Fighting
rages at Ariyalai and Tenankillappu
— Govt.LTTE terrorists launched a major attack on troops at Ariyalai and
Tenankillappu in Jaffna peninsula early yesterday and intense fighting was continuing at
the time this edition went to press.
The Information Department said that the terrorists attacked with artillery and motars.
The troops fought back supported by artillery and the air force.
The Information Department said that while troops held into Tenankillappu area,
terrorists managed to breach a few gaps in the army defences at Ariyalai.
The terrorists as well as the troops suffered casualties in the fighting, the
Information Department said.
The following is the text of a press release issued yesterday by the Director of
Information, Ariya Rubasinghe:
"Around 3 a.m. on 10th May 2000, terrorists in large numbers launched a major
attack on the troops manning defences at Ariyalai and Tanankillappu salients in Jaffna.
Terrorists continued to fire a heavy volume of artillery and mortars. Troops fought
back effectively repulsing a number of human waves of the attackers. Although there were a
large number of casualties among the attackers, LTTE human waves continued to assault
without any respect for the lives of junior LTTE cadres.
Having repulsed a number of assaults, troops have performed well to hold onto
Tanankillappu area. However terrorists have managed to breach a few gaps in the army
defences at Ariyalai. At present intense fighting continues in Ariyalai sector.
Ground troops are supported effectively by the artillery and air. Reinforcements have
already been deployed in Ariyalai and Tanankillappu sectors to push back the terrorists.
According to ground troops terrorists have suffered very heavy casualties while troops too
have suffered casualties due to intense fighting.
Own casualty figures are not available at present and will be released when received at
this centre."
UN Sec. General censored
A part of the statement issued by Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan has been
censored by the Competent Authority.
The following is the text of the statement as issued by Reuters and censored by the
Competent Authority.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed concern on Tuesday that Sri Lankan civilians
were threatened by intensified fighting between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels,
and called for a political settlement. The secretary-general is concerned about the
possible humanitarian consequences of the recent escalation of fighting in Sri Lanka. (Censored)
"He appeals to all parties to avoid placing the lives of civilians at risk, and to
ensure humanitarian access to all in need."
(Censored)
Earlier on Tuesday, a day after the Sri Lankan government rejected a ceasefire offer
from the Tamil Tigers, a government statement said the rebels had launched attacks on
troops manning defences on the northern Jaffna peninsula, but had been forced to withdraw
with their casualties.
Annan "strongly believes that a political solution is necessary" to the
conflict, the spokesman said, adding that Annan welcomed an offer by Norway, made earlier
this year, to try to bring the government and the Tamil Tigers to the negotiating
table.(Reuters)
Govt. extends NGO
registration deadline
By Irosha Weththasingha
The government has extended the deadline for registering Non-governmental Organizations
(NGOs) to May 31 and any organization that operates after that date without registration
will be taken to courts, the Social Services Ministry warned yesterday.
The registration of all NGOs with the Social Services Ministry started in 1998 to
provide powers to the government for the inspection and supervision of such organizations.
Under this scheme NGOs that operate on a national level should get registered with the
ministry. "It’s compulsory for all NGOs to be registered so that the government
can monitor their progress", the secretary of the Social Services Ministry, Mr. W. P.
W. Weerawardena said.
The deadline for the registration to be completed was April 30 last year. "But
even after a year, some NGOs continue to operate within the country without getting
registered with the ministry", Director NGOs of the Social Services Ministry said. He
added that some of these NGOs are operating in the conflict areas of North and East.
He said that they are not very worried about small NGOs that operate at village level
and doing community services. "We are concerned about big organizations that have
foreign assistance that could disturb national security" he said.
The NGO have to fill in a form and hand it over to the ministry and the ministry then
gets concurrence from the Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry, Plan Implementation and
Parliamentary Affairs Ministry and the line Ministry before recognising them as NGOs.
The ministry has so far received 530 applications and out of those 125 organizations
have been registered while the others are under consideration.
The delay is mainly due to the difficulty in obtaining concurrence from their head
offices abroad. Some NGOs are branches of world-wide organizations and it is sometimes
difficult to get recommendations from those organizations, the secretary said.
The registration gives the power to the ministry to appoint a panel to inquire into any
complaints about NGOs including mishandling money and to take action against those
organizations.
Liquor,
cigarette prices up to swell defence funds
by Shamindra Ferdinando
The government yesterday raised the prices of both local and foreign liquor and
cigarettes with immediate effect saying that increased defence expenditure has compelled
the state to raise additional revenue, a Finance Ministry spokesman said yesterday.
However, beer prices have not been revised.
He said that prices of all varieties of hard liquor has been increased by Rs. 10 and
cigarettes by 50 cents each. "The government expects to raise approximately Rs. 1,500
million for the war effort. These measures have become necessary in view of the current
situation," he said.
Central Bank Governor A. S. Jayewardene on May 2 told a press conference that the
government might have to impose new taxes to meet the increased defence expenditure this
year. At the press conference to release the Central Bank report for 1999, Mr. Jayewardene
said that due to the escalating war situation in the north, defence expenditure was bound
to rise this year.
The allocation for defence in the budget for this year is Rs. 53.24 billion which is
4.8% of the Gross Domestic Product [GDP]. This is less than the expenditure for last year
which was Rs. 54 billion or 4.9% of the GDP.
The government in its last budget presented in the second week of February this year
did not raise the prices of liquor and cigarettes. Liquor and cigarette prices were not
raised although pre-budget increase of gas, diesel and kerosene prices prepared the people
for more hikes.
The government two weeks ago announced plans to increase electricity rates.
Government sources said that there was no option but to increase prices in view of the
escalating costs in arming the security forces and stepped up operations in the north and
the east against the LTTE.
The government has ordered a multi-billion rupee programme to acquire arms, ammunition
and communication equipment to strengthen the armed forces.
Motion
in UK Parliament against govt. for limiting press freedom
by our Parliamentary Corrs.
The British parliament has been given notice of a motion on Monday (8) condemning the
new emergency regulations in Sri Lanka that restrict press freedom and limit freedom of
association.
MP Ravi Karunanayake in Parliament yesterday read the notice of the motion presented by
six British MPs to the British Parliament.
The notice is as follows:-
"Mr. Michael Trend, Miss Julie Kirkbride, Mr. Stephen O’Brien, Sir Sydney
Chapman, Mr. Andrew Tyrie, Sir Brian Mawhinney.
That this House deplores the decision of the Sri Lankan President, Mrs. Kumaratunga to
impose a new series of emergency regulations, notes that the regulations, imposed on 3rd
May, restrict press freedom, limit freedom of association, authorise detention without
trial and negate the right to private property, further notes that this is wholly counter
to the spirit of the recent EU note to the Sri Lankan Government calling for respect for
human rights and in direct contravention of the UN Charter on Human Rights, and urges the
Foreign Secretary to make urgent representations to the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in
London, making clear his deep concern at these draconian new regulations which impose a
wholly unacceptable restriction on legitimate political activity and the freedom of the
press ahead of the Sri Lankan general election and seeking assurances that these elections
will be conducted in an atmosphere free of intimidation and violence."
New
computer network enables to announce exam results early
by Chittaranjan de Silva
Students sitting the national exams such as the GCE Ordinary Level and the GCE Advanced
Level in future could expect their results to be released within a months time or earlier
after the exams, as the Examinations Department (ED) has now been computerised, ED
officials said yesterday.
The officials who gathered at the inaugural meeting of the Schools Examinations
Advisory Committee, said that the Rs. 90 million worth computer network would enable
Examinations Department to release the results speedily.
"Results could now be released within three weeks after the A/L or O/L exam. The
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) papers can now be corrected by the computers. Though it
took about eight months earlier, now, results could be released in a few weeks," an
official of the department said.
The Commi-ssioner General of Examinations, A. R. M. B. Amarakoon, said that the new
computer network will be fully tested for the first time during the forthcoming A/L
Examination to be held in July this year. The computers and the new building and modern
facilities provided to the Examinations Depa-rtment will enable it to work efficiently,
when conducting more than 150 exams per year.
A member of the advisory committee said that speedier releasing of the results of
students sitting their national exams will also have an impact on the time they have to
wait to be admitted to the university. He said that this move by the ED will save the
student sometime when deciding on his future.
Mr. Amarakoon said that the advisory committee, which has wide ranging powers including
legal powers and is represented by the creme of the country’s educators, have a vital
role to play in further improving the country’s educational system.
Secretary, Min-istry of Education and Higher Education, Professor R. P. Gunawardena
said that it is important to act impartially and justly when conducting national exams.
He said that the advisory committee will make efforts to co-ordinate with teachers, the
university professors who are setting up the question papers, those who are setting the
syllabus and officers of the Examinations Department to improve the way question papers
are set.
Mr. Gunawardena said that the lack of co-ordination between those setting papers and
the other parties such as teachers, have resulted in problems and complains from the
public.
He said that advisory committee would be studying the shortcomings in the education
system and proposing solutions to some of the problems faced by it.
Tea
Research Institute’s harvesting shear wins International Gold Medal
At the 28th International Exhibition of Inventions held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 12
to 16 April 2000, the tea harvesting shear invented by the Tea Research Institute of Sri
Lanka won the first prize of a Gold Medal in the Agriculture, Agricultural Machinery and
Gardening Section. The shear had already received a Presidential Award in 1998.
Dr. Wester Modder, Director of the Tea Research Institute, in making the announcement,
said that the research and field trials towards developing the shear, to which several TRI
staff contributed, were spearheaded by Dr. M. A. Wijeratne, Senior Research Officer in
Agronomy at the TRI Low Country Station in Ratnapura. Winning this Gold Medal is an
achievement of which the Institute, the tea industry and our nation can be proud, Dr.
Modder said. As inventor, Dr. Wijeratne attended the exhibition in Geneva on behalf of the
TRI.
It is noteworthy that this accolade, from an international panel of jurists, comes in
the year when the TRI commemorates its 75th Anniversary, or Diamond Jubilee. The TRI shear
is the latest in a line of significant contributions the institute has been making, since
its establishment in 1925, for improving profitability in the country’s tea industry.
According to Dr. Modder, the significance of this invention lies in its potential for
increasing worker productivity in an industry which is the most labour intensive of the
plantation industries. A serious shortage of workers is now being felt, particularly in
the low country which produces more than half of the nation’s tea. Made tea
production at current levels (283.7 million kg in 1999) requires approximately four
million kg of green leaf to be plucked every working day. This is now done largely by
hand. Manual plucking alone requires approximately 200,000 workers a day, at a daily
plucker intake of 15-25 kg of green leaf. Use of the TRI shear would give, on average, a
50 to 100 per cent increase in plucker intake, and a worker using the TRI shear would
therefore earn considerably more than a manual plucker. At the same time, estates stand to
gain. Estates presently using the invention record savings in plucking costs of more than
Rs. 2 per kg of made tea. Plucking by hand costs about Rs 20-25 per kg of made tea, which
is 30-40 per cent of the total cost of production.
The TRI shear has the same selectivity as manual harvesting. It is light and
manoeuvrable, and can be raised and lowered for selecting only the desired two or three
leaves and the bud, as in plucking by hand. The normal
plucking rounds can be extended by a further two to three days, and the shoots
harvested are not bruised in the hand, unlike manually harvested shoots. Made tea quality
is ensured, there is negligible damage to the bush and easy maintenance of the plucking
table.
Dr. Modder believes that if the shear is widely used, together with an appropriate
plucking basket and leaf conveyance system now being worked on in a collaborative project,
the productivity of estate and smallholder tea lands, and made-tea quality, would be
greatly improved.
The TRI has obtained a patent for the shear together with a local company, Messrs. P.
P. P. Jinadasa, who have been mass producing it for sale to tea estates and smallholders.
The cost of a shear, without taxes, is presently Rs. 575. This can be recovered easily
within a few weeks of use, depending on the size of the harvested crop.
Sunday Times
editor’s appeal
Editor withheld information from court — ASG
by Chitra Weerarathne
The editor "Sunday Times" has withheld information from the High Court, in
refusing to give the name of the person who wrote the article indicted, said Additional
Solicitor General Rienzie Arsecularatne PC, yesterday in the Court of Appeal.
The ASG appeared for the Attorney General made the respondent, in the appeal filed by
Sinha Ratnatunga the editor "Sunday Times", who has appealed to the Court of
Appeal, against a judgement of the Colombo High Court, dated July 1, 1997, whereby, he was
convicted of criminal defamation of President Kumaratunga by publishing an article in the
gossip column of the newspaper on February 19, 1995.
The article referred to the President, attending the birthday party of Asitha Perera at
his private apartment at Hotel Oberoi, late in the night.
Additional Solicitor General Rienzie Arsecularatne, PC submitted that the High Court
Judge had considered three ways, the accused had made untrue statements, to make the court
believe that the gossip column was done by several writers, and not entirely by him.
The judgement said that this attempt by the accused proved ineffective.
The accused editor had made three untrue statements to show that several writers wrote
the gossip column, the judgement had said.
The editor has falsely denied that he told the CID that the column is written by one
writer.
The editor had falsely sought to make the court believe that in his statement of the
CID he meant by ‘column’ one item only and not the entire gossip column,
comprising of several separate stories, the ASG explained reading the High Court
Judgement.
The third effort was by seeking to persuade the Court that several writers wrote in,
but what he meant in his statement to the CID, was that the ‘gossip columnist’
referred to several writers and not to just one writer.
The ASG said that the editor admitted that he told the CID that the ‘gossip
columnist" is not always just one person. The editor admitted having said that the
column is written by just one person. The HC Judge had considered the position that the
‘gossip columnist’ is not always one person and several persons wrote that. In
other words, the gossip column is not repeatedly written by the same person.
In other words the bus is driven by one person at one time, and by other individual at
other times.
But it is not driven by several persons, at the same time, the ASG said.
Justice H. S. Yapa: The editor had said that the gossip column of one day is composed
by several persons.
ASG: Yes. He had tried to persuade the court in three ways.
The ASG further explained that in the evidence of October 30, 1996, the ‘gossip
columnist’ makes one composition from several articles supplied by various reporters.
On the same day he told the trial court that the one composition is the ‘gossip
column’.
On August 13, 1996, the editor started by saying it is written by several persons.
Therefore his attempt on October 30, to show it is written by several writers’s
false, the ASG stressed.
The HC Judge had considered the opening paragraph, which indicated that the writer knew
all the six parties referred to in the entire gossip column, the ASG said.
The HC judge has said that it is clear that the accused editor was not prepared to
admit, what was as plain as a spike star. The first paragraph was indicative that the
writer of the first paragraph is the same writer who wrote about all the seven parties in
the gossip column. The accused editor had refused to admit what was so clear on the face
of the article, the ASG said.
The editor in evidence told the High Court that he did not have the faintest knowledge
of the article except the portion he wrote, the ASG said. The editor had said he wrote
only three paras, the entire ‘gossip column’ had 37 paras altogether, the ASG
said.
When asked whether he told the same to the CID, the editor had said the CID never asked
him how many paras he wrote. In cross examination he had said he was not asked he did not
tell. The ASG further said that the editor had told the CID that he as the editor, takes
responsibility for all the news items published in the newspaper. But he does not take
responsibility to the gossip column as the writer, but only as the editor of the entire
newspaper.
The ASG said that the editor had tried to show that the editor only take ex-officio
responsibility.
Justice P. H. K. Kulatillake: What is the position. You are trying to take by this
omission of the editor?
ASG: The editor is trying to falsely persuade the court that he did not write the
entire page inclusive of the portion under indictment. He told the High Court that he knew
the writer but refused to disclose the name. He has no privilege to do that. Under Press
Council Law he could not divulge the source only, but he should tell the court who the
writer was.
The editor was asked at the trial whether the CID asked him if he wrote the three paras
would he have given his name. He said he cannot say that now, meaning at the trial, his
position was that investigations should have found out, whether he wrote anymore than
three paras, in the gossip column. This was told in the evidence at the trial, the ASG
said.
The ASG pointed out that in this answer he has drawn the distinction between an
‘item’ and the entire ‘gossip column’.
The High Court Judge had taken the position that the term column means the entire
gossip column, since the editor had spoken of any other items in that column.
The HC judge had concluded that in all probability the editor had not answered the
question truthfully, the ASG said. How can the sub-inspector know what the editor wrote
and if he had written only three paras he should have said so, the ASG said.
Failure to disclose, false denial and contradiction, are among the factors considered
by the HC judge in convicting the editor, the ASG said.
The trial judge held that how could the editor say that the column is written by one
person when the editor had written three paras himself, according to his evidence, ASG
said.
The ASG said that the trial judge had considered that if by the term column the accused
meant an item or one item in the gossip column then it is superfluous to say that the
gossip column is done by many writes, as he had told the CID.
The accused omitted to tell the CID he wrote three paras. He told the court he wrote
three paragraphs.
The accused said in evidence that he wrote three paras about ministerial houses, he
knew nothing of what is preceding and what is proceeding.
The trial judge concluded that the person who wrote up about the mix up of the houses,
wrote about the parties as well, the ASG said.
H. S. Yapa: What if the editor is charged, but refuses to divulge the writer, without
being privileged to do so?
ASG: He is withholding information from court. Evidence will be unfavourable to the
withholder. The editor opted to withheld information from court.
He only said he wrote three innocent passages. He told the CID one person wrote the
column, later he told court several persons wrote the column, but did not tell who wrote
the item indicted.
The HC Judge held that the ‘gossip column’ has a unified sequence, which
shows that the entire column is written by one person, and not by several writers as told
by the editor in evidence to the trial court, the ASG said.
The trial judge had considered similarity of words written by the accused in another
article on October 16, 1994.
The phrasing "in the heat of the silent night" was contained in the indicted
article of February 19, 1995, and in the editorial of October 16, 1994, the ASG said.
Both these articles had referred to Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga, the ASG said. The
editorial had said that Mrs. Kumaratunga had left for Singapore in the beat of the night.
The editorials are generally written by the editor, the ASG said. The accused editor
admitted this in another context, the ASG said. Only the word ‘silent’ is
missing in the editorial. The phrasing is so similar, so that one person with same writing
characteristic may have written it.
The editor in his evidence said that sub-editors wrote the editorials. He tried to
distance himself. After all Sunday Times is printed only once a week, the ASG said.
Justice P. H. K. Kulatillake: He has admitted having approved the editorial?
ASG: Yes, of course who is the editor who will not write editorials. What does he do
there in a weekly paper.
On September 23, 1996, he had admitted that the editorial was written by him. He had
said he reads the editorial and political column. The editorial is read because he writes
it. But later he had said editorials are written by the sub-editor using his articles, the
ASG said. The change of stand was taken sooner than later, in giving evidence.
The accused even refused to divulge who wrote the editorial of October 16, 1995. That
was because he wrote it, the ASG said.
The prosecution established publication and the fact that the editor is the writer of
the indicted article, the ASG said.
R. I. Obeysekera PC appeared for the virtual complanant, President Kumaratunga, Tilak
Marapana PC appeared for the accused appellant, Sinha Ratnatunga.
The Bench comprised, Justice, H. S. Yapa and Justice P. H. K. Kulatillake. |
