JVP reveals SF consulted them from US by Shamindra Ferdinando The JVP yesterday revealed that they had been in touch with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General even before the `Vol. 29 No. 31 Monday 21st December, 2009, 28 Pages Rs. 20 Registered in as a Newspaper - Late City Edition former Army Chief quit the service over his differences with Inflation, Media reports Presi-dent Mahi- benchmark rates Synergy and nda Rajapa-ksa and human and Defence marginally up Conflict - IV Secretary Vijitha Tilvin rights queries Gotabhaya Financial Review Page 10 Page 11 Rajapaksa. Challenges JVP General Secretary Tilvin Rajapaksa Silva said brothers to Women motorists Fonseka had Residents seek 'MP for Welioya' consulted the give up US worse than men, by Dinasena Ratugamage They want President Mahinda Major-General (Retd) G A A survey, meanwhile, has JVP over the citizenship Our Vavuniya correspondent Rajapaksa to accommodate a Chandrasiri, Vanni SLFP chief highlighted shortcomings in pro- phone when study shows resident from Welioya on the organizer, Premaratne grammes aimed at providing aid the US sought People living in the Welioya UPFA list at the forthcoming par- Sumathipala and villagers. to people displaced by the war. to question him regarding Defence Women are slower and area, the northernmost Sinhala liamentary polls. The officials distributed It said the government and Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s less accurate at parking than settlement, are pushing for rep- The request was made dur- cycles and other items to school- NGOs/INGOs should work out a alleged involvement in war crimes men, according to a scientif- resentation in Parliament. ing a recent meeting attended by children and villagers at the common plan for the distribution during Eelam War IV. ic study that confirms the Northern Province Governor event. of aid among the needy. Addressing the media at their suspicions of many male party headquarters, Silva said that motorists. the JVP had advised Fonseka to Female drivers take an turn down the US request. average of 20 seconds longer Silva said that Fonseka, though to park their cars but are a Green Card holder was definitely still less likely to end up in not a traitor and would never betray the middle of the bay, the the country. He said that unlike research suggests. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who quit the As part of the test 65 peo- JVP breathes fire at service in the 1990s to obtain US ple were asked to park an citizenship, Fonseka had fought the Audi A6 family saloon in a LTTE right throughout his military standard-sized parking career. space. Both the JVP General Secretary Their manoeuvres – and challenged the including head-on, reverse India and America Defence Secretary and his brother and parallel parking – were Basil, a dual citizen as well as timed and rated for accuracy, by Shamindra Ferdinando Chandima Rasaputra (Southern which was judged by how far Provincial Councillor) to give up US they kept the vehicle from he JVP yesterday accused President citizenship. They pointed out the the edges of the bay. and Defence absurdity in the government posi- While the researchers TSecretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of tak- tion that Fonseka should not be expected the women volun- ing far reaching decisions favourable to India allowed to contest the forthcoming teers to be slower, they were and the US, respectively at the expense of Sri presidential election on the basis surprised to find that the Lanka. that he was a Green Card holder. cautious approach did not JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said that They queried why a Green Card lead to a tidier final result. the Rajapaksas had caused irreparable damage to holder had been appointed the Dr Claudia Wolf from the national interest by inviting foreign interfer- Commander of the Army. They also Ruhr University in Bochum, ence. Addressing the media at their party head- attacked Minister Dallas Germany, who led the study, quarters, Silva and Vijitha Herath, MP urged the Alahapperuma for ‘talking with a said that the research con- people to defeat the SLFP-led UPFA administration. forked tongue’. “Alahapperuma fled firmed previous findings Silva said that the Defence Secretary had jeop- the country after the PA’s defeat in Continued on page 2 ardised national security by entering into the 2001 and returned several years Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement later. Now he is talking big,” Silva (ACSA) with the US, which would be detrimental to said. “Where was he during India's security interests. He said that the pact had protests against the UNP’s Canadian placed Sri Lanka on a collision course with New Ceasefire Agreement with the Delhi. He said that the Defence Secretary's inter- LTTE? He was far away but Tamils vote in ests lay with the US owing to his US citizenship. returned to accept a ministerial Quoting the Pakistani press, Silva also alleged portfolio, whereas the JVP helped support for a that the Rajapaksas had removed Sarath Fonseka the then Prime Minister Rajapaksa from the post of Army Commander on the advice President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday declared to win the last presidential poll in separate state of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh within November 2005.” open the Orugodawatta Fly Over Bridge. Secretary Canada's Tamil popu- days of the army decapitating the LTTE on May Silva said that the government lation voted in a referen- 19. The JVP claimed that India had warned that to the President Lalith Weerathunga, Ministers T. was attacking Fonseka over a dum Saturday to gauge had Fonseka remained as Commander of the B. Ekanayake, A.H.M. Fowzie, Sec. Ministry of recent statement attributed to him support Army there would be a situation similar to that in Highway’s Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, in an for a sov- Bangladesh and Pakistan. Western provincial councillors Duminda Silva, ereign The JVP General Secretary said that India and , and Navalage Bennet the US had not decisively backed Sri Lanka's war Continued on Tamil Cooray were also present. page 2 state with- on terror to receive special favours. he said that the in Sri President had agreed to implement the 13th Lanka. Amendment to the Constitution in full and even go Canadians of Tamil beyond it once he secured a second term. Drug peddler descent were asked Asked whether the JVP was unaware that Sri British minister's Sri Lanka holiday whether they still sup- Lanka could not have destroyed eight LTTE 'float- chokes on his own stuff port the Vaddukkoaddai ing arsenals' on the high seas without India provid- Resolution of 1976, which ing three Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) and the outrages rights campaigners by Jayantha de Silva called for the recreation political backing necessary to go ahead with the of an independent sover- offensive, Silva said that an agreement between by Jane Merrick, Political Editor there remained ongoing concerns about A drug peddler chased by the two countries should be mutually beneficial. the island's government after a crack- police swallowed the bag containing eign state for the Tamil Bradshaw jets out for Christmas people in the northern Continued on page 2 down on the Tamil population earlier this several sachets of heroin and was break as Brown and Miliband year. choked to death. and eastern provinces of condemn Colombo's treatment Sri Lanka. Despite this, Mr Bradshaw, wear- This was revealed at an inquest of Tamils ing a straw hat, checked shirt and held by City Coroner Edward Saturday's referen- Ben Bradshaw, the Secretary of jeans, arrived at Colombo airport on Ahangama on December 14 into the dum was run by the State for Culture, Media and Sport, Friday morning for a Christmas death of Buhari Naufer (42), a resi- Coalition for Tamil has raised eyebrows by taking a break in the country. dent of Borella. Elections Canada, a non- Christmas holiday in Sri Lanka Human rights campaigners Giving evidence at the inquest, partisan group created days after the British government questioned why Mr Bradshaw, Ramakrishna Kokila, the wife of the exclusively to run sur- condemned the Colombo adminis- whose ministerial responsibilities deceased said that her husband, a veys and opinion polls to tration for its poor human rights Ben Bradshaw include tourism, was supporting Sri father of a 22-year-old daughter was a measure the political record. Lanka's travel industry by holidaying drug addict. He had later become a pulse of Canada's Tamil Gordon Brown last month blocked Sri there. Human Rights Watch called on him street peddler of heroin. population. Lanka's attempt to host the next to make a public statement disapproving He had been jailed on several occa- Commonwealth summit, and last week of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's sions earlier. David Miliband told the Commons that Continued on page 2 One of the three warships acquired from India Continued on page 2 On the day of the incident, while engaged in peddling the drug in Slave Island, the Police had spotted him and given chase. In a bid to avoid being arrested, he Fonseka vows war on corruption; UNP predicts 'new era' had swallowed the bag with the hero- in. Later, police retrieved 30 sachets of by Cyril Wimalasurendre General (Retd) Sarath Fonseka He said he was aware of the heroin from his mouth. re-iterated at his maiden elec- problems and difficulties of AJMO D. S. C. P. Appuhamy, who Kandy - Opposition tion campaign meeting at the people of the all categories of held the post mortem, ruled that the Presidential candidate General Kandy Central Market grounds. both the public and private sec- cause of death as choking. (Retd) Sarath Fonseka "What is the purpose of a tors, including cultivators, fish- A verdict of accidental death was launched his election campaign government if it cannot lower erfolk, garment workers, pri- returned. with a pledge to build a society the cost of living or increase vate coach operators, the army, PC 49748 K. A. L. Palitha led evi- free of corruption. the salaries," Fonseka queried and the police. dence. "I am free from party poli- on Friday. If police officers wanted to PS 27689 Pathirana assisted at the tics. When I am elected presi- He said it was not essential retire after 22 years of service, inquest. dent, I will develop the country to be an economist to provide he would formulate necessary with the support of all those pay hikes and that only Rs. 113 legal requirements to meet who love this country," he said. billion was required to increase their demand, he added. If voted into power as presi- the salaries of public servants. Fonseka said he would not dent, he would make life easy There would be no difficulty be deterred by what he called a for people by bringing down in raising the salaries if Rs. 170 mud-slinging campaign against the cost of living and increas- billion could be saved by cut- him by people worried about Opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka at an election rally at his home ing the salaries of public ser- ting down on waste, Fonseka town, Ambalangoda. UNP Galle District Leader Vajira Abeywardena, MP and UNP vants by Rs 10,000 each, explained. Continued on page 2 spokesman Gayantha Karunatilake, MP looks on. (Picture by Nishan S. Priyantha)