• Caterers hold up flights
• Canada security chief nails LTTE
• Major shake up in bank
• Muslim Congress reverses decision after CBK threat
• UNP's LA ball bounces back

Caterers hold up flights

By Nilika de Silva

Passengers at the Bandaranaike International Airport were stranded for hours as the AirLanka management locked horns with the Catering Services yesterday.

AirLanka Catering Services (ALCS) launched a work-to-rule campaign demanding an additional Rs. 40,000 to four month salary bonus, which is not being met by the management.

The trade union action, begun on Friday, is likely to continue today. No discussions are expected to take place until Monday, a Union spokesman said.

AirLanka management said it would not give into the demands adding that it had "contingency plans." It said in a communique that it would abide by its contractual obligations to pay four months' salary as bonus. However, any demand for the additional Rs. 40,000 per person is unacceptable and absurd, it said.

"The Rs.40,000 we are demanding is what was due to us from the profits of the company for the period between March 31 and June. This money had already been set apart for us. We are not demanding this from the Emirates management," Secretary of the Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya, AirLanka Ltd., K.L.U. Sarathchandra said.

At least three flights were delayed three to four hours. Passengers checked in to board UL 505 were served two biscuits each while they waited "We feel just like hostages," said one irate passenger.

Canada security chief nails LTTE

Tiger fund-raising meant for terrorism

The LTTE has been listed among international terrorist groups raising funds in Canada for terrorism.

The charge has come from none other than the country's head of intelligence services.

Ward Elecock, Director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) told the Special Committee of the Senate on Security and Intelligence that the LTTE also carried out activities that related to the support of actions linked to homeland conflict.

Among the actions, he listed, are: Logistical support for terrorist acts have been provided; The exploitation of ethnic communities persists through propaganda, advocacy and disinformation; Immigrants are intimidated, coerced and manipulated; Terrorists have been provided safe haven in Canada; Immigrants have been smuggled and other crimes committed; Transit to and from the United States has been provided.

Mr. Elecock's revelations came during testimony he gave before the Committee. Besides the LTTE, he has also listed several other groups which he describes as terrorist groups whose origins lie in virtually every significant regional, ethnic and nationalist conflict — Punjab, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Egyptian, Algerian and Sudanese unrest; Lebanon, Turkey, Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan.

"With perhaps the singular exception of the United States, there are more international terrorist groups active in Canada than any other country in the world," Mr. Elecock has said.

He has disclosed that the Counter Terrorism Branch of the CSIS is currently investigating more than 50 organisational targets and about 350 individual terrorist targets.

Mr. Elecock has said that today CSIS devotes far more resources to investigating the serious threat to Canada's national security, focuses to an unprecedented degree on analysis, early warning and the sharing of information with others. It is also actively engaged in an intense effort to enhance the international exchange of intelligence on terrorism, to co-operate over extradition, and to co-ordinate national policies to prevent and pre-empt terrorist acts and to punish perpetrators.

Major shake up in bank

By M. Ismeth

Five top People's Bank officials have been sent on compulsory leave with immediate effect on a directive of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

The move has drawn a strong protest from the Bank Officers' Association, as no reasons were given. But other sources said the three Deputy General Managers, one Assistant General Manager and Senior Manager were sent on leave for providing massive loans to a private establishment which had defaulted payment.

The Officers' Association warned of tough measures if what it sees as a political move is not reviewed. In a letter to President Kumaratunga, seeking an appointment, the association charged that the action was taken without a preliminary inquiry.

Muslim Congress reverses decision after CBK threat

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress led by Minister M. H. M. Ashraff on Friday reversed its decision to go it alone for the upcoming North-Western provincial elections, reportedly after President Chandrika Kumaratunga threatened to take tough action against the party leadership.

Transport Minister A.H.M. Fowzie said that the SLMC had reversed its decision to go it alone after President Kumaratunga threatened to remove Ports Minister Ashraff from the Cabinet and withdraw all his Ministerial privileges if they wanted to contest on their own.

The President, however, had also told an SLFP executive committee meeting that she had to depend on the SLMC because the SLFP's own Muslim leaders were not doing enough to get the Muslim votes.

It is also reported that two SLFP Muslim ministers — Mr. Fowzie and Alavi Moulana — had exchanged harsh words over the SLFP's approach to the SLMC.

Last month, the SLMC politburo decided to field its own candidates for the NWP polls, claiming that the PA leadership was sidelining the smaller parties in the ruling alliance.

The SLMC's politburo on Friday decided to field candidates for the NWP polls under the PA as Mr. Ashraff had left for South Africa.

Mr. Fowzie said that Mr. Ashraff is trying to build an empire for himself and was also doing the work that was under the purview of other ministers.

'The Sunday Times' learns that the President had said if any party wanted to go on its own it would have to resign from the alliance, and their portfolios.

The SLMC earlier decided to contest alone because it felt the PA hierarchy was not consulting the party when taking important decisions.

The party claimed that the district organisers of Puttalam and Kurunegala in the NWP had urged the party to contest alone.

The SLMC and other constituent parties such as the ULF and the socialist parties have regularly complained during the past four years that the SLFP is playing too much of a dominant role in the PA. At the last provincial council elections also the SLMC had fielded its own candidates for these two districts in the NWP.

UNP's LA ball bounces back

The Opposition UNP's much talked about Los Angeles Fund Raising Campaign has bounced into the news again.

A cheque from the money raised last September has bounced. Treasurer Milroy Perera who was also present at the fund-raiser, along with party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Anura Bandaranaike, Pradeep Hapangama, and John Amaratunga, is reportedly holding on to a useless cheque collected at the US $ 100 a plate dinner dance that included a Brazilian dance troupe, The Carnivale.

The cheque had been sent on behalf of the organising committee of the Los Angeles branch of the UNP by an individual who had been a central figure in a multi-million rupee project to extend the Galle harbour during the latter stages of the UNP government and the early stages of the PA regime.

He had a record of having a cheque bounce when he tried to settle his hotel bill in Colombo during a month-long stay at the time.

Undeterred, or probably to make up for the loss from Los Angeles, the party Leadership is planning yet another fund-raiser in Europe shortly.