A bravo for BRAVA

• War strategy against LTTE under review
• Porn row: JR centre to sue Mangala
• Iris Moana Captain eight others released
• Tough laws to seize laundered wealth
• Peace first, say business leaders

War strategy against LTTE under review

Two emergency sessions of the National Security Council were held this week chaired by President Chandrika Kumaratunga to discuss the recent Kilinochchi debacle and the future of the government's strategy against the LTTE.

The top level conference, the first since the recent set- back at Kilinochchi, which has been described as the worst in the 17 year war with the LTTE, made critical analysis of the situation.

The President who is the Defence Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces presided at both meetings which were attended by the Deputy Defence Minister General Anuruddha Ratwatte, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, Defence Secretary Chandrananda de Silva and the commanders of the Armed Forces. The Government has come in for severe criticism after the recent push to retake Mankulam on what has been described as the Main Supply Route (MSR) to Jaffna.

Government forces were able to capture Mankulam but at a cost of losing Kilinochchi which is also in the MSR.

More than 1,700 soldiers are believed to have lost their lives or are technically described as Missing In Action, while several hundreds were injured in the bitter fighting over a fortnight ago. Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe asked General Ratwatte who was in charge of the Operations in the absence of President Chandrika Kumaratunga to resign and allow the military generals to manage the war.

The top level conference came amidst the mounting criticism of the government strategies and call from its own allies like the TULF to engage in a 're appraisal' of its tactics.

President Kumaratunga conferred with her generals for several hours on Monday and Wednesday focusing on the tactics being adopted so far.

There were no indication of a switch in operational tactics, but a thorough study of the existing strategy has been made, the The Sunday Times further learns. Situation Report

Porn row: JR centre to sue Mangala

By Faraza Farook

Credit Cards, Internet and porn sites — the subject of a bitter controversy between Minister Mangala Samaraweera and the Jayewardene Centre — will now see two court battles.

Pradeep Jayewardene, grandson of the late president and director operations of the Centre, will also sue Mr. Samaraweera for defamation, a spokesman for the centre said..

Mr. Jayewardene who is abroad has been informed of the allegations made against the centre,. Secretary General K.W.M.P. Mapitigama said.

Minister Samaraweera has repeatedly said he would be filing a defamation case against the Jayewardene Centre.

The Jayewardene Centre is denying allegations made against it regarding the use of the computers in the centre to download porn material utilising Minister Samaraweera's official credit card.

Mr. Mapitigama said the computer section at the Centre had been given on contract to a third party for procurement and installation of the computer for one year.

This has been done by a subsidiary of the Centre called the Information Company which is headed by Pradeep Jayewardene.

Minister Samaraweera who also rejected the charges made against him, said at Thursday's Cabinet briefing, "I certainly will be taking action against the Centre".

"At least five fraudulent transactions have originated from a computer under the control of the Jayewardene Centre using an IP (Internet Protocol) number assigned to the Centre," he said.

Mr. Samaraweera also said no license had been issued to the Jayewardene Centre to operate an Internet service. The computers associated with the block of numbers 204.143.102.165 which is obtained from Sri Lanka Telecom Limited would have to be used for the purposes of the Centre, located within the Centre, and operated by its employees because the computers were part of a Local Area Network (LAN).

Mr. Mapitigama referring to the investigations that took place last Friday said, "I was questioned for three hours as also were other people who handle the computer. The person in charge of the computer section was taken to the Fourth Floor for interrogation".

He also said the computer had a certain network connection where an outsider can use the computer from his location.

But when The Sunday Time spoke to one of the Internet Service Providers, they said there were two different types of network. One was called LAN where the network is within the building. And the other is WAN (Wide Area Network) where the network connection can be between one or more buildings.

Only authorised personnel can use WAN from outside. Any one else other than the authorised person should have a password to gain access to this unless the owner himself uses it.

There are eight computers available at the Centre of which only one has been used.

A foreigner too has been interrogated in this regard, informed sources said. But the foreigner had said that he used the computer only for research purposes and that too only once. He has been in Sri Lanka for at least 10 years.

However Mr. Mapitigama said no one from outside would come to use the computers other than the employees at the Centre.

Iris Moana Captain eight others released

The Captain of the hi- jacked ship Iris Moana, along with a crew member and six soldiers who had been held captive by the LTTE for several years were released yesterday and handed over to ICRC representatives in the Wanni, an official said.

Captain Loyala Fernando, 46 and crew member Wijayasekara Munasinghe, had been held captive since August 1995 when the LTTE hijacked the ship. Also released was Sujith Janaka Thenuwara the second officer of another ship, MV Missan. The six soldiers had been taken captive in 1993 after various attacks in the north and east.

The soldiers released were Palitha Sampath Perera, Dayapala Ratnapala, Nomis Singho, Jayantha Bandara, Lakshman Amarasinghe and Palitha Pushpakumara.

They were to be brought to Colombo last night and handed over to their family members.

Tough laws to seize laundered wealth

By Chris Kamalendran

Tough laws are to be introduced to seize wealth and property of drug lords and criminals who amass them through money laundering, a senior police officer disclosed.

"Introducing death penalty for such acts is not going to help. This is a more practical way of preventing money laundering," Deputy Inspector General H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya, told 'The Sunday Times'.

His remarks came on the eve of his departure to New Zealand to attend the Police Asia Pacific Group meeting on Money Laundering. Moves to introduce legislation against money laundering by drug lords and criminal elements followed a detailed study conducted by a Committee headed by Justice Ministry Secretary S. Jayasinghe.

The study was done on a recommendation by the Law Commission. The Committee comprised representatives of the Police, Attorney General's Department, Central Bank and the Legal Draftsman's Department. An official of the Central Bank said that the proposed legislation envisages the creation of a Central Authority to enforce the new law.

Peace first, say business leaders

By Nilika de Silva

Sri Lanka's top business leaders will give top priority to achieve peace before taking up other proposals in their 10-point formula put forward to an all-party conference, a spokesman said.

Entrepreneur Patrick Amarasinghe, president of the prestigious Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) yesterday said the business community had reached a consensus that peace must be achieved before any other problems were addressed.

The business leaders who met President Kumaratunga on Tuesday before Thursday's first session of the APC, will meet opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe tomorrow.

UNP General Secretary Gamini Atukorale, Party Chairman and Colombo Mayor Karu Jayasuriya and MPs A. C. S. Hameed and Ronnie de Mel will be in the UNP team for what is seen as a vital round of talks to break a deadlock between the two major parties in coming together to find a common solution.

The 10-point formula presented by the business community includes proposals for a national economic policy that will not be changed with a change of government, job-oriented education and major changes in labour laws.

The proposals relating to holidays, retrenchment and related worker issues have raised fears among left parties that the business leaders might use this forum to strip the workers of some of their rights.

The LSSP and the CP, coalition partners in the ruling PA, boycotted Thursday's opening sessions, saying some of the proposals were unacceptable and in any event it was not prudent for businessmen to get directly involved in politics.

The UNP also boycotted the opening session, saying it did not want to participate in a meeting with government representative G. L. Peiris though it was essentially in favour of the initiative by the business community.

The MEP and the JVP also kept away but business leaders are hopeful they could gradually get more parties to come in through separate negotiations if necessary.

Mr. Amarasinghe said independent groups like the Civil Rights Movements and the Free Media Movement had also expressed a wish to meet the business community in this regard and this would take place soon.