He wants his paintings back

A British citizen is suing the Sri Lankan High Commission in London for allegedly not returning some property that belongs to him.

The retired investment banker, Martin Russell is serving a writ on the High Commission for the return of two paintings he says he loaned to it while he was living abroad.

The two paintings, 'The Beach' and 'The River' are the work of the late Sri Lankan artist Ivan Peries and are now estimated to be jointly worth about 50,000 pounds. Mr. Russell says he bought the paintings while he was in Sri Lanka, and on his return to London loaned them to the High Commission indefinitely

Mr. Russell alleged that since 1997 when he first requested the paintings back, the High Commission had refused to hand them over, despite numerous requests to do so, including one from the late artist's wife.

The High Commission is however reportedly claiming diplomatic immunity and told the British Foreign Office, that it will not be responding to the writ. It has reportedly told the Foreign Office that the Sri Lankan government intends to settle the matter out of court.

Secretary to the Foreign Ministry T.H.W. Woutersz said the matter was simply one of disputed ownership and the High Commission in London was in the process of sorting it out.

Meanwhile the matter has been given wide publicity in the London press.

Private bus owners beware!

By Udena.R.Attygalle

Private bus owners who don't comply with special regulations formulated by the National Transport Commission for the New Year season, could even face cancellation of route permits, an official said.

Additional bus services-by the CTB and privately owned buses, will be provided for the season, Operations Director of the NTC Tissa Abeysinghe said.

He said temporary route permits will also be issued free of charge according to commuter demand adding that inspections will be stepped up to ensure commuters are not charged an extra fare and route permit regulations not breached.

Reservation of seats during this period will not be allowed he said. These regulations will be in force from April 9 to 13 in Colombo and 15th to the 20th in the outstations.

Killer jumbo captured

A wild elephant responsible for the killing of five people in the Nachchaduwa area in Anuradhapura was captured by WildLife officials on Monday.

Tracking down the 35 year old jumbo was made easy because a tracking device had been attached to it earlier.

The elephant is being kept in the Nelliagama forest area and will be transferred to either Pinnawela or Udawalawe.

'Don't move' after polling

By Shelani de Silva.

The police have advised the public to limit their movements after voting concludes on Tuesday in a bid to prevent post election violence.

Director of the Police Elections Secretariat SSP Mohomed Raban told The Sunday Times that police stations in the five provinces are in possession of curfew passes.

"We did not have to dispatch any passes because the police stations have the passes. It is only when we send a directive to issue curfew passes that they will do so. This can be done within a few hours," he said.

He added that curfew will be imposed only if there is violence and that too between 6.pm to 7 am.

"We advise the public to limit their travelling during these hours even if there is no curfew. But if there is a curfew, a member of the public can collect a pass from any local police station," he said.

Meanwhile more than 15,000 police personnel will be deployed in all five provinces, with 12,000 mobile units, Police said.

Refrain from polls violence, says APC

Despite the JVP's withdrawal of support and the UNP adopting a similar stance, all other parties contesting the forthcoming provincial council elections on Saturday made a joint appeal to their ranks to refrain from violence and to maintain law and order during election time .

The statement has called upon all parties to strengthen the political culture of democracy and decency in our country and to act accordingly, and has also warned that those who contravene the law would be dealt with according to the law.

The communique claimed that the common motive of all these parties was to ensure free polls. Positive results of their endeavour has become evident and violence has been minimal barring the occasional incidents, it said.

"We have also arrived at a consensus that the present election system needed certain amendments to meet the requirements and challenges of today. Even with the present election law as it stands, many an unwarranted confrontation and eruption of violence could be avoided if the party leaders, candidates and supporters genuinely commit themselves to the avoidance of such situations.

"It is in this context that we have decided to address our minds to make a joint appeal to all candidates, supporters and agents of political parties and Independent groups, campaigners, electors and to all citizens of this country to desist from any violation of the law and to help maintain law and order during this election period and not be provoked by any persons who may desire to cause conflict during polls," the statement said.

The statement further claimed that wrongdoers would not be safeguarded and the respective political parties would subject them to disciplinary action.

It has also requested law enforcement authorities to be vigilant and perform their duties with a sense of responsibility without fear or favour thereby ensuring the conduct of free polls.

Govt. proposal fails

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti

With the ambitious all party monitoring body hanging in the balance with the JVP pulling out and the UNP considering similar action, the government proposal to issue a collective election appeal failed to bear fruit on Friday, political sources said.

The meeting, which was chaired by Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake at the APC secretariat, did not take any major decisions except to instruct the rank and file of each party to help conduct the poll in a free and fair manner.

Sources said that consensus was reached that political parties should refrain from going in processions for three days after the completion of the poll.

Measures to prevent election violence and maintaining general law and order were also discussed.

Despite all parties agreeing to instruct their own party membership to refrain from resorting to violence, the main opposition UNP sought to consider its stance with regard to issuing a collective statement while the JVP and the New Left Front opted not to sign.

Meanwhile, launching an angry attack prior to boycotting the All Party Monitoring Committee, the JVP has alleged that despite the 'talk shop' being in operation, other operations to subvert the truth and win Tuesday's polls by foul means were also in force.

In a three- page letter to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Tilvin Silva has charged the government and the main Opposition UNP of resorting to violence and of being insincere in their efforts to introduce radical changes to reduce the levels of violence.Expressing dissatisfaction over the conduct of both the main political parties, the letter has cited seven reasons for the boycott decision such as non-implementation of vital decisions, continued violence, failure to empower the Elections Commissioner or to provide adequate resources and personnel and unwillingness to invalidate the fraudulent Wayamba pol

Jaya Sikurui, vows Chandrika

By Nilika de Silva

President Chandrika Kumaratunga last night called on party supporters to refrain from any malpractices at the elections on Tuesday, and expressed confidence of victory.

The President was addressing the final election rally at the Colombo Municipal Council grounds yesterday, which took place amidst pouring rain.

"No one is to attempt to rig votes. I have given orders to the police to arrest all those who rig votes," the President said.

Commencing her speech by thanking the people for having come to the rally in spite of the rain and for the encouragement and support extended, the President reminisced, "I remember six years ago during the Western Province election you handed this over to us. We did not in any way damage the faith you had in us. We worked hard day and night in your interest."

"Friends, the people of the Western Province then were fighting against the disgusting system of that day, while our brothers were being put on tyre pyres. It was you who fired that first salvo. From the Western Province it spread to the South. And after that we were able to take it on from there."

"We fought against the harsh government of that era. During those 17 dark years we fought to free the people from the fear they were living in", she said.

Documenting the development achieved by the People's Alliance, the President said that the PA in a period of four years have achieved more for the people than the UNP did in seventeen years.

"We have gained for the minorities, the Tamil and Muslim people, the right to live without fear," she said. "Not only by giving electricity and phones but through the educational reforms we will make our country more powerful."

"We have created a new political culture in this country. One in which our children cannot be carried away at dead of night," she said.

"It has been possible to build a strong economy. Not only I, but World Bank officials say this," she added.

"Karu Jayasuriya improved Colombo with money given by our government. When we came to power there were heaps of dirt all over."

President Kumaratunga questioned the former mayor's ability to function properly due to being part of the UNP.

"We are preparing to hold a clean election. We have come to this meeting after holding dozens of meetings in the other provinces " "In May 1993 you handed over this provincial council to me. Remember that journey which started then and give your vote to Susil Premjayantha to take it further," she said.

Lack of vehicles hampers poll work

A severe shortage of vehicles has hampered the work of election officials preparing for Tuesday's elections in five provinces.

The main political parties are concerned whether the lack of vehicles could affect the outcome of the elections.

The Elections Commissioner told representatives of political parties at a meeting held at his office on Friday that they were short of 30 per cent of the required number of vehicles.

'The Sunday Times' learns that the 1400 vehicles available will be less than the required number and would compel election officials of three or four booths to make use of the same vehicle.

For Tuesday's elections 5942 polling booths have been set up and almost all of them need at least a vehicle each for election duty. A party representative who did not wanted to be named said that the vehicle issue had been brought up regularly at the meetings they held with the Commissioner of Elections, but the matter had not been resolved.

'Due to the non availability of vehicles in polling booths, the main problem will be the delay in transporting ballot boxes and the danger of rigging. Vehicles will take different routes in the process of stuffing ballot boxes. Outsiders will have access to the ballot box', he said.

'Even during the Wayamba elections the required number of vehicles was not available, he added.

At Friday's meeting the Commissioner of Elections had pointed out that he was facing a problem in getting State vehicles for election purposes and stated that he intends hiring vehicles.

The Party secretaries had pointed out that the commissioner will not be able to get the required number of vehicles because politicians in all five provinces are using state vehicles for election campaigning.

Meanwhile a suggestion to provide mobile phones had been dropped due to the high cost involved and as some of the areas would not be reached by cellular phones.

UNP rally in rain

The UNP rally held yesterday evening at Havelock Town was partially marred by the onset of heavy rains which kept most of the crowd away.

Western Province Chief Ministerial candidate and Mayor of Colombo Karu Jayasuriya and leader of the Party Ranil Wickremesinghe were scheduled to address the crowd later in the evening.

In the meantime crowd attention was held by the musical entertainment provided by the party.

Despite the rain the UNP was not short of supporters as many UNP stalwarts were to be seen. The rain also did not manage to dampen the supporters' mood, as dancing, singing and cries of victory abounded.

Fairer party complains of character assassination

The only women's political party, Independent Group 2 has complained of character assassination and threats to their main candidate by a PA candidate in the Nuwara Eliya District.

The Chief Ministerial candidate Wimali Karunaratne has complained to election monitoring groups of threats to her and party members.A spokeswoman of Independent Group 2 told "The Sunday Times" that the threats were carried out by a brother of a prominent PA minister who is contesting the forthcoming PC elections.

"His political campaign is focused on attacking our candidates. The reason for this is that many PA supporters have joined us and also pledged their support. What is strange is that it is not only PA supporters but other party supporters who have also joined us, but the mudslinging is carried out by the PA supporters," she said.

The Independent Group has also been accused of racism, which was denied by the spokeswoman.

"We have candidates from all communities," she said.

Southern term ends on April 8

The Southern Provincial Council will stand dissolved on April 8 as its term lapses then.

Nominations for elections to the provincial council should be called within a period of six weeks and accordingly elections are scheduled around June.

PA supporter killed in argument over putting up posters

By Chris Kamalendran and Shane Seneviratne

A strong PA supporter was killed allegedly by another group of PA supporters in Moratuwa in a dispute over putting up posters in support of a Cabinet Minister's son, police and eyewitnesses said.

The victim was Sumith Jayasinghe, 25 a resident of Moratuwa and a supporter of Deputy Mayor for Moratuwa, Virantha Fernando who is contesting for election to the Western Provincial Council from the Colombo district.

The dispute began when a group of supporters of Minister A.H.M. Fowzie were putting up posters at the Lunawa railway station on Thursday night in support of his son, Noufer Fowzie who is contesting on the PA ticket from the Western Province. An eyewitness told The Sunday Times that when the Fowzie supporters were putting up posters Sumith was passing the place and questioned them why they were putting up posters at night and whether they were scared of the police.

In the ensuing argument a person belonging to the rival group had pulled out a knife and stabbed Sumith to death.

Moratuwa Police said that six persons have been arrested and produced before the Acting Moratuwa Magistrate, Jinapriya Peduruhewa and remanded until April 8.

The death was the second in election-related violence in the run-up to the polls.

Meanwhile in another clash within the PA in Nuwara Eliya last morning a vehicle was damaged.

A group supporting candidate Gunasinghe Suriyapperuma and another group supporting candidate Indrasara Ratnayaka attacked each other at a community centre at Hawa-eliya. Seven persons have been arrested and police are looking for six others.

Investigations are being conducted by HQI Saman Yatawara on the directions of SSP Pujitha Jayasundara.

Army of 6000 to watch-out for malpractices

More than six thousand election observers will be deployed by the three election monitoring groups for Tuesday's PC polls.

The three monitoring groups, PA Polls Watch, PAFFREL and CMEV have adopted their own monitoring strategies, where mobile units will also be sent to all five provinces.

Executive Director for PAFFREL Kingsley Rodrigo told The Sunday Times that there will be nearly 5000 election observers in all five provinces , with 150 mobile units.

'It is not possible to cover all polling booths, but we hope to cover at least 50% of the booths. We will have two officers at the booths. We will deploy more officers in areas where there is likely to be more violence and rigging' he said.

PAFFREL last afternoon held discussions with the Opposition and the PA to discuss the election violence and to get each parties views on how to conduct a free and fair poll.

Mr. Rodrigo said that opposition leader Ranil Wickremesighe had agreed that the pre election violence was much low compared to the Wayamba elections.

'But he complained that in certain areas such as the North Central, Central and Uva Province there was much violence. We also requested them to inform us where there is a possibility of more violence so that we can deploy more officers' he said.

He added that Mr. Wickremesinghe had expressed his keenness to have Army personnel on duty.

PAFFREL has a total of 800 registered election complaints, but of which 142 have been confirmed and recorded.

Meanwhile the CMEV has decided to identify the areas with a history of violence and rigging and have more observers. However the officers will not be stationed at a polling booth. The CMEV will have around 500 officers directly involved in observing.

The CMEV has recorded 1282 incidents from all five provinces, with the Central Province and Western Province recording the highest.

PA Polls Watch which comprises lawyers will have 400 lawyers in all five provinces , with four eminent lawyers to observe the elections.

PA Polls Watch co ordinator SA Sripathi told 'The Sunday Times' that they were at present discussing with the clergy to invite them to monitor.

'This is mainly to counter any allegations which will be made against the PA. Our research has revealed that the PA has a good chance of winning so if this happens. The clergy can act as monitors and speak the truth. However we have not finalised anything. We will hold discussions with all candidates to educate them,' he said.

Meanwhile the PA Polls Watch had recorded a total of 195 election incidents of which 76 have been identified as major incidents.

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