators of this evil neither they nor their acts have completely disappeared from the university environment.
They have emphasized that all attempts on the part of the University teachers and the majority of the students to curb these acts need to be supported not only by the University administration but also by the state authority, which have so far been earmarked by a visible degree or apathy.
The Sri Lanka High Commission in Britain has denied a news report of Britain's domestic news agency, Press Association (PA).
Reuters, quoting PA reported a statement purporting to come from a spokesman from the High Commission in London: "Had the British government taken steps to stop funds for the LTTE coming through, in the same way as US. and Canadian governments have done, the incident (October 15 bomb blast) might not have happened".
Reuters states, "The Sri Lankan High Commission in London accused the British government of being partially to blame for the injuries."
A luxury holiday resort for the exclusive use of senior police officers costing millions of rupees is coming up in Beruwala town as hundreds of police officers' problems remain unresolved.
Police sources said the resort was coming up despite a resort which is being renovated available at the same premises.
A senior police officer at Headquarters declined to divulge the cost of the resort but said "there is nothing wrong for spending on the new construction and the renovation as it is a necessity for the police officers".
The construction comes in the wake of major housing problems among police officers as some of the senior officers who have been promoted have not vacated their official quarters. Several Assistant Superintendents of Police and Chief Inspectors are among those affected.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has expressed its concern at the delay in the appointment of a judge to the Court of Appeal to fill the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice D.P.S. Gunasekera to The Supreme Court last month.
The BASL has appealed that the appointment be made immediately.
In another case involving business tycoon Harry Jayawardena The Supreme Court has ordered that W.H. de Alwis, Assistant Excise Commissioner for Ratnapura be reinstated to his official functions with immediate effect. Mr. Alwis was sent on compulsory leave on September 24, by Excise Chief B. Wijeratne who stated he was acting on orders given by Finance Ministry Secretary, B. C Perera. Mr. Perera in turn was acting on a complaint made by Harry Jayawardena, Managing Director of the Distilleries Corporation of Sri Lanka (DCSL).
In a Fundamental Rights Application Mr. De Alwis said no other officer in the Excise Department had been sent on compulsory leave merely on a complaint made by an outsider.
In a letter dated September 24, the Excise Chief had informed Mr. de Alwis that with regard to an inspection carried out on liquor warehouse at Kalutara, Mr. Jayawardena had made a complaint that Mr. de Alwis has acted maliciously on the instigation of outsiders.
Mr. de Alwis claims he found two vats containing excessively diluted liquor at the Kalutara warehouse of the DCSL.
He stated that what he and other officers of the Excise Dept. did on the 17th July, 1997, was discharging a function expected of them as Excise Officers of the Government.
Mr. de Alwis said that neither the Finance Ministry nor the Excise Chief had taken any step against the DCSL for selling and storing arrack with the strength below the required standard at the Dehiowita sales outlet and obstructing him and other Excise officers from discharging official duties.
Mr. de Alwis also said that to date he had not been served with a copy of the purported complaint made by Mr. Jayawardena.
Mr. de Alwis said he was sent on compulsory leave without a preliminary investigation and that the Finance Ministry Secretary had shown an unusual interest about the investigations done by him.
Wednesday is budget day but there was little pre-budget buying as seen in past years and less concern about what might go up or come down since most price hikes these days are enforced through sudden gazzette notifications.
The interest in the budget would be further diminished as Sri Lanka will be meeting South Africa in an important Independence Cup match in Lahore the same day with a live telecast on local T.V. As cricket is immensely more important than politics here, the live telecast of the budget from Parliament is not likely to attract even a fraction of those who would watch the Lahore match.
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