President Chandrika Kumaratunga has charged that her interdicted security chief, Superintendent of Police Nihal Karunaratne has links with a casino owner suspected of being an LTTE agent and ferrying weapons for the organisation.

The startling revelation of Kumaratunga comes hardly two weeks after she visited the  director of the Presidential Security Division (PSD) in hospital following his arrest and remand over involvement in the Maturata conspiracy.

The president made the allegations against Karunaratne and Bally’s Casino owner Dammika Perera at the SLFP Central Committee meeting on Friday April 19. The allegations of the president follow hot in the heels of a CID probe into series of violent incidents during Kumaratunga’s tenure where incriminating evidence against PSD personnel, including Karunaratne, have been unearthed.

The president charges also come in the wake of speculation that Karunaratne has conveyed to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe  through his private secretary, Sudath Chandarsekera, that the president was in the know of all PSD activity and that PSD officers were merely carrying out orders.

Kumaratunga however has told the Central Committee meeting that casino owner  Dammika Perera who allegedly transported arms for the LTTE in a ship was having tremendous influence over Karunaratne and that she could no longer trust her former security chief.

President had further said that Karunaratne was sending her messages requesting that Kumari Navarathana be appointed secretary to the Samurdhi ministry and that if that was done, the pressure against her would be eased by Samurdhi Minister S.B. Dissanayake.

Kumaratunga had gone on to say that Dammika Perera was sitting on Karunaratne’s hospital bed and was discussing his release from custody and that Karunaratne was sending her messages to appoint Navarathne as secretary to the Samurdhi ministry.

Karunaratne was released on bail following the arrest on Monday April 21. The president had earlier complained to  Wickremesinghe, Defence Minister Tilak Marapona and Interior Minister John Amaratunga about the alleged harassment of Karunaratne as a bid to undermine her security.

A senior government minister told The Sunday Leader that the president’s sudden change of heart towards Karunaratne may be an attempt to distance herself  from the mounting evidence of the PSD’s criminal activities, which has been revealed in the on-going CID investigation. The ministerial source said that the possibility of Karunaratne becoming a witness for the state cannot be ruled out. Meanwhile, a member of the SLFP Central Committee confirmed that the president made serious allegations against her former security chief.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s bitter complaints to Indian leaders against what she has termed is the planned and constant harassment by the new government on her supporters, security personnel and herself, were refuted by Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris at a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh the same day.

In meetings with Singh and Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee, Kumaratunga lamented the present situation in Sri Lanka where she claimed the new regime was hunting down her party members and supporters, implicating them by fabricating false charges against their person and throwing into prison hundreds of innocent PA supporters, including members of her personal security.

Peiris who was is also in India and met with the same leaders, had been forced to disclaim the charges, which he asserted were malicious and made to detract from the president’s attempts to sabotage the on-going peace process.

Peiris however reiterated to the Indian leaders that contrary to Kumaratunga’s exaggerated claims, the reality was that only those persons with incriminating evidence against them had been placed under arrest.

The new United National Front government, Peiris had pointed out, was not interfering in any police investigation  or attempting to influence the judiciary.        

Both, Kumaratunge and Peiris had been accommodated at the same hotel, Taj Palace, in New Delhi.  Neither, however had met the other during their stay. 

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Chief Velupillai Prabhakaran will not hold any positions in the interim administration to be set up in the north and east, The Sunday Leader learns.

Prabhakaran had disclosed his intention not to hold positions in the interim administration to some of the minority political party leaders who visited him last week.

The LTTE chief had told Estate Infrastructure Minister and Upcountry Peoples’ Front (UPF) leader P. Chandrasekaran who also paid a visit to the north on the invitation of the Tiger leader that he wishes to be out of the administration, but pledged to command the organisation.

Chandrasekaran told The Sunday Leader quoting Prabhakaran as saying that the similar kind of administration that is being carried out in the uncleared areas by the LTTE would also be followed in the other parts of the north-east as well, once the interim administration is established.

Prabhakaran had further told Chandrasekaran that he had deployed a number of youth of recent Indian origin from the plantation sector as his body guards and therefore he was committed to the cause of the Tamils of the plantation sector as well.

Clarifying this position, Chandrasekaran told The Sunday Leader that an estimated one to one and a half lakhs of Tamils from the estate sector are now languishing in refugee camps in the north-east.

He said a number of youth who fled the up-country in search of lucrative jobs in the north and east had to finally end up as refugees and some of them had joined the LTTE and served the organisation faithfully.

He claimed 99 percent of the refugees found in the refugee camps in Vavuniya were from the estate sector.

“When I met the Tiger chief I told him that the LTTE’s support for the cause of the estate Tamils is vital.

He vowed to support our cause. I also told him the amendments to the constitution would be supported by the plantation Tamils," he said.

"We will continue to support the struggle of the LTTE. It does not mean we are supplying our youth from the plantation sector. Even earlier I was accused of harbouring LTTEers, which I will always deny. But we have always supported the cause of the Tamils of the north and east," the minister told The Sunday Leader.

Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered an official inquiry to verify how a purported report from the police and the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) was released to the media last week.

The alleged report stated that the LTTE was setting up their own courts and police stations in the north and east.

However, superior officers of neither the police or army had received these reports and they are believed to have been planted by a security agency.

The government has ordered a probe to ascertain if the intelligence report was written and circulated to the media purely to destabilise the peace process.

Two prominent Tamil political parties are to send a memorandum to the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Gopalakrishna Gandhi, expressing their vehement protest over the actions of Jayalalitha Jeyaram who is demanding that LTTE Chief Velupillai Prabhakaran be extradited.

The representatives of the Tamil political party announced on Friday that Jayalalitha's actions went against the wishes of the Tamil-speaking people in particular and Sri Lankans in general, adding it could hamper the peace attempts of Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremesinghe.

The All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) and the Democratic Workers Congress (DWC) announced their opposition to Jayalalitha, at a press conference in Colombo on Friday. They said the Indian government should not give in to pressure by Jayalalitha to extradite Prabhakaran because the peace process in Sri Lanka could breakdown due to this.

"Her action is very much against the sentiments of the Tamils. She is doing this to promote her own interests. She is also going against the wishes of the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran and the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who were keen to see a settlement to the problems in Sri Lanka," they said.

General Secretary N. Kumarakurubaran represented the ACTC, while its general secretary and Colombo District Member of Parliament Mano Ganashan represented the DWC.

Ganashan went on to accuse the Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna (JVP), the Sihala Urumaya (SU) and a faction of the Peoples' Alliance (PA) comprising former minister Dinesh Gunewardene, former speaker Anura Bandaranaike led by former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, of looking at the peace process to arouse communal feeling.

He said these elements considered the Ceasefire Agreement signed between the United National Front (UNF) government and the LTTE to be factor that divided the country, but did not realise the country was already divided.

"These people do not understand that the country is already divided and the Ceasefire Agreement is going to reunite a divided country," Ganashan said.

He declared the JVP was a terrorist organisation with a communal mind-set that took to arms as a shortcut to capture power. He further explained that at the time when the JVP took to arms, it had plenty of opportunities to sort our matters out peacefully, but had refused to do so due to greed for power.

"The JVP at that time had a peaceful option, but yet did not want to settle. But the LTTE did not take up arms just to please its own cadres. In fact Prabhakaran did not start the arms struggle. His superiors started it. The LTTE took to arms as a last resort, after all the appeals for equal rights failed," Ganashan pointed out.

The A9 road between Omanthai and Jaffna has been opened for public on Saturdays and Sundays, defence ministry sources said.

The opening of the road is a sequel to a discussion that took place last week between top ranking defence ministry officials and the LTTE. Both parties have also consulted the ICRC.

However sources said the road would not be open for commercial transport. According to a decision taken by the cease-fire monitors, both the government and the LTTE must arrive at a decision to open the road for commercial transport by the end of this month.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Private Bus Association said the discussion the association held with the LTTE regarding opening of the road for commercial transport had been a failure. The spokesman refused to give further details.

Two prominent Tamil political parties are to send a memorandum to the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Gopalakrishna Gandhi, expressing their vehement protest over the actions of Jayalalitha Jeyaram who is demanding thaJ'Lalitha hurts Tamil feelings

Two prominent Tamil political parties are to send a memorandum to the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Gopalakrishna Gandhi, expressing their vehement protest over the actions of Jayalalitha Jeyaram who is demanding thadments to the State Distilleries Corporation Act.

The letter says that under the SDC, private liquor dealers are entitled to obtain their liquor requirements against a counterpart agreement - the arrack license.

The letter says owing to the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka Limited, (DCSL), which is the successor to the state distilleries corporation, discontinuing the practice of supplying arrack products to private liquor dealers for the past seven years under the previous regime, the association is confronted with a crisis situation.

The letter says the prevailing practices of depriving private liquor dealers of their legal right to obtain DCSL products amounts to gross violation of a long standing agreement with the state distilleries corporation, which is legal and binding on the DCSL as successors to the SDC.

The letter further says that the grounds on which the new procedure is adopted in DCSL's view is the private liquor dealers procuring their requirements from private liquor manufactures such as M/S W.M.Mendis & Co. Ltd, Rockland Distilleries Limited, International Distillers Limited, Rio Marketing (pvt) Ltd, Vymba Distilleries (Pvt) Ltd, Randenigala Distilleries Limited and others.

The letter has also indicated that attempts made by the association to convince the trade minister to take appropriate action have failed, as the minister has not shown any interest. 

Women and children account for the most number of civilian casualties in war, in addition to both making up to 80 per cent of the refugees and internally displaced, a report from the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) says

According to the report women fall prey to sexual violence, torture, rape, forced prostitution, sexual slavery and forced conscription in war. "Women lose fathers, husbands, sons, property and employment in war. From the Balkans to Burundi, Sierra Leone to Sri Lanka, women are the worst victims of war," the report has indicated.

A conference is also to be hosted by the ICES on the theme "Women, Peace Building and Constitution Making" scheduled to be held in Colombo from May 2 to 5.  Women activists from conflict areas around the world are expected to participate.

Political parties and trade unions are gearing themselves up to celebrate the May Day or Workers' Day.

Most of the political parties and trade unions representatives said that the celebration is expected to be unusual with an era of peace ushered into the country after the United National Front (UNF) government entered into a peace process with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The United National Party (UNP) will hold its May Day rally in Colombo under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The theme of the UNP May Day rally will be titled "Peace," while no processions will be held.

The Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya (JSS) which is the trade union arm of the UNP will also join the UNP this time, a spokesman for the JSS said. The JSS that has 600 branches all over the country has traditionally joined the UNP at May Day rallies.

The UNP meeting will take place at the Colombo Town Hall at 3.00 p.m. The issues raised will include privatisation of government-owned institutions. "Even though we know some state-controlled organisations need to be privatised, we are looking into the possibility of giving the workers the maximum benefit in the process," a spokesman for the JSS said.

The Peoples' Alliance (PA) will hold its May Day rally in Haputale. The party general secretary and former Agriculture Minister D. M. Jayaratne told The Sunday Leader the decision to hold the rally in Haputale was taken because it was a local authority the PA won during the recently concluded local government election.

Jayaratne said it was significant holding the rally in Haputale because Justice Minister W. J. M. Lokubandara was the UNP representative of the area in parliament and added the PA would air its opposition to the continuous harassment caused to its members in Haputale.

Issues such as the high cost of living, the imprisonment of PA members by the UNF government, the political influence of the law, the stagnation of government servants salaries, details of the peace process that have not been disclosed would be raised, Jayaratne said.   

Meanwhile, a number of trade union federations including those of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya and Desha Vimukthi Janatha Peramuna (DVJP) will have the rally starting from Dr N. M. Perera statue in Rajagiriya at 11.00 a.m. The procession will proceed down Castle Street, Borella junction, Maradana Road, Ananda Rajakaruna Mawatha and entry to the Campbell Park.

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) would also participate with these parties. According to Batty Weerakoon, general secretary of LSSP, a large crowd is expected if there is no rain.    

The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) led by Housing Minister Arumugam Thondaman will hold its May Day rally in Hatton.  A procession is expected to start in Hatton at 10.00 a.m. The rally will be at the Princess theatre junction also known as "Malligaipu Junction" and proceed up to the bus stand grounds where Thondaman will chair the meeting. He will then proceed to address the UNP meeting in the evening said Yogaraja of the CWC.

The Christian Workers Fellowship will hold its May Day mass at St Michael's Church, Polwatte, Colombo 3. The procession will start from the parish hall at 8.30 a.m. and pass through the neighbourhood.   This service has been held without interruption since 1959 by the CWF. This is the 43rd celebration of the Holy Mass. "Solidarity of the working people" and "a genuine peace with an end to the ethnic conflict," will be the special intention of the mass this year, a release from the CWF said.

Meanwhile officials from Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) said the party has still not decided on the workers' day celebrations.  The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), according to Jaffna district MP N. Raviraj, will hold a rally in Jaffna. Raviraj said the party would hold a joint rally in Jaffna with other trade unions. The theme will be the rights of the workers.

A sharp increase in deaths of Sri Lankans, mostly females employed abroad has been reported to the Sri Lanka foreign ministry. In the months of March and April alone, 62 bodies were flown to the country, Katunayake International Airport officials revealed.

According to a highly placed foreign ministry official, most of the females were housemaids employed in Middle Eastern countries and the bodies included those of murder victims.

In March, 35 bodies were returned while in the following month 27 bodies had been sent. Of the first batch of 35 bodies, 29 were female, while of the 27 bodies that were sent between April 12 and 25, 21 were females.

The bodies that have been returned are from Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Singapore, Germany and the Maldives.

Foreign ministry officials said at least five to six Sri Lankans working abroad, especially as housemaids, die every month either due to natural causes or to accidents. They also said some are killed while others commit suicide.

Labour Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe when contacted by The Sunday Leader over the phone, refused to comment on the plea he was attending a conference in Dubai.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga has summoned all members of parliament of the Peoples' Alliance (PA) for a discussion on the latest political situation and how best the PA could revive from its slump in popularity.

The meeting is to be held in Nuwara Eliya from May 2 to 3, PA General Secretary D. M. Jayaratne said. Each member will be given 15 minuets to air his/her grievances and make fresh suggestion that contributes to the strengthening and reviving the PA.

Jayaratne said an important subject at the meeting would be the harassment caused to PA members by the UNF government. He said a number of PA supporters are continuing to be harassed while some are even arrested without any charge.

The former minister also said that his party would hold an island-wide protest against the government by mid-May.

However some sources from within the PA told The Sunday Leader that President Kumaratunga's intention to hold this meeting is mainly to streamline the party that is already weakened following the recently concluded local authority elections. It is said that serious steps are to be taken to revive the party.

By Wilson Gnanadass

 Though several concessions have been granted to the people of Jaffna under the recently signed Ceasefire Agreement, the fisher folk in the area continue to live in deplorable conditions.

Their right to choosing time and place to ply their trade is denied by the United National Front (UNF) government, lamented fishermen.

M. Karunagaran, a fisherman, who is also the sole breadwinner of a family of seven at the fishing village of Gurunagar in Jaffna, lives a life of woe.

First, he and his colleagues are still not allowed to fish freely in the sea. The fishermen are expected to assemble at the jetty at 1.00 a.m. to obtain permission from the Sri Lanka Navy. The permission is granted, according to Karunagaran, by about 2.00 a.m. However, the fishermen are allowed to get into the water only by 5.00 in the morning.

From this time onwards, they are allowed to fish till about 3.00 p.m. Besides, they are still not allowed to use motor boats which makes their stint in the rough sea more cumbersome.

But even if these problems are resolved by the Ceasefire Agreement in the near future, Karunagaran is preoccupied by other worries too. He has a house full of problems.

His eldest daughter Shiyamala Divin's husband Armstrong has left her and is married again, leaving Divin a burden to her father.

Divin was expecting the second child when her husband Armstrong was taken away by the navy for questioning in 1996.

After Armstrong was detained for a week he was released. But the navy began searching for Armstrong again. They suspected Armstrong to have had links with the LTTE because one Armstrong of the LTTE had carried out an attack on the navy during that time.

One day when information came that the navy was on its way to apprehend him once again, Armstrong fled to another location. He fled his home leaving behind his wife, children and other family members.

The family heard after some months that Armstrong was married to someone else and living elsewhere. It then became Karunagaran's responsibility now to feed and clothe his daughter's family.

But Karunagaran's responsibility does not stop here. He also has to shoulder the responsibility towards his wife Mary Mattensia's sister, Bibiyana.

Bibiyana, a mother of three became destitute no sooner her husband Soosaithasan was shot dead by the navy in 1998. Since then, Karunagaran is looking after two families.

For Armstrong's children, Jalegen (7) and Clinton (4), life is bleak. Armstrong left the family when Clinton was still unborn. As for Bibiyana she does not know how to continue depending on her sister for survival.

NGOs say there are many wedded women not living with their husbands because their husbands have fled military harassment and are living with other women elsewhere.

This has also become a grave concern of the Catholic Church, which has repeatedly pointed out the ill-effects of war among the population in the northeast -- especially internally displaced persons. The Church has said that unless checked in time, the effects of social dislocation will remain to scar generations to come

By Ranee Mohamed

Customers of Lanka Bell were in for a shock when the company effected a colossal hike on its telephone rental charges and followed it up by being rude to customers who called the organisation to inquire about the price increase.

Customers were surprised last week when they received a glossy leaflet from the company which, while promising "a better and more improved service," also stated the monthly rental had gone up from Rs.320 to Rs.800.

The notice of increased rental posted to all Lanka Bell customers was said to 'misleading' by customers. "It flaunts the total bill value without the government tax components, where another 20% of the total has to be added. This has been done intentionally, to make the amount appear less in order to misguide customers," complained a customer who wished to remain anonymous.

Meanwhile, The Sunday Leader also learns that Lanka Bell is moving to disconnect telephones fearing that customers may not pay such massive sums as rentals.

When a journalist from The Sunday Leader, who is also a customer, contacted Lanka Bell, the credit controller Mohammed Rusthum came on line. When he was asked what 'humane considerations' they give customers in need and whether part payments of bills were allowed he said, "We are not running a bloody charity. If they don't want their telephones we will dig them out and give them a refund."

When asked whether he could be quoted Rusthum said, "Yeah, go ahead quote me. What else do you want? My full name, age, height weight...?"