Thursday 6th April, 2006
Page
V
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II
Koizumi to be thirdlongest serving premier
Indian director hopes
to cast Paris Hilton as
Mother Teresa
By Tom Peterkin, Ireland
CorrespondentThe senior Sinn Fein official
who last year admitted being
a paid British spy for 20
years was found murdered yester-
day.
One of Denis Donaldson's
hands was reportedly cut off
before he was shot dead in a cot-
tage in Co Donegal.
Suspicion immediately fell on
republicans, who were outraged to
learn in
December that
Donaldson, the former head of
Sinn Fein's international depart-
ment, had been a traitor to the
Sinn Fein/IRA cause.
During the Troubles, it was
standard practice for the IRA to
shoot British agents. But it had
been assumed that since the ter-
rorist group's promise to embrace
peace last
year, treating
Donaldson, 56, in the same way
was politically unacceptable.
When Donaldson was exposed
as a spy , Sinn Fein assured him
that he would be safe. However,
individual republicans indicated
that he would no longer be wel-
come in Belfast.In a statement, the IRA denied
it was responsible.
Donaldson fled his family
home in the west Belfast estate of
Atnamona and last month he was
tracked down to a remote cottage
on the west coast of Donegal by the
Sunday World tabloid newspaper.
It was in his cottage, near the
village of Glenties, where he had
been living in squalor without elec-
tricity or running water, that his
body was found at 5pm. He was
killed less than 48 hours before
Tony Blair was due to arrive in
Ulster to announce the next phase
of the
peace
process and his
plans to resurrect
the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein
president, quickly condemned the
killing and dissociated his party
from it. He passed his sympathies
to the Donaldson family.
The Sinn
Fein president
refused to speculate on who was
responsible.There were reports that the
Government believed that the
murder had been carried out to
destabilise the peace process.
Any suggestion that the killing
was carried out by republicans
will be highly damaging to the
peace process given the scepti-
cism with which
the Democratic
Unionist Party
and the Ulster Unionist Party
have treated the IRA's promise
to give up violence.
A sign of the republican
resentment against Donaldson
came last month when his son
Pearse Donaldson was vicious-
ly attacked in the home that he
used to share with his parents
in west Belfast.Nigel
Dodds,
the
Democratic Unionist Party MP
for North
Belfast, urged
unionists not to believe Mr
Adams's denials or to fix
blame on dissident republi-
cans.
"Unionists do not accept
divisions between good and
bad IRA terrorists," he said.
Bertie Ahern, the Irish
Prime Minister, confirmed the
shooting was a "brutal mur-
der" and Peter Hain, the
Northern Ireland Secretary,
described it as a "barbaric act".
(C) The Telegraph Group
London 2006
Britain's Sinn Fein spy found shot dead
Denis Donaldson
By Roger Highfield, Science EditorT he Government has been told that
it is now possible to assess how
much animals suffer from experi-
mentation, with initial research sug-
gesting that a significant number of
experiments cause little or no dis-
tress.A way to make animal experiments
more open and scientists more
accountable is described in a report
on a pilot study by the Laboratory
Animal Science Association and the
Animal Procedures Committee, which
advises the Home Office.
It showed that production of genet-
ically modified animals, which makes
up a significant proportion of the
experiments, involve minimum or no
suffering. But the committee stressed
that the survey was limited and it was
too early to draw broad conclusions.
The report recommends a "two-
grid" system in which scientists
record the maximum severity and its
duration, and the duration and severi-
ty of the remainder of the experiment.
(C) The Telegraph Group London 2006
(C) The Telegraph Group London 2006
NEW WAY TOASSESS ANIMALSUFFERING
Geneticallymodified animals
Sinn Fein
The Commercial Bank yesterday sold
nearly 4% of
its DFCC holding to an
unidentified foreign buyer believed to be
a fund manager, brokers and senior
banking sources confirmed.
A total of 2.2 million DFCC was done
at a high of Rs.230 and a low of Rs.225
with the share closing on the VWA at
Rs.229.25, a gain of Rs.6.50. CommBank
got the Rs. 230 price, brokers said.
“We acquired the shares a long time
ago and there is a sizeable capital gain
on the
transaction,’’a
senior
Commercial Bank official said but was
unable to immediately quantify what
this might be.With Commercial Bank owning over
13% of DFCC, yesterday’s sale reduces
its stake in a rival entity which has also
entered the commercial banking scene
through the DFCC Vardhana Bank.
CommBank and DFCC were at one
time considering
an arrangement
through which a single holding company
would control both banks via a share
swap arrangement but this was thwart-
ed by the Regulator.
DFCC too
holds a
slice of
CommBank, analysts noted.
Asked whether the stake sold yester-
day was up for grabs for a long time in
the market, the senior CommBank offi-
cial said “no.’’ But he said that the
ComBank was progressively strengthen-
ing its capital adequacy and this sale was
part of this strategy.
``Now that we no longer want an
alignment with the DFCC we decided to
sell off part of the shares partly because
liquidity was tight. We wanted to sell
when the market came up to the level we
were looking
at,’’another
senior
CommBank source said.
The bourse yesterday saw turnover
at Rs.966.6 million approach the billion
rupee mark, up from the previous day’s
Rs.712.8 million with both the All Share
and Milanka price indices moving up
fairly sharply. The All Share was up 22.42
points while the Milanka was up 25.93
points.Brokers said that some illiquid
shares like Carsons, Bukit Darah, CDIC
and Printcare helped to move the indices
up.
“There was also punting on one-
rupee stock, principally Royal Ceramics
and Asiri Medical Services,’’ a broker
said.
Royal Ceramics saw over 3.9 million
shares traded between Rs.3.30 and
Rs.3.60 and was up 30 cents on the VWA
to close at Rs.3.60 while Asiri Medical,
with nearly 4.3 million shares done
between Rs.3.10 and Rs.3.30 closed at
Rs.3.20 on the VWA gaining 10 cents.
There was movement in the one-
rupee shares of Ceylon Glass too with
over 1.6 million shares traded although
the counter closed flat at Rs.2.50 on the
VWA.
Dialog with 0.6 million shares done
closed flat at Rs.19.75 while SLT with
nearly 1.3 million shares traded gained
50 cents to close at Rs.18.75 on the VWA.
Deal signals raising capital adequacy cash
CommBank sells nearly 4% of
DFCC taking tidy capital gain
Thursday 06th April, 2006
www.island.lk
JICA to donate...J apan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) has promised to
donate Rs.500 million, under a project
to establish Japan SriLanka Colleges
of Technology to strengthen technical
education and training (JSCOT).
Page 3
T he world’s local bank, HSBC,
issued its two hundred thou-
sandth credit card this week.
Reaching this target comes a midst
celebration for the bank, which con-
trols almost one-third of the credit
cards market. In addition, the bank
also controls over fifty per cent of the
total credit cards spend in the country.
Page 4
GSK assignes...
Today
Previous Days
HSBC issues...
Forex Asia, lead
TOKYO: The euro hit a new 10-week
high against the dollar in Asian
trade as the US unit also fell
sharply against the yen, with the
market betting on rising eurozone
interest rates, dealers said.
Comm
odities energy
oil Asia price
SINGAPORE: Oil prices were easier
in Asian trade as the market took
a breather after jumping to near 68
dollars a barrel and ahead of the
weekly US crude inventory report,
dealers said.Thailand vote economy
BANGKOK:Thai shares jumped
after Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra stepped down, a move
praised by business leaders who
said an end to months of turmoil
will shore up investor confidence.
Thailand vote forex
SandPSINGAPORE: International credit
rating firm Standard and Poor’s
affirmed its foreign and local cur-
rency ratings for Thailand after
embattled Prime
Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra’s
sudden
announcement to resign.
SKorea banking crime
US company
SEOUL: South Korean auditors said
they have questioned former and
current government officials over
their role in the controversial sale
of a local bank to US fund Lone
Star, which is now seeking to cash
in on its investment.
SKorea IT US Qualcomm
company probe
SEOUL: The South Korean unit of
Qualcomm,a world leader in
mobile phone technology, has been
raided by fair trade regulators, the
California-based company said.
- AFP
By Don Asoka WijewardenaSri Lanka so far had no
specifically identified docu-
ment listing the energy sec-
tor policy,but the country has
been practising policies and
strategies that have brought
benefits to the economy,said
Power and Energy Minister
W.D.J.Seneviratne at a
Workshop on National
Energy Policy and Strategies
of Sri Lanka held at Ceylon
Continental Hotel on April 5.
Minister Seneviratne said
that Sri Lanka could be
happy that nearly 75 per cent
of the households now had
grid electricity and thou-
sands more were served by
off-grid networks and added
that as the country had reli-
able supply of petroleum
products,kerosene was pro-
vided at a highly sibsidised
price.
He said that Biomass had
retained its position as the
largest source of primary
energy and the country
should see an increasing
trend in the use of Biomass
for commercial use in indus-
try and electricity genera-
tion. Referring to the energy
sector,Minister Seneviratne
said that Sri Lanka had
failed in several aspects in
that sector and the country
had been battered by a crisis
in the electricity supply for
the past ten years.
By S. Venkat Narayan
our special correspondent
A meeting of the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Finance Ministers
scheduled for April 14-15 in Islamabad has been
postponed due to pre-occupation of Indian finance
minister at home. A highly placed source in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs told The Daily Star Indian Finance Minister
Palaniappan Chidambaram expressed his inability
to attend the meeting due to Tamil Nadu Assembly
polls on May 8. Elections are taking place in India’s five south-
ern and eastern states — Tamil Nadu, Kerala,
Pondicherry, West Bengal and Assam.
The official on condition of anonymity said the
Indian Finance Minister, who hails from Sivaganga
in Tamil Nadu, will be busy in election campaigns
and the nomination filing coincide with the
Islamabad meet. The Saarc Finance Ministers’ meet in
Islamabad on April 14-15 was due to finalise the
modalities and mechanism for spending and con-
tributing to different funds, including the South Asia
Development Fund (SADF), Saarc Development
Fund (SDF) and Saarc Poverty Alleviation Fund.
Fresh date of the Saarc finance ministers’ meet
will be announced later on.
SAARC Finance Ministers
meeting postponed
National Energy Policy to be introduced
President and CEO
of Canon Singapore
Pte Ltd., KazutoOgawa will be in Sri
Lanka today. Canon,
represented exclu-
sively by theMetropolitan Group, is
the market leader and
the preferred choice
amongst the local
business community,
offering a wide array
of state-of-the-art
products.Ogawa during his
brief stay will address
a media conference,
as well as meet up
with local business
leaders, together with
Metropolitan, who
have arranged a series
of activities to mark his
visit to Sri Lanka.
He will also partici-
pate in the Dealer
Convention, where the
top dealers would be
recognized.Ogawa’s visitwould further
enhance Canon’s
commitment to the Sri
Lanka market as well
as to their business
partner, Metropolitan
who together would
continue to introduce
world renowned prod-
ucts and services to
the local business
community.
Canon President in Sri Lanka
Kazuto Ogawa
Minister W.D.J.Seneviratne. Pic by
Nishan S. Priyantha.
Continued on page 2
The LTTE insists that it would not
leave via the BIA as its leaders were under
threat. LTTE Political Wing leader S. P.
Thamilchelvan yesterday said that they
would boycott April 19-21 talks unless
their request was met. This was conveyed
to the visiting Norwegian Special envoy
Jon Hanssen-Bauer on Wednesday.
After meeting LTTE representatives,
the Norwegian envoy acknowledged that
he failed to secure a pledge that the group
would participate in the second round of
talks.
Armed activities of the paramilitary
groups have intensified following the first
session of Geneva Talks contrary to the
commitment made by the Government.
President Mahinda Rajapakse can no
longer pay lip service to CFA after the
defeat of the extreme Sinhala hardline
forces in the local elections in the South,
Thamilchelvan told reporters in
Kilinochchi after meeting Jon Hanssen-
Bauer.
Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer and
the Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka
Hans Brattskar met Liberation Tigers
Political Head in Kilinochchi Wednesday.
“The meeting with the new Norwegian
Special Envoy was cordial. We discussed
the changes in the ground situation, spe-
cially the intensified activities by the
paramilitary groups violating the pledges
made by Colombo in Geneva,” LTTE
Poltitical Head told the reporters at LTTE
Peace Secretariat. “Colombo can no
longer cite the extremist forces in the
South as an excuse for the difficulty in
implementing commitments to the
International Community and the facilita-
tors.”
The LTTE leadership would be forced
to reconsider its decision to engage in
direct talks if Colombo continued to adopt
a duplicitous approach, said the LTTE
Political Head.
There is hardly any use in proceeding
to the next stage before what was agreed
and re-affirmed at the first session of talks
is implemented, he further said.
by S. Selvakumar‘I was at no time given even an
iota of an opportunity to peruse
the list and my only role was to
physically hand over the list to the
Returning Officer’, Colombo
District UNP Parliamentarian M.
H. Mohamed has written to ‘The
Island’ in reference to yester-
day’s lead story under the head-
line ‘Veteran Jumbos clash over
CMC muddle’.
Countering Colombo District
Parliamentarian Mohamed
Mahroof ’s statement that a young
and energetic person should be
appointed as the Colombo district
UNP leader M. H. Mohamed said
that alone should not be the crite-
ria but should include such crite-
ria as political performance over
a reasonable period of time, not
engaging in unethical and deroga-
tory acts which causes immeasur-
able political damage to the party
in not attempting to bribe persons
to suppress the natural process of
justice
Confidants of Mahroof and
Moragoda brought the tampered
list of the UNP nominees for the
Colombo Municipal elections to
the residence of M. H. Mohamed
at 11.30 a.m. when the list had to
be handed over to the Returning
Officer at 12 noon on the last day
for acceptance of nominations.’
Mr. Mohamed said the alleged
tampering of the approved list
was unethical and derogatory and
wished to remind Mahroof and
the readers that a two-man com-
mittee of inquiry has gone into all
aspects of the matter and submit-
ted its report to the UNP leader.
Calling for another inquiry with a
particular reference to the con-
duct of Mohamed implies a hid-
den agenda with regards to sup-
pressing the findings of the initial
inquiry’ Thus releasing the origi-
nal inquiry report without tam-
pering or delaying will resolve
this matter once and for all’ Mr.
Mohamed further states in his let-
ter.
Vol. 26 No.81 Thursday 6th April, 2006 Rs.15 - 28 Pages Registered in Sri Lanka as a Newspaper - Late City Edition
Issued with ‘The Island’ today
Willowy willow wielder
Kashmir INDIA : A Kashmiri girl plays cricket in the capital Srinagar, 05 April 2006. Untilrecently, Kashmiri Muslims discouraged girls and women from indulging in such activ-ity in an Islamic environment. AFP
Govt. wants co-chairs toensure Tiger participation
by Shamindra FerdinandoA prominent JVPer, wounded in a
pre-poll attack in Anuradhapura, died
at the Intensive Care Unit of the
National Hospital on Tuesday evening.
Bandula Marambe, a father of two,
succumbed to his injuries, a party
spokesman said. He urged police to
arrest all attackers without further
delay.
The JVP accused SLFP supporters
of carrying out the attack, the worst in
a series in the run up to the March 30
local government polls. The JVP
claimed attackers were supporters of
North Central Province Chief
Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake,
his son Duminda and provincial min-
ister S. B. Semasinghe, a claim vehe-
mently denied by them.
The Anuradhapura JVP office said
that three persons were taken into cus-
tody in connection with the attack.
“Attackers inflicted serious head
injuries,” an Anuradhapura-based col-
league of the victim said.
The JVP raised this with President
Mahinda Rajapakse at a hastily
arranged meeting at the Presidential
Secretariat on March 28.
The Navy on Wednesday observed a
cluster of Sea Tiger vessels off
Mullaitivu.
A senior military official said that
Sea Tiger craft were engaged in train-
ing.
by Chitra WeerarathneThe IGP Chandra Fernando
and former DIG in charge of
the CID Lionel Gunatillake, on
Wednesday handed over Rs.
100,000/- (one lakh) each to the
Registrar of the Supreme
Court, to be paid as compensa-
tion to President Mahinda
Rajapakse for having violated
his fundamental rights, by con-
ducting an arbitrary unlawful
investigation into the opera-
tion of the Tsunami Relief
funds, deposited in the
‘Helping Hambantota’ Bank
Account.The Supreme Court,
last March 2006, declared that
the President’s fundamental
rights had been violated by the
IGP, the DIG of the CID, and
UNP member of Parliament
Kabeer Hasheem.
The IGP, the DIG and Kabeer
Hasheem were each ordered to
pay Rs. 100,000/- personally, as
compensation to the petitioner
Rajapakse. The state was
ordered to pay Rs. 200,000/- as
costs.
The petitioner President
Rajapakse had complained to
the Court, that the investiga-
tion was arbitrary, illegal and
politically biased and was
aimed at tarnishing his politi-
cal image, during the time he
campaigned for the presidency
in October, November 2005.
Sea Tigers seentraining
UNP MP MohamedMaharoof Monday denied hiserstwhile colleague T. M.Sangadasa’s charge that hetried to bribe the ColomboMunicipal Councillor.
Referring to our news item‘UNP Councillor claims partyheavyweight tried to bribe him’(page 2 of our March 31issue), Maharoof said that theallegation was baseless.Sangadasa claimed thatMaharoof sent him a chequefor Rs. 500,000 drawn onNational Mercantile Bank(MERC Bank) dated March24, 2006 after urging him notto target him through thenational press.
Sudath Perera Associatesin a statement issued onbehalf of Maharoof said, ‘Ourclient denies having tele-phoned Sangadasa anddenies having had any con-versation with him. Our clientdenies having issued thecheque and specificallydenies having put the chequeinto Sangadasa’s letter box.’
Maharoof said that thedate in the cheque was notwritten by him. ‘The cheque inquestion has been drawn onMERC Bank. It changed itsname to DFCC VardhanaBank in September 2003 andsubsequently Maharoofclosed his account,’ SudathPerera Associates said,adding, ‘The cheque in ques-tion was issued in April 2003but without a date on accountof additional legal fees forattorney-at-law IqbalMohamed in respect of a FRapplication filed in SupremeCourt.
Continued on page 9
Top cops pay President
Continued on page 9
The Island
Thursday 6th April, 2006
She had suchbeautiful eyes...
INSIDE
PIV
By Dasun EdirisingheH owever big an ele-
phant may be,
orphaned it is in
the same predicament as a
biped. Perhaps, its plight
is greater, given man’s
cruelty to jumbos. But all
is not lost for the unfortu-
nate elephants that lose
parents at a tender age
either in accidents or at
the hands of poachers orfarmers.
Ath Athuru Sevanahas
come forward to look after
the orphaned jumbos but
with a difference. They are
released to their natural
habitat after they are able
to be on their own. The
project has been going on
since 1995 as part of the
Udawalawe National Park,
which was created to help
the elephants displaced by
the Walawe Ganga
Development Project in1972.
The latest batch of ele-
phants was released last
Sunday in Udawalawe. The
Islandwas present on the
occasion to witness the
majestic beasts walk into
freedom thanks to a group
of caring humans who are
humane to other beings.
It was an emotional
moment for the foster par-
ents who had borne the
expenses of looking after
the jumbos and visited
them many times before. It
was a rather painful part-
ing but there was no other
way: the animals belong to
the wilderness and will be
happier there.
Here are some pictures
of what we saw at Ath
Athuru Sevenacourtesy
the Wild Life Department,
which deserves credit for
its dedicated service to a
mammoth species threat-
ened with extinction.
(Please see Leisureland
on Saturday (08) for the
full story with more pic-tures).
No longer orphans
Picture by Nishan S. PriyanthaJVPer woundedin pre-poll attackdies in ICU
by Shamindra FerdinandoThe government is likely
to turn down the Tigers’ latest
demand to resume direct
flights between the LTTE-held
Kilinochchi and overseas des-
tinations.
The government expects
Norway to exert pressure on
the LTTE to go ahead with the
meeting. Ministerial sources
said that peace co-chairs name-
ly the US, EU, Japan and the
facilitator Norway should
ensure their participation.
Norwegian heavyweight
Erik Solheim at the end of the
two-day meeting in Geneva in
February declared that the
parties to the February 2002
Cease-Fire Agreement would
meet in April. Solheim is in
Colombo with the Norwegian
Special Envoy Jon Hanssen
Bauer to finalise the arrange-
ments for the forthcoming
talks. The Norwegians are like-
ly to discuss the issue with
President Mahinda Rajapakse.
Military officials said that
senior LTTE representatives
travelling to and from the BIA
were always accompanied by
members of the five-nation
Nordic truce monitoring mis-
sion.
Continued on page 9
LTTE demands sea planeride for 2nd round of talks
Not given an iota of opportunity to peruse list - Mohamed
Our Vavuniya corr. Dinasena Ratugamage reporting from K’nochchiThe LTTE is demanding that its delegation to the next round of negotia-
tions in Geneva should be allowed to leave Kilinochchi in a sea plane.
Continued on page 9
Maharoofcheque matesSangadasaTop lawyer contradictsMaharoof
