REIGN OF TERROR, 1986-1990 (PART VII)
WHILE RAJIV GANDHI DROPS ‘PARIPPU’ JVP ATTACKS SLAF BASES
By the middle of 1987 the military campaign to liberate Vadamarachchi in the North from the LTTE was successfully moving ahead under the commands of Denzil Kobbekaduwa, Wijaya Wimalaratne and Gerry de Silva. Participating in the battle were 4,300 soldiers equipped with the latest weapons.
National Security Minister Lalith Athulathmudali gave political leadership to “Operation Liberation” which completely freed the Vadamarachchi area from the Tigers on June 3, 1987. While the operation was in progress the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran met Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on May 28, 1987 and complained that Sri Lanka’s military offensive was depriving the Northern Tamils of fuel and medicine and consequently some people were dying. He demanded that the Indian Government take immediate action against Sri Lanka and also obtained permission from the Indian PM to transport relief items from Tamil Nadu by sea to the North of the island.
On the night of June 2, 1987 All India Radio announced that the Tamil Nadu Government was taking steps to send 25 boat loads of rice, powdered milk, canned food and medicines for the Tamil people in the North. The news bulletin also said that 94 persons including Indian and foreign journalists and Red Cross representatives were to be sent as observers.
Despite the vehement opposition of the SL Government and the people 19 boats left the Rameshwaram Port and entered Sri Lanka’s territorial waters on June 3 at 6.00 p.m. The Sri Lanka Naval personnel on board the vessel ‘Edithara’ stopped the Tamil Nadu boats from moving any further on the orders of the Northern Naval Commander Mohan Samarasekera. The officer commanding ‘Edithara’ was Captain Suraj Munasinghe. Minister Athulathmudali and Joint Operations Commander Cyril Ranatunge were in radio communication with the Navy.
 |
| An Indian plane that transported relief items |
After waiting at sea for three-and-a-half hours, the Tamil Nadu boats left at 9.30 p.m. On June 3 and 4 the Indian High Commission requested all Indian citizens residing in Colombo to leave their homes and move into hotels. Thereafter in a tit-for-tat operation Indian Air Force dropped food parcels and other relief items by air on June 4 at 3.15 p.m. because Sri Lanka had not allowed the Tamil Nadu boats to enter her territorial waters. The Indian government had informed of this to Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in India Bernard Tillekeratne only at 2.30 p.m. less than one hour before the airdrop.
Indian airdropping of relief items
President Jayewardene summoned Army, Navy and Air Force Commanders and ordered them not take any retaliatory action against the Indian airdropping of relief items. The Indian Air Force had deployed five AN 32 transport planes carrying 25 tons of relief items from its Yelahanka base in Bangalore for this purpose. Four MIG fighter jets escorted the transport planes in this mission which was called ‘Operation Pumalai.’
Boxes carrying relief items were dropped by parachute over the Jaffna Peninsula. The airdrop ceased at 5.30 p.m. One transport plane also carried 17 Indian media personnel and 18 reporters as observers from Reuters, BBC, AFP and other news agencies. This operation, which violated Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, aroused the anger and strong condemnation of Sri Lankans.
During this period foreign media was keen on reporting events in Sri Lanka. In addition to Reuter Correspondent Dalton de Silva, Andrew Tanovsky reported from Sri Lanka saying there were country-wide slogans demanding ‘Death to J.R.’ and that people were saying they would throw stones at him and kick him out of power.
On June 17 Sri Lankan Foreign Minister A.C.S. Hameed met Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and reached an agreement. Accordingly without Sri Lanka making a request India sent 681 tons of food and medicine by the Indian ship ‘Island Pride’ which called at the Kankesanthurai Harbour. The Sri Lanka government took steps to distribute the items through Cooperatives in the North.
 |
| Ranil Royal founder-President of the DJV Students Wing (top photo) who was killed while trying to escape in a car after taking part in the attack on the SLAF base Katunayake and the men who directed the attack (from Left): Chief Planner Saman Piyasiri alias Mendis Mahattaya, Shelton Rajapaksa alias Ragama Somay and Air Force Technician Siripala. |
It was the Indian airdrop which compelled the Sri Lankan government to halt the planned military offensive to recapture Jaffna scheduled for the middle of June. All military operations in the North ceased as a result. Minister Athulathmudali was pushed into the background and Minister Gamini Dissanayake came to the forefront.
The JVP had a clear vision since the late 1960s not only of rise of armed Tamil militancy but also of a very possible Indian invasion. The Indian airdrop proved in the eyes of the people that the JVP was correct. The party had already launched an extensive campaign since the end of 1986 to warn Sri Lankans about a Indian occupation. Some of the JVP’s slogans those days were, “J.R. gone mad – People on alert”, “Let’s not allow Sri Lanka to be made India’s 26th Province” and “Kill J.R.” The patriotic struggle the JVP launched in 1986 was mainly to oppose Indian intervention but developed a stgrongly anti-government stance in the process.
Since J.R. did not give the armed forces permission to retaliate against the Indian airdrop or take any other effective action, the JVP announced that a strong response was needed to the Indian intervention. It was a good opportunity to intensify the armed activities of the Deshapremi Janatha Vyaparaya (Patriotic People’s Movement or DJV) which was the JVP’s armed wing.
Provincial Council system
The JVP claimed that they were the only force which could resist the “illegal, treacherous UNP Government, armed Tamil separatism and Indian invasion.” Three days after the Indian airdrop – on June 7, 1987, the DJV launched two armed attacks on the Katunayake Sri Lanka Air Force Base and the Kotalawala Defence Academy, Ratmalana, sending shock waves in the country.
These two operations were planned by Mendis Mahattaya, a Kelaniya University Graduate and member of the JVP politburo. A resident of Ganemulla, his real name was Sellapperuma Saman Piyasiri Fernando alias Keerthi Wijebahu, head of the DJV and chief of the JVP’s armed wing.
The attacks were led by Siripala and Shelton Rajapaksa alias Ragama Somay.
A resident of Kotugodawatte, Siripala was an air force technician. Ragama Somay was a resident of Koswadiya, Gampaha. Although both were taken into custody for questioning, they escaped. They were wanted in connection with a bomb attack on Inspector Tissa Kudahetti, OIC of the Seeduwa Police Station.
The DJV cadres which attacked the Katunayake SLAF Base first met at the ground near the Negombo Prison on June 4, 1987 at 5.00 p.m.
They were divided into four groups. At 7.30 p.m. they were taken in a van to a house at Negombo. Altogether 31 persons gathered there. Mendis Mahattaya briefed them on the country’s political situation and the proposed Provincial Council system. He said that the Indian airdrop would be followed by a land invasion and therefore it was the DJV’s duty to oppose it.
The following day (June 5) too, they remained in the same house. On June 6, at 10 p.m. Mendis Mahattaya said that they should attack the Katunayake air force base and seize weapons to prepare for the Indian invasion. Showing the attackers a hand-drawn map he briefed the attackers on the operation before taking them in a lorry and dropping them off at a by-lane behind the SLAF base.
The operation began soon afterwards. The weapons seized after overpowering air force personnel were transported in hijacked jeeps. Some of the insurgents returned to Colombo by bus leaving Negombo at 4.00 a.m. Three of the attackers had been killed in action. Those who failed to escape were taken into custody. One airman had died in the attack.
Among the three insurgents killed were Ragama Somay and the founder-President of the DJV Students Wing and Kariyapperuma Athukoralage of the Jayawardenapura University Ranil alias Ranil Royal.
On June 7 the DJV issued a statement accepting responsibility for the attacks on the Katunayake SLAF base and the Kotalawala Defence Academy to seize arms. The DJV argued since the weapons were not being used for defence of the motherland against the Indian aggressor patriots should make use of them. It was reported that the insurgents had seized fourteen T-56 firearms, 53 submachine guns, two light machine guns, six pistols and 3300 bullets. This operation increased the JVP’s popularity and caused great admiration for the party among anti-government and anti-Indian groups.
In the meantime plans were underway for a Indo-Lanka Accord with the intervention of Indian Government’s Intelligent Service RAW (Research and Analysis Wing). President Jayewardene had given his unstinting support and blessings for this. The persons involved in this task were Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Jyotindranath Dixit, Co-Editor of The Hindu N. Ram and Minister Gamini Dissanayake.
(The writer is a senior journalist who could be reached at ejournalists@gmail.com)
ලංකාව පාලනය කළ අපේ සිංහල රජවරු පාලන පහසුව පිණිස මුල සිටම රට කොටස් වශයෙන් බෙදා පාලනය කරන ලදී. මෙහි මුල්ම බෙදීම වශයෙන් රට කොටස් තුනකට බෙදා තිබුණේ ඈත අතීතයේ සිටය. එම බෙදීම රුහුණු, මායා, පිහිටි යනුවෙන් කොටස් තුනකට අයත්විය. එය කෙටියෙන් හඳුන්වන ලද්දේ ත්රිසිංහලය කියායි. මහවැලි ගඟින් හා දැදුරු ඔයෙන් නැගෙනහිර කොටස අයත්වූයේ පිහිටි රට හෙවත් තැනිතලා ප්රදේශයටයි. මෙම කොටස වැඩි වශයෙන් අයත් වූයේ වැව් බැඳි රාජ්යයටයි.
1. කොත්මලය 2. මතුරට 3. ගොඩරට 4. පස්ගොමුව 5. සගම 6. කටුපුළුව 7. වේරනිම්බය 8. සොරබොර 9. කොටසර 10. ඌව 11. බදුල්ල 12. රිටිගල් දනව්ව 13. දෙගල්දනව්ව 14. කොක්කාගල 15. මාවටු රට 16. මැවැලිදනව්ව 17. කළුවැලිදනව්ව 18. කිණිහිරි රට 19. මාගම 20. මීවෙල් දනව්ව 21. එරා උළුරට 22. මිණිගල්රට 23. රුහුණුගල්රට 24. දිගාමඬුල්ල 25. මල්වතූ මඬුල්ල 26. ගල්බෝ රට 27. කොටගල 28. සබරගොමුව 29. පිටිගම 30. කඩරට 31. ඇඹලව 32. සඳගිරිය 33. සීවය 34. ගිරිවාය 35. මාගල් මඬුල්ල 36. කුඹුක්ගං දනව්ව 37. වැලිගම 38. දහස් ගව්ව 39. දොළොස්දහස් රට 40. උග්ගල්රට 41. නඳුන්ගල් රට 42. සපුගල්රට 43. බද රට 44. මාතොට දෙව්නුවර ආදී වශයෙන්ය. මේ ප්රදේශ පාලනය සඳහා ද එදා ඈපාවරු හා මාපාවරු පත්කර සිටි අතර රජු මුළු රටේම ප්රධානියා විය. භූමියේ භාරකරුවා වූයේ මහරජුය. එය ඉර හඳ පවතිනා තුරු සත්යයක් ලෙස සෙල් පුවරුවල කොටා ප්රකාශයට පත්කර තිබිණි. අනෙක් රට වූ මායා රට ප්රමාණයෙන් කුඩා වූ අතර එය දැදුරුඔයේ බටහිර හා කළුගඟේ නැගෙනහිර මිටියාවතේ විහිද තිබිණි.
පසුව වර්ෂ 1815 දී අපේ රට ඉංග්රීසීන් යටත් කරගත් පසු ඔවුන්ගේ පහසුව පිණිස එක් එක් අවස්ථාවලදී අපේ රට බෙදා පාලනය කළහ. මේ අනුව මුල්වරට 1833 දී විශේෂ නිවේදනයක් මගින් ලංකාව කොටස් පහකට බෙදන ලද අතර ඒ කොටස් පහත අයත්වූ ජනපද ප්රදේශයන්ද බෙදා හඳුන්වා දෙන ලදී. එම ගැසට් නිවේදනය 1833 ඔක්තෝබර් 1 දින දරන විශේෂ නිවේදනය ලෙස හැඳින්වේ. සිතියම අංක 2 මගින් එය පැහැදිලි කෙරේ. මේ මගින් හඳුන්වාදුන් පළාත් නම් 1 .උතුරු පළාත 2. දකුණු පළාත 3. නැගෙනහිර පළාත 4. බස්නාහිර පළාත 5. මැද පළාත යනු විසිනි. මෙය අපට වැදගත් වන්නේ ලංකාවේ පළමුවන පළාත් බෙදීම මෙය වන නිසාය. ඊට අයත්වූ පාලන ප්රදේශ මෙසේය.
1. උතුරු පළාත - යාපනය, මන්නාරම, වන්නිය, නුවරකලාවිය. ඩෙල්µaට් දූපත.
1. උතුරු පළාත, යාපනය, මන්නාරම, වන්නිය නුවරකලාවිය, ඩෙල්µaට් දූපත,දකුණු පළාත, ගාල්ල, මාතර, හම්බන්තොට, සබරගමුවේ යකාවේල්ල, හතරබාගේ.
3. නැගෙනහිර පළාත - ත්රිකුණාමලය, මඩකලපුව, මධ්යම පළාතට ඇතුළත් නොවූ බින්තැන්නේ කොටස්.
June 1st, 2015 at 6:08 pm
June 1st, 2015 at 7:09 pm
SHYLOCK IS MUCH FAIRER PERSON THAN THESE TAMILS IN COMPARISON. I CALL UPON TOSE TAMILS INCLUDING SAMPANTHAN AND VIGNESWARAN TO SPELL OUT WHAT THEIR GRIEVANCES ARE. BLOODY BULL SHIT THEY SAYING. mAJORITY sINHALESE HAVE NO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST TAMIL PEOPLE.