The recent brutal massacres at Kayts were about the most despicable acts of the past two decades of war.

The incident where several members of a family were gunned down in their sleep occurred close to a strong navy camp and in view of reported prior incidents it is most difficult to accept the navy and EPDP claim that they were not involved and that outsiders entered this heavily guarded area at night to carry out a senseless and dastardly act. The perpetrators deserve the worst form of condemnation.

According to reports, the family killed were said to be Tiger supporters. Even if this was so, did it warrant the killing of four-month-old and-four-year-old children and women, under any circumstances?

What sort of brutes in human form carried out this horrific act? The Navy and EPDP stand indicted in public opinion. Brutal and senseless killings of this sort only antagonise the general populace and cause much ill-feeling and hatred. Plans of revenge and retaliation must already be made.

Is this the new war chinthayana indicating how the war is going to be fought?

We stand condemned internationally and such animalistic actions cause irreparable damage to our image abroad.

All this apart, there is a natural law of retribution, which the perpetrators who carried out the vile deed, those who authorised it, and going higher, those who condoned the despicable acts, will feel the effects thereof. They and the members of their families are bound to suffer retribution, which is sure, though it may be slow in coming.

God save Sri Lanka.

A.A.B
Attidiya

The drawn test at Lords is perhaps the best showing by a Sri Lankan team at cricket since her most eulogised and record establishing feats at the World Cup in 1996, albeit in a different version to the game at lords. Congratulations and all credit to the team for the manner in which they salvaged a game which almost everyone from those knowledgeable to the average cricket lover thought impossible.

I humbly request Mahinda Wijesinghe, who is truly our encyclopedia on cricket, to educate us more on the merits of this game and tell us of other comparable feats achieve in world cricket. It is truly amazing for a team when being forced to follow on a lead of more than 300 runs with almost three days of play remaining to achieve that and further build up a lead of some 170 runs and still remain totally unvanquished at close.

One has to delve into the record books to find other occasions where seven players of a team have scored 50 and more runs in a single innings. Mahela Jayawardena played a superb captain’s knock in both innings and lived up to his potential and expectations rarely witnessed in him for many years. gone were his unrestrained batting that had accounted for a long spell of lean scores and his visibly unstable mental disposition as reflected in streaks of recklessness when batting in many a critical situation in the past.

He did inspire the team for greater commitment and how well the team responded. Special mention should be made of the dogged batting in many a critical situation in the past.

He did inspire the team for greater commitment and how well the team responded. Special mention should be made of the dogged batting spell by Kulsekara, Vass and Maharoof in both innings who are not front line batsmen in the team but showed some of those who were preferred above them for their batting how easy it looked on this Lords wicket.

Despite the jubilation and feasting that accompanies this grand performance by the entire team a point of dissent has to be raised against the captain and team management for their preferenceo of Mubarak over Vandort for the openers berth in the test match.

Vandort, an accredited opening batsman, was shaping well in the pretest performances and in fact has won us the match against Derbyshire. It is in such hazy situation that one wonders wher personal factors such as one’s likes and dislikes master in team selection.

We truly hope it is not so.

Mahanama Ellepola
Kandy

The Rohini Court Apartment / condominium complex was constructed on the property owned by Silverline Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd., (the developer) of 379-2/2,Galle Road Colomb. The design and construction of the project was by C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd. Construction was completed in 1996 and possession of the development including handing over of all apartments was done by December 1996.

Your article written in 2006 (written more than 10 years after 1996) would imply that both Silverline Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd., and C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd. are currently in control of the premises and or that there are current and live disputes between the residents and Silverline Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd., and or C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd.

Neither Silverline Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd. nor C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd. had any involvement in the project after December 1997 after the one-year maintenance period had lapsed.

The apartment owners had first formed an interim committee in 1997 and subsequently a management, corporation in terms of the Apartment Ownership Law.

There has been no communication from the Management Corporation or the interim committee to either C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd. or Silverline Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd., concerning any dissatisfaction with the project or questioning the regularity of anything done.

The project has complied with all required building and planning permission and regulations as seen from the following;

a. Approval was given for the construction of the 26 condominium units on 25.07.1994 which was in accordance with the proposed and approved plan and the certificate of conformity was issued on 19.02.1996 for the project on the basis of 26 apartment units. Hence the suggestion that there was approval only for 24 units is wrong.

b. Additionally both C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd. and Silverline Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd. had handed over the project and premises by 1997. If presently there is any unauthorised construction underway of converting the basement into dwellings on the development neither C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd. nor Silverline Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd. are involved or answerable since as stated both parties ceased to have any role in the project after 1997.

c. As for claims or complaints related to inadequate parking slots — here too the project was handed over in 1997. Further the parking slots have as at the time of handing over complied with the applicable regulations which require parking slots on the basis of total square areas in the units and not on the basis of number of apartments. On the floor area of the units of the project the required slots was only 16 and this was provided. Further the CMC levied an additional sum of Rs. 254,760 on these slots on a technical basis after construction in compliance with the applicable regulations and the same was paid.

d. There was never any conversion of the parking slots into dwellings or other illegality in this connection up to the time C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd. and or Silverline Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd., handed over in 1997.

e. As for the standby generator the developer has deposited a sum of Rs.500,000 for providing a stand generator which was more than the price of a generator required for the purpose. Additionally there is a sum of Rs.325, 700 owing to C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd. as at 31.10.1997. All this is borne out by documentation in the custody of C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd. and the management corporation.

f. Further whatever the claims of angry residents may be there has been no non compliance with the representations made in the brochure distributed at the promotion stage

g. Your article under consideration appears to incorrectly merge and confuse issues that are between the alleged "angry residents" and the management corporation or those on the committee and not matters for the C.D.I. Engineers (Pvt) Ltd. or Silverline Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd.

Director Property,
Silverline Development

The bulldozing of historical movments in the Fort and the dumping of statue of Queen Victoria is shocking, the disgusting and sad. May be history can be re-written and believed by those who do not know the meaning of history. These ultra nationalists should go a little further, ban cricket, once described as the game of the flannelled fools.

It augurs well that magazines published along with newspapers especially on Sundays are doing a yeomen service teaching some past history to the up and growing children of today. For instance there was a page written last week on Ananda Samarakoon, the composer of our national anthem, who was found dead on the morning of April 5, 1962 and the coroner’s verdict was "Death due to an overdose of sleeping pills." And why did he do this, because he was angry and frustrated that his words, commencing with namo, namo matha were changed in 1960 to Sri Lanka Matha and how did this come about. Poets, pundits and Buddhist monks blamed the misfortune in the country to the opening words of the national anthem. They attributed the untimely deaths of two prime ministers to this.

One was the late D.S. Senanayake, whose death was a result of an accident, a fall from horseback on Galle Face grounds. The other was the tragic death of Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, Only those who lived during that time, will remember that awful day, September, 25, 1959, when the entire country was plunged into dismay and sorrow. The shocking news that the prime Minister was assassinated.

I still remember how the chief monk of the kelaniya Raja Mahavihare was one of the first to come on the state radio and made an impossioned plea for calm. The greater shock and disbelief was yet to come. The conviction of this monk as the number one Buddhist monks, teachers and disgruntled politicians.

Bandaranaike made a strongattempt to bring about a compromise on the legislative measure which caused resentment caused resentment and fear among the Tamils, the Official Language Act of 1956, which set in Chelvanayakam pact of July 1957 (which scholars have described as the closest to the statemanlike approach to settle this question). But this was unilaterally abrogated in April 1958, because of the pressure from the very supporters around him, who later killed him.

One thing that can be learnt form the past history of Sri Lanka, is the dictum of I believe Sir John Kotalawela – ‘SAVE ME FROM MY FRIENDS.’ I commend this to the present government.

S. Thambyrajah
Colombo 3

The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka has asked the government and the LTTE to engage in self – scrutiny and shift to a more transparent relationship, As the government is shamelessly bending over backwards in a sea of its citizens’ blood, to accommodate the wishes of the murderous LTTE. surely it is the latter who should be asked to behave?

We are wondering why our Christian clergy do not preach Christianity to their terrorist flock – the Christian Pirapaharan and his minions. His agent, Balasingham, safely ensconced in London with his foreign wife, are both Christian, too. This is their safe ticket for non-terrorist treatment, although the diabolical slaughter rampant in our island is fine-tuned by Balasingham, and the first lesson on manslaughter was given to the Tamil women by his dear wife, Adele.

For the international community, Chistian terrorists are totally acceptable, in spite of making noises to the contrary. The agenda of the international community is to bring those of other faiths down to their knees, and the LTTE is helping in this cause. So the indulgent, encouraging attitude towards these slaughterers – "our own boys, what?"

Are you administrators so dumb, gutless and treacherous that they refuse to admit this fact? It is time for the citizens of this country to say, "enough"

S.T. Weerakoon
Colombo 7

Thambimuthu Poobalan who passed away last year, at the age of 80. was a product of the reputed Jaffna Hindu College.

He entered the general clerical Service, at the age of 19, after passing the then London Matriculation Examination. The GCS, recruitment to which was made through a highly competitive examination held in the English medium, was a respectable one in its own right.

The GCSU was very powerful then, with a galaxy of talented men at the helm, T.B Ilangaratne, K.C. Nithiyanantha, Vandobona, A.T. Moorthy, Gonsalkorale, Godawela, Vaikunthavasan, T.B. Dissanayake, I.J. Wickrema et al at the helm spanning a period of around a decade.

Now, Poopalan, the go-getter that he was, then attached to the Jaffna kachcheri, became the secretary of the Jaffna branch of the GCSU in his early 20s. the GCSU was the only service then through which one could aspire for promotion to the prestigious cCS of vintage times, and there is no doubt that Poopalan would have climbed the ladder with consummate ease; however, destiny had decreed that he should choose another route to prove his mettle. He quit the GCSU in despair over the impact of the new language policy, making a considered decision to enter Law College.

He passed out in 1969, practised at the Jaffna Bar and later functioned as legal advisor to the Jaffna Municipal Council, and finally as consultant to Jafferjee Bros. And the fitting finale to his legal career was his appearance in the Krishanthy Kumarasamy and Rita Manoharan cases. Poobalan was a man for the downtrodden irrespective of race, religion, caste, creed, etc. A card carrying member of the LSSP in the early period, he later quit it in despair. But his heart and soul remained undiminished in the left movement until he breathed his last.

About five years or so before he passed away I made a courtesy call on him at his then mattakkuliya residence, and found him rather very ill. Faintly smiling as he saw me, he said somewhat groaningly but convincingly: "Much water has flowed under the bridges of the left movement in Sri Lanka, and I don’t know how the flag is going to be kept flying.", and quickly added, "Thiru, I think I will not last long"

I strongly conselled him to banish that thought, and wished him well. Sometime later, I found him writing appreciations for quite a few of his friends who passed away subsequently.

Poobalan, the meticulous man of impeccable integrity, led a full and distinguished life, quite worthy of emulation. He is survived by his wife and five children, four daughters, all doing well, and a son, Luxman, a serior medical officer. Let us perpetuate the vision and values that poobalan cherished.