Pandemonium reigned at the Supreme Court complex on Friday following a telephone message from an anonymous caller that a time bomb would go off within an hour.
Courts within the complex adjourned for the day following the call around 11 a.m.
However after a search by the bomb disposal squad it was found out to be a hoax.
Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe will attend the main golden jubilee independence ceremony and cultural show in Kandy on Feb. 4 - but the party has organised a series of its own events to mark the occasion.
On the day of the golden jubilee UNP frontliners will gather to offer floral tributes to all national heroes, while Mr Wickremesinghe will be in Kandy.
A cultural show and photographic exhibition have also been arranged.
Amidst protests by Sinhala Buddhist groups against Prince Charles being the chief guest at the main golden jubilee ceremony the UNP has expressed reservations over the government decision to invite the heir to the throne of the former Colonial power.
But the main opposition party is not boycotting the main event, party sources said.
Colombo’s mayor Karu Jayasuriya who is also the UNP Chairman will preside at a traditional civic reception to the visiting Prince.
About 47 mass graves around the country will be dug up in the next few weeks in search of the remains of about 200 persons who are alleged to have disappeared between 1989 and 1990.
A special CID team has been appointed by DIG T. V. Sumanasekera following the findings of the presidential Commissions of Inquiry on involuntary removal of persons in this period.
The team headed by a senior superintendent of police will soon begin work under the order of magistrates of the respective areas where these mass graves are believed to be situated. The interim reports of the three disappearance commissions, which were appointed in 1995, were made public about a fortnight ago and President Chandrika Kumaratunga has already taken the commissions to task for delaying their conclusions.
The police is keeping an eye on a Buddhist Organisation which is carrying on a protest campaign against the visit of Prince Charles for the Independence Jubilee in the Central Province.
FBO Secretary G. Punyawardene told The Sunday Times that he received a call from the Dehiwela police inquiring about the campaign.
“He wanted to find out who was behind the campaign and said that he has to send a report, but to whom I was not told. I refused to give any details and wanted him to come to my office if he had any questions to ask,” he said.
The FBO campaign ran into more trouble when several of the members were attacked by a group of government officials when visiting temples in the Central Province.
“We were informed that a group of officers from the Samurdhi movement were visiting the temples offering the Ata Pirikara. Several clashes took place when the two groups met”, he added
Tamil detainees at the riot torn Kalutara prison have warned they would launch a hunger strike from Saturday if recent emergency laws restricting the number of prison visitors are not withdrawn, lawyers said.
They gave the warning as several groups including the Civil Rights Movement and the International Bar Association asked the government to withdraw the laws under which even parents of the suspects would need a letter from their area police to visit the detainees.
An IBA team led by lawyer Desmond Fernando along with Kamini Dissanayake and Sepalika Alawathuwala visited the Kalutara prison last Wednesday to discuss the crisis with the suspects.
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