| Chapter 32 | |||
|
Pirapaharan
By: T. Sabaratnam 32. The Return of Pirapaharan Filling the Vacuum Pirapaharan
landed near Valvettithurai before dawn on 18 February 1983, one and a
half years after he left for Tamil Nadu. When he left on midnight of 6
June 1981, six days after he witnessed the burning of the Jaffna
Library, he was sad and distressed.
Army and police pressure was on him. Hideouts became scarce.
Finance was running dry. His trusted friends had deserted him. He was
reduced to a position which forced him to arrange a “working
relationship” with TELO to keep his head and his movement aloft. In
the 19 months he spent in Tamil Nadu, though he underwent some
difficulties like Pondy Bazaar shootout and the consequent spell in
police custody, he had rebuilt the LTTE and had developed its strength
and made it capable of standing alone. The
mass agitational environment Jayewardene government’s actions had
built in Jaffna had created, Pirapaharan felt, the condition of popular
resentment necessary to take forward armed struggle. He also felt the
gradual rejection of TULF leadership by the people who felt that it had
surrendered itself to Jayewardene had created a leadership vacuum. He
discussed these two factors extensively with Baby Subramaniam and
Nedumaran. “The
conditions needed for the success of an armed struggle are now there,
thanks to Jayewardene,” Nedumaran recalls Pirapaharan telling him.
“All that is required is to sustain the momentum. If we fail to take
advantage it will dissipate,” Pirapaharan argued. He
decided to return to Jaffna with Seelan, whose knee injury had healed,
and convert the agitational atmosphere into a confrontational phase of
the struggle. He wanted to launch the freedom struggle he was yearning
to do since childhood. He wanted to hit back and hit back very hard. He
had one problem. He was on court bail. If he jumps, will it cause any
embarrassment or difficulty to Nedumaran. He was living in his house in
Madurai since the court released him on bail. “Will
it cause you any trouble if I return to Jaffna?” Pirapaharan asked
Nedumaran. Nedumaran
replied: “Don’t worry about me. Do what is good for you and your
struggle.” On
the very night, he landed in Jaffna, the LTTE which was lying low after
the October 27 Chavakachcheri Police Station attack, struck and struck
hard stunning the police and the army. Around
8.15 that night Point Pedro Police Inspector E. K. R. Wijewardene went
in his jeep to Siri Café to buy cigarettes. His family had come on a
holiday and he had invited his friends for dinner. When he was about to
get into the jeep after buying the cigarettes, four Tigers who had been
following him, shot and killed him and his driver Weerasinghe, who got
down to open the door for his boss, and drove away in the police jeep 31
Sri 5627. The jeep was found abandoned at Puttur the next day. Wijewardene
killing did what Pirapaharan had planned. Eelanadu
led with the story the next morning giving graphic details. It also
covered in detail the inquest and the investigation the following days
including the search the army intelligence unit made for Mahattaya in
Valvettithurai. Residents of Vadamarachchi were pleased with the murder.
They considered Wijewardene a terror. He used the powers conferred on
him by the Prevention of Terrorism Act to harass civilians. His removal
from the scene was welcomed as a help done to them. Wijewardene murder
was the first step Pirapaharan took to give a new character to the armed
struggle: Protector of the People from State Terrorism. Four
days later, on 22 February, Pirapaharan added another characteristic to
the armed struggle: Protector of the People from Corruption and other
Social Ills The
first victim was Kopay Member of Parliament A. M. Alalasundaram. He was
then the president of Jaffna Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society (MPCS). Alalasundaram,
a pungent orator and a lawyer, was a virulent critic of the supporters
of Sirimavo Bandaranaike government who accepted positions and perks. He
was specially critical of Alfred Duraiappah who was president of MPCS.
At public meetings, he ridiculed Duraiappah calling him “coopan kallan”
meaning “ration book thief.” After the 1977 election, TULF using its
closeness to Jayewardene followed the practice it earlier criticized.
Alalasundaram was appointed president of the Jaffna MPCS. Thereafter,
there were charges of corruption and misuse and abuse of power by him.
Manoharan, an employee, started a death fast pinpointing the
malpractices and demanded Alalasundaram’s resignation. He demanded
that the accounts and other documents be audited by an independent group
of citizens to verify his charges. Then
one night, the building where the documents were stored caught fire and
all vital documents were destroyed. The general belief was that that
fire was engineered by Alalasundaram. Pirapaharan decided to teach
Alalasundaram and the TULF that they could not act as they like and the
interest of the people was paramount. Hearing
knocks at the door of his house at Kalviyankadu, Alalasundaram asked who
it was. “Alal annaiyai parka venum” (Want to see elder brother Alal),
someone replied. Alalsundaram opened the door. Ganesh of the LTTE went
up to him and shot at his right foot. “Annai
(elder brother). Take this as a warning. Do not continue your corrupt
activities,” Ganesh warned and rode away in the bicycle he came. Next
day it was the talk of the town. “Alal had been warned by the LTTE,”
was the topic of appreciative conversation. By
shooting at Alalasundaram Pirapaharan gave four messages to the agitated
people. First, the LTTE is back in action. Second, it will protect you.
Third, it will take action against corrupt elements. Fourth, it is no
longer the handmaid of the TULF. Next
day, the LTTE issued a signed leaflet. It called anti-social activities
a heinous crime. It gave details of the corrupt activities of
Alalsundaram. It said Alalsundaram was shot in the right foot as a
warning. The
warning administered to Alalasundaram had the desired effect. The
members of the Jaffna MPCS board of management resigned. TULF leaders
who were under the impression that the LTTE would not go against it
began to shiver. Amirthalingam issued a statement condemning the
Alalasundaram shooting incident. Thangadurai’s Historic Speech The
mounting Tamil anger against state terrorism and repression was kindled
by a courtroom drama on February 17 and 24. On February 17, the day on
which Pirapaharan left Madurai on his return journey, senior defence
counsel N. Satyendra, who defended the accused in the Neerveli Bank
Robbery, wound up his submission with the historic words which touched
the nerves of every Tamil, in Sri Lanka and abroad. The
accused in that case heard by the High Court Judge C. L. T. Moonemale
were: Thangadurai, Kuttimani, Thevan, Sivapalan Master, Nadesathasan and
Sri Sabaratnam who was absconding. Said
Satiyendra: As regards my clients, the accused, I wish to state publicly
from this court of record, that in the presence of those individuals who
belong to my community and who have been prepared to sacrifice what is
perhaps the most precious possession of any individual- his very life-
for the cause of the liberation of their people, I feel humble.” On
24 February the Judge asked the accused whether they had anything to say
before he sentenced them to life imprisonment, Thangdurai made a moving
speech in Tamil which Satyendra translated at the beginning. As the
speech progressed Satyendra was moved to tears. Overcome with emotion he
informed the judge his inability to continue translation.
Sivasithamparam who assisted him translated the rest of the speech, Thangadurai
who traced the history of the Tamils, discriminations heaped on them
after independence, the failure of the effort the moderate leadership
took to win for the Tamil people their legitimate rights and the
emergence of armed struggle to meet state oppression unleashed on them
concluded his moving speech thus: “We
are not lovers of violence, nor victims of mental disorder. We are
fighters, belonging to an organization that is struggling to liberate
our people. To those noble souls who keep on prating about terrorism, we
have something to say. “It
is only when a few ruthless policemen were killed in Tamil Eelam and few
million rupees bank money robbed that terrorism strikes you in the
face… "But
my fervent prayer is that innocent Sinhalese people should not have to
reap what the power-hungry Sinhalese politicians have sown. These
tribulations are a boon bestowed by the God to purify us. The final
victory is ours.” I
was present in the court when Thangadurai made his prediction of final
victory and prayed that innocent Sinhalese people be spared of reaping
what their power hungry leaders had sown. I was moved to tears. All
Tamils present in court were also moved. Thangathurai united all of us
emotionally. He also united the Tamils living in Sri Lanka and abroad.
He cemented the growing Tamil emotional union. Tamil
papers highlighted the concluding portion of Thangadurai’s speech and
wrote editorials on the impact it would have on the Tamil people.
English language papers ignored the speech and highlighted the sentence
and speculated that it would help end Tamil ‘terrorism’. Sinhala
papers gloated at the sentence and praised the army and the police for
arresting the perpetrators of terrorism. Sinhala journalists failed to
realize and analyze the impact the speech would have on the Tamils and
the future of Sri Lanka. They never realized that there are two parties
to the ethnic conflict. By presenting only one side of the problem they
aided ad abetted the crimes committed by their leaders.
The Second Landmine Attack The
re-emergence of the LTTE shook the government and its security
establishment. It changed the security situation in the north
dramatically. Army Commander Tissa Weeratunga told David Selabourne, a
British journalist: “We are not on top. The initiative is with the
terrorists. They choose the
time and place. We can only be reactive.” Weeratunga
was unaware at the time he made this remark that Pirapaharan was
preparing for a landmine war that would restrict army’s reactive
capability. The failure of the Ponnalai Causeway attempt to blow up the
naval convoy did not discourage the LTTE in experimenting with the
landmines. They learnt from the mistakes and adopted measures to correct
them. They found the use of a generator to generate electricity to power
the exploder cumbersome. It was too heavy to carry and made a lot of
noise. They replaced the generator with a lorry battery. The
second landmine explosion experiment was also not a total success. It
was conducted near Umayalpuram Kovil in Kilinochchi on 4 March 1983.
Seelan was placed in charge of the operation. Sellakili, as in the first
attempt, was to activate the landmines with an exploder. Unlike in the
Ponnalai Causeway attempt, this time the Tigers added a new element.
They decided to shoot the soldiers who escape the explosion. The
Tigers who arrived in a mini-bus buried two mines on the road and
covered them with tar. The wire that connected the mines to the exploder
was covered with tar and sand. The Tigers divided themselves into two
groups and took up position on either side of the road. Their target was
the military truck that brought meals to the soldiers who provided
protection to the Kilinochi Police Station. The military truck brought
the meals from Elephant Pass Camp- breakfast, lunch and dinner. The
Tigers chose to attack the breakfast truck because vehicular traffic at
that time was minimal. The
army truck left Elephant Pass around 7 a.m. Four soldiers escorted it.
Seelan who was observing the road alerted his colleagues when he sighted
the truck. Sellakili mistimed this time too. But it was an improvement
on the Ponnalai attempt. Both landmines exploded when the truck was ten
meters away. The driver brought the truck to a halt just before it
reached the crater dug by the explosion. The soldiers jumped out firing
their automatic rifles. Tigers
fired at them from both sides. Two soldiers were hurt. They threw away
their weapons and ran back towards Elephant Pass. The driver too fled
abandoning the truck. The Tigers came on to the road and assembled
behind the truck. Two of them picked up the guns while two others
crawled under the truck to study it. They ate the food parcels they had
brought and drank fruit drinks. They took things easy because they
thought army reinforcements would arrive only after the soldiers who
fled send messages to Elephant Pass Camp. But
an unexpected thing happened. Two scout cars of the Armoured Corps was
on their way from Mankulam Camp to Palaly. They were on a routine change
over. They carried seven soldiers. The leading scout car noticed an army
truck on the centre of the road. The driver observed a group of persons
in military uniform standing near the truck. Tigers also noticed the
army vehicle speeding towards them. They jumped onto both sides of the
road and started firing at the army vehicles. The
driver of the first scout car applied the break. Two soldiers in the
first car were injured. The driver of the second car swerved to avoid
colliding with the first and fell into a ditch. The Tigers upset by this
unexpected turn of events ran towards Paranthan where they had parked
their mini-bus. = In
their haste, four of them left behind their shoes. Army intelligence
investigators found that they were jungle boots with the names of the
users written on them. The
names on them were Kittu, Ganesh, Victor and Pottu. Those
men were not used to jungle boots and found it easier to run barefoot. Investigators
found a small piece of paper near the army truck. In it was written the
name Chitravel Sivanantharajah and the address Kiliveddi, Trincomalee
District. Soldiers of the Army Intelligence Unit traveled to Kiliveddi
to question Sivanantharajah. He told them that Charles Anthony, his
classmate who is already in the LTTE, had tried to drag him into the
LTTE but he did not join. The investigators who released him arrested
28-year-old Kathirgamathamby Navaratnarajah on suspicion under the PTA
at Kiliveddi on 25 March and brought him to Gurunagar for
investigations. He died in custody on 10 April 1983. The
army which handed his body to the Jaffna Hospital said he died due to
illness but that was challenged. Dr. N. Saravanapavananthan, Additional
Judicial Medical Officer (A. J. M. O.) held the post-mortem examination
and the inquest. He was Professor of Forensic Medicine, Jaffna
University. The
medical report submitted by Dr. Saravanapavananthan read: There were
twenty-five external injuries and ten internal injuries in the deceased
Navaratnarajah’s body. The contusions of the lungs could have been
caused by blows. I am of the opinion that death was due to
cardio-respiratory failure due to multiple muscle injuries and
contusions of the lungs. In my opinion, adequate treatment from an
institution would have saved his life.” The
Saturday Review of 30 April
1983 which led with the Navaratnarajah story said the police searched
the mortuary after the inquest was completed for the file about the
inquest. They could not get it because Dr. Saravanapavananthan had kept
it at a safe place. The
death of Navaratnarajah and the torture inflicted on youths detained
under PTA further aroused Tamil indignation and intensified their
feeling of alienation. Torture of detainees had become the rule and not
an exception and that had created an environment of confrontation
between the Tamil public and the police and the armed forces of the
state. On
5 April, five days before Navaratnarajah’s death, police baton charged
and tear- gassed to break a procession of students who protested against
arrests and torture under the PTA. The students organized the protest
march to begin from St. James Church, Main Street. On the morning of 5
April the police cordoned off the church premises and prevented anyone
going towards it. The students commenced the march from the nearby
Cathedral grounds thus beating the police cordon. Enraged policemen
intercepted the march and dispersed it. Countrywide Repression Jayewardene
regime, while unleashing state sponsored oppression in the north-east,
resorted to increased repression in the Sinhala majority south. Starting
with the break up of the 1980 general strike using the UNP trade union
Janatha Sevaka Sangamaya’s (JSS) thugs Jayewardene government put down
all opposition with a heavy hand. The two sectors that showed some sort
of resistance were the farmers of the Moneragala District, who protested
against the takeover of their lands by sugar multinationals, and
university students who resisted government’s interference in the
university administration and the threat it posed to free education. The
students expanded the scope of their opposition by demanding the repeal
of the PTA and calling for an end to ‘police brutality’. University
students tasted
police brutality when striking students of Colombo and Sri
Jayawardenepura universities were assaulted and chased away. This led to
the boycott of lecturers by students of Kelaniya, Peradena, Ruhuna and
Batticoloa Universities and to the one-day strike of 24 February. The
repression took the form of pushing the opposition into disarray and the
use of widespread violence to win elections. Pushing out Sirimavo
Bandaranaike from the election arena was followed by imprisoning the
rising star of the opposition Vijaya Kumaratunga through the invention
of the Naxalite plot and the skilful manipulation of Anura Bandaranaike.
Widespread violence, intimidation and ballot stuffing were practiced
since the Presidential election. Making use of the police to arrest SLFP
district level organizers and polling agents on trumped up charges was a
novel practice developed by the Jayewardene government. Jayewardene
government also practiced the art of making democratic-looking gestures
to whitewash its sins. Following the referendum to extend the life of
the 1977 parliament for another six years which was criticized locally
and internationally President Jayewardene held by-elections in 18
constituencies where “No” votes exceeded the “Yes” votes. The
UNP won in 14 constituencies in the elections held on 18 May 1983 and
Jayewardene claimed those results showed that his party continued to
enjoy popular support. But opposition parties charged the UNP of
election malpractices. In March
1983, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam circulated a memorandum
addressed to the chairman and world leaders who were participating in
the seventh summit meeting of Non-Aligned Nations, held in New Delhi
between March 7 and 15, documenting the state terrorism practiced by the
government of Sri Lanka and the need for the Tigers to enter into an
armed conflict with the government for the creation of a separate state
for Tamils. The memorandum declared: Jayewardene
government used the police and the army as tools of oppression. The
Civil Rights Movement had voiced its concern about this disturbing
trend. . At a meeting held on 15 April 1983 under the chairmanship of
Bishop Lakshman Wickremasinghe the Civil Rights Movement expressed
concern at the growing indications of police misconduct. It listed in
particular: assaults against journalists at Kotmale; assault and
unlawful detention of a 17-year-old boy at the Kandy police station;
assaults against women strikers at Ekala; assaults against students at
Jayewardenepura; death of a suspect held in police custody at Matale;
assault against pavement hawkers in Colombo; and assault against former
M.P. Mrs. Vivienne Gunawardene. The
treatment Tamils received was worse. They were detained on mere
suspicion, tortured, and made to sign confessional statements which the
police themselves wrote. And those statements were used against the
arrested persons to convict them. In its issue of 30 April 1983, Saturday
Review highlighted the detention and torture of architect
Arulanandan David, President of Gandhiyam. Next: Chapter: 33. Knocking Out the Base
|
|||