 Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers are the latest addition at city checkpoints. Military officials say the RPGs are intended for use against explosive laden vehicles and prevent them from taking on targets in the city. Pic by Sajeewa Chinthaka |
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Sri Lanka said yesterday it strongly opposes United States military action against Iraq in the escalating Gulf crisis.
The Government, in a finely worded statement, yesterday urged Washington to pull back from the brink and refrain from using military force to bring Baghdad to heel.
“Sri Lanka strongly believes in the need for a peaceful diplomatic resolution of the issues involved,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
In its statement, Sri Lanka deftly placed the burden of peace on the sole remaining superpower, and also called on the U.S. and Iraq to resolve their differences peaceably through UN channels and abide by the world body’s founding principles:
“This necessitates strict adherence to the UN Charter by all parties and compliance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, and Sri Lanka accordingly, appeals to Iraq to cooperate with the United Nations.”
Sri Lanka also said a full-scale American military strike on Iraq would only deepen the plight of the Iraqi people, who have been victimised by the U.S.-driven United Nations trade embargo.
Colombo was therefore fully backing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s last ditch effort to broker a diplomatic solution to the crisis, and international efforts to contribute to a humanitarian fund to ease the misery of the Iraqis, Foreign Ministry officials said.
“Any military action would gravely affect the people of Iraq and Sri Lanka therefore welcomes the diplomatic efforts of the UN Secretary-General which should be pursued with determination,” the statement said.
“Sri Lanka welcomes the decision to increase the amount of funds to be utilized for food, medical and other humanitarian supplies for the Iraqi people.”
In another development, the Government will repatriate Sri Lankans who may be affected in the event of war breaking out in the Gulf, according to the head of the Foreign Employment Bureau.
The Bureau has alerted Sri Lankan diplomatic missions in West Asia to prepare for a renewed homeward exodus of Sri Lankans living and working particularly in the Gulf states, Chairman Kapil Abeyratne told The Sunday Times.
“We have contacted all our embassies in West Asia, and will take necessary action,” he said.
According to the Bureau chief, there are up to 800,000 Sri Lankan expatriates concentrated mainly in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, and only around 1000 in Iraq.
Meanwhile, AirLanka has said it would fly home Lankan expatriates, should the Government request its help in the face of a US military strike, according to national airline officials.
“If we are requested, we will assist,” a spokesperson for the flag carrier told The Sunday Times.
In what appears to be a desperate bid by the government to revive support for the devolution package, Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris has urged minority parties to have direct talks with the UNP and pressurise it to reveal its full power-sharing proposals soon.
Dr. Peiris and TULF theoretician Neelan Tiruchelvam, known to be the joint authors of the package, on Friday evening met leaders of minority parties to discuss how to push the UNP towards making its clear. The minority party leaders included Minister M.H.M. Ashraff, Rauf Hakeem and M. M. Zuhair of the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress, TULF leader M. Sivasithamparam, PLOTE leader D. Siddharthan and the CWC’s P. Devaraj.
Dr. Peiris is reported to have said that if the UNP’s full and final proposals are acceptable to the minority parties, including the SLMC, a consensus could be reached.
Mr. Hakeem told The Sunday Times the minority parties were concerned about the delay in the constitutional reforms. “We met Dr. Peiris to impress upon the government that the process of constitutional reforms are being delayed and we are losing confidence.” Mr. Hakeem expressed concern that the process might be further delayed if any elections were announced as the parties would naturally centre more interest on the polls.
The UNP has promised it would announce the second part of its proposals in the second week of next month. Some political sources said the efforts to get the minority parties to have direct talks with the UNP could amount to a by-passing of the parliamentary select committee process. Minority parties have expressed concern over the time taken by the PSC and said a time frame should be set for a solution.
The govt.’s devolution proposals have in recent weeks, especially after the Dalada Maligawa attack, run into widespread opposition with leading Buddhist prelates coming out strongly against them. With growing opposition to the devolution proposals the govt. is not likely to go ahead with its plans for a non-binding referendum.
Hard
on the heels of a death threat to The Sunday Times Consultant Editor Iqbal
Athas, comes the story of a Lake House provincial correspondent being badly
beaten up by the Police and lying in a critical condition at the Kegalle
hospital.
His offence: exposing a lucrative kasippu trade at Aranayake.
Pradeep Kumara Dharmaratne, 24, Lake House Aranayake correspondent, had filed a report to Dinamina on January 26 about the proliferating kasippu trade in the area.
Mr. Dharmaratne told the Kandy Independent Media Foundation that on February 16 policemen from Aranayake had stormed his house at midnight, assaulted him and threatened his life if he wrote again about the kasippu trade.
He was so badly bashed that he is now passing blood with urine. He was first taken to the Aranayake hospital but later he was transferred to Kegalle hospital when his condition worsened, sources said.
Meanwhile, Kandy Media Foundation had written to the President, Deputy Defence Minister, the Media Minister and the IGP, seeking a probe on the incident.
Senior Superintendent Pujitha Jayasundera of the Kegalle Police Division has assured the Foundation that an unbiased inquiry would be held.
Mr. Dharmaratne in a letter written to the IGP from the hospital bed also called for an immediate and impartial inquiry.
He said he was sleeping at the home of a relative when the policemen broke open the door, pulled him out and assaulted him. They dragged him to a vehicle in which he saw two policemen in uniform.
“Around 6 a.m they took me to the Aranayaka Police. The whole day I was kept at the police station. A senior officer also threatened me saying that if I wrote against the Police the next time, my hands would be chopped,” he said.
“The officer used abusive language and assaulted me again and put me in the cell. Around 9 p.m. I was taken out again and they took me to a place where they forcibly got me to place my finger prints on three bottles and a barrel containing what I believed to be ‘Kasippu’ . The following day, I was produced before the Aranayaka Magistrate who allowed me bail of Rs. 15,000,” Mr. Dharmaratne said in the letter.
The journalist told ‘The Sunday Times’ from the hospital bed in Kegalle that the Police had not only beaten him, but also had implicated him in the illicit liquor racket.
“I feel the Police were hitting back at me for exposing the booming Kasippu trade in Aranayaka. One of my news items under the headline ‘Aranayaka Kasippu Nishpadanaya Saruwata’ (Kasippu production booming in Aranayaka) was shown at a news conference by Kegalle SSP, Pujitha Jayasundara on Feb 10. I believe that an Aranayaka officer who was angry about the matter led this assault on me and implicated me on a false charge. I am asking for an immediate inquiry..
“This is not the first time I have been harassed by the Police. My family had to pawn jewellery to find the money to bail me out. I will not stop my writing at any cost,” he said. SSP Jayasundara told The Sunday Times that an identification parade would be held tomorrow.
One of Sri Lanka’s leading Buddhist prelates has called for a public statement by President Chandrika Kumaratunga about her offer to give the administration of the North to LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran for 10 years, if he stopped the war.
The Mahanayaka of the Malwatta Chapter, the most venerable Rambukwelle Sri Vipassi Thera told The Sunday Times the people needed a full explanation directly by the Presidnt and not by ministers. “When we have been involved in a costly war to liberate the north for the past several years, it was not correct to have proposed the hand over of the north to the LTTE for 10 years,” the prelate said.
On Thursday, Minister M.H.M. Ashraff told Parliament on Thursday that former President Dingiri Banda Wijetunga told him in a private conversation that he too had made a similar offer to the LTTE, but Mr. Wijetunga, now in quiet retirement at his Pilimathalawa residence told The Sunday Times he had made no such comment to Mr. Ashraff at any time.
Meanwhile the President’s offer which was reported recently in the Time magazine as part of a Sri Lanka golden jubilee cover story, has drawn mixed reactions from various sections.
Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera in a statement said the President’s comments should be analysed not in the context of the present strategy of the government in relation to the LTTE but in the context of the special situation that prevailed then.
Sri lanka’s cricketing star of stars and most eligible bachelor Sananth Jayasuriya has finally been bowled by a maiden and is to marry within the next three months, The Sunday Times learns.
The ceremony for what perhaps will be the wedding of the decade is to be held at his Boralesgamuwa residence on the auspicious date of May 8 and the hotel reception the next day.
Though details are still very much under wraps, discreet inquires by The Sunday Times revealed that the first name of the maiden is Sumudu. Nothing more was being revealed about the girl with whom the spectacular cricketer is to begin a new partnership for life soon after the team returns from South Africa.
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