• Wayamba fear grips opposition
• Political suspects in kidnap drama
• Docs want pill before polls
• Elections chief in surprise move
• FMM deplores attacks by government on media

Wayamba fear grips opposition

By Our Political Editor

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday wrote to President Chandrika Kumaratunga telling her she was squarely responsible for implementing a free and fair poll on Tuesday to five provincial councils, and complaining that several decisions taken by the all-party elections committee are not being implemented.

The UNP leader's letter appeared to be a pre-emptive salvo as increased reports filtered to independent elections monitors and the media that some PA supporters might be preparing a Wayamba style win-at-all-costs repeat on April 6.

The JVP was the first to show displeasure at the monitoring of the elections when it refused to sign a government sponsored all-party call for a free and fair poll.

In a hard hitting statement the JVP said it was sad that the government had failed to fulfil the promises agreed upon at the all-party election monitoring committee.

The MEP also refused to sign the message.

The UNP then refused to sign the public call and instead its leader sent yesterday's letter to President Kumaratunga.

The gravamen of the UNP leader's complaint is that while the monitoring committee chaired by Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake decided to provide greater mobile patrols and a vehicle for each of the 6000 polling booths to transport ballot boxes, the police and Elections Commissioner have said that there are insufficient vehicles for both enhanced mobile patrols and transportation of ballot boxes.

The government in the meantime has set up an elections monitoring secretariat. This will be a centre to which elections complaints could be made, and instructions given to police in the five provinces.

Opposition parties have also been informed of the existence of this centre.

Political suspects in kidnap drama

By Frederica Jansz

A government politician, an underworld kingpin and a one time Tamil militant group, are suspected to be involved in the 20 million rupee kidnap-ransom drama which shook the business world.

The involvement of these suspects has come to light following top-level joint investigations by the Crime Detective Bureau and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on the kidnapping of former Aitken Spence Chairman and now director G. C. Wickremasinghe on Tuesday.

The Police said the probe was being led personally by the heads of the CDB and the CID but the lack of cooperation from the business magnate and his family was turning out to be a stumbling block.

Deputy Inspector General H M G B Kotakadeniya, the chief crime buster of the police, told The Sunday Times the Wickremasinghe family had even requested that a police guard posted at their residence be removed soon after the ransom money was allegedly paid.

DIG Kotakadeniya insisted that once a crime had been committed and reported to police "the police cannot act as directed by the victim as it is a crime against society as a whole."

He said that if senior police investigators were to bow down to pressure by the victim then it would amount to working in collusion with the criminals. "It is indeed a horrendous situation, particularly when such a crime is carried out by a gang masquerading as police officers," he said.

Aitken Spence Chairman Ratna Sivaratnam told The Sunday Times that the company had not paid any part of the ransom money.

He expressed concern that the business community as a whole would be at risk if the kidnappers were allowed to get away with the crime.

According to reports, Mr. Wickremasinghe was stopped by men in police uniform around 6.15 am Tuesday at the D S Senanayake roundabout, while on his way for golf at the Royal Colombo Golf Club. Mr. Wickremasinghe apparently believed it was a routine security check and stopped his vehicle when four men climbed into his car and held his head under the dashboard, shouting commands at his driver to keep the car moving, it is reported.

At a certain point, the kidnappers changed vehicles, blindfolded Mr. Wickremasinghe and drove him with his driver to an unknown destination, the reports said.

Worried that her husband had not returned after his usual game of golf, Ms. Wickremasinghe had already raised an alarm among family members and friends.

Around 11am, she received the first telephone call from the kidnappers. The caller demanded a ransom of Rs. 20 million be paid for the release of her husband, according to sources close to the family and the investigations.

A horror-stricken Ms. Wickremasinghe had to listen to her husband's voice on the phone, telling her about the ransom demanded by the gang.

In a voice shaking with emotion, he had said "I am now an old man, 67 years old, and am ready to die."

This was followed by a second call, around mid afternoon. At this point Ms. Wickremasinghe negotiated a reduction in the ransom and then received specific instructions as to where and how the money should be paid that night, the sources said.

After his release Mr. Wickremasinghe is reported to have told family members and friends that his abductors spoke in Sinhala while Tamil music was played in the background.

A police detective told The Sunday Times that Mr. Wickremasinghe's wife had withdrawn Rs. 20 million from a private bank, bundled in thousand rupee notes, packed them into two briefcases, took the ransom to Wellampitiya-Angoda area and paid it to the kidnappers.

Two men on foot, reportedly met Ms. Wickremasinghe and her driver around 2am on Wednesday as pre-arranged, and collected the cash, the detective said.

Soon after the money was paid, Mr. Wickremasinghe was brought blindfolded to a point, put in a three wheeler as dawn broke last Wednesday and sent home.

Mr. Wickremas-inghe is reported to have told friends he had recognized his surroundings at that point to be in the Kottawa, Homagama area. His driver had already been released by this time.

Docs want pill before polls

By Faraza Farook

Government doctors have warned they will take to trade union action again soon after the elections if the cabinet sub-committee studying their demands does not produce a solution by tomorrow.

The Government Medical Officers' Association President, Dr. Ananda Samarasekera, told The Sunday Times though some demands had been met, the committee had failed to find a solution to major issues.

He said the sub-committee had met thrice but according to what the GMOA had learnt there had been little progress.

The GMOA has scheduled a token strike for Thursday and further action would be taken if a fair solution was not found to demands ranging from administrative matters to better facilities, Dr. Samarasekera said.

Minister Alavi Moulana, a member of the cabinet sub-committee, said they would be meeting again tomorrow and hoped to arrive at a reasonable solution to the GMOA problems.

Meanwhile, the GMOA has denied an allegation by President Chandrika Kumaratunga that the union is being controlled by a UNP politician and the strikes were being launched regularly to politically embarrass the government.

In a letter to the President, the GMOA challenged her to produce evidence if she had any to substantiate allegations she made at a Kegalle meeting.

It asked why the President had appointed a cabinet committee and why the committee has already agreed to two main demands if the whole dispute was a matter of party politics.

Provincial polls on Tuesday

Elections chief in surprise move

By Chirs Kamalendran

In a surprise last-minute change aimed at curbing possible election malpractices, Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said yesterday that all polls officers would be informed about their assigned stations only at the last moment.

He said this step was being taken for the first time in a bid to prevent politicians or others from influencing polls officers.

Mr. Dissanayake told The Sunday Times some 35,000 policemen would be on election duty in the five provinces for the polls on Tuesday and other precautions had also been taken to avoid a situation similar to Wayamba.

He appealed to the voters to go as early as possible and cast their votes as that would minimise the chances of impersonation. Voters could also cooperate by informing election officers of any malpractices they see.

More than 7.1 million people are eligible to vote in Tuesday's elections to five provincial councils. First results are expected to be announced around midnight.

The main parties — the PA and the UNP — held their final campaign rallies in Colombo yesterday in a carnival atmosphere.

No campaigning will be allowed today and tomorrow.

more election news...

FMM deplores attacks by government on media

The Free Media Movement (FMM) has expressed its concern about repeated attacks on the media by the President and ministers and has defended the right of the people to benefit by the existence of unfettered media and monitoring bodies.

On the eve of the PC poll, the FMM in a statement issued by its secretary, Sunanda Deshapriya, said:

"The FMM wishes to express its grave concern regarding repeated attacks on the media and on media personnel in general, and on the FMM in particular, during the PC election campaign of the People's Alliance.

"In speeches made from public platforms, we have been accused of partiality, of being agents of the political opposition and of prostituting our profession. The most recent such attack was reported from a meeting attended by the President in Bandarawela

"The attack has been most virulent against the Committee for the Monitoring of Election Violence (CMEV) of which the FMM is a constituent member. On March 30, PA General Secretary and Minister D. M. Jayaratna issued a statement accusing the CMEV of acting as a 'branch organisation' of the UNP.

"The Daily News of April 2 carries on its front page a piece titled PAFFREL and MFFE expose CMEV's false violence figures. However, the text says nothing of the sort. This we see as being an insidious attempt to destroy the links of solidarity and collective spirit that exist between the three key election monitoring institutions in the country - PAFFREL, MFFE and the CMEV.

We consider the tone of this entire anti-media campaign to be undemocratic and contrary to the spirit of respect for the freedom of expression. In addition, the statement by the PA general secretary can be viewed as provocative and inflammatory, inciting people to resist the efforts being made by citizens' groups throughout the island to ensure the holding of free and fair elections on April 6.

"We call on all citizens who respect democratic freedom to join hands with us to ensure free and fair elections and a non-violent poll on April 6."