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Pirapaharan
By: T. Sabaratnam 33. Knocking Out the Base Grabbing Land A
joint police and army team led by police detectives raided the Pankulam
settlement of Tamils of the Indian origin on the orders of Vavuniya
Assistant Government Agent at 10 a.m. on 6 April 1983 and set fire to
their crops and huts. They then raided the Gandhyam head office in
Vavuniya and took its organizing secretary Dr S Rajasundaram to
Gurunagar army camp for questioning. Two days later, they arrested
Arulanandam David, its founder president. Both were taken into custody
under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act. The
well-organized sweep on Gandhyam, a charitable organization engaged in
rehabilitating Indian Tamil families chased out of the hill country by
Sinhalese mobs during the 1977 riots, was part of a carefully planned
program of Jayewardene government to knock out the territorial base for
the Tamil claim of Tamil Eelam. Tamils claimed that northern and eastern
provinces constitute their traditional homeland and they had the right
to govern that region. The Sinhalese disputed that claim and set out to
destroy the very base of that claim. State
aided Sinhala colonization of the eastern and northern provinces was the
original provocation for Tamils to claim autonomy for northeast under a
united federal Sri Lanka. Originally, state aided colonization was
thought of as one of the solutions to Sri Lanka’s problem of rural
landlessness. It was first advocated by the British Governor Sir Hugh
Clifford in 1927 but he cautioned that land was a very sensitive matter
to all communities in Sri Lanka and they get emotional about it. His
suggestion was to settle the landless persons of the wet zone in the
unexploited areas in the dry zone. Sir
Hugh’s proposal was referred to a Land Commission appointed by the
Legislative Council in 1927. It identified vast stretches of undeveloped
land in Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Mannar, Mullaitivu and
Jaffna for settlement. Agriculture Minister D. S. Senanayake presented
in 1933 the Land Development Ordinance which provided for the systematic
development of crown lands. It provided for the allocation of state land
for village expansion, government use and establishment of agricultural
settlement. The
earliest land alienation for peasants was established in Minneriya where
Sinhalese farmer-families were settled. That was followed by a scheme to
settle Tamil farmer families in Kilinochchi in the Northern Province.
Then, Sinhalese were settled in Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura. Everything
looked fair and fine. Tamil landless peasants were settled in Tamil
majority areas and Sinhala landless peasants were settled in Sinhala
majority areas. Tamils like the Sinhalese welcomed state aided
colonization. Everything
changed in 1949, a year after Sri Lanka attained independence from
British rule, with the inauguration of the Gal Oya Scheme. In February
that year, Sri Lanka’s first prime minister D. S. Senanayake, summoned
his permanent secretary Sir Kandiah Vaithiyanathan, Director of
Irrigation T. Alagaratnam, Surveyor General Dr. S. Brohier and told them
of his intention to construct a massive irrigation scheme by building a
dam across the Paddipalai Aru. He told them that irrigation scheme would
benefit the farmers in the Tamil villages in the region and Sinhalese
farmer families could be settled in the excess irrigable land. He
instructed Alagaratnam to do the feasibility study. Alagaratnam
told Virakesari in an interview how enthused he and Sir Kandiah
Vaithiyanathan were when the prime minister announced his plan. “We
never dreamt that he had at the back of his mind a scheme to grab the
Tamil land.” Alagaratnam and his group of irrigation department
officials traveled to the Muslim village Samanthurai and traveled
upstream in block carts. Paddipalai Aru
originates from the Madulseema mountain Range in the Badulla district
and runs down about 85 kilometers to reach the Bay of Bengal. The study
group first went to Paddipalai, a prosperous Tamil village with rich
history extending to over 3rd Century BC. From there it went
to Inginiyagala where it discovered a convenient spot suitable to build
a dam. Alagaratnam
Committee recommended the construction of an irrigation scheme. The
prime minister, on the basis of the recommendation of the Alagaratnam
Committee report, enacted in parliament legislation to set up a special
board to handle the construction and the settlement work. He named it
the Gal Oya Development Board. The Tamil name Paddipalai Aru was given a
Sinhala name Gal Oya. Thus began the process of changing Tamil names
into Sinhala, an effort to which Sinhala ‘scholars’ lent their
blessing and ‘research’. Prime
Minister D. S. Senanayake inaugurated the construction of the Gal Oya
project at Inginiyagala on 28 August 1949 which was over by the end of
the next year. The reservoir was named Senanayake Samudra. The
development scheme which encompassed 120,000 acres was divided into 40
settlements and in each settlement 150 farmer families were allocated
five acres each. Only six of those settlements were allocated to the
Tamils and the settlers numbering 900 families were mostly local
residents. Over 7,000 Sinhalese families were settled in the settlements
allocated to the Sinhalese. All of them were brought from outside. Thus,
D. S. Senanayake whom the Sinhalese call the father of the nation became
the father of the land grab movement and the father of Sri Lanka’s
ethnic dispute. Prior
to the commencement of the Gal Oya scheme the Eastern Province comprised
of Trincomalee and Batticoloa districts. Ampara district was created in
1961 by bifurcating from the Batticoloa district the areas colonized
with Sinhalese. In 1911, the area carved out to create the Ampara
district was a Muslim majority area with Tamils coming second and
Sinhalese third. The Muslim population in 1911 was 36,843 (55%), Tamils
24,733 (37%) and Sinhalese 4,762 (07%). In the 1921 census the
population in that area was: Muslims 31,943, Tamils 25,203 and Sinhalese
7,285. The result of the Gal Oya scheme and the associated Sinhala
colonization is reflected in the following census figures: In 1953:
Muslims 37,901, Tamils 39,985 and Sinhalese 26,459. In 1963, Muslims
97,990 (45.6%), Sinhalese 62,160 (29%), and Tamils 49,220 (23.5%).
Tamils had been pushed to the third place by the Sinhalese. In 1971
Muslims 123,365 (47%), Sinhalese 82,280 (30%) and Tamils 60,519 (22%).
In 1981 Muslims 166,889 (47%), Sinhalese 146,371 (38.01%) and Tamils
78,315 (20%). Since then Sinhalese have moved to the first place. Tamils
who were settled in six settlements were chased away during the first
riots against the Tamils in June 1956. Those who returned to their lands
after the riots were again chased away during the second riots in May
1958. The few who returned after that were chased away by the army in
1990. Since then Sinhalese colonists are cultivating the lands allocated
to the Tamils and Gal Oya scheme is ethically cleansed. Trapping
Trincomalee D. S. Senanayake was not content with settling
Simhalese in the Batticoloa district. He also inaugurated the move to
grab the land in the Trincomalee district. Vanni in the north and most
parts of the eastern province were prosperous agricultural areas with
well developed tank-irrigated rice cultivation network. Similar networks
were prevalent in the dry zones in the Sinhala majority south and in
Tamil Nadu in South India. Tank irrigation was the conventional
agricultural practice of the region and is common among the Tamils and
the Sinhalese. Trincomalee district is dotted with such irrigation
networks. Kanthalai kulam –kulam is a small-sized tank- was one of
them. It provided irrigation to the rice fields in the Tamil villages of
Thambalagamam and Kinniya. D. S. Senanayake renovated and deepened the
tank under the Kanthalai Development Scheme in 1948 and settled Sinhala
colonists by bringing fresh areas under cultivation. Kanthalai scheme commenced the process of settling a
substantial number of Sinhalese in the Trincomalee district. Of the
86,000 Sinhalese who lived in 1981 in the Trincomalee district 40,000
reside in Kanthalai Development Scheme region. Encouraged by the success of the Kanthali
colonization D. S. Senanayake started the Allai Scheme in 1950. It was
completed by his son Dudley Senanayake who succeeded him when he died in
1952. Allai scheme was started by building a dam across Verugal Aru, a
tributary of Mahawali Ganga. This area was formerly known as Koddiyar.
Tamils and Sinhalese lived there but the Tamils were in the majority. By
the beginning of the 20th Century there was only one
divisional secretariat division in that area. It was known as Koddiyar
Divisional Secretariat division. Now there are three: Mutur, Seruvila
and Verugal. Seruvila division was created in 1960 and Verugal division
in 1980 to cater the needs of the Sinhala colonists settled there. In
1981, out of the 20,187 persons who lived in the Seruvila division
11,665 were Sinhalese who were brought from outside. The Sinhala governments did not stop with colonizing
the Tamil areas with Sinhala farmers. They foisted Sinhala colonists on
traditional Tamil villages and renamed them to show that they were
Sinhala villages. The villages Pulasthigama, Kankayapaduna serve as
examples. They also changed the names of ancient Tamil villages into
Sinhala. The Tamil village Arippu was given the name Serunuwara, Kallaru
the name Somapura, Neelapallai the name Nilapola, Poonagar the name
Mahindapuraand Thirumangavai the name Dehiwatte. By 1951, state aided colonization of the Eastern
Province emerged as a major point of dispute between the Sinhalese and
the Tamils. Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake in his independence day
address on 4 February 1951 claimed the accelerated agricultural
settlements as a major achievement of his government. This claim irritated the Tamils. State aided Sinhala colonization of the traditional
lands of the Tamil speaking people was continued with added vigour by
the subsequent governments. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike government
commenced in 1956 the Padaviya colonization scheme. It was started with
the intention of settling the workers who lost their jobs when
Trincomalee harbour which was under the British was taken over by Sri
Lanka. The government wanted to settle 595 Tamil families and 453
Sinhala families. The Sinhalese with the help of Buddhist priests
objected to the settlement of the Tamils and Sinhala families forcibly
occupied the huts built to settle Tamil families. Thus Padaviya was
turned into a Sinhala colonization scheme. Sirimavo Bandaranaike government started the Morawewa
Scheme in 1960. The original name of Morawewa tank was Mudali Kulam, an
ancient Tamil settlement. In 1981 the population of Morawewa was 9271 of
which 5101 were Sinhalese, all of whom were brought from outside the
region. Mahadivukwewa scheme was started by Jayewardene government. The
ancient Tamil name Periyavilankulam was translated to Mahadivulwewa. Apart from the state aided colonization schemes,
politically backed illegal Sinhala colonization schemes too sprang in
the Trincomalee district. The motivation behind such schemes was to
convert Trincomalee district into a Sinhala majority district. In 1972
the ancient Tamil settlement Nochikulam was christened Nochiyagama and
Sinhalese were settled in 5000 acres. In 1973 the government backed
Sinhala chauvinistic organizations commenced a new type of
Sinhala settlements. They settled Sinhala families in the state
land surrounding Tamil villages. Such illegal settlements sprang around
the Tamil villages Kuchchaveli, Pulmoddai, Thihiriyai and Thennamaravadi.
About 10,750 Sinhala families were settled through this scheme. Table 3
in the Introduction to this series illustrates the extent of the changes
Sinhala colonization had effected to the racial composition of
Trincomalee district. State aided and illegal colonization schemes also had
another sinister objective. They were intended to sever the links the
Tamils living in Trincomalee had with the Tamils living in the north and
Batticoloa- Ampara region. The Sinhala settlements were located on both
sides of the four main roads that connect Tamil majority Trincomalee
town with the rest of the country. Kanthalai scheme is on the
Trincomalee- Kandy road. Allai Scheme is on the Trincomalee- Batticoloa
road. Morawewa Scheme is on Trincomalee- Vavuniya road. Padaviya Scheme
is on the Trincomalee- Mullaitivu road. In case of an attack on the
Tamils in Trincomalee town, they have no escape route. This is the reply
Sinhala government had given to the Tamil intention to make Trincomalee
the capital of Tamil Eelam. Sinhala governments have also turned Trincomalee and
environs where Sinhala settlements had been started into a security
fortress. A Naval Camp is located at Trincomalee harbour. Airforce camps
are established at China Bay and Morawewa. About half of the 300 army
camps set up in the North-eastern province is sited at and around
Trincomalee. Vavuniya district too was affected by Sinhala
colonization. Adjustments in the borders of the Vavuniya and Trincomalee
districts were resorted to bring in the Padaviya scheme into Vavuniya
district to enable the creation of a new Divisional Secretary Division
– the Vavuniya South division- to extend the areas under Sinhala
colonization into the Vavuniya district. Illegal Sinhala settlements
were also encouraged. In 1881, population of Vavuniya district comprised
13,164 Tamils and 1157 Sinhalese. In 1981, it was 54,179 Tamils and
15,794 Sinhalese. Effect of
Sinhala Colonization State aided Sinhala colonization in the northern and
eastern provinces impacted on the Tamils in three ways. Firstly, it
altered the demographic pattern of the traditional areas of habitation
of the Tamils, especially in the eastern province. Secondly, it deprived
the Tamils of a considerable extent of rich agricultural land. Thirdly,
it reduced Tamil representation in parliament. The change effected on the racial distribution in the
Eastern Province through planned state aided Sinhala colonization is
well illustrated in Table 1.
Table 1 Demographic change in the Eastern Province (1881- 1981)
Table 2 illustrates the impact on the North-East, the
traditional homeland of the Tamil-speaking people.
Table 2 Change in the racial composition in the North-East (1881-1981)
Sinhala colonization, creation of the new Sinhala
dominated district of Ampara, carving out of new Sinhala majority
electorates like Seruvila in the Trincomalee district and Vavuniya South
in the Vavuniya district gave the Sinhalese parliamentary representation
form the Tamil homeland of the North-east thus reducing Tamil
representation from that region. Sinhala representation rose with the
introduction of the proportional representation system of election.
In the parliamentary election of 1977 two Sinhalese
were elected from the eastern province, one each from Ampara and
Seruvila. Since the introduction of the proportional representation
system in 1978 Sinhala representation from the eastern province rose to
five and a Sinhala representative was elected from the north. Tamil
Reaction Tamil
resistance to Sinhala domination commenced March 1950, six months after
D. S. Senanayake inaugurated the construction work of the Gal Oya
project and three months after the formation of the Federal Party on 18
December 1949. The Federal Party timed its stir to coincide with the
settlement of the Sinhala colonists in the first settlement. It also
opposed the renaming of the river Padipalai Aru to Gal Oya. The
Federal Party agitation sowed in the Tamil mind the feeling that the
Sinhala governments are out to grab their land and laid the foundation
for Tamil unity. The Gal Oya colonization bred, for the first time,
among the Tamils of the north-east, especially among the Tamils living
in the southern part of the Batticoloa district, a sense of solidarity. Tamil
reaction to Sinhala land grab took two forms: preventing the state from
continuing its Sinhala colonization program through democratic agitation
and incorporating specific provisions in the political agreements signed
with Sinhala leaders and through the settlement of Tamil peasants in the
border areas. Sinhala colonization of the Eastern Province surfaced
as the main concern of the Inaugural National Convention of the Federal
Party held in Trincomalee in April 1951. The Federal Party leader S. J.
V. Chelvanayakam warned the Tamil people of the dangers that lie ahead
of them in his presidential address.
He warned:
“Population and land are
the main safeguards for a minority
community. The Sinhala government has begun to attack both.
By depriving the Indian Tamils of their citizenship they reduced
the population of the Tamil community. By commencing Sinhala
settlements in Gal Oya and Kanthalai they have started to attack
the land of the Tamils… Today it is Gal Oya and Kanthalai.
tomorrow it will be Padaviya, Vavuniya and Mannar. The Convention adopted a special resolution
condemning state aided colonization in Tamil majority areas to make them
minorities in their traditional areas of habitation. The resolution said:
Tamil speaking persons have inalienable and fundamental right
to the lands in which they had lived for generations. By starting
planned, exclusive Sinhala settlements the government is
violating
the fundamental rights of the Tamil speaking people. The
Inaugural Convention of the Federal Party condemns this effort
as an attempt to destroy the settled life of the Tamil speaking
people. The attack on population Chelvanayakam referred in
his presidential address was to the enactment of citizenship laws by the
D. S. Senanayake government to deprive nearly a million persons of
Indian origin their citizenship rights. That reduced Tamil
representation in parliament and their share of state power. Since the 1950 March Gal Oya agitation Thanthai
Chelva had made safeguarding of
Tamil territory his major concern and had sloganized: suvar irunthalthan cithram varaiyalam which means the wall must be
retained if you want to paint on it. Protecting the ‘wall’ became
one of the main resolution in all subsequent annual conventions of the
Federal Party and Thanthai Chelva’s main preoccupation in the
negotiations he had with Sinhala leaders and the agreements he entered
with them. Prevention of state-aided Sinhala colonization of Tamil
homeland was the cornerstone of the two agreements he entered into with
two Prime Ministers. In
the Bandaranaike- Chelvanayakam Pact (B- C Pact) he signed with Prime
Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike on 25 July 1957, he ensured that the
administration of the colonization schemes is brought under the regional
councils to be set up under the agreement. The relevant section in Part
B of the Pact reads: 6.
It was agreed that in the matter of colonization schemes the powers of
the regional councils shall include the power to select allottees
to whom land within their area of authority shall be alienated and also
power to select personnel to be employed for work on such schemes. The
position regarding the area at present administered by Gal Oya Board in
this matter requires consideration. In the Dudley Senanayake-
Chelvanayakam Agreement he signed with Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake
on 24 March 1965 he incorporated further safeguards so that the Tamil
territory would be retained by the Tamil people. The final part of the
agreement deals with this. It reads: 4)
The Land Development Ordinance will be amended to provide that citizens
of Ceylon be entitled to the allotment of land under the Ordinance.
Mr. Senanayake further agreed that in the granting of land under
colonization schemes the following priorities be observed in the
Northern and Eastern provinces.
(a)
Land in the Northern and Eastern provinces should in the first instance
be granted to landless persons in the district.
(b)
Secondly, to Tamil-speaking persons resident in the northern and eastern
provinces.
(c) Thirdly, to other citizens in Ceylon, preference being given
to Tamil citizens in the rest of the island. The failure of both pacts knocked off the safeguards
Thanthai Chelva tried to build into the solution he reached with the two
Prime Ministers. That left open to the Sinhala leadership to carve
chunks of Tamil territory and to alter the demography of the Tamil
majority North East. Tamils also took steps to safeguard their homeland by
settling down in the border areas. J. D. Arudpragasam’s (Arular’s)
father J. Arulappu was one of the pioneers. Arulappu, a teacher and a
Federal Party activist, bought a land owned by the Catholic Church in
Kannadi near the Madhu Church and set up his own farm in 1964. That
encouraged some committed Tamils to migrate to the agriculturally rich
Vanni. Two years later an organized attempt was made by the
Federal Party Youth League to create a Tamil settlement in a place
called Kithul Oorttu in the Trincomalee district. Enraged by the news
that Sinhala farmers were to be settled around a renovated tank in the
Trincomalee district Tamil youths forcibly occupied the settlement.
Trincomalee Government Agent, a Sinhalese, ordered them to evacuate the
area. When they refused he with the help of the police and his officials
set fire to the huts and got them arrested. The Federal Party, which was
in the Dudley Senanayake government, persuaded the prime minister to
work out a settlement whereby some of the allotments were given to the
Tamils. Arulappu’s pioneering effort and Kithul Oorttu
settlement were exceptions. The preference of Jaffna Tamils of that time
was government service. The movement to settle down in the jungle border
areas failed to win support among Jaffna Tamils. The efforts of militant
Tamil youths to start settlements in Vanni in 1977 also failed to evince
support. Another section of Tamils, people of Indian origin
who worked in tea and rubber estates, were willing to settle down in the
northeast and adopt agriculture as their livelihood. Their lives had
been disrupted following the nationalization of British owned estates in
the 1970s. They were unemployed and were forcibly evicted from the
estates where they lived for generations. They drifted towards the
northeast, especially to Vavuniya and Batticoloa. Politically backed Tamil groups settled them in those
districts. A few settlements sprung in 1975 in the Kalkudah electorate
represented by K. W. Devanayagam. The government reacted with anger. It
ordered the police to evict the settlers. Their huts were torched. Some
were beaten, arrested and remanded. Devanayagam and Thondaman sent
telegrams to Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi requesting her to take
up the matter with Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Batticoloa District Judge Shanmuganathan, to whom the
evicted settlers petitioned, ruled the police action unlawful. That
enabled them to return to their settlements
to Punanai and other interior areas. Their success in life
prompted a steady flow of hill country Tamils to the border areas of the
northeast. This flow swelled following the 1977 riots, when premeditated
violence was unleashed on Tamils living in predominantly Sinhala areas. The plight of Tamil refugees, most of them very poor,
motivated many Tamils. A group of such motivated men met at Saraswathy
Hall, the main refugee camp in Colombo and formed an organization to
settle the refugees in the border areas of the northeast. The
organization was named Tamil Refugees Rehabilitation Organization
(TRRO). K. C. Nithiyanantha, a veteran trade unionist, was elected the
president and K. Kandasamy, then a successful corporate lawyer, the
secretary. TRRO organized some settlements in border areas in
Trincomalee, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya but concentrated more in providing
resources to other organizations. Gandhyam Gandhyam was one such organization. It was founded by
two idealists, Dr. S. Rajasundaram and
Arulanandan David, an architect. Both were involved refugee
resettlement work since the beginning of the 70s but founded Gandhyam
after the 1977 riots. It provided the refugee-settlers agricultural
advice, facilities and materials. Volunteer workers ran schools and day
care centres for children. The U.S. agency C.A.R.E. supplied packets of
Triposha -- balanced cereal food for children. N.O.V.I.B. and O.X.F.A.M.
helped Gandhiyam. Within two years these settlers became self supportive
and self- sufficient. Dr. Rajasundaram was in London with his wife Dr.
Shanthy Karalasingham who graduated in 1967 from Peradeniya Medical
Faculty when the 1977 riots broke out. Both were distressed and
disturbed. They decided to return to Vanni and continue Dr.
Rajasundaram’s earlier pioneering mission of providing a new life to
the displaced. Dr. Shanthy opened a medical clinic in Vavuniya town and
Dr. Rajasundaram took up his rehabilitation work. He operated from the
Gandhyam head office in Vavuniya. Dr. Rajasundaram’s humanitarian work earned the ire
of the Sinhala officials and
police in Vavuniya. They launched a campaign against him and the
Gandhyam Movement. News
items and articles attacking the Gandhyam
was planted in the Sinhala and English press. Those reports
portrayed Gandhyam as a TULF movement to grab state land. Vavuniya
police that planted these news stories and articles were then unaware
that Dr. Rajasundaram was a virulent critic of the TULF in general and
Amirthalingam in particular. Police was also not aware that the LTTE,
then under the leadership of Uma Maheswaran, had started its own farm
Poonthoddam and Dr. Rajasundaram was associating closely with Uma
Maheswaran. By December 1978 the first sowing of black gram
(ulunthu) had yielded a bumber crop and Dr. Rajasundaram’s settlement
scheme had proved a success. One day during that time Dr. Rajasundaram
took a foreign visitor around the farm and who was thrilled with the
experiment. Dr. Rajasundaram took his visitor to a hut of a settler and
while enjoying the refreshments served by the peasant he opened his
heart. “A lot of opposition is building up in the South
about this project. Police and Sinhala officials are against it. There
are rumours that Sinhala mobs from Madawachchiya might be instigated to
attack these settlements and chase away the settlers,” he confided.
Then added: “I see one a way out. That is to train some youths in
firearms so that they can defend themselves.” He had arranged for such
training after PLOTE was formed. Anti-Gandhyam propaganda heightened after Herath was
appointed Assistant Superintendent of Police in Vavuniya. He sent a
series of reports to the defence ministry through the Inspector General
of Police urging action to evict the ‘unauthorized Indian settlers.”
They were considered at the top security council meetings Jayewardene
presided. Jayewardene directed Trade, Commerce and Shipping Minister
Lalith Athulathmudali to investigate the matter and report to him.
Lalith went on an inspection tour in early December 1982. He wanted the inspection to appear a normal
ministerial tour and organized the opening of a Sunday pola (market) in
Mankulam. I was among the group of media personnel taken by the ministry
to cover the event. We were put up at the Mankulam rest house on
Saturday night where a get together was organized. ASP Herath attended
it. He briefed the media about the problem of the agricultural
settlements. He stressed
that stateless Indians who were not entitled to get state land were
being settled by the TULF through front organizations like TRRO and
Gandhyam. After the general briefing he took me to a side and
tried to work up my Jaffna sentiments, knowing my Jaffna origin.
“These are the lands that should go to Jaffna farmers. But they are
settling Indians,” he said. Next day I learnt from local Jaffna
traders that he had been instigating the Jaffna Tamils living there
against the Indian Tamils. We were taken on a tour to see the agricultural
settlements after the opening of the market. We saw prosperous looking
Indian Tamil settlers irrigating their crop. Lalith had secret meetings
with the police and the army. We later learnt that a plan to evict the
Indian farmers was hatched at those meetings. The plan was not
implemented in a hurry. The necessary atmosphere was created by planting
news stories and articles in the press. Accusations were made that
Gandhyam was recruiting Indian Tamil cadres to PLOTE. The Vavuniya headquarters of Gandhyam
was raided on 6 April and Dr.
Rajasundaram was taken away. His
organization’s offices in Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Batticoloa were
sealed. David, a bachelor, was arrested while in his room in Colombo
YMCA. After investigations at Gurunagar they were detained in the
Panagoda Army Camp. They were tortured at the camp and forced to sign a
confession. Lawyer Kumaralingam took up their case. He sent a petition
to the president stating that David was
passing blood and was suffering from frequency of micturation. He also
moved the court and obtained an order which allowed him access to
David. The court directed Colombo Judicial Medical Officer Dr. S. L.
Salgado to examine David and Dr. Rajasundaram. He said in his report
that Dr. Rajasundaram had been badly assaulted and tortured. The police through Minister Cyril Mathew and the media
launched a campaign to discredit the detainees. Mathew tabled
pornographic literature in parliament claiming that they were recovered
by the police from David’s room at the YMCA. He did not state how he
obtained them from the police. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) through the
usual media leaks said Dr. Rajasundaram had tried to make peace between
the warring LTTE and PLOTE and has asked French authorities to provide
weapons training to some Tamil youths. The Attorney General’s
Department decided that those materials were insufficient to charge them
before courts. While these legal quibble proceeded the country slid
towards the 1983 pogrom that changed for ever Sri Lanka’s history. Next: Chapter 34: Tamils
Accept Militant leadership
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