The government has given into an intense request by India and agreed to permit Captain Ali to unload her cargo. She was anchored off Panadura for nearly a month.

The Indian request was made when Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga met Indian Foreign Minister A. M. Krishna at the beginning of this week in New Delhi.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi requested the Indian Foreign Minister to permit Captain Ali to discharge her cargo in Sri Lanka. The vessel was ordered to leave the Colombo Port on June 11 and she was due to leave for France. However she remained anchored off Panadura since leaving Colombo Port.

Captain Ali left a British Port last month with cargo, allegedly loaded by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), apparently for displaced people of the North before the end of the war against the LTTE.

The Sri Lankan Government said that the ship was allowed to discharge her cargo on humanitarian grounds.