The Wellawa police shotdead two underworld charac-ters, who had escaped frompolice custody.

Police tracked the escapeesto an abandoned building in thejungle and killed both after anexchange of gunfire in whichtwo constables receivedinjuries.

The men hadbeen earlier arrest-ed over a number ofmurders and rob-beries and wereheld in the WellawaPolice cell. Theymade their break forfreedom by scalingthe cell wall andremoving tiles fromthe roof. While run-ning out of the com-pound they alsoremoved the servicerifle of a PoliceConstable.

One of them wasthe successor toPrince Column whowas shot dead by thePolice a few monthsago at BloemendhalRoad in Kotahena.

The duo wasinvolved in 24 mur-ders including that

of an English tuition master inKurunegala early last year inaddition to several robberies,Police said.

They were being held by theWellawa Police on a detentionorder and were being ques-tioned when they made theirescape bid.

Ten Day TrainingProgramme in the teach-ing of Spoken Englishfor the English Teachersof Royal College to beconducted by HyderabadTrained Rural EnglishTeachers under thePresidential Initiative:English as a Life Skill.

A Special Ten DayTraining Programme isbeing organised by RoyalCollege Colombo on theinitiative of the PrincipalMr. Upali Gunasekera, totrain the 35 English lan-guage teachers of theschool in the delivery ofSpoken English Skills tothe students. The 80 hourtraining course will beconducted by the EFLUHyderabad trainedMaster Trainers of thePresidential Initiative onEnglish as a Life Skill.All the Master Trainersof the PresidentialProgramme come fromSinhala and Tamil speak-ing rural homes. SriLanka’s new ruralSpoken English Expertswith cutting-edge teach-ing tools and methodsfrom the English andForeign LanguagesUniversity (EFLU) atHyderabad - the World’sCentre of Excellence forthe teaching of English tonon English speakingcommunities - will betraining the Englishteachers of the country’selite urban school - Royal- to teach Spoken Englishto their students.Professors N.K Nihalaniand Julu Sen of thenewly opened Sri Lanka

India Centre for EnglishLanguage Training(SLICELT) will assist inthe programme.

Mr. LalithWeeratunga, Secretary to

the President, a distin-guished past student ofRoyal will inaugurate theprogramme at 8.30 am onMonday the 15th Marchat the ‘Skills Centre’ ofthe school. PresidentialAdvisor Mr. SunimalFernando, Coordinator /English and Convenor ofthe Presidential TaskForce on English and IT,also a past student of theschool, will be associatedwill the programme. The

‘47 Group of Royal whichhas been implementing aSpoken English Initiativein the school with volun-teers, and the WesternProvincial Ministry of

Education will also par-ticipate in the inaugura-tion.

This programme is apart of the PresidentialDrive for the empow-erment and recogni-tion of Sri LankanEnglish as a distinctvariety of the many‘Englishes’ used in theworld of today; thedisempowerment ofBritIsh English or the‘Queen’s English’; theencouragement andrecognition of‘Speaking English OurWay’ with our ownaccent and manner ofpronunciation; thediscouraging of‘Elocution Culture’that damages the dig-nity and self respectof our children bytraining them to imi-tate the ex-colonialwhite man’s accentand mode of pronun-ciation instead of

speaking English in amanner natural to SriLankans; and takingEnglish to every nookand corner of the coun-try no more with the help

of the former coloniserbut now with the help ofanother developing nonEnglish speaking sistercountry India which has

been Lanka’s culturaland spiritual partner of2000 years and more.

Ms. Ramola Rasool,Senior Lecturer inEnglish LanguageTraining and Ms. DinaliFernando EnglishLanguage TrainingConsultant of KelaniyaUniversity will jointlymake a scholarly presen-tation on ‘Sri LankanEnglish and EnglishLanguage Teaching in SriLanka’ while MasterTrainer Ms. PushpaGunasekera will shareher ‘Grassroots LevelExperience in Englishteaching’ at the inaugura-tion.

Page ThreeThe IslandHome News Thursday 11th March, 2010 3

by Zacki Jabbar

The government said yes-terday that the UN appointedpanel of experts, to inquireinto alleged human rightsabuses in Sri Lanka was ille-gal.

Export Development andInternational Trade MinisterG. L. Peiris, addressing thecabinet press briefing inColombo, said that the UNAct of 1948, did not permitthe course of action that wasbeing adopted.

“The inquiry is not onlyillegal, but totally uncalledfor and unwarranted.”

As per the UN Charter,

Sri Lanka he said looked for-ward to equal treatment ofmember states and respectfor the principle ofnon interference inthe internal affairsof states.

Peiris said that ahigh ranking gov-ernment delegationwill leave forBrussels on March15, for talks with theEuropean Union onseveral issuesincluding the recent suspen-sion of the GSP+ trade con-cession to Sri Lanka.

The delegation headed

by Treasury Secretary P. B.Jayasundara will includeForeign Secretary Romesh

Jayasinghe, JusticeMinistry SecretarySuhada Gamlath andAttorney GeneralMohan Peiris.

The EU, whileenforcing the suspen-sion for a period ofsix months, said thatthe MahindaRajapaksa regimeshould enforce the

rule of law and establishgood governance, if it wantsthe GSP+ facility reinstated.

by Dilanthi JayamanneThe Government Nursing

Officers’ Association (GNOA),warned they would have toresort to trade union action ifthe Health Ministry did not takesteps to pay them their uniformallowance with their salariesthis month. President GNOA,Saman Ratnapriya said yesterday(10), that the Acting HealthSecretary had issued a circular

last Wednesday(03), to withholdpayments for uni-form allowancewith the Marchsalary.

He said eachnurse received anannual uniformallowance of ninethousand rupeesfor four sets. There

are approximately26,000 nurses in theisland. The nursing pro-fession itself is identi-fied by its uniform. TheTreasury has failed toallocate funds for nurs-ing uniforms.

The nurses receivetheir monthly salary byabout the end of themonth. Ratnapriya

urged Health authorities to with-draw the circular and ensurethat nurses are paid their uni-form allowance. The very profes-sion is identified by the uniform.“Do not humiliate the profes-sion,” he said. If the uniformallowances are not paid to us asusual along with this month’ssalaries, we would have to resortto trade union action,”Ratnapriya warned.

Nurses on the ‘warpath’ over uniform allowance

Canada’s ethnic makeup will greatly changein the next 20 years as the number of non-Europeans or “visible minorities” rises to nearlyone-third of the population, a governmentagency said Tuesday. By 2031 it is expectedthat Canada’s South Asian population includingSri Lankans would more than double to asmany as 4.1 million, AP reported yesterday.

The AP report said: “Between now and2031, the foreign-born population of Canadacould increase approximately four times fasterthan the rest of the population,” reachingbetween 9.8 million and 12.5 million, saidStatistics Canada.

Also, the number of Canadian-born childrenand grandchildren of immigrants is expected to“increase rapidly,” it said.

Canada’s total population now is 33.87 mil-lion.

Sustained immigration, combined with“slightly higher fertility and a younger agestructure” could nearly double the proportion ofvisible minorities reported by a 2006 census toup to 32 percent of the population.

Up to 28 percent of Canadians could be for-eign-born — the highest level ever, the govern-ment agency said.

By 2031, nearly one-half (46 percent) ofCanadians aged 15 and over would be foreign-born, or would have at least one foreign-bornparent.

The changing face of the nation would bemost striking in its largest cities (Toronto,Montrealand Vancouver) where visible minori-ties would comprise up to 63 percent of thepopulation.

Canada’s South Asian population (fromBangladesh,Bhutan, India, the Maldives,Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) would remainthe largest visible minority group in the country,with a population expected to more than dou-ble to as many as 4.1 million.

The number of Chinese Canadians is pro-jected to grow also, to around 3.0 million. Butas Chinese women have one of the lowest fer-tility rates in Canada, the Chinese share of thepopulation is expected to decline.

Black and Filipino populations, which werethe third and fourth largest visible minoritygroups in 2006, meanwhile, could also doublein size.

And Arab and West Asian groups couldmore than triple.”

Govt. delegation will visit Brussels to discuss several issues

UN inquiry against Sri Lanka on alleged human rights abuses illegal – GL

The CustomsDepartment

seized a stockof illicit ciga-rettes smug-gled into thecountry fromDubai yester-

day. The stockof cigarettes is

worth aroundRs 31,500,000/=

Pic by SujathaJayaratne

Ten day trainingprogramme for teachers of English

Presidential initiative: Englishas a life skill

Two underworld gangsters killed

‘Visible minorities’rise rapidly in Canada

by Dasun Edirisinghe

SLFP General SecretaryMinister Maithripala Sirisenasaid yesterday that the govern-ment had to extend the emer-gency regulations as most ofLTTE suspects were detainedand arrested under it. That wasthe reason for extending it.

The government had sum-moned Parliament, which wasdissolved last month to extendthe emergency on March 09. Themotion submitted by theGovernment seeking theextension of the state ofemergency was passed inParliament with a majorityof 69 votes. The motionreceived 93 votes in favourand 24 against. The JVP,UNP and TNA votedagainst the extension ofemergency.

Minister Sirisena said thatover 10,000 LTTE suspects arestill in government custody. Ifthe emergency expired, the gov-ernment would have to releasethem.

However, opposition partiesclaimed yesterday that the gov-ernment was using the emer-gency to suppress the oppositionsupporters and their generalelection campaign. They said thesame practice was carried out bythe government at the presiden-tial and provincial council elec-tions.

JVP heavyweight Anura

Kumara Dissanayake said gov-ernment claimed that the LTTEcadres were detained under theemergency laws. But why wasthe government detaining themwithout prosecuting or releasingthem? he asked

“The Government wasdetaining senior LTTE memberKumaran Pathmanathan aliasKP at a luxury house with fivestar facilities. So what was theneed of emergency laws todetain him,” Dissanayake asked.

He said the gov-ernment arrested theeditor of the ‘Lanka’newspaper ChandanaSirimalwatte andsealed the ‘Lanka’ edi-torial office underemergency laws. Thegovernment alsoarrested some univer-sity students and pro-

hibited election processions andprotests under the emergency.“We ask the government howthose practices are linked to theLTTE suspects.”

UNP General SecretaryTissa Attanayake said that thegovernment was stopping sever-al opposition rallies and meet-ings including processions dur-ing the general election seasonusing the state of emergency.

He said all governmentpoliticians were allowed to holdmeetings, rallies and processionsand that prohibition extendsonly to opposition parties.

Emergency extended as LTTE suspects stilldetained under it – irisena

Lalith

Prof. GL