Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

Why were metal detectors silent?
September 4, 2010, 7:02 pm

BY SURESH PERERA



With the brutally victimised L. P. Ariyawathie now discharged from the Kamburupitiya Base Hospital, the million dollar question is how did this poor Sri Lankan housemaid with 24 metal objects in her body limp through the Riyadh International Airport undetected by the hi-tech security screens and scanners?

Saudi Arabia had taken up the position that if nails and needles had been driven into her body, as reported, then she would have triggered the metal detectors at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Colombo as well as in Riyadh.



'No, that wouldn t have happened here because there is no security clearance where metal detectors are used for arriving passengers', a senior BIA official said last week.

Passengers flying out go through at least three security clearance points before embarkation, said the official, who asked not be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Repeated attempts to contact Prasanna J. Wickramasuriya, the Chairman, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Limited were unsuccessful. He did not return the calls either. The Vice President and Executive Director were also 'at conferences'.

A passenger at an international airport in a major city has to go through about ten to twelve sophisticated screens and scanners, depending on the security requirement and the level of the threat, the official explained. 'These include metal detectors'.

For example, additional security measures are adopted for flights to the United States and Europe and Pakistan and India because of the high level of threat from terrorists, he pointed out.

The whole purpose is to 'secure' an outbound passenger before he or she boards the aircraft, he noted. 'What s the use of screening those who had disembarked on arrival?'

Riyadh International Airport is also equipped with a modern security apparatus, but it is still unknown how Ariyawathie escaped detection with a multitude of metal objects in her body. It has been suggested that she may have been allowed to come through a separate gate as she was sick and limping, but this facility does not give passengers immunity from rigid security screening.

The detection, if at all, should have happened at that end, the official pointed out. 'After passengers arrive in Sri Lanka and clear immigration and customs, they are free to take their baggage and leave'.

The Sri Lankan government has taken up Ariyawathie s ordeal at a top diplomatic level but Saudi Arabia has dismissed allegations that the brutal incident where nails and needles were driven into various parts of her body allegedly by her employer had happened in the Kingdom.

With self-infliction being medically ruled out, it still remains a mystery how this 49-year-old Sri Lankan housemaid had passed through Riyadh without the metal objects in her body triggering a security alert.

He can win only the war

Even that was with the help of China and India!!

So, he can only polugh paddy field with two buffalos in his own!!

I am requesting Sri Lankan Air Port officers to have a full body check on arriving passengers from those destinations, which are exposed to heavy security threats.

I am requesting Sri Lankan Air Port officers to have a full body check on arriving passengers from those destinations, which are exposed to heavy security threats.

As far as I understand, LSSP was the political philosophy of some overseas - educated brats most of whom were christians and through that they expected something better for them.

They were just people who had aristocratic tastes and democratic opinions.

This political philosophy was their fashion to show others that they were educated.

I am not sure whether some one or some special interest group influenced them to go this way.

Left abandons stand on 18th?

* TORTURED BY DIVISION
* LIKELY TO VOTE FOR 18TH

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Internal divisions have erupted within the left parties, the Democratic Left Front (DLF,) Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and Communist Party (CP) on whether they should support the 18th amendment to be presented in parliament on September 8, or not, internal party sources revealed. The Central Committee of the DLF and LSSP has decided not to vote in favour of the 18th amendment but the position of the CP is not clear yet.
They have also decided to apply pressure on the Central Committee of the CP not to break ranks and stand with the collective position, said a party insider. During the Central Committee meeting it was decided to abstain or leave the chamber during voting on September 8 in consultation with the LSSP.
Speaking to LAKBIMAnEWS before the Central Committee meeting General Secretary of the DLF, MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara commented that we can t break the UPFA by joining hands with the opposition. We have to be with the UPFA. That s why we have to discuss what to do in great detail, hammer out the differences and come to a consensus whether to vote for or abstain from voting. He added that although they are against the executive presidency, as constituent parties of the UPFA government, they have to think about their responsibility to the alliance.
Though the old left parties have earlier opposed the 18th amendment on principle, inside party sources said the leaders of the LSSP and CP and the DLF were reconsidering their position after a meeting with the president held earlier this week.
The overwhelming majority of the politburo members are against removing the two term bar on the executive presidency and the dismantling of the Constitutional Council (CC). But some of the left parties MPs have changed their minds after meeting the president last week, said a party source.

Internal divisions have erupted within the left parties, the Democratic Left Front (DLF,) Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and Communist Party (CP) on whether they should support the 18th amendment to be presented in parliament on September 8, or not, internal party sources revealed. The Central Committee of the DLF and LSSP has decided not to vote in favour of the 18th amendment but the position of the CP is not clear yet.