An Episode of Persecution
- Paul Nallanayagam
on Extra Judicial Killings
BY Special Task Force
[see also Nadesan's Last Case - Paul Nallanayagam
Trial, 1986]
Prologue
Prior to
my embarking on my story (in the year 2001), a prologue
is necessary. This was written exactly fifteen years
ago in March 1986 and refers to a very tragic and
heartrending episode that occurred in the Eastern
Province of Sri Lanka in May 1985. I think it is
worth publicising it even now because it is very
relevant even today. The hard hearted criminals who
perpetrated this massacre of innocent young boys of the
Eastern Province are still at large and have been
continuing to do the same with impunity up to date.
None of them have been brought to task over any of
these incidents. I am sure that some of the officers of
the Special Task Force of the Sri Lankan Police who
were responsible for this massacre are in the top rungs
of the Service and one of them may even be in
charge.
|
Amnesty International Letter
to Sri Lanka President J.R.Jayawardene, 7 June
1985
"..63 young men belonging
to the Tamil community, in the age group of
18-25 years, were allegedly arrested and killed
in the Batticaloa area between 16 and 18 May
1985, some of them allegedly after torture.
Among these, four young Tamils were allegedly
taken away from the village of Ilupadichenai by
Special Task Force personnel, beaten and taken
to Koduwamadu and there shot dead; 23 young men
were reportedly arrested by Special Task Force
personnel from the village of Pdaipattimunai
and shot dead.
According to the most
detailed report about these allegations which
has so far been published, in The Daily
Telegraph, London, 25 May 1985, the 23 young
men were arrested in the village at 5 a.m. on
the morning of 17 May 1985 by Special Task
Force commandos, and several others were
arrested from nearby areas. At about 9 a.m. the
same morning, six jeeps and a lorry are
reported to have driven between 30 and 40
arrested Tamil men to a lonely beach about 400
yards north of the cemetery of Kalmunai. They
were ordered out of the vehicles, some of them
reportedly receiving orders to dig separate
graves. According to this and other reports in
the foreign press, Special Task Force personnel
lined up the Tamil men in their custody in
front of them and shot them dead. It is also
reported that acid was poured over the faces of
the bodies. According to the The Daily
Telegraph report, between six and eight
commandos of the Special Task Force returned to
the place of the incident at 5.30 p.m. on 18
May 1985, dug up the bodies and transported
them to Punani in the Batticaloa district,
where they were reportedly cremated by them in
secrecy..."
Amnesty International
Annual Report, 1986 for period January to
December 1985 -
"Amnesty International was
concerned about reports of arbitrary killings
of many hundreds of non combatants by
government security forces in northern and
eastern Sri Lanka and of many 'disappearances'.
Widespread torture of political detainees was
reported... The organisation also remained
concerned about long term detention without
charge or trial of many hundreds of
Tamils."
|
During that period of time as President
of the Citizens' Committee for National Harmony
(C.C.N.H.) for Kalmunai, I did my best to get an
urgent-impartial investigation to be conducted when a
massacre of innocent Tamil youths was reported to
me.
I kept all the authorities informed
including the President and the Minister of National
Security. I also gave factual information to the
International Media who were in constant touch with me
because the organised elimination of the Tamils of
Batticaloa by the S.T.F. arming the Muslims and giving
them the leadership was in full swing at that time. ...
the (Sri Lanka) Government indicted me on seven trumped
up charges of spreading false rumours about the S.T.F,
spreading lies to the public of Batticaloa and giving
false information to the Foreign Media.
What I refer to as "My Story" is what I
wrote to be given to Mr. S. Nadesan Q.C. popularly
known as Senator Nadesan as he was in the Senate from
its inception till it was wound up. I give it here word
to word as it was written in March 1986...
My Story
My name is Paul Velupillai Nallanayagam. I was born on
the 23rd of February 1925 at the American Mission
Hospital at Inuvil and was delivered by Dr. Miss Kurr,
a Missionary Doctor resident there. My Father was
Mr.S.M Velupillai who was the Head Master of the
American Bilingual School at Thellipalai. My Mother,
Elizebeth Nallammah Arumugam, is the sister of Mr.J.N.
Arumugam who was in the earliest batches of Ceylonese
who passed into Ceylon Civil Service. I was the third
son in the family of seven boys, the youngest were
twins who were born posthumously when my mother was
widowed at the age of 30.
Ever since that time my uncle, Mr.
Arumugam, was our guardian and benefactor because at
that time, the teachers in Missionary schools didn't
have a pension scheme. My uncle saw us through school
and university till we were on our feet. He actually
rented a house for us in Jaffna town near Jaffna
Central College, his old school, where all of us had
our school education. I Matriculated from Jaffna
Central and went to Jaffna College, Vaddukottai to do
my university entrance. I entered the Ceylon University
which had the only campus in Colombo at that time.The
Vice Chancellor was Sir. Ivor Jennings. I graduated
with honours in economics in 1948. I lived with my
uncle for one term, while at the university, but later
he wanted me to have the experience of university
hostel life and therefore got me into Brodie hostel.
I had the privilege of having Prof.
J.L.C Rodrigo and Prof. G.C Mendis as my wardens and
Prof. P. Gerald Cooraay and Mr. Sam Wijesinghe as my
sub-wardens. Among my contemporaries during the time I
was there were, Hon'ble Nissanka Wijeratne, Hon'ble
T.B. Werapitiya, Mr. V.N. Navaaratnam & Mr. Hugh
Molegoda, who is at present the Commissioner General of
Inland Revenue.
Soon after my graduation I had the shy at the Ceylon
Civil Service examination unsuccessfully and entered
Carey College as a teacher. After a teaching career of
3 ½ year, I joined the government service as a
Land Development Officer in January 1952. I was
absorbed into the Ceylon Administrative Service when
Ceylon Civil Service was abolished and a unified
administrative service was established. I was one of
the Vice Presidents of the C.A.S Association and the
other was Mr.Newton Samarasinghe, who is at present the
Sri Lankan Ambassador in China. Our association was
responsible for negotiating the 3 tiered structure in
the C.A.S. However, I didn't stay in the country long
enough to enjoy the benefits of this.
When I was Senior Assistant Director of
Land Development in 1972, I decided to retire from the
government service taking advantage of the minute which
provided for any member of the C.A.S. to retire within
ten years of the establishment of the unified C.A.S.
which was 1.5.73. I retired in August 1972 and migrated
to Canada with my family in August 1972. My family
composed of myself, my wife and 3 daughters. My reason
for retirement was purely the education of my children
because under the media-wise standardization, my
children may not have been able to enter the
university. My wife herself was a graduate of the
Madras University and we didn't want our children to be
denied a university education. We lived in Canada for 7
½ years and saw my children through high school
and the university and also took on Canadian
Citizenship.
However, in November, 1979, my wife and I decided to
come back to the country of our birth and do some
socio-religious service if we could, for sometime. As I
got back, the Controller of Immigration and Emigration
was my old friend, Mr. Newton Samarasinghe. I placed my
cards on the table and informed him that we were
Canadian citizens, but would like to stay for sometime
and do some socio-religious service, which will not
involve employment of any considerable salary. I asked
for his advice whether I should revert to Sri Lankan
Citizenship or hold my Canadian Citizenship. He advised
me that Canadian citizenship was much more valuable and
that I could stay ,on a resident visa as long as I
wanted to and return to my children when we decide so,
and in the meantime do some work as referred to
earlier.
He asked me to write to him when I have fixed on
something and obtain his permission to do the work.
When we arrived, my sister-in-law, Revd.Malar Chinniah
was then doing Methodist missionary work at Kalmunai
and we also found out that the Methodist Church of Sri
Lanka had advertised for a couple who could take on the
wardenship of the Methodist Orpahnage at Kalmuanai
which had nearly a hundred children and the biggest
orphanage in the Methodist Church. So all the friends
and fellow-christians in Kalmunai where we decided to
spend our holiday , persuaded us to apply for this
position as we would be ideally suited for this, where
I had administrative experience and my wife had
dealings with children both here and in Canada, having
done a course in child-psychology and usually was
involved in nursery teaching. We prayed over this and
decided to send in our application. The Board of the
orphanage decided to select us and the President of the
Methodist Church was very happy to appoint us to this
position. So my wife and I took over the position of
Co-wardens of the Methodist Girls home in Kalmunai from
February 1980 and we continued to do this work till May
1985.
When the ethnic issue took a turn for the worse after
July
1983 and especially in 1984, the Citizens' Committees for
National Harmony (C.C.N.H.) were organized in several
places. The first to be organized in the East was in
Batticaloa and Trincomalee and I was a founder member
of Batticaloa C.C.N.H. MrPrince Casinader was the
Secretary of the Batticaloa Committee and he and I used
to regularly attend the monthly consultations of all
citizens' committees which used to be held at the Marga
Institute in Colombo.
The then Minister for Defense Hon'ble
Lalith Athulathmudali was also often invited to
participate in this meeting and we brought the problem
we had in various areas to him at this meeting. When
this ethic problem escalated and became more intense
even in Kalmuani, the people of Kalmuani decided to
form a branch of the C.C.N.H. in Kalmuani too, and they
persuaded me to take up the presidentship of this
committee because of my knowledge of all the languages
and my background through which I knew many
people.Although they were aware that I was not a
citizen of Sri Lanka, they said that it was only my
residentship in Kalmunai that mattered. I then agreed
to take this on.
The work of the committee consisted
mainly of looking after the interest of the people of
Kalmunai and establishing peace and harmony in the
area. When young Tamil men or boys were arrested by the
government armed forces, the parents would rush down to
me to lodge their complaints about the problem. I then
telephone the Special Task Force Camps at
Kaluvanchikudi and Kalladdy,and also the coordinating
officer in Batticaloa to find out the where abouts, of
these boys and give letters to the parents addressed to
the O.I.C of the camp where the boys are, to permit
them to see the boys and handover parcels of food and
clothes to them.
Very often we found the Special Task Force (STF) which
consisted of the police commandos, arrested young men from villages in a mass
and harrassed them from the time they were
arrested. We had complained about this to Hon'ble
Lalith Athulathmuthali and he said that he would
instruct the S.T.F. officers and the Co-ordinators to
be more responsible and obtain more information through
their intelligence sources before they make
arrests.
In April 1985. after the alleged murder of three
Muslims by the militants or terrorists in a mosque, the
Muslim-Tamil riots started in Batticaloa. The first
real holocaust was in the village of Karaitheevu which
is only 3 miles away from Kalmunai. This happened on
12th, 13th & 14th of April 1985. On the 15th
morning, the C.C.N.H. of Kalmunai along with a few
members of the CCNH of Batticaloa decided to visit the
refugee camps in Karaitheevu. There were no vehicles
available to get to this place because the buses were
not running and the mini-bus and the private hiring
cars were also not prepared to go as they had to pass
through Muslim areas to get to Karaitheevu, especially
the village of Sandamarudu. The people of this village
were the ones who were the most violent of the people
who attacked Karaitheevu.
However, my sister-in-law, Rev. Malar
Chinniah who has a Mitsubishi van promised to come to
Kalmunai. Along with another missionary attached to
Pilimatalawa who happened to be in Batticaloa at this
time. His name is Revd.Peter Pillinger, She was also
prepared to visit the Karaitheevu refugee camp along
with the CCNH, of Kalmunai. So the two of them and
myself, Mr.Rex Joseph, Vice President of the Kalmunai,
CCNH, Mr.Gopan Kandiah - Attorney-at-law, Jt secretary
of the CCNH, Kalmunai, Mr. S.T.Rajadurai, the other
Secretary of the Kalmunai, CCNH, Mr.K.S.Arulrajah -
President of the Y.M.C.A. Kalmunai, Mr. Weerasingham, a
specialist science teacher who was Secretary of the
YMCA Kalmunai,
Mr.Ariyam, Treasurer of the YMCA Kalmunai and one or
two others went in the van to Karaitheevu and visited
the victims of the holocaust who were staying in three
refugee camps which were government schools in the
village and not damaged by the people who had attacked
the village. We spread ourselves out and visisted the
three camps and each one of this team questioned about
10/15 people to find out exactly what happened. This
was really a fact finding mission and in the process of
this questioning we were able to speak to a good
section of the refugees in the three camps. This would
have covered at least 200 of them, but we found there
were nearly 10,000 refugees in three camps. We did not
know the exact position when we set out to visit these
camps. We thought there may have been 500 refugees and
had taken a few dry rations and some clothes. But , we
found out that this was grossly insufficient.
The village of Karaitheevu surrounded
at all sides by Muslim villages consisted entirely of
Tamil people of middle class and upper middle class
composition and few cultivators and fishermen. The
total population of this village was only 10,500 people
and there were about 1,250 homes. We were able to find
out that there were at least 10,000 rendered refugees
and about 1,200 homes had been completely looted and
burnt and some were bombed out and completely brought
to the ground. On our way back, we could not get back
on the main road as there was a big mob at Sandamarudu
which would not let us pass and we had to take a
devious route through the Amparai road and get back to
Kalmunai covering about 10 miles, whereas the direct
route was only 3 miles. On the way back we asked each
other what information they were able to obtain. Every
one of them told the same story.
They said that the STF of the police
commandos had gone in their vehicles and as they went
to the homes of the Karaitheevu people triggered some
shots in the air and chased them away from their
homes and 1000s of Muslims some of whom had arms
entered the homes, looted all the things and later
threw petrol or kerosene and burnt the houses.
We visited the camps on the 15th
morning and the holocaust on this village had gone on
till the 14th night. The people had just run for their
lives to these schools and took shelter and stayed
where they were. They didn't have any time to get
together to perpetrate a fraud or tell a false story
that the S.T.F. gave the leadership. We had no reason
to think that the story we heard was nothing but the
truth.
As President of the Kalmunai CCNH
Idecided to inform about this to the Colombo CCNH so
that they could take this up with the authorities and
bring redress to the victims and prevent further
escalation of this into the residents of the Amparai
district and Batticaloa district. As the President of
the Colombo CCNH, Rev. Hevapola Ratnasara, the Vice
President, Godf ray Gunatillake and the Secretary,
Revd. Father Tissa Balasuriya were out of the country.
I spoke to one of the Vice Presidents,
Mrs. Bernadeen Silva and told her about all these
things that have happened in Karaitheevu. She asked me
to send a written report on this because nobody in
Colombo appears to know the facts about this incident.
I didn't have the time to sit down and write a report
and it was really on the 21st of April that I was able
to get a repport typed out and sent to Mrs. Bernadeen
Silva. I read this report out to all those who came
along with me to Karaitheevu on the 15th morning and
they were all in full agreement with my report as to
the facts and information contained in the report.
Even before this report was sent out,
I telephoned Hon'ble Athulath Mudali and informed him
that with the connivance of the STF, the Muslims who
also had arms had caused extensive damage to the Tamil
villages of Karitheevu. I suggested that the STF should
be confined to their camps and the arms of the Muslims
should be withdrawn. He said that there may be some
truth about the Muslims having arms because at the
request of the Muslim MPs that the terrorists were
harassing them and demanding money, they should be
issued arms for self protection, but he denied the fact
that the STF were involved in any way in this. I asked
him whether he had visited and spoken to the victims of
Karaitheevu, he said that he had not done this but
verified in every other way and was fully satisfied
that STF was not involved in this holocaust at
Karaitheevu.
On the 17th of April there was a top level conference
at the Ampparai Kachcheri presided over by the
Honourable D.W. Devanayagam, Hon'ble Rajadurai, Mrs.
Ranganayaki Pathmanathan, the Distrct Minister for
Batticaloa, District Minister of Amparai and the local
MPs of the area were present at this conference. The
conference was called to discuss and decide how best to
rehabilitate the victims in Karaitheevu, all government
servants of the area and a few numbers of
non-governmental organisations were present at this
conference.
Everybody mentioned that it was a
communal clash between the Tamils and Muslims that
occur every so often. But, I got up and said that this
time it was not the usual communal clash, or a border
skirmish as happened year in and year out when they
have a problem over water distribution in the paddy
fields or on fishing rights and the Muslims and Tamils
clash. Then the only thing that happens is when a
Muslim person comes on the road through the Karaitheevu
village, he may be attacked or when a Karaitheevu
villager passes on the road through the Sandamarudu
villager he may be attacked and it goes on for 3 to 4
days till some Muslim and Tamil leaders with the
assistance of the local police bring this under
control. But, this time, the Muslims had gone in their
1000s into the village and looted and burnt the homes
almost on a pattern of July 1983 in Colombo. This was
due to two important reasons for which the government
has to take responsibility:
-
the issue of arms to the Muslims
when all arms from the Tamils had been taken
away.
-
the connivance of the Special
Task Force.
When I mentioned this the entire
conference got a terrible shock because practically
everybody there knew these to be true but wouldn't talk
about it. After I mentioned this, others got up and
said that the STF should be confined to their camps and
all arms of Muslims should be withdrawn; but the
defence given by the District Minister for Amparai that
the STF cannot be confined to their camps because they
were the only effective deterrent to the terrorists and
regarding the issue of arms should not be confused with
the Karaitheevu incident, because Muslim mudalalis and
cultivators were issued arms for self protection
against the terrorists and not to attack the Tamil
civilians.
Any way after the conference I had to
visit the camps again with the representatives from
Leeds (aid giving organisation of the Christian
churches) who had brought some relief to be issued to
the Karaitheevu victims. When we were there the
ministerial party also visited the camp and they came
to the biggest camp where there were more than 5000
refugees and they told the ministerial party of the
facts which tallied with what I had said and mentioned
in my report later on 21/4/85. After this the ministers
were convinced of the facts.
But no action was taken by the government and troubles
spread into Akkarapattu and later to Manchenthoduwai,
Nawatkuda, Araipattu, Kkiran, Eravur. Chenkalladdi,
Vandarmullai, Kalkuda, Valechenai and Oddumamavedi in
the Batticaloa district.
At the height of the trouble,
there were 65, 000 refugees in both the districts.
45,000 in Batticaloa and 20,000 in Ampari, of whom
only about 5000 were Muslims and the balance were
Tamils and the same pattern has been followed in all
these places. i.e. the leadership of the STF and the
guns with the Muslims.
The trouble went on unabated with
slight improvement now and then till about the middle
of May. The C.T.B. buses were not running on most
routes, private transport was available in small
measure, but the vehicles were running on devious
routes avoiding the Muslim strong holds like,
Kathankudi, Eravur, Oddumavedi in the Batticaloa
district and Sandamaradu, Addalechenai and Akkarapattu
in the Amparai district.
As mentioned earlier, my duties as the president of the
CCNH was to look after interests of the people of the
place whilst maintaining peace and harmony among the
communities. It was also my duty to channel correct
information about the happenings in the area to the
media. After this holocaust at Karaitheevu, several
correspondents both local and foreign came to visit the
refugee camps at Karaitheevu and invariably they
dropped in at my place in Kalmunai to get the
background of these problems. I used to give them
correct information as known to me.
After I did the report addressed to
Mrs. Bernadeen Silva dated 21.4.85, I passed on one or
two copies of these also to these reporters, but as to
how they reported these stories or in what papers these
appeared were not known to me because I had not
received copies of any of these newspapers. The local
media people including the Daily News Editor was also
in touch with me on the phone and I gave him the
correct information.
From this time most of these reporters kept in touch
with me as the problems in the East went for a very
long time and correct information was not readily
available through the local newspapers. This is how I
came to be in touch with the foreign reporters and
representatives of various newspapers of foreign
lands.
On the 17th of May 1985 in the morning at about 9:30
a.m., a few parents from Natpittimunai - a village in
the out skirts of Kalmunai came and complained to me
that theilr children were arrested by the STF from
Kalavanchikudi early in the morning between 6 -
6:30a.m., some were while in bed and others were
washing their faces. This was a Friday and I informed
the parents that it was too early to inquire from the
STF camps as they may not have gone back yet. Saturday
and Sunday were intervening, so I asked them to come
back on Monday morning at 9:30 and I would phone the
STF camps and the Co-ordinating officer, Mr.Piyasena
and inquire about the boys, so they went away.
In the evening, more parents from
Natpittimunai came back and told me that they had
information that all the 23 boys arrested at
Natpittmunai along with the few others arrested at
Neelavanai and Thurai Neelavanai had been taken to the
Thambiluvil cemetery and were shot and buried. They
also had information that 8 men were lined up near a
tank bund on the road to Thurai Neelavanai and shot and
their bodies were taken along with the other men in 5
STF vehicles to Thambiluvil. There the men alive were
asked to cut a few trenches and bury the dead.
Thereafter the men who cut the trenches were also shot
and buried in the trenches and the vehicles got back to
Kaluvanchankudi by early evening. When I heard this
news I was simply staggered and phoned the C.O
Batticaloa, Mr.Piyasena but failed to get him. I phoned
the CCNH Colombo and contacted the President, Rev.Hevan
Pola Ratnasara, another Executive Vice President,
Godfrey Gunetillake with the hope that they wil bring
to the notice of the top authorities in Colombo and
order an investigation and prevent further repetitions
of this nature. I informed the parents that I could not
get the police authorities, but I would get them the
following morning and asked them to come and see me in
the morning.
On Saturday morning, the 18th of May'85, I phoned the
C.O. Batticaloa, Mr.Piyasena and informed him about
this. He said that it cannot be true and he also
informed me that he co-ordinates the STF work in a very
loose kind of way for certain functions, but he didn't
control them nor give them directions or orders.
However, he said that he lives in the STF camp premises
at Kallady and that he had heard a number of boys
arrested at Natpittimunai and other villages near
Kalmunai the previous day, were brought to the Kallady
camp as there were no room in the Kalavanchikudi camp.
He said, if I could with some of the other parents come
to Kalledy camp, I could see them. I informed him that
I had the list of the 23 boys arrested at Natpittmunai
and if he gets hold of the/boys who have been brought
there, we could compare them on the telephone, because
travelling 25 miles at that time was not so easy.
He said that the list was not with him, but that he
would contact ASP Illengakone of the STF and he could
get it from him and have it handy with him by 12:00noon
and if I telephone him then, we could compare the
names. I said that it was fine and thanked him. This
was about 10:00a.m. and shortly after that Mr.
Velmuruhu, the Ex D.D.C. member of the area telephoned
me to tell me about this gruesome business. I told him
of the action I have already taken, but he informed me
that the parents were desperate and simply unconsolable
and suggested we go to Batticaloa with some of the
parents and meet the C.O. personally.
However, he said that they would not go unless I went
with them as none of them were prepared to go into
Kallady camp. I said that it was perfectly okay by me
and we would leave immediately after an early lunch.
Accordingly we left in a car that Mr. Velmuruhu had
brought, my wife too join us as she wanted to visit her
sister Revd.Malar Chinniah at Kottemunai. We got to
Batticaloa by 2:15p.m. and I said that we cannot go to
Kallady camp with out a prior appointment by phone. So
we proceeded straight to Revd. Malar Chinniah's
residence and telephoned Mr. Piyasena to say that I was
in Batticaloa already with a few parents and I wanted
to come and see him. He was just having lunch and he
was talking with food in his mouth. I said that I will
wait till he has had his lunch and ready to see me, but
he said, unfortunately he had to proceed at 3:00p.m. to
Amparai by helicopter on a very urgent inspection and
it is going to be very tight to fit me in. I said that
he must give me atleast a few minutes because we had
come all the way from Kalmunai hiring out a car.
So he asked me to meet him at 2:50 p.m.
at the C.I.D's office which I did and he had absolutely
no time to go through the list. All the same he was
very decent and told me that I can go to the camp and
meet ASP - Illengakone who will have all the
information and that he would phone him to expect me.
He also regretted the fact that he could not give me
sometime but if I was unable to sort this out with ASP
- Illengakone. He asked me to see him at 9:30 a.m. the
following morning though it was a Sunday and he would
give me sufficient time to discuss this. I thanked him
profusely and we proceeded to the Kallady camp.
Thereafter all the formality of communication between
the sentry and the A.S.P. on the walkie-talkies etc., I
was asked to advance with my hands up which I managed
with difficulty as I was carrying a brief case also
with me. I was sent in with an armed escort and I met
the ASP-Illengakone. He was in a small cubicle all by
himself and he asked me to sit down on a chair in front
of him and inquired what the problem was. I told him
the whole story and all the information I had and gave
him the list of 23 names of the boys arrested at
Natpittimunai the previous day early in the morning. He
asked me to hand over the list to him and he walked out
of the room with the list.
I am not one who is generally nervous
about many things, but at that time I was beginning to
have fears. I was all-alone in that cubicle. This had a
window with a curtain fluttering in the window and one
door leading our. I could see lots of men in uniform
walking about with all kinds of sophisticated arms. One
chap came and peeped into the room twice and made no
conversation. Anybody could have taken a puttshot at me
and nobody could have been the wiser and there was
absolutely no evidence. I didn't want my imaginations
to run riot, but offered a silent prayer and I had the
assurance that I had come on a worthwhile and perfectly
altruistic mission and God will look after me.
Mr.Illengekone returned after 15 minutes and returned
the list come and said that it is very difficult to
check with names as the detainees were in the habit of
giving false names most of the time.
He said they were releasing about 18
boys in about 1/2hrs time and some of them may be the
boys I am interested in and he suggested I leave the
parents out side to identify them and take them to
their homes and that I could go off. I said that we
have all come together and I will also wait with them
outside and meet the bus. We waited outside the gates
of them camp till the boys came out and none of them
were from Napittimunai. Then I phoned Illengakone-
A.S.P., from outside the camp and informed the
position. He then said they were releasing 20 boys the
following morning and the boys we need may be among
them.
I thanked him and said that I will not trouble him any
more as the C.O. Piyasena had promised to see me the
following morning at 9:30a.m. and devote any length of
time to sort this problem. We went back to Revd. Malar
Chinniah's place and I sent the parents, Mr. Velmuruhu
and my wife back to Lalmunai and I stayed the night
over in Batticaloa at my sister-in-law's place.
In the night I got information from 3or
4 soures by phone that after the STF had left
Thambiluvil cemetery area accomplishing their nefarious
mission, the Tamil militants have gone there and
unearthed all the bodies and took photographs of all
the faces and buried them back and the information was
that there were 40 bodies.
On Saturday morning again they are
supposed to have shot and buried another 19 boys making
a total of 59 murders, but some how on after thought
they had come back with 5or 7 vhicles just as it was
getting dark and stationed two vehicles on the road on
either side of this spot to stop vehicles proceeding.
They had exhumed the bodies again and wrapped them up
in polythene bags and transported back all the way to
Kalvanchikudi and burnt them with old tyres placing
over them somewhere in the vicinity of their camp. This
operation has been done between 6-9:00p.m. and the
people in Kalmunai had seen vehicles passing the town
and had got the smell of putrid and decomposing
flesh.
At 9:30a.m. on May 19th, Sunday I met C.O. Piyasena at
his residencein Kallady camp and gave him all the
information I had. I gave him my list of the 23 boys
arrested from Natpittimunai. I also told him that I am
not concerned about the 59 boys, I don't have their
names nor did I know any thing more about them, but I
am only concerned about the 23 boys whose names I had
and those parents have seen me and told me positively
that they were taken in by the commandos of
Kalvanchikuddy from their homes between 6-6:30a.m on
Friday the 17th of May.
If I can see these boys or if they can
be produced to me by the C.O., or if he can give
positive information about their whereabouts, so that I
can go with the parents and see them. I will be
satisfied and I will tell all the parents who have been
giving me all these information that they are really
spreading false rumours and warn them severly. The
Co-ordinator then took me along to the cell where all
the detainees were and this he did even without
reference to Mr. Illengakone. This was some thing that
had never been done before. The Co-ordinator took me
into his confidence and treated me as a man of
responsibility and being the president of the CCNH of
Kalmunai had the interests and concern of the people at
heart. I must say truthfully that all the boys whom I
saw in the cells were looking well and had no injuries
on them. I do not know whether there were any other
cells where they kept the bad cases.
I addressed the boys and asked them
whether there were any from Natpittimunai and there was
no respnse. Then I told them that I will read out a
list of names and if any of them were there they should
respond to us putting up their hands and I will tick
off their names in my list. I went through the list of
23 names and not one of them was there. Then I asked
C.O.Piyasena what he has to say about this. He said
that it looks rather disturbing and he asked me what I
wanted him to do. So I told him I would want him to
institute and investigation immediately, after all it
was a mass murder of so many boys. They were not even
questioned, but bumped off with in a few hours of being
arrested and no autopsy or inquest of any kind has been
done. He agreed with me and asked me to give a written
complaint to him.
From there we went to the ASP
Illengekone's office. There was a photocopier there and
they asked me for a copy of my list of the 23 boys
taken. Keeping the photocopy with me, I made and
endorsement on the original to the C.O., stating that
the above mentioned boys had been arrested on the 17th
morning from their homes in Natpittimunai and the
information I had through their parents and others is
that they had been shot and buried near the Thambiluvil
cemetary immediately after. I have been trying to
locate them through the C.O. and STF officers and had
spent 1½ days and failed. So I shall be thankful
if you could order an immediate investigation into
this. He took this and informed me that the S.P.,
C.I.D. - Sumith Liyanage-would be returning from
Colombo in a little while and he would ask him to carry
out immediate investigation
I was very happy about the Coordinating
officer's attitude and his decision to take up the
investigation immediately. I got back to Revd. Malar
Chinniah's place having informed the parents that the
investigation will start immediately and it looked as
if the information we had was correct. I got back to
Kalmunai in the evening. I had a call from S.P . Sumith
Liyanege saying he will commence investigation in the
morning at 9:00a.m and asked me to come with the
parents of the boys.
On Monday the 20th morning, we hired out two mini-buses
and left Kalmunai at 7:30 a.m. Mr.Kumaralingm, an
Attorney at Kalmunai came in one vehicle with the
parents and I went with the other parents in the other
vehicle. We were at the C.I.D.'s office in Batticaloa
at 9:00 a.m. Investigations started promptly. The
S.P.(CID) Sumith Liyanege recorded my statement and
other officers recorded the statement of the parents
and these were over by about 1:30p.m. Nobody went out
to lunch. We had some sandwiches in the office itself,
sent by my sister-in-law, Revd. Malar Chinniah.
The S.P. then told me that he didn't
want even me to go out because he doesn't want anybody
to know what we were going to do next. He asked me to
select five male parents of the missing boys and asked
them to stay behind and sent all the others back to
their homes along with the Attorney-at-Law, Mr.
Kumaralingam. He asked me to tell the selected men that
he wants to question them further. He only told me what
his actual plan of action was. He said we will proceed
straight to the Thambiluvil cemetery and check on the
bodies according to our information. He didn't want to
take even a police van, but he hired out a private
mini-bus. Including the driver and the cleaner, the
people who went in it were the S.P. and my self, three
of his officers and the five fathers of the missing
boys. We drove non stop to the Akkarapattu police
station where two jeeps with officers joined us. One
was a mobile team C.I.D. officers with an Inspector of
Police in charge and the other was Akkrapattu police
officers. We drove right to the Thambiluvil
cemetery.
There we got off and all the police officers got their
guns out and they were in alert position in case some
militants came to attack. We went into the cemetery
premises and looked around, but found no trace of new
excavation of trenches or wheel marks or anything else
indicating the action we have heard of. We were all
very disappointed thinking it was all a wild goose
chase after we had done a good search of the area. The
S.P. asked me what I would suggest we do next. I told
him that we cannot just go back like that after all the
trouble we had taken. I suggested that we go into the
Thambiluvil village which would be another half a mile
south and enquire there.
He told me that the idea was good, but
if anybody is going to do it, it has to be me. They
were terribly scared because this was one of the worst
hide-outs of hard core militants and if they get the
word of the fact that they were police officers they
would have absolutely no chance. I said it was fine by
me and along with one of the parents I walked to the
village. On the way I met two CTB buses coming from the
South and stopped them and spoke to the drivers and the
conductors. I knew that most of the information about
all these things did come from drivers and conductors
of buses that plied that route. I introduced myself as
the President of the CCNH Kalmunai and said that on my
complaint a C.I.D. team had come to investigate into
the mass murder of the Tamil boys by the STF on the
17th/18th and we are unable to locate the exact spot.
They told me that it was really about
200 yards north of the cemetery and on the sea side,
but best thing to do was to elicit the help of all the
villagers who will take us to the exact spot and if
they bring mammoties they can even excavate the pits.
So we went and collected some villagers who were very
enthusiastic about the mission. The S.P. has been
worried about the time and he told me that we have to
be out of Thambiluvil before 6:00 p.m.. It was 4:30
p.m. when we went to the village. So to expedite
matters I asked the villagers to come there with
mammoties also and I borrowed a bicycle from one of
them and rode back to the S.P. and told him that the
villagers were on the way and they know the spot, so
with them we went to the actual spot where this mass
execution has been perpetrated on these innocent lads.
We saw the traces of 4 to 5 trenches
newly dug and now covered. We saw heavy vehicle tire
marks in the sand right up to the trenches. We also
picked up a green theda rope, thinned out and broken at
the ends. The big trenches were covered up and were
empty. The men tried excavating and found them empty.
We went further and tried one to two smaller trenches
and in one of them they came across a decomposed body.
When this happened the time was getting on to 5:30 p.m.
At the same time near another trench we found two
sarongs and blood stained shirt and in the pocket of
the shirt there was a national identity card. The S.P.
took it out and wrote the name. It happened to be one
of the names on my list of 23 boys and strangely the
father of that boy was one of the five who had come
with us. I thought then, that truth was stranger than
fiction .
I called the man he then came up to me
and identified the sarong and shirt as the son's and
the identity card as belonging to him. He then broke
down and wailed and performed part of the Hindu funeral
ritual of taking three hand full of earth and throwing
it into the nearest trench where his son would have
been murdered and buried. It was only then it was fully
confirmed that the boys had in fact been murdered and
buried and probably subsequently burnt. As hope springs
eternal in the human breast, the men had been still
hoping against hope that their boys were still safe
some where and had not been murdered.
He begged the S.P. to hand over the
identity card of him as that was the only photo he had.
The S.P. told him that this would be an important
production in the case and it can be given to him after
the case was over. Then the S.P. told me that there
were two options open to us regarding the body -One,
was to get a big box or even a mat and get the body
packed into that and taken to the nearest hospital
mortuary to be left there for the night; and get an
autopsy ordered by the Magistrate by the next morning.
The other was to cover it up again and submit a report
to the Magistrate the following morning and ask for an
order for exhumation and inquest.
For the first option, the time was running out and we
didn't have a box or mat. I told him that he is the
Inquiry Officer and that he can decide what is best. So
it was decided to cover the trench. In the meantime he
had got two villagers to wash the sarongs and shirts in
the sea and rinse to be taken along with the identity
card and the piece of theda rope. It was beginning to
get dark, so we thanked the villagers and got into our
vehicles and pushed off.
We went straight to the Akkaraputtu
Police Station, where the S.P. said he would instruct
the O.I.C. to organize more patrols in the Thambiluvil
area and then we pushed on to Kalmunai. The S.P. told
it will be good if we can meet the District Medical
Officer - Kalmunai and advise him to be available on
the 21st morning for the autopsy and the order would
come from the Magistrate. So I suggested that we both
go and see him before he drops me at the Girls' home.
Accordingly we went to the District
Medical Officer's bungalow at about 7:00 p.m., but he
and his wife were out. So the Superintendent of Police
asked me to inform him about this on the telephone
later in the night which I did. Actually the District
Medical Officer himself telephoned as soon as I
returned home because the watcher had informed him that
a Police Officer and I had dropped in to see him. I
told him of what happened that day and asked him to be
available the following morning for an inquest besides
the trench near the Thambiluvil cemetery.
When I got back home at about 7:15 p.m., I informed my
wife that the inquiry was proceeding very
satisfactorily, but that I cannot discuss in details as
my lips are sealed till the inquiry is concluded. I
asked her to answer all telephone calls herself and
meet any visitor and not send them on to me till I know
who they are as I didn't want the embarrassment of
people asking me what is happening and my not being
able to tell them. Most people don't understand this
kind of secrecy and the necessity to observe this.
Further, if there were any calls from Colombo, I asked
her to put them on to me.
There were one or two calls from
foreign reporters from Colombo and I gave them a
factual report of the information I had about the
missing boys and also informed them that the C.I.D. was
now investigating into this; and I being the
complainant was a very material witness in the
investigations which are in progress, and so my lips
are sealed about the investigation itself, but I also
told them that I was very satisfied with the prompt
action taken by the Coordinating Officer to order the
investigation and the way it was expeditiously carried
out by the S.P. (CID). This was the identical
information I gave the President and the Executive Vice
President of the Colombo CCNH - Revd. Hevanpola
Ratnasara Thero and Mr. Godfrey Gunatillake when I
called them in the night. The following morning that
was, 21st May, I had told my wife that I was staying in
the house quietly and I am not going to entertain any
visitors other than somebody from the C.I.D. I would
also avoid local calls. I was expecting to hear about
the order for exhumation and inquest by 9:30 a.m. or
so.
The following morning that was, 21st
May, I had told my wife that I was staying in the house
quietly and I am not going to entertain any visitors
other than somebody from the C.I.D. I would also avoid
local calls. I was expecting to hear about the order
for exhumation and inquest by 9:30 a.m. or so. Nothing
happened till 10:00a.m. when the DMO - Kalmunai, Dr.
Salakianathan telephoned me and asked me whether I had
heard anything from the C.I.D., I told him that I
hadn't. He said he had heard nothing from the
Magistrate or the CID, but he had information that a
Special Task Force Commando (STF) jeep had been coming
from the South and heading towards Kalavanchikudi and
the people had got the strong smell of decomposed human
flesh; and so he thought the body may have been
spirited away.
Anyway he thought that he will hold on till 11:00a.m.
as he has to go to a funeral of a relative.
Subsequently I had a call from S.P. (CID), Sumith
Liyanege who informed me that he had an anonymous phone
call in the morning advising him not to go to
Thambiluvil as the place has been mined. He said that
the voice sounded like a Tamil person speaking in
Sinhalese as he could make out from the accent. He said
that though previously he had ventured out on this
investigation, he was now very nervous and thought it
would be suicidal to go there with or without a court
order.
He suggested whether I could get some people to go
there and dig up and bring the body to the surface and
send a message to him by telephone and then he would
arrange to come by helicopter to the spot with a
Magistrate and a Doctor from Batticaloa.
I told him that I was surprised at his suggestion, if
he thought of that with all sophisticated arms and the
Police Department and the Government behind him, he is
scared to go there, how does he expect a private party
to brave it.
They have no arms and they will face the danger of
being gunned-down both by the STF and perhaps the
Militants too. I also informed him about the spiriting
away of the body by the STF according to some
information received that definitely settled for him.
Then at lunch time, the I.P.(CID) who was in charge of
the Mobile CID party that had accopanied us from
Akkarapattu Police Station the previous day to visit
Thambiluvil arrived and asked me to give him a
statement about further developments after the previous
night.
I gave it to him mentioning what I have heard from the
telephone calls from the DMO and the SP(CID). He showed
the reports they had prepared to be submitted to the
Kalmunai Magistrate asking for an exhumation order and
inquest and the letter addressed to the DMO, Kalmunai
for the Magistrate's signature regarding the inquest.
But he told that they were not using them as the
SP(CID) has not given the green light. With that he
went off and nothing happened for the rest of the day.
I was in my quarters at the Methodist Girls Home,
Kalmunai the whole of this day.
On the 22nd of May, I was still confined to the house.
This was a self imposed house arrest to avoid
discussing with people about the investigation. A few
people came to see me in the morning including 3
foreign reporters - 2 from the Associated Press and one
from Lamonde. I gave them the same information as the
information I gave the previous night to some reporters
both foreign and local and the CCNH Colombo. The Editor
of the Daily News also called me on the 21st night.
At about 3:45p.m., the ASP - K. Malcom Krusz along with
3 other Policemen had called at the main entrance of
the Girls Home. I asked the Matron to send them over to
my quarters. As they came, the ASP told me that the
C.O. - Piyasena had asked him to bring me to
Batticaloa. My wife was with me all the time the police
party was there. He didn't say anything else. So I
thought it must be in connection with the
investigation. So I told I will get ready and come.They
were all seated in the outer verandah and my wife
served them biscuits and tea, while I went to change as
it was tea time.
The ASP never mentioned that he was arresting me or
taking me in to custody. If he had mentioned that even
my Christian spirit could not have extended to
entertain him then. I would have been very official
with them. As it was I didn't even take a night change
of a strong and banian. I took my brief case with the
CCNH file and a few other papers. I had forgotten to
take my wallet in the rush and my wife ran up to the
vehicle and gave it to me saying that I will need it
for the bus fare back. I was completely in the belief
that the co-ordinating officer wanted me to be brought
with police escort as we had to pass the STF camp at
Kalvanchikudi on our way. If he had announced that he
was arresting me, there would have been pandemonium in
the Girls Home.
There are 75 children who look up to me
and my wife as (Father and Mother) and they would have
been shouting and screaming that I have been arrested
by the Police. But, as it was they came out and waved
to me as I was going away in the van. I was taken
straight to the Kallady camp of the STF which is just a
mile out of the Batticaloa town. The C.O. - Mr.
Piyasena is resident in that camp. The AS.P - K.M.Krusz
went to the office there while the rest of us were in
the van and telephoned Piyasena. He had expressed
surprise in me being brought there and asked Mr.Krusz
to take me to the Police station in Batticaloa and hand
me over to H.Q.I - Krishnadasan. The ASP - Krusz ran
back to the van and told me this and asked the driver
to proceed to the Police station. At this stage I began
to suspect that I was not brought into in connection
with any inquiry or investigation regarding the missing
boys, but that I was being taken into custody. But what
reason I was being taken into custody I had not even
the faintest idea.
I was chatting to Mr. Krusz all the way
from Kalmunai to Batticaloa about various things, but
he never mentioned about me being taken into custody.
However, after this I didn't speak to him till we
reached the Batticaloa Police Station and he told the
HQI - Krishnadasn that he was handing me over to him.
Having said this ASP - Krusz promptly got back to the
van and went off. Then I asked HQI - Krishnadasan whom
I knew very well, what was happening and what this was
all about. He told me that he didn't know the reason,
but under the orders of C.O., I have been taken into
custody. This really came as a rude shock to me.
Krishnadasan was kind enough to allow me to telephone
my sister-in-law, Revd. Malar Chinniah and I told her
that I have been brought into Batticaloa Police Station
and I am in custody.
My wife had already telephoned from
Kalmunai that I was coming with the Kalmunai police to
Batticaloa probably in connection with the
investigation. When I told her this, my S.I.L. got a
shock too. I asked her to kindly bring me a sarong and
banian as I generally leave a change of clothes at her
house in Batticaloa. I also asked her to bring some
dinner for me. She immediately phoned my wife, the
Bishop of Batticaloa, the Government Agent, Prince
Casinader and many other friends of mine and members of
the CCNH Batticaloa about this. I asked Mr.Krishnadasan
where he was hoping to put me up for the night. He said
"I can have you out some where in the office, but for
your own safety I thought of putting you into a cell"
because the majority of the Constables there were
Sinhalese and absolutely uneducated, uncultured and
unscrupulous fellows.
In the evenings they go out after duty and get drunk
and when they come back to the station to get to their
quarters, they could and abuse detainees in the cells
and if they get a chance assault them also. So Mr.
Krishnadasan's advice to put me in the cell was for
this reason. If they see me outside they won't know any
thing about me, but since I am a Tamil, they will think
that I am the Tiger Chief and might assault me or even
lynch me. Action will follow after this, but any action
after the event would be too late. So the wiser thing
is to prevent a calamity like that he said.
So I left it to his discretion, but one
thing I simply loathed was to go into one of the cells
in the Batticaloa police station not even for an hour,
not to speak of a night. I think the Batticaloa police
cells are about the worst in the Island for the simple
reason that they are always impossibly over crowded.
One has to see them to believe it and I am one of those
who has seen enough of the Batticaloa police cells. I
came over to visit some of our boys in detention there.
There are about 5 to 6 cells 12' x 6' and each of these
about 12/15 sq.ft are used up by a toilet and in the
rest of the area any thing between 10 to 20 boys are
detained. Some of them are there for months at a
stretch. They remain standing most of the time and in
the night hours they take turns to get a few winks of
sleep.
An Episode of Persecution - My Story
(Part VII)
by Paul Nallanayagam
Another function of the CCNH was to channel factual
information to the media in times of extra ordinary
happenings like this. This covered both local and
foreign media. Many press reporters both local and
foreign visited the Karaitheevu refugee camps and
invariably they dropped in to see me to get a clear
picture about these incidents. I gave them the exact
position as in my report of 21/04/1985. Again since I
was the only member of the CCNH Kalmunai who had a
telephone in the house, many reporters also telephoned
me and I gave this information. I only did my duty as
expected of a person in my position.
During the period of this race riots and the reign of
terror by the Special Task Force (STF), I did contact
Hon'ble Lalith Athulathmudali, the Ministers and
District Ministers of the Eastern Province, the IGP,
the Government Agents of Batticaloa and Amparai with
the sole intention of obtaining release and redress to
the suffering innocent Tamil civilians of the Province.
This is not the way of a person who wants to spread
false rumours and false information and bring the
Government to disrepute. If Hon'ble Lalith
Athulathmudali or the other top level authorities whom
I contacted had taken my information seriously and
taken action to withdraw the arms issue to Muslims and
confine the STF to their camps for 3 to 4 weeks, they
would have saved all the damage to property or loss of
life in the rest of Batticaloa.
At the height of the trouble there were 65,000 refugees
in the Batticaloa and Amparai districts - 45,000 in
Batticaloa and 20,000 in Amparai. Of these only about
5,000 were Muslims and the balance Tamils. There would
have been hundreds of people at the Amparai conference
of 17.04. 1985 who knew these facts, but nobody would
speak. Similarly the missing boys of Natpittimunai and
the murder and disposal of nearly 59 boys near the
Thambiluvil cemetery. Thousands would have known
because it was really the talk of the town, but nobody
would speak. I took on the responsibity myself to bring
the facts to the relevant people and I have been
arrested and humiliated.
I can now understand why people don't want to talk or
commit themselves to matters like this and endanger
themselves. However, I don't regret this as I think it
was my Christian duty to do this, especially being in
the position that I occupy. Several have done this
before me and are still continuing to do this even if
it means martyrdom for Christ. The Old Testament
Prophets did this and then apostles after that and
latterly the foreign church leaders of Asia, Africa and
South America. Humble though I am, I am in great
company in my suffering and the prayer of all my loved
ones, friends and fellow Christians all over the world
have been upholding me. I know this because I have kept
myself perfectly healthy and cheerful during the long
period of suffering in the Police cell.
The inquiry by the I.P. was over on the 24th evening.
he was very kind and considerate toward me. ordered tea
for me every two hours and ordered lunch at 12 noon.
the inquiry was concluded by about 4:30 p.m. and he
said that there would be another short inquiry by the
ASP which he called a confessionery statement. He said
it was not convenient for them to have me in the 4th
floor, so they were sending me to the Police Station.
He also told me that although it was Friday and the
next day the 25th was Saturday, the ASP has promised to
come on the 25th as a favour to finish my inquiry. So
after that they will decide where they will hold me. So
I was brought at about 5:00 p.m. on 24.5.85 to Slave
Island Police Station. Mr. Livera told me that he will
instruct the who was taking me to the Police to speak
to the OIC to arrange for a mat and pillow to be
supplied to me.
But the P.C. from the CID never made
any such request and after he left me the with the
Reserve Seargent on duty asked me to take off my day
clothes and get into my sarong and thery took over my
glasses, wristwatch, and wallet and put every thing
into my brief case along with my trouser and shirt.
Mercifully they left me to keep my vest because all
others coming into the cell are not even allowed a vest
or banian. Anyway, I feebly put it to the Reverse
Sergent that the IP/CID has told me that I will be
provided with a mat and pillow.
He laughed aloud and said "what mat and pillow, do you
think that this is a hotel?" Anyway as a great
concession, he left me to take two sheets of newspapers
that were in my attaché case and said that I could
spread them on the cement slab and sleep and since I
was left to retain the banian, it was not so bad.
The confessionary statement was not taken up on the
25th as expected, but on Monday the 27th, and the
report to the Attorney-General was sent on the same
day. However, I was kept in custody at the S/Island
Police Station for 66 days but no action was being
taken to indict. I retained Counsel to take up matters
with the C.I.D. and the Attorney-General. He brought in
an action of Infringement of Fundamental Rights in the
Supreme Court. Unfortunately, this could not be
concluded as expected because one of the Judges in the
panel fell ill and another one out of the country went
for some conference and the case had to be postponed by
over a month.
On the 26th of July, the CID officers
produced me before the Magistrate in charge of the Fort
Magistrate's Court and remanded me at the magazine
prison. I was here for 56 days. So in all my
incarceration was for a period of 122 days. In the
meantime, my Counsel brought in a 2nd case of
Infringement of Fundamental Rights. This case too was
heard by the same panel of Judges and judgement was
reserved on both these cases.
When my first Fundamental Rights Case was being
delayed, my Counsel interviewed the Judges, who were
available, out of the panel along with the
Attorney-General's Counsel and requested that I be
indicted immediately in the Batticaloa High Court, as
the Attorney-General's Counsel has mentioned in the
Courts, during his submission that the Attorney-General
had signed my indictment. This was done accordingly and
my indictment was sent to the Batticaloa High Court by
the end of July.
However, the Court Vacation intervened
and the High Court Judge of Batticaloa ordered the S.P.
of the Magazine Prison to produce me at the Batticaloa
High Court; on the 26th of August to be served with my
indictment. The prison authorities didn't take me due
to security reasons. Another date was given, two weeks
after this on the 6th of September to be produced in
Batticaloa. I was not taken there again. The 3rd day.
It was the 24th of September, but in the meantime,
probably through some communication between the High
Court Judge of Batticaloa and the Attorney-General, it
was decided to transfer my Indictment to the Colombo
High Court and serve it on me on the 24th of September.
I was produced before the High Court Judge, Mr. Sarath
Gunewardene and granted Bail on this day. I had to
surrender my passport and pay Rs.20,000.00 in cash as
the conditions of the Bail. I reported at the
Kollupitiya Police Station on a 1st and 3rd Sundays of
every month between 9.00 a.m. and 10.00 a.m. My High
Court Case was fixed to be heard on the 8th of January,
1986.
Addendum to my story
Addendum 'A'
At the first consultation of all
Citizens' Committees held at the Marga Institute in
Colombo, Mr. Prince Casinader and I represented the
Batticaloa Citizens' Committee. There all the visiting
members were asked to give their impressions of the
situations in their areas.
I made a general remark that one good
thing the President had done was to pick out a real
good man to take on high responsibility regarding the
ethnic problem. I said, I had very great respect for
the Hon'ble Athulathmudali. He was a very intelligent
young man, a great Scholar who had a very good
high-school and university records. He was Secretary
and later the President of the Oxford Union. He had
been a good practicing Lawyer and a Teacher of Law in
several prestigious Law Schools all over the world, but
one mistake that was made was making him the Minister
of National Security; He should really have been made a
Minister for the Negotiated Settlement of the Ethnic
problem of Sri Lanka. He should have been given a free
hand in negotiating a settlement with everybody
including the Tamil Nadu leaders, the Indian Central
Government, the TULF and even the Militants.
He would have been able to do a good
job and probably brought about a settlement. Instead
there have been so much blood-shed and damage to
Government and Private properties ever since the
appointment of the Minister for National Security was
made. The Hon'ble Lalith Athulathmudali was also
present towards the latter part of the meeting, but he
didn't make any comment regarding my remarks.
Addendum 'B'
When there was serious communal tension and damage
to property, even to the University at Vantharamulla,
the Hon'ble Lalith Athulathmudali visited the area
along with Hon'ble H.W. Devanayagam.
After he visited Vantharamulla, he granted an
interview to the Citizens Committee of Batticaloa and
Kalmunai at the Kalkuda rest-house. There I mentioned
to him that within recent times of his visit, the
policy of the S.T.F. appear to have been to arrest
young people en-mass. I mentioned the incident that
happened at Thurai Neelavani, where two people were
shot while fishing in a boat and all the Males in the
village between 17 - 30 have been arrested by the
S.T.F. When this happened a Methodist Christian from
that village came to me and complained about this..
Rev. Soma Perera, the President of the Methodist Church
of Sri Lanka happened to be on a visit to his Church
area in Kalmunai. So I informed him also of the
situation and both of us along with Revd. Malar
Chinniah visited the village and saw and personally
questioned eyewitnesses of the shooting and later the
two of us visited the D.I.G. Police of Batticaloa and
Revd. Soma Perera complained to him of what he had seen
and heard. So I gave this as an incident. I was quite
sure of because I myself had visited, the Minister and
asked him whether it was really necessary to have this
mass arrest.
He informed me that he himself was originally very
unhappy about this mass arrest, but later he had to
condone with this because the people of this area did
not come out with any information to the S.T.F. to
enable them to arrest only the hard-core Terrorists or
Militants. So I informed him, even if this could not be
avoided, the S.T.F. can at least desist from torturing
the boys whom they arrest from the moment they are
arrested. They can question them and ascertain to what
degree they are involved before anything else is done.
The Minister agreed with me and he said, not only
should they not be tortured the moment they are
arrested, but not even after because that is not part
of the duties of the S.T.F. He will issue instructions
and see that this is not done. I also informed him
about the problem of the parents of the boys who are
arrested not being informed of the arrests for days and
even months together about their whereabouts. I asked
him whether it is not possible for the S.T.F. to give a
detailed list of the boys who were arrested to the C.O.
and also to the G.A. of the district giving us the
whereabouts, so that the parents will know where their
children are and could either visit them if possible
with meals and clothes and if this was not possible at
least they will know where the children are. He
promised to take prompt action on this and thereafter
some lists were sent to the C.O. and the G.A.s, but it
was found the lists were not complete.
Addendum 'C'
At the conference at Amparai on 17.4.1985, I had
mentioned that the difficulties this time was the issue
of guns to the Muslims and the support and the
leadership of the S.T.F., that caused so much of damage
to the Karaitheevu village. At the conference itself,
the Hon'ble H.W. Devenayagam tried to silence me, but
it so happened that I was with some other visitors at
the refugee camps at Karaitheevu when the Ministerial
team came to visit the refugee camps.
There they were told the whole story by the actual
victims and after that I went to Hon'ble H.W.
Devenayagam and told him in Tamil, whether he is
satisfied now of the veracity of what I mentioned at
the conference. He replied to me in Tamil - "Aiyo,
Nallanayagam, I know this for certain that the pattern
was this and this is nothing new, the same thing
happened at Vantharamulla and I am aware of this ,but
how could I discuss this at a conference at the Amparai
Kachcheri."
So I told him, if he could not do that Sir, At least
bring all the facts to the notice of President and the
Minister of National Security and see that the innocent
Tamils of the Eastern Province do not suffer much more.
He replied that it was exactly what he was going to do
when he gets back to Colombo. He even mentioned that on
the loud speaker to nearly 5000 refugees who were at
this meeting, but unfortunately the actions that
followed were not in keeping with what he thought and
decided to do on that day.
Addendum 'D'
One night between the 15th and 17th I had a
telephone call from a person in Oluvil at about 9.30 in
the night informing me that there were some STF
officers in their jeeps, along with several Muslims who
had come into that village and had started settling
fire to the Tamil homes. He asked me whether I could do
anything about it. I said that nothing else that I
could do at this time, except to bring to the notice of
the Police. Accordingly I telephoned the C.O./S.P. Mr.
Piyasena and also the A.S.P. Kalmunai, Mr. Malcom Krusz
that I had this information on the telephone and
whether they could kindly have this checked out and if
there was any truth in it, prevent further damage being
done to Tamil homes in Oluvil. Later I knew that a few
homes were burnt in the village of Oluvil, but I am not
aware of the details. This could be obtained through
the Citizens Committee of Kalmunai by writing to them
now.
