Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday said that the UPFA would be very strict when nominating candidates for the Central and Wayamba Provincial Council elections.

The two councils would be dissolved very soon, he said.

Some of those elected at the previous Provincial Council elections on the UPFA ticket had been charged with murder, rape, assault robbery, arson and misconduct and party would be very careful as to whom nominations would be given, Rambukwella said.

United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP, Duminda Silva, said yesterday it was a privilege to be able to address the public again as a parliamentarian, following an absence of one-and-a-half-years.

Speaking at the R. Duminda Silva Foundation, Nugegoda, while participating in celebrations organized to mark his return to Parliament tomorrow, Silva alleged that the... ...'present situation' at Kolonnawa was due to 'hypocritical political practices.'

Following an open challenge issued by the Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, the Legal Adviser of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and Western Provincial Councillor, Udaya Gammanpila, declared, "I will gladly accept the challenge and hope Dr. Senaratne will participate, openly, without dodging, to a debate on the 13th Amendment."

On an otherwise usual morning on 24 May, a caller alerted the Dompe Police about a naked bullet ridden body of a man, dumped in a thicket in Meepawita. The locals failed to identify the victim, who was shot in the head and the mouth. The body was transferred to the Gampaha Hospital and the initial police investigations led nowhere.

That murder could have been tucked away in a long list of unresolved killings, but the victim turned out to be too politically connected to ignore. The investigation into the murder has now rocked the Police Department and would bound to cause further embarrassment to the defence establishment. In the words of a senior police officer, “It would be like opening a can of worms.”

Sri Lankan politics is stage managed well so much so that we go on from crisis to crisis forgetting what happened to the others before and being blind to the stark reality of the rising cost of living burdening the people.

Right now most political parties are devoting their attention to devolution – the 13th Amendment – forgetting the vehement opposition of the media shown to the proposed Code of Ethics for Journalists in the last two weeks. This Code of Ethics remains on the backburner and we are told it will come in some form or the other in the near future. In What form we do not know.

United National Party (UNP) Puttalam district parliamentarian Palitha Range Bandara seconded the Bill presented by the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) to repeal the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Mr. Bandara has in the recent past been actively engaged in politics with former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka.

Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Sarath Fonseka said today the fact that President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself had to call the victimised teacher to assure her that justice will be done goes to prove that there is no justice in Sri Lanka.
 
Mr. Fonseka was referring to the incident where a UPFA member of the North Western Provincial Council had allegedly humiliated a female teacher for disciplining his daughter on Friday.
 

The main opposition United National Party (UNP) says claims by the government that it is going to change a clause in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution is part of a ‘drama star’ as such a clause is now non-existant.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said that the clause on merging provinces, which Cabinet had decided to remove, ceased to exist with the lifting of the emergency regulations.

He also recalled that the Supreme Court had also once ruled against the merged North and East.

The Chairman of the Embilipitiya Pradeshiya Sabha M.K. Amila who was arrested and remanded over an alleged assault on two police officers has been released on bail.

The PS chairman had been absconding for nearly a week after assaulting two Constables attached to the Panamura Police Station.

The leader of the Tamil Mulim Alliance Azad Salley has questioned why the Bala Sena organiations who have surfaced many unnecessary conflicts keeping quiet about the casino issue. This is is grave issue with gambling, liquor, drugs and prostitution are to take a wide role after the commencement.

In the event they raise this question all the opposition parties would give the fullest support. At a media conference it had been revealed that Sri Lanka is among the five countries where liquor and drugs are concerned.