`Vol. 28 No. 105 Wednesday 18th March, 2009 32 Pages Rs. 20 Registered in Sri Lanka as a Newspaper - Late City Edition Attempt to influence judiciary on behalf of a crook Keith Vaz in the soup No confidence British Labour MP and former Europe Minister Keith Vaz has come under pressure to motion moved resign as Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee over a letter he is alleged to have Keith Vaz written to the against Ranil Continued on page 4 Adjourned evening meet on the issue postponed A woman carrying her infant wades through a lagoon to reach the Government con- The Island trolled area after escaping from the LTTE in Putthukudiruppu. by Zacki Jabbar Published by Upali Newspapers Ranjith (Pvt) Ltd. Maddumabandara, Positive sign in UN – SL relations – Ban Ki-moon 223, Bloemendhal Road, A stormy UNP Johnston Fernando and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon the UN and the Government of Sri Lanka E-mail: [email protected] Parliamentary Group Dayasiri Jayasekera, speak- Wednesday 18th March, 2009 told President Mahinda Rajapaksa over and that this was a positive sign in the meeting, at which ing in support of the the phone yesterday that there was continuing relationship. Lakshman motion, said that the UNP increasing cooperation evident between See story on page 4 Seneviratne MP, cannot win elections with The UN shamed moved a verbal No Ranil Seneviratne Wickremesinghe at the he LTTE has graduated from taking UN work- Confidence motion helm. They wanted Deputy New mega housing ers hostage to forcibly recruiting their off- against UNP leader Ranil leader Karu Jaysooriya to be appointed Tspring as cannon fodder. It has already con- Wickremesinghe yesterday morning, leader. complex for MPs sought scripted a 16-year-old daughter of a UN staffer. If was adjourned for the evening, but it Sajith Premadasa, who it was wide- the UN workers and their children are not safe was postponed later in the day. ly believed would back the rebel group, by Shamindra Ferdinando Urban Development and Sacred Area Development from the LTTE, the vulnerability of others goes At the time of going to press, had remained silent, the sources said. Ministry to make available a four-acre block of land without saying. Wickremesinghe was presiding over a Vajira Abeywardena, speaking on The government is looking for property for a at Weera Mawatha, Kalalgoda, earmarked for a Ironically, the forcible conscription of the UN meeting at Cambridge Terrace attended behalf of Wickremesinghe, said that state of the art housing complex for members of housing project, it had not materialised. The worker's precious child has come at a time the by some senior UNPers, informed the government has been winning parliament addition to the housing units at sources said that the decision on the Kalalgoda land LTTE activists are protesting in Geneva against sources told The Island. recent elections, mainly because of the Madiwela. had been taken last November at a meeting the war and UNICEF is campaigning to save child At the morning meeting, progress on the war front and it had The House Committee chaired by Speaker W. presided over by the Speaker. Seneviratne called on Wickremesinghe nothing to do with Wickremesinghe’s soldiers. Those who have been urging Sri Lanka J. M. Lokubandara is in the process of locating a The House Committee had been recently told to step down from the leadership since capabilities as a leader. that the land couldn’t be inspected as the acquisi- to resolve the conflict through a dialogue should suitable property to implement the mega project. he was “not effective in the post” and tion of the land hadn’t been finalised. realise that no negotiated settlement is possible wanted a secret ballot taken. Well informed sources said that although the with an intransigent murderous outfit that does Continued on page 5 Committee had received an assurance from the Continued on page 5 not give two hoots for even the apex international organisation. The critics of Sri Lanka's war on terror including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem GK depositors forcibly SC allows Kelaniya u’grads Pillay must be asked to come forward and secure take over Ceylinco the release of the UN workers and their progeny to proceed with rights case through negotiations with Prabhakaran and his Group Apartments fellow criminals. by Chitra Weerarathne campus, inclusive of the two petition- The UN has come to such a pass that not only By Norman Palihawadena ers on February 5, 2000. does it lack the courage to stand up to a terrorist The Supreme Court yesterday Out of the sixteen, nine had been Twenty four newly built apart- outfit in a small country but finds itself under granted leave to proceed with the female students who had been arrest- ments on Sixth Avenue in tremendous pressure to rise in defence of the rights violation application filed by ed in the absence of woman police very terrorists who are abducting UN personnel Thimbirigasyaya belonging to the Ceylinco Group were forcibly occu- two students of the Kelaniya Campus, constable, the petition said. and their families! At this rate, the day may not who alleged illegal arrest by the pied by a group of irate Golden Key Continued on be far off when terror backers in the UN ranks depositors. police of sixteen students of that page 5 force the world body to extend associate mem- A female investor, who took over bership to terrorist organisations. Sympathy of one of the apartments, said she had some Security Council members is certainly with earlier been living in a rented house Suicide attack the LTTE terrorists, if their persistent efforts to but could not pay the house rent for GK depositors pass resolutions against Sri Lanka vis-à-vis her the last five months since she had not thwarted received any interest on the deposits move SC successful military operations against terrorism Special Forces troops Monday she had made with the Golden Key are any indication. thwarted an infiltration attempt by an Credit Card Company. by Chitra Weerarathne All prominent UN member states, save a few, LTTE suicide cadre disguised as an “I have no alternative but to occu- Army Sergeant. indulge in bashing Sri Lanka and condemning her py one of these apartments,” she Two petitioners have filed a A senior army official, based in the failure to bring perpetrators of human rights vio- said. When asked whether the new fundamental rights violation Vanni, said that had the troops failed to lations to book. They cannot be faulted, given the occupants were ordered by the Police application in the Supreme Court identify the suspect and swiftly cornered high incidence of human rights abuses here. But, against Golden Key Credit Card to vacate, she said some policemen him west of Puthukudiyiruppu he would strangely, none of them have ever called upon were seen near the apartments but Comapany Limited stating that have targeted civilians arriving in gov- this country to crack down on terrorists and save they did not interfere. they had deposited Rs. 75 million ernment-held areas. innocent men, women and children under their Asked about the fate of other with the Company and they feared The terrorist had triggered a mas- jackboot. She is under pressure to hunt down all depositors, she said they too would the loss of their capital. sive blast after criminals but not the savage terrorists responsi- have to grab the properties owned by troops ordered Ceylinco Group by way of compensa- him to prove his ble for crimes against humanity like massacres tion. and ethnic cleansing. Why? Are these countries Continued on page 5 identity, he said. cherishing a delusion that terrorism and democ- racy can co-exist? If so, what is the use of the US- led global anti terror drive? Meanwhile, the child recruitment at issue LRH nurse knifed on way to work smacks of a well calculated move by the LTTE to By Don Asoka Monday evening near the help the closet Tigers in the UN to jolt the Wijewardena gates of the Nurses Hostel Security Council into throwing a lifeline to in Borella. The victim Prabhakaran and his partners in crime under the A 26-year-old nurse of named K. Thushari had guise of a humanitarian operation to rescue the the Lady Ridgeway been admitted to the trapped UN staff. It behoves the government to Hospital(LRH) was assault- Accident Service. adopt preemptive measures. ed by two unknown men on Continued on page 5.