|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Saturday, 29 January 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Editorial | |
| News Business Features Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
| Please forward your comments to the Editor, Daily News. Email : editor@dailynews.lk Snail mail : Daily News, 35, D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 11 2429429 / 94 11 2421181 Fax : 94 11 2429210 Onus on the LTTE That the disaster visited on this country on December 26th, was no respecter of persons, communities or regions, was borne out by the table published by us on January 26, giving figures and statistics on mainly the human cost of the tragedy. Tabulated by the Disaster Management Centre of the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Social Welfare, the reader was provided a detailed breakdown of - for instance - the number of persons and families affected, the number of families displaced and those residing in welfare camps and other relevant data, on a provincial and district basis. It could be said that the general public was afforded a revealing glimpse of the enormity of human suffering and its countrywide dispersion. The local and international response to this suffering has, of course, been exceptionally positive, but as the interview with Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, published on this page today reveals, LTTE cooperation needs to be enlisted in the reconstruction and rehabilitation process in the North-East, for the alleviation of the hardships suffered by the people of those regions. As the Foreign Minister discloses, the Government and the LTTE need to arrive at a suitable working arrangement to enable the State to discharge its duties by the North-East populace. There is no question of the Government ignoring the welfare of the people in those areas but unless the LTTE cooperates fully in the reconstruction and rehabilitation exercise, the State wouldn't find the aid distribution exercise easy in the North-East. As pointed out by the Foreign Minister, "effective and equitable" aid distribution is the ideal striven after by the Government and it could be said that the onus is now on the LTTE to cooperate with the Government to bring relief to the affected population of the North-East. It needs to be noted that the assistance is for the affected sections of the people and not for any other group. Accordingly, the LTTE would need to also cooperate with the Government in working out the modalities of aid distribution, showing extra sensitivity to transparency and accountability, to which the Government is fully committed. Will the LTTE be equal to these challenges? It has been prone to crying "foul" at Government-initiated relief programmes in the North-East, but what is the LTTE doing to establish that it could be relied on to cooperate with the State in taking relief to the people? Thus far, we have had no positive evidence that the LTTE could measure-up to these standards but it would have to do so in the days ahead if the suffering of the North-East people is to be alleviated. The present, therefore, is pregnant with interesting possibilities. Besides the Government's helping hand, the LTTE leadership has seen for itself that the Sri Lanka Army could act in a profound spirit of humanity in the Tamil people's hour of distress. By selflessly saving Tamil lives, the Lankan Army proved during the devastation that all the stereotypes foisted on it by the LTTE just have no basis. Likewise, by cooperating with the Lankan State the LTTE could pave the way for better Government-LTTE relations, laying the basis in turn for renewed peace negotiations. Star struck "Celluloid star molests ad woman" ran a prominent headline in a local daily. The story alleges that a popular film actor who also has made a name for himself as a heart throb among local fans had made a grab at the dainty damsel who had gone to meet him in connection with a promotional ad for our hero's next release. The multitude of fans of the star would likely have viewed this allegation on the part of their idol through technicoloured lenses. They would venture to be so generous so as to attribute the simplest of motives for their hero's alleged conduct. They would have dismissed the episode as a professional misadventure. After all aren't actors supposed to live their role? The news story does not give details of the nature of the infringement but only says that the ad missus made a dash to the Police. But fans of their heart throb will hear none of it. They would venture to say that their dream boy was only striving for an authentic performance in his next film. The police being brought in completes the picture, they would argue. It was all just one shot for the star who is striving for professional excellence at a time the local cinema is wallowing in rank amateurism, they would argue. On the topic of the local cinema it is time those at the helm of the industry inject some life and dynamism into the product. True the Sinhala film industry is no Bollywood and is reeling under several constraints. It is equally true that we have film personalities who could stand should to shoulder with the best in the world. It is time the local film industry which will chalk up 60 years in 2007, got its act together. They should now think of vying with the international cinema through mega productions. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
