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Defence authorities’ instructs police to mete out severe punishment against tsunami pranksters
Munza Mushtaq in Colombo,
March 18, 2005, 9.06 a.m..
Defence authorities have issued strict orders to all police stations in the North East instructing the officers in charge of the stations to mete out the strictest punishment upon any individual or group who had been involved in the recent bogus tsunami warnings.
The orders come after fresh fears erupted in several villages in the Eastern province yesterday, after a group reportedly in motorbikes warned civilians that there had been another earthquake and thereby more tsunamis were to come. Meanwhile, media reports also claimed that even the State Radio had issued a tsunami warning yesterday.
Sources from the area told the Lanka Academic that the “The atmosphere was so heart wrenching. Because the majority of these people had already lost everything due to the Boxing Day tsunami, people were weeping, shocked and were so frightened. In the rush, several accidents were also reported from these villages as people were trying to get away to safety as soon as possible.”
Published: Thu Mar 17 22:10:48 EST 2005
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Federalism Will Not be Forced on Anybody- Foreign Minister
Bandula Jayasekara in Colombo,
LT 10.00 P.M Thursday 17 March 2005.
By Bandula Jayasekara in London-Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said
today that Federalism will not be forced on anybody in Sri Lanka and it must
be acceptable by the people of Sri Lanka. In response to a question after
his address at the Institute of Strategic Studies in London on “ Sri
Lanka’s foreign and security policy’ the minister said “ if it is not
acceptable then it is not acceptable.” The minister also said that nobody is
saying to handover a federal state to the LTTE and there was no question of
handing over any part of the country to anyone and there cannot be two
armies or navies in one country.
Kadirgamar said that it was time that India began to say what kind of final
solution they would like to see in Sri Lanka. He also said that the air
capabilities of the LTTE is a new concern and it was a matter for other
countries to take note of it .
The Foreign Minister also pointed out that there was a considerable
difficulty in formulating the agenda for peace talks with the LTTE, since
the LTTE says it would only come for talks based on the ISGA. However, the
minister added that Tsunami which devastated certain parts of the country
had altered it and both the government and the LTTE had realised that work
must be done together in certain areas in reconstruction and rehabilitation.
The minister said “ It is quite likely that we might be able to sign an
agreement on a joint mechanism. Best is to work on it now and out of it may
come a new platform.
On the question of misinformation campaigns, the foreign minister pointed
out that Sri Lanka cannot let the LTTE use Tsunami for its propaganda and
requested people to counter its propaganda since the government cannot it do
it alone. Kadirgamar pointed out that the government was fair in relief
distribution through out the country and most of the aid had been sent to
the North/East because the area was more affected by the Tsunami.
Published: Thu Mar 17 17:01:14 EST 2005
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Villagers protest against insecurity
BBC,
Thu 17th Mar 09:45GMT.
Hundreds of demonstrators blocked the Polonnaruwa-Batticaloa road at the Sevanapitiya junction on Wednesday stopping traffic for several hours.
Protesting the latest killings in the Welikanda area villagers from Karapola set down the coffins of 2 youth killed on Monday.
Army spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake told BBC Sandeshaya on Wednesday that the killing of two youth S.Kunasegaram and S.Selvanagam from Karapola is the work of the LTTE.
More...
Published: Thu Mar 17 04:52:34 EST 2005
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NPM attack NGOs, monk and LTTE
