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General election: “We are ready” says SLFP
Alladin Hussein in Colombo,
January 18, 2004, 12.38 am.
With the alliance between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) expected to be officially sealed next week, the Sri Lanka Freedom party has announced that it is ready to face a general election; this announcement was made by former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremenayake, also a senior SLFPer.
He had however pointed out that President Chandrika Kumaratunga had no intention of dissolving parliament immediately. “It is the duty of everyone who loves the traditions and culture of Sri Lanka to support the alliance and defeat the United National Front government. We invite all patriotic people to come forward to defeat the common enemy irrespective minor differences,” he told a gathering.
The SLFP and the JVP will sign a Memorandum of Understand on Tuesday morning at the BMICH. Unconfirmed reports state that the JVP’s self exiled leader Somawansa Amarasinghe is also expected to arrive in the country to take part in the signing ceremony. The MOU will be signed by the general secretaries, namely Maithripala Sirisena of the SLFP and Tilvin Silva of the JVP.
Published: Sat Jan 17 13:43:24 EST 2004
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President orders probe on church attack, tells IGP “show no mercy on those responsible”
Alladin Hussein in Colombo,
January 18, 2004, 12.34 am.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga has ordered Inspector General of Police Indra de Silva to immediately investigate the church attack and show no mercy in arresting those responsible for the attack, which occurred on Thursday morning.
Ms. Kumaratunga has also ordered that tough action be taken against those responsible for the incident. The interior ministry now comes under President Kumaratunga after she sacked the government minister in charge in November last year, citing security concerns.
Meanwhile Opposition Spokesman Sarath Amunugama has said; "We are for the firm maintenance of law and order and we can't tolerate such action irrespective of the party, religion, caste or social standing of the people involved.”
The latest attack was on Thaipongal day when a group broke into the church premises at Katuwana and destroyed statues and crosses and then set fire to the building.
Certain Buddhist groups have been demanding a law to ban what they call "unethical conversions". They say some Christian sects offer cash to poor people to persuade them to convert, an allegation vehemently denied by the Christian groups. Meanwhile police said that one person has been arrested in connection to Thursday’s church attack.
Published: Sat Jan 17 13:41:06 EST 2004
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SLMC defends their silence over MOU issue
Alladin Hussein in Colombo,
January 17, 2003 .
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) has defended its silence over the LTTE-SLMC MOU by putting the blame on the Norwegian Facilitators.
SLMC insiders told the Lanka Academic that even though their leader Rauff Hakeem was expected to write a letter to Prabhakaran to verify the actual situation of the MOU, the idea never materialised as the Norwegian facilitators pulled out of the peace process temporarily owing to the political crisis in the South.
Rauff Hakeem was to send the letter to Prabhakaran through the Norwegians, but as they are currently out of the process, there was a communication issue with the LTTE leadership, SLMC sources claimed.
“Hakeem was deprived of the communication link as the facilitators have pulled out of the peace process,” the sources said. SLMC leader Hakeem vowed in December last year that he would write to LTTE leader to find out where the MOU he signed with Prabharakan stands, following LTTE political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvam statement that the MOU has been annulled.
Published: Sat Jan 17 12:59:24 EST 2004
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