I was glad to read the news that Mr Olcott Gunasekera, President, Dharmavijaya Foundation, has urged the government to enact the Animal Welfare Bill, prepared by the Law Commission in 2006 (The Island, Sept 20. 2010). Mr Gunasekera has my appreciation and support.

It is obvious that no effective solution has been found so far for the garbage problem in our country in spite of a huge public outcry as evident from a large number of letters newspapers have published from concerned citizens.

What a chilling story! This "kill team" of soldiers from a country which champions human rights and shouts the loudest about war crimes, committing this dastardly act, in a country it occupies, really shocks the entire world.

Now and again an idea or view expressed in the Opinion Column of The Island opens the magic box of (intellectual) wisdom and interaction. The benign communicatioin of Jeoffrey Gunasekera (JG) on 14 September was one such. On the other hand a letter might open a can of worms. Infrequently, worms slide into the wisdom box. Most rational humans may have read, and agreed or dismissed, JG’s anecdotes therein, the likes of which we have read time and again.

I refer to Mr. B. L. M. Fernando’s letter (The Island, 15 September) on a minor aspect of my article on Indian Consulates in Jaffna and Hambantota. He has confirmed my point that the range of activities Consular offices today went beyond the traditional concerns. I thank him for that. I would have ignored the remarks if not for the invitation extended to me!

Thank you Mr. B. S. Perera for cautioning me and the country that we might have to wait unto eternity for a true statesman to appear in Sri Lanka. It is true that almost all politicians want untramelled power. I have no quarrel with you on that score. Given the opportunity they will grab it with both hands and proceed to exercise it too.

We the general public must thank you for publishing the full text of the highly controversial 18th Amendment even belatedly, after the Bill was taken up and passed with what seems like indecent haste, before the mass of people could know what the implications were of such an Amendment. The Government was unheeding of criticism and of appeals to allow time for public awareness and discussion on a matter of

Minister of Health Maithripala Sirisena has announced that from 2011 the patients who fall sick due to alcoholism or drunkenness seeking treatment in government hospitals will have to pay for medicine and medical attention. What a great thing, Hon. Minister! What an inexplicable courage! 

With reference to the letter by Rev. Sydney Knight in your newspaper last week on the above subject, I also would like to recount my experience at this hospital last week. I do hope the authorities will take note of the shortcomings and take remedial action.

From the media we gather that Mervyn Silva has at last been booked. Looking at the past history of Mervyn Silva, it could be said that Silva took a leaf from the lamppost killings of the LTTE, when he tied a samurdhi worker to a tree.