|
According to the Daily News of March 27, Ranil Wickremesinghe is
reported to have said that “We condemn the LTTE attack on the Air Force
Base at the Katunayake Airport.”
Surely Ranil Wickremesinghe is aware that there is no Air Force Base
at the Katunayake Airport! This is a mischievous, blatant falsehood,
probably meant to warn the world that Sri Lanka is not a safe place for
tourists. As Adolf Hitler once said, ‘The broad mass of a nation will
more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.’
When will our so-called leaders stop playing pandu on sensitive
issues such as this? Now Ranil wants Parliament summoned immediately to
discuss this attack, so that he can lambast the Defence Authorities, the
Government, the Air Force and the Radar system etc.
Then the Government will have to assure the opposition that it will
not happen again as they have decided to install this and that and in
short divulge its plans, which will be to the advantage of the LTTE!
Ranil should not assume that we are fools. We are quite aware that it
was during his stewardship that the LTTE was allowed to bring huge
crates and bundles of goods, released without any security checks and
also transported to Killinochchi - courtesy the S.L.A.F.
RANJITH GAMINI PERERA
Panadura
On most occasions Sri Lanka Post gets brick bats and seldom bouquets.
I need to give them a bouquet.
I had some important official documents sent to me from Pakistan.
Postage stamps to the value of Pakistan Rs. 773 were placed on it.
I received the documents with a note from the Chief Post Master
(Foreign Mail), Colombo 10, Sri Lanka stating “This document received in
damaged/Tampered/wet condition/not pasted/not properly packed/over
gummed”.
To my surprise the word damaged was underlined and the parcel was
delivered to me nicely sealed in a polythene wrapping with all documents
intact.
Chief Post Master and Sri Lanka Post congratulations and keep up the
good work.
TISSA JAYAWEERA
via email
I read with interest the letter written by Jay Desabandu on the above
subject in the Daily News of March 28. I think we should realise the
plight our women face when they plan to work in the Middle East.
These countries do not have a democratic system of Government, and
their strict laws are biased against foreigners. Most of these women end
up in low paid jobs, working for most of the day.
Human rights are not respected, passports are confiscated on arrival.
These women are physically and sexually abused. The stories we hear are
the tip of the ice berg. Recently a Sri Lankan housemaid was raped by
her employer but managed to make it to the police station.
But instead of coming to her aid, the police arrested her as her
employer had made a false complaint of theft against her. Slavery was
common in these countries until quite recent times.
Sri Lanka is considered as a country exporting housemaids. I think
the decision made by the Government to stop women with young children is
going to work in the middle east is commendable.
It should impose a total ban in sending women as housemaids in
future. Some countries have already banned their women working in the
Middle East due to the horror stories.
We must strive to send trained and skilled women for employment
abroad and not as housemaids, as this will prevent abuse.
DR. AJITH TISSERA
via email
The ‘Lassana Sri Lanka’ photos published in the Daily News on page
one daily are a well-known feature, which are very much attracted both
by the readers as well as the contributors where they are also highly
appreciated when specially their photographic, environmental and
geographical values are concerned.
Undoubtedly, it can also be treated as an interesting hobby among
children too.
DURAND JAYASURIYA
Talawatugoda
The New York based Human Rights Watch(HRW) as reported in our media
has critiqued the Government of Sri Lanka recently. This time round it
is about the banning of the women with children who are under five from
joining the ranks of the migrant labour force. I take the point made by
the HRW that women must have the right to decide.
However, all rights must be seen in their proper perspective. It is
poverty and other factors that drive our women to be swelling the ranks
of the migrant labour. But what about the horror stories.
(1) A person now in his 50s has recently critiqued his mother for
having left him to be looked after by her mother and gone away on a job.
(2) A woman who went away on a job to a Middle Eastern country was
keen to get back home. Why? Her passport was confiscated by her
employer. She was virtually his slave.
One has to meet the NGOs working with the migrant labour to see the
reality. At the Katunayake International Airport (KIA) one sees loads of
these. Those who return are able to buy goods at the KIA’s duty free
shop. But when they get back home, they soon discover that in fact they
have lost their spouses and children. They are left with these goods
from the KIA.
So one has to be careful in seeking rights and losing lives,
relationships etc.
SYDNEY KNIGHT
Rajagiriya
There is a great deal of confusion and chaos with imported cargo at
clearance time. There is a method in one’s madness but even this is
absent in the Ports Authority Warehouses CFS-I and CFS-II B Q-9 and 10.
Importers are having a hard time clearing cargo meant for export
production. If consignments are not cleared in time, there are severe
financial constraints faced by local manufacturers and exporters on
account of delayed manufacture and export. This situation is
particularly relevant to LCL container cargo.
De-stuffing LCL cargo is done in a very hazard and careless manner.
No attention is paid to cartons marked ‘Top Side’, ‘Handle with care’
etc., damaging delicate cargo in the process.
Importers have to sieve thro’ de-stuffed cargo to tally with the
Packing List. It is like finding a needle in a hay stack and more often
than not, part of the uncleared cargo is left for a further search -
sometimes never found.
The issue becomes extremely serious when suppliers unavoidably ship
late and urgent clearance is not possible to expedite production and
meet export shipment deadlines. It is a known fact that these are ruses
for corruption which could be avoided if de-stuffing cargo is done in a
systematic way.
It is hard to believe that a performance and efficient certificate
was awarded to the Port Authority having the above conditions and having
a barrage of state-of-the-art technology installed at great expense to
the tax payer.
The activities in the Port also have a bearing not only on the
welfare of its employees, but of the country as a whole and it seems
strange that even though every employee is a union member that they show
no interest in correcting these and other glaring defects with
demonstrations and posters they are famous for or are they an
obstruction to corruption.
MELVILLE PERERA Kohuwala |
