|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 28 March 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Letters | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Sports Obituaries
|
Please forward your letters to editor@dailynews.lk in plain text format within the e-mail message, since as a policy we do not open any attachments.
Reader Dickson de Silva in his letter in a leading daily on 15 March instant raises the question "Why doesn't the world democracies understand the simple truth" (of using armed confrontation as a bargaining chip) of the intent to return to hostilities by the LTTE? The reason is that because those democracies are fully aware of the use of "Power" as a negotiating tool, "Information" and "Time" are the other variables in this negotiating phase of our Government and the LTTE. This fact is borne out by the developments right now, in the Middle East. The contentious issues which the general public, particularly the Sinhala majority, find inconsistent with a genuine peace effort between the Tigers and the Sri Lanka Government are some of the actions of the LTTE such as: (1) Attempts to establish/establish courts of law (2) Movement of armed LTTE cadres in Government Controlled Areas (GCA) (3) Attempting to smuggle/smuggling arms including weapons of strategic importance eg long range artillery. (4) Confrontation with naval patrol vessels (5) Child proscription (6) Illegal taxes in LTTE occupied and GCA. (7) Attempting to establish LTTE Police Stations within GCA (8) Extraction of ransom from business community/ and others. However, I tend to agree with the observation of Minister G. L. Peiris that "This peace process has been more successful than any other process that has been attempted in the past" Why? It had an uninterrupted period of cessation of hostilities for over a year. What has it yielded? To answer this question one must look at the situation before the cessation of hostilities: Threat to civil society and government assets, through suicide LTTE cadres; Loss of life among the armed forces and LTTE cadres; Prolonged and escalating expenditure on arms procurement; Displacement and devastation of people and property mainly in the North and East. All these "opportunity costs" to use an economists' terminology had ceased. The only loss I can visualize is the abrupt end to the income streams of funeral parlour owners and arms dealers! It is also a fact that the LTTE is at the negotiating table because of the pressure exerted by super powers such as the USA, Britain and Norway with the acquiescence of our neighbour India. This was amply illustrated by the LTTE Theoretician Anton Balasingham's confession "Undeniably it is due to pressure coming from the international community that we are negotiating. We don't deny that" Balasingham makes it very clear to all concerned that "When we say homeland, we only mean a territory where Tamils and Muslims live. We are not calling for an independent state....We want an autonomous territorial region for the minority community given adequate share of power between that particular region and the centre. This is what we mean by a federal arrangement". Answering the above concerns, he goes to say that within the ambit of a federal state, the form of which is still to take shape, there will be a regional police and regional courts of law. Thesavalamai law, just as much as Muslim law marriage and property, is a fundamental right of the Tamils. As long as these courts and policing functions do not infringe on the laws of the land and natural justice. This very well explains why such a machinery needs to be in place. The only negotiable element is when, perhaps now within the GCA, may not be the right time. While (2), (3) and (4) above are contentious issues indeed, which the SLMM too had condemned. We need to understand as Mr. Balasingham explains, the tragedies and travails of transforming a battle hardened corp of fighters into peaceful persons. In this situation what the public at large needs to be concerned with is whether any action, more localized than widespread, by the LTTE de stabilises the balance of "Power" where the Sri Lanka Government loses out at the Negotiating table. Minister Peiris assures us that ongoing military training ensures our armed forces will continue to be vigilant until a political solution is reached. (5) Child proscription is certainly on the way out, Mr. Balasingham claims 400 such children were released recently along with names and addresses, perhaps a drop among many tank loads, some do not want to go away, have questionable birth records, etc. Notwithstanding all these excuses, the LTTE will lose out on the long run with the international community, it most fears, if they continue to persist in this abuse of children. We can believe they don't want it. Then again transforming a Military Corp. and that too with rebellious elements, within their cadres is a big job even for their supreme commander. Issues (6) and (8) are according to the LTTE "legitimate" methods of extracting revenue. Kidnapping and demanding ransom is not only a Criminal offence in any civilised society but also a desperate attempt of a bankrupt outfit. The LTTE we can be sure is not a bankrupt outfit and will see itself in developing a more sensible and intelligent manner of maintaining its "fiscal initiatives". In the final analysis as the Prime Minister so succinctly said at the first anniversary TV interview on the Peace Process." Try to see the large picture and not the small ones" because confidence-building is still ongoing and need more support from all citizens to reach a successful and speedy conclusion. SALADIN In response to the letter written by "Consultant Opthalmologist" published in your column (Reader's Mail) of Thursday, 27th February 2003, referring to an appeal published in your newspaper of 13th February 2003, we wish to state the following: The patient in question consulted Dr. Rajesh Fogla at Apollo Hospitals Colombo in October 2002. After examination, Dr. Fogla informed the patient that he needed eye surgery. Further to a request for a second opinion by the party concerned, Dr. Fogla submitted a case report to be forwarded to the Sankara Nethralaya of India for consultation purposes. This was indeed the last contact that Apollo Hospitals Colombo and Dr. Fogla had with the patient. Hence we wish to state that we had at no time issued a cost estimate for any procedure to be carried out on the patient. Apollo Hospitals Colombo therefore has no connection with appeal in question. I hope this clears any misconception of charges for surgical procedures carried out at Apollo Hospitals Colombo. CHANDRA B. SHUKLA, Although the death penalty sounds cruel and unusual way of punishment, still it has to be imposed to halt the cold-blooded murders of innocent lives increasing daily in our country. Apart from the broad question of whether it is right for the State to take the life of an individual, the major issues of concern to those opposed to Capital Punishment are whether it is deterrent to crime. To some extent may be and this is the only solution to prevent deadly crimes. Restore Death Penalty but certainly not by the Hangman's Noose which is too primitive and inhuman. IRENE C. ALBERT, On UN... over to you, Mr. Prime Minister! Let me begin by saying three cheers to Mr. Balasingham on his lashing to all NGOs in the Wanni at the ceremonial opening of a new LTTE court complex at Killinochchi, a report of which appeared in a recent Sunday weekly. As a Sri Lankan with links to, both, national and international NGOs operating within the country, it is disheartening to witness the role and activities of NGOs in the name of peace initiatives and post conflict preparedness, in the areas affected by the conflict. Mr. Prime Minister, I do not blame you for your ignorance with regard to the high-handed attitude and behaviour of, especially, the international NGOs, for this information is deliberately kept away from you by the senior staff of your office, for they have to patronize these very institutions for eking out a living when they are out of favour with the change of Government. At the end of the day we all wish for peaceful existence, and you have created the path, Sir, to facilitate this process. But, I wonder how committed, or how serious your staff at the Peace Secretariat is towards this cause. This is a serious concern among sections of the citizens of the country, including the LTTE, who are eager to see a political solution to the long drawn ethnic conflict. I wish to draw your attention to a few of the nauseating initiatives and high-handed attitudes of the UN in Sri Lanka. Mr. Prime Minister, you must be aware that the senior management staff of the UN, which comprises essentially of internationals, were planning most recently to establish a UN compound in a 10-acre land in Killinochchi, which was stalled by your Government. The latest situation, Sir, is that the senior internationals of the UN have agreed to go ahead with signing of the leases for the land, despite the ruling of your Government with regard to the UN compound in Killinochchi. Rumour has it that an international UN volunteer, based in the North, has been requested to look out for contractors, and specifically instructed to limit the search to word-of-mouth, in order to go through with the fencing, clearing, bunkers, water, and security quarters concerning the land. It is no secret that much of the aid is utilized to pamper the international staff themselves, investing in luxury vehicles, high-tech-equipment, airconditioners, daily allowances etc. If the UN is so keen and dedicated to serving the poor, shouldn't they be operating in the field from make-shift offices with minimum necessary support staff and equipment? Wouldn't it be better to facilitate the returning IDPs, rather than looking into their own comforts and even dreaming of investing in a huge UN complex in Killinochchi? And, that too with a mere-4-year vision? Also, it is no secret that the recent trend in the UN is to bring down a host of internationals, young and inexperienced, to work as advisors over the senior nationals. The other trend is for brats of international volunteers to stay over as consultants, once their contracts as volunteers have come to an end. Yet another trend is to enlist retiring senior international UN staff stationed overseas, as consultants to the UN in Sri Lanka, not to mention the jobs created for numerous girl friends and boy friends that visit their partners in Sri Lanka, and possibly feel nostalgic about leaving them behind. Mr. Prime Minister, this is only the tip of the iceberg. I can present you with many, many more such information, should you require. You may spell out a confidential means of communication through this same column, and I will only be too happy to assist you and your Government investigate into the facts mentioned above, and many more which I refrain from making public. It is all but important that you direct the UN funds to good use, because unlike other donors, UN funds are grants, and not loans. We do not burden the generations to come, and this necessitates that we utilize every single dollar wisely and strategically, in order to ensure maximum benefits to our fellow countrymen in dire need of every dollar. It can make a difference in their lives, and I urge, you, Sir to rectify the situation immediately, and also inform the higher authorities of the UN overseas of the current trend within the UN in Sri Lanka. For, I believe, the UN officials here are also misleading them. DC, A strong bond of friendship and goodwill between the Sinhala and Tamil brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and even grandmothers and grandfathers is bound to follow, if our popular Government accedes to my humble request to do away with communal differences. For the past decade, I have been fighting to name April 13th of every year, as National New Year. It's from the British that we called this day, Sinhala and Hindu New Year. We were then a subject race. But now that we are a free race, I sincerely and humbly call upon both communities to shed differences and show a strong Union for all time, by calling this day a National New Year - one New Year for a unified nation. Religious ceremonies dawn the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, the hearths are lit, milk is boiled, business transactions commence and the First bath are taken at the auspicious times common to all. The New Year celebrations of the Sinhala and Tamils could be traced to our Mother India and as such there could be no bar to our amalgamation of both New Years under the name National New Year. Then we, both communities, can celebrate the National New Year in the same way as we celebrated January First under the British. The late President Ranasinghe Premadasa was in favour of my idea, but sadly, had no time to put into action. May I humbly pray and hope that April 13th, 2003, dawn as the First National New Year, where both Sinhala and Tamil folks partake kiribath in a more friendly and peaceful atmosphere. Gerry Vaidyasekera, I am a resident of Kesbawa. My telephone No. 702642 was installed in mid Aug. 2001. All bills received from August to December 2001 totalling to 256 metered units (24+54+64+87+27) as indicated in the bills were duly settled on receipt of each bill. But on receipt of the bill for Jan. 2002 which indicated the present readings as 347 I was surprised to note that the bill has been prepared for 278 metered units despite the fact that payment has been made already for 256 units in the previous bills. If the present reading at the end of Jan. 2002 is 347 as indicated in that bill itself, Jan bill should have been prepared for 91 metered units (347-256) and not for 278 units. When a complaint was made to 121 in March last year regarding this fault (Ref. No. 1056) I was advised to write to the Call Centre with copies of the relevant bills. Accordingly, on 03.04.02 a self explanatory letter with photo copies of the bills was addressed to the Accountant, Call Centre. In reply to this letter, I received an astonishing letter dated 07.05.02 stating that the complaint was investigated by their Specialized Staff and decided that the bill was in order. Thoroughly dissatisfied with this reply, I was compelled to write back on 04.07.02 requesting to make a further investigation and send me a correct bill for 91 units to effect the payment. After a lapse of nearly 5 months dead silence which is not golden, I wrote to the Accountant by name on 29.11.02 with the sole purpose of getting this error rectified in the bill, if reluctant to send a reply. But all my efforts to get this bill corrected appear to have been proved futile and the incorrect amount of the bill continues to be indicated in the subsequent bills as arrears. Under these circumstances, I would like to know from any responsible officer from the S.L.T. whether it is justifiable to make a customer to pay for 534 (256, 278) units when he has actually used only 347 according to the bills sent by the S.L.T. itself. K.D. Ubayawardena, |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
