Responding to ‘Channel 4 News’ allega-tion that the government of Sri Lanka haddeliberately denied food to those trappedon the Vanni east front during the finalphase of the Vanni offensive, navy head-quarters yesterday said that the a food shipreached the North less than a week beforethe LTTE collapsed on the banks of theNanthikadal lagoon on May 19, 2009.

Navy headquarters spokespersonCommander Kosala Warnakulasuriya toldThe Island that four vessels, Sinhabahu,Green Ocean, Binhtan and City of Dublinhad been deployed to move 2361.315 MTfood items from Trincomalee toPuthumathalan, where the LTTE made itslast stand. The SLN spokesperson said that

food shipments were made from Feb. 17,2009 to May 14, 2009 as the army fought itsway into rapidly dwindling area held byterrorists.

WFP-led overland food convoys came toa halt on Nov. 23, 2009 as fighting escalatedon the Vanni east front. According toPresidential Task Force for Resettlement,Development and Security in the NorthernProvince, the WFP carried 12 overland foodconvoys beginning Oct, 2008 to Jan 23, 2009,before heavy fighting forced a halt to over-land supply convoys.

Commander Warnakulasuriya said thatsupplies to Puthumathalan from Feb 17 to

May 14, 2009 comprised wheat flour (1095MT), dhal (273 MT), vegetable oil (92 MT),sugar (97 MT), medical items (3.5 MT),samaposha (1MT), cerelac (1.05 MT), sprats(1 MT), green gram (2 MT), rice (698 MT),pumpkin/carrot (19.21 MT), potato (05 MT),

Vol. 30 No. 194 Saturday 2nd July, 2011, 24 pages Rs. 20 Registered in Sri Lanka as a Newspaper - City Edition

TOS LANKA WINSRECOGNITION AT

PRESIDENTIALEXPORT AWARDS

CHAVEZ

REVEALS HE IS

FIGHTING CANCER3 109SRI LANKA MOOTS MULTI

DEPARTMENTAL BODY TO SUSTAINLONG TERM EXPORT UPSWING

A CLASH OFTERRORISMS?

John Lennon's former person-

al assistant has claimed that the

former Beatle became a closet

conservative in later life.

by Nick Allen, Los Angeles

According to Fred Seaman, who

worked for the musician for two

years before his assassination in

1980, Lennon was not a fan of Democratic

US President Jimmy Carter, and would

have supported his Republican rival

Ronald Reagan."John, basically, made it very clear that

if he were an American he would vote for

Reagan because he was really sour on

Jimmy Carter," Mr Seaman told film-

maker Seth Swirsky in a documentary

called "Beatles Stories."

He said Lennon had met Reagan in the

1970s at a sports event, adding: "He did

express support for Reagan, which

shocked me. I also saw John embark in

some really brutal arguments with my

uncle, who's an old-time communist. He

enjoyed really provoking my uncle."

Mr Seaman accepted that Lennon, a

leading figurehead of the peace move-

ment, may have been winding people up.

He said: "Maybe he was being provoca-

tive … but it was pretty obvious to me he

had moved away from his earlier radical-

ism."He was a very different person back

in 1979 and 80 than he'd been when he

wrote Imagine. By 1979 he looked back on

that guy and was embarrassed by that

guy's nativity." The remarks in the documentary were

first reported by the Toronto Sun newspa-

per.However, left wing commentators

immediately cast doubt on whether

Lennon had become a conservative, ques-

tioning Mr Seaman's credibility.

They cited the fact that in 1983 Mr

Seaman pled guilty to stealing some of

Lennon's journals and was given five

years probation.

He was later sued by Yoko Ono for

breaching a confidentiality agreement

and apologised in a statement to a

Manhattan court room, saying: "I now

realise how much pain and embarrass-

ment I have caused."

© The Telegraph GroupLondon 2011

John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono in August 1980

Did John Lennon

become a closet

conservative?

Saturday 2nd July, 2011

BY LANKA NESIAH

1961 was a landmark year in the histo-

ry of the University at Peradeniya.

Sir Ivor Jennings, the first Vice

Chancellor, had envisaged an

autonomous residential university, per-

haps numbering not more than 3500

when all the faculties became functional

at Peradeniya. But, sadly, his vision for

Peradeniya to be 'one of the finest small

universities in the world', began to erode

after his departure in 1955. There were

two major pressures on the University of

Ceylon in the latter part of the fifties –

one was to increase the intake of stu-

dents and the other was on the introduc-

tion of Sinhala and Tamil as media of

instruction. Jennings foresaw the need

for both and, no doubt, had he still been

around he would perhaps have been able

to handle these pressures without sacri-

ficing the enviable academic reputation

built up at Peradeniya. In 1960, the

University at Peradeniya was forced to

introduce teaching in the national lan-

guages in the Arts Faculty; and in the fol-

lowing year, the year in which I entered,

forced to accept non-residential students,

a landmark departure from Jennings'

vision of a residential university.

The introduction of instruction in the

national languages, in addition to

English, and the increase in the intake of

undergraduate students were both neces-

sary measures but both were undertaken

without adequate planning. With English

being withdrawn as a medium of instruc-

tion in the secondary schools in the

fifties, many who entered the University

by end of the fifties decade found them-

selves unable to follow lectures in

English. By 1960, ir was decided to begin

teaching students in the Arts Faculty in

Sinhala and Tamil, in addition to

English. A sub-department of English

had been set-up around 1958 or 1959 to

provide an intensive course in English

for new-entrants but, for various reasons,

this proved inadequate; but the more

serious problem was that many of the

senior academics were not competent

enough to deliver lectures in Sinhala or

Tamil and some of them found opportu-

nities in foreign universities and thus

began a steady trickle of an academic

exodus.The spread and quality of education

in our secondary schools had taken a

quantum leap with the upgrading of 'cen-

tral schools' in the forties and early

fifties throughout the country. Thus, larg-

er numbers were qualifying for universi-

ty admission.Wijewardene Hall

was built and opened

in 1961 but clearly,

there was inadequate

accommodation for

the increased num-

bers of Arts students and the students of

the Science and Medical Faculties who

were being moved from Colombo to

Peradeniya in the academic year 1961-62.

A new category of “external students”

was thus created for those entering the

Arts, Law and Oriental Studies faculties

in 1961. These were those who had quali-

fied for admission but could not be

accommodated as residential students. I

was in that batch and we were unique in

that, I believe from the following year, all

were treated as internal students, some

residential and some non-residential. So

the 1961 Batch at Peradeniya made histo-

ry, though it may not have been the histo-

ry which the founding fathers of the

University like Jennings may have been

proud.This year marks the fiftieth anniver-

sary of that landmark year. A few of us

have got together to celebrate this

anniversary by inviting all those who

entered the University of Ceylon

Peradeniya in 1961 to a batch re-union

over lunch on Sunday 17th July 2011. We

trust all our batch-mates will make it a

point to be present at this event, to revive

old memories and to renew or strengthen

old friendships.When Professor H A de S Gunasekera

who was Professor of Economics in 1961

died some years ago, H A I Goonetlleke,

in his tribute to him, wrote:

“To be young and alive at Peradeniya

in the fifties and even the sixties was to taste

the heady wine of academic freedom and

the intoxicating vigour of dialectical dis-

course.”Ian Goonetileke was in 1961 the intel-

lectually towering figure in the Library.

Although at that time the Deputy

Librarian, Goonetileke had an interna-

tional reputation as Sri Lanka's foremost

bibliographer.The vigour of dialectical discourse

that Ian Goonetleke wrote about was

quite evident during our time.. I remem-

ber attending a series of intellectually

stimulating evening seminars on Science

and Religion held in the Science Faculty.

I particularly remember lively and some-

times heated debates on the question of

rebirth in which Professor K N

Jayatilleke, the Revd (later Bishop)

Lakshman Wickremesinghe and a young

assistant lecturer Canagaratna (brother

of AJ, 'the rooted cosmopolitan') made

forceful contributions. I also remember

some evening debates at Sanghamitta

Hall. It was a treat to listen to lecturers

like Doric de Souza, W S Karunaratne

and Fr Ignatius Pinto, all of whom

were past masters in the cut and

thrust of debating. We also had

many politicians and academics

addressing us in the Arts

Theatre. The politician's

lectures were usually

punctuated withwhistles, catcalls

and hoots from the audience. But the

noisy receptions were received with both

good humour and equally devastating

repartee. It did not end up with the

Police arresting and remanding hooting

students.The Open Air Theatre used to be a

hive of activity during our time. It is sad

to see the state of that today. We had the

privilege of attending inaugural per-

formance of two outstanding folk theatre

– Sinhabahu produced by Professor

Sarachchandra and Ravanesan produced

by Professor Vithiananthan – at this

venue. Some parts of both will be staged

at our batch re-union 0n 17th July. Jayani

Kasturiarachi (now Pinnawela, who was

the lead singer in Sinhabahu, will lead

the singing some of the lyrics from

Sinhabahu and Professor Maunaguru,

the lead actor in Ravanesan, will be stag-

ing some episodes from Ravanesan with

his troupe of artistes from the Eastern

University. We are proud to count both

Jayani and Maunaguru among our batch

mates.July 17th 2011 promises to be an excit-

ing time for tha batch of ’61. An organis-

ing committee headed by Tilak

Ranavirajah (Arts) as Chairperson, S M

Banduseela (Science) as Secretary and

Athula Nanayakkara (Agriculture) as

Treasurer has been working hard to

make the event a meaningful one for all

concerned. In addition another sub-com-

mittee headed by M P M Jaleel (Arts) as

Editor has been working on producing a

souvenir with many articles from scores

of batch-mates reminiscing on their time

at Peradeniya. Tickets for the event need

to be purchased well in advance and

those who wish to participate must con-

tact S M Banduseela at bandu1@sltnet.lk.

I may end this note by borrowing from

the title of book written by a senior who

reminisced on her time at Peradeniya –

those were days we wished would never

end.

A BLACK HOLE OF A

HELL HOLE, ‘KALUVARAI

PURAHANDA’, A NOVEL

BY ARUNASIRI HETTIGE

Thousands of peoplecheered her every stepof the way as she went

on a walkabout in the centreof Ottawa, and many of themchanted her name, rock star-style.

SAT MAG

But, the people spend billionsper year to maintain the govern-ment.

Government spends Rs.19 mn. peryear on drugs for cancer patients

PRINCE WILLIAM AND KATE

MIDDLETON'S ROYAL TOUR OF

CANADA: KATE GIVEN

The Island www.island.lk

JVP Parliamentarian Anura KumaraDissanayake said that 240,000 tons ofdiesel from the United Arab Emirates(UAE) had been imported without anytenders called. He said that theSecretary to the Petroleum Corporationhad no authority to deal with a private compa-ny.

MP Dissanayake added that in the first

week of May, the authorities had beenwarned that fuel was needed by June10. Tenders had been invited on May 5for 20,000 tons of fuel and opened onMay 25. Only Reliance Company fromIndia had made a bid and it had been

cancelled and tenders called again with onlyReliance applying, but saying that there was

Tourists prepare a Chinese Communist Party flag for souvenir photos in front ofcommunist leader Mao Zedong's sculpture at Yan'an Revolution MemorialMuseum in Yan'an, in northwestern China's Shaanxi province, Thursday, June30, 2011. Yan'an is celebrated as the birthplace of China's communist revolu-tion. Communist forces led by Mao Zedong, ousted from bases in the south,retreated to Yan'an during the Long March and from there plotted the revolutionthat brought them to power in 1949. China marks the 90th anniversary of theCommunist Party on July 1, 2011. (AP

JVP queries tenderless import of fuel

Minister of PetroleumResources SusilPremajayantha said that

the problems relating to petrole-um contamination, which mostlyaffected motor cycles and threewheelers, had been sorted out’and no further complaints hadbeen received.

He told The Island on Friday(01) that 20,000 tons of refined fuelhad been bought urgently and by thetime that it reached the filling stationstheir tanks were empty. The fuel mayhave mixed with the residue at the bot-tom of the tanks causing problems formotorists.

Minister Premajayantha said that insome instances there could have beenwater leakages. He said that steps hadbeen taken to inspect every bowser thatleft Kolonnawa and Muthurajawela.

New stocks of refined fuel had beenreceived on June 30 and after theirrelease to the markt, no complaints ofcontamination had been received, he

said.Minister Premajayantha said

that an inquiry had beenlaunched into the complaintsreceived by the Ceylon PetroleumCorporation (CPC) and samples offuel from filling stations thatmade complaints of contamina-tion had been tested.

UNP’s National ListParliamentarian Harsha De Silva

told The Island that the Public UtilitiesCommission (PUC) should have inquiredinto this matter and that it was not toolate even now.

The UNP MP said that there were var-ious allegations against the PetroleumCorporation and its officials includingfraud that had not being inquired into.

He said that the PUC should probethose matters and put the public’s mindat ease. He said that he did not knowwhether the PUC had the authority toinvestigate such matters and that thegovernment had to take the blame forthe sorry state of affairs.

UNP calls forinvestigation

BY LAL GUNESEKERA

SLN responds to Channel 4 News allegations:

The police department, whichlast made changes to its uniformin 1976, in the run up to the Non-Aligned conference staged here

that year, is once againon the verge of intro-

ducing a new uni-form.

Police sources,however cautionedagainst expecting a

major change as in1976 when it did away

with shorts worn by con-stables from the colonial period.

A senior officer at police head-quarters told The Island that thechange mooted by previousInspector General of Police Dr.Mahinda Balasuriya is likely to beeffected within this year.

Cops to geta facelift via new uniformBY NORMAN PALIHAWADANA

The Elephant Pass saltern would have,after its reopening, the capacity to generatenearly 3,000 employment opportunities,Secretary to the Ministry of TraditionalIndustries and Small EnterpriseDevelopment, V. Sivagnanasothy said. “It isexpected to boost the national economy,” hesaid. Once reopened, the saltern would beable to produce nearly 70,000 tons of saltannually.

Currently, feasibility studies were beingconducted to re-open the saltern and theproject proposal would be finalised soon, hesaid.

Currently demining teams had almostcleared 95 per cent of land in the area.

Responding to a query Sivagnansothysaid the Ministry of Traditional Industriesand Small Enterprise Development wouldaccelerate the re-establishment of theAchuveli Industrial Estate by developing 25acres immediately. “Construction of theadministrative block of the premises isalready underway and the EnvironmentImpact Assessment is also being donealong with water and soil quality testing,”he said. By 2012 internal road networks,electricity and many other facilities wouldbe available at the industrial estate, hesaid.

The ministry has already received Rs.199 million for the development of thepremises, Rs. 174 million from the govern-ment of India as a grant and Rs. 25 millionfrom the Sri Lankan government.

Sivagnanasothy said that currently the

Elephant Pass saltern toproduce 70,000 tons ofsalt annually

Power piratescough up Rs.3.3 mn

BY IFHAM NIZAM

Raids in the Trincomalee Districthave helped the CEB rake in Rs. 3.3mn by way of fines.

Power and Energy Ministrysources told The Island on Friday(01) that districtwise raids had beenintroduced last year by Power andEnergy Minister Patali ChamikaRanawaka and they had contributedRs. 100 mn to the CEB.

The raids in the Trincomalee dis-tricts were carried out from June 25to 27. The Flying Squad nabbed 79persons who pirated power.

The Power and Energy Ministryrequests the public to reportinstances of power piracy to the spe-cial raids unit of the CEB bydialling 1987.

CEB sources said raids onpower pirates would be stepped up.

Financial Review

How come ICRC evacuated over 12,000 persons if forces denied access to Tiger territory?

Susil

Anura

BY SHAMINDRA FERDINANDO

Contaminated CPC fuel:

Problem over, says government

Opposition leaderRanilWickremesinghe isscheduled to meetUN Chief Ban Ki-moon on July 5, inNew York, the InnerCity Press reported

yesterday. Wickremesinghe is current-ly on a visit to the United States, wherehe participated in a meeting of theInternational Democratic Union.

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s tophuman rights official criticizedChina on Thursday for failing toarrest Sudan's president so that hecan be brought to trial on warcrimes charges.

U.N. High Commissioner forHuman Rights Navi Pillay toldreporters in Geneva she was "dis-appointed" that China welcomedSudan's President Omar al-Bashir during avisit this week, rather than arrest him toensure he stands trial.

Pillay said that "the whole world favours

trial" for al-Bashir on charges ofwar crimes, crimes againsthumanity and three counts ofgenocide, the first time the world'spermanent war crimes tribunalissued genocide charges.

China has a duty to enforce war-rants by the InternationalCriminal Court, she said, despite

the fact that it's not a member ofThe Hague, Netherlands-based tribunal.The Sudanese leader defiantly rejects thecharges and the authority of the court.

China should arrest al-Bashir – UN

Navi Pillay

Govt. spends Rs. 19 mn per year ondrugs for cancer patients

The government purchases drugs worthover 9 mn rupees under special proceduresannually for cancer patients, the spokesmanfor the Health Ministry said on Thursday(June 30). Quoting the Health Minister, hesaid that over hundred documents weresigned every week for the release of thosedrugs.

The Minister, who was speaking at aworkshop held for medical personnel on

antibiotics, in Polonnaruwa, said the gov-ernment spent another ten million rupeeseach year to purchase certain types ofdrugs to treat cancer patients. Over ten tofifteen requests were approved each weekfor the release of these drugs from the med-ical stores.

However, in a majority of the hospitals

BY PABODHA HETTIGE

ISLAMABAD, Jun 30 (APP): ThePakistan government has spon-sored the construction of a three-storied state-of-the-art schoolbuilding in Sri Lanka’s Gampahadistrict to support the educationsector developmental drive of theSri Lankan government. PakistanHigh Commissioner to Sri LankaSeema Ilahi Baloch on Thursdayhanded over a cheque for the con-struction of building in Pasyala,Gampaha to the Minister ofEconomic Development BasilRajapakasa at the Sri LankanPresidential Secretariat.

The school named asBabussalam Maha Vidyalaya,

Pakistan funds schoolbuilding in Sri Lanka

Ranil to meet moon

Ranilmoon