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Swift action against religious saboteurs

With news that a criminal outfit, believed to be responsible for the numerous incidents of violence against Christian churches in this country, is now in the police net, we have irrefutable evidence of President Kumaratunga's firm resolve to root out from our midst the abomination of religious extremism and hatred.

The peace-loving citizenry would be warmly appreciative of this timely action by the law enforcement authorities which cogently sends out the message that religious bigotry and intolerance wouldn't be overlooked or condoned by the Lankan State.

The police action bears out President Kumaratunga's recent words that any citizen of this country enjoys the right of religion, philosophy and conscience. Accordingly, any threat to this fundamental right, from whichever quarter, would be dealt with deftly.

The President is leading from the front in this effort by the State to stamp out the blight of religious and cultural intolerance.

To begin with, the President took a strong ethical stand against this evil while it struggled to raise its ugly head in this country in the latter half of last December.

Had not she made pronouncements condemning the attitude of intolerance and taken the relevant law and order measures against it, we could very well have had on our hands a widespread religious riot, something unheard of in this country since 1915.

However, it may have approximated in scale and horrendousness the ethnic riots of 1983, which was State - organized and allowed to spread wildly under the benign eye of the then government.

The President's moral position on the incipient religious strife and her swift follow-up action aimed at wiping it out, is in striking contrast to the race riots of 1983, which were allowed to burgeon disastrously by a coldly indifferent State of those times.

It goes without saying that the due process of the law should now take hold in respect of the suspects who are in custody over religiously - motivated violence. Besides, law and order measures need to be consistently taken to ensure that criminality of this nature is nipped in the bud.

We also welcome the President's move to have in place a multi-religious body to advise her on defusing and stamping out crime. This would ensure that the best resources of the religions of the land are in place to root out crime and violence.

Among other things, this measure would have the effect of uniting the county's religions.

Religious disharmony and violence, fortunately, has very few takers in this country. It is not supported by the majority of the people.

However, the few who engage in it should be deprived of the opinion climate which would promote their actions. It is up to every right-thinking person to take a strong moral position against this evil. They need to stand up and be counted.

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Secrets of longevity

Newspapers recently reported the death of Sri Lanka's oldest person, Engonona. She died at 116, just four years short of the 120 that is generally assumed to be the maximum lifespan of a human being.

What made her tick till 116 ? And why do some die at half that age, even without any sign of illness ? Why do we grow old in the first place ? Can the process of ageing be slowed down or stopped altogether ?

These are questions for which scientists are enthusiastically seeking answers. Despite years of research and experimentation, we are no nearer to finding the truth. But the hunt for a suspect in the ageing process is narrowing, according a study published in today's issue of The Lancet, the prestigious medical journal.

The study points the finger at the X chromosome, one of the two chromosomes that determine gender. Ageing is believed to be governed by tiny nubs called telomeres, found at the end of chromosomes, the lengths of DNA that contain genes.

Every time a cell divides, the telomeres become shorter. After repeated cell replication, telomeres become so worn that no more divisions can take place, which means that tissue is not replaced when it reaches the end of its functional life.

The Belgian researchers have found that telomere lengths were similar between fathers and daughters, though not between fathers and sons. That points to an inherited cause, more specifically the X chromosome.

Males have an X Chromosome inherited from their mother and a Y chromosome which comes from their father. The scientists say there are genes on the X chromosome that are likely to play a role in how quickly telomeres shorten.

The study revealed that matched age for age, women had longer telomeres than men, which sheds light on why women generally outlive men.

This is a major discovery that will help us look at ageing in a new light. We already live much longer than our ancestors did, thanks to modern healthcare systems and better living standards.

These discoveries, and advances in genetic engineering, may one day enable scientists to slow down or stop ageing. A lifespan of say, 200 years, or even immortality itself may not be beyond our reach.

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