Invasion by Indian jets in 1987 enraged Sri Lankan army officers
Posted on September 8th, 2016
Courtesy Adaderana
September 8, 2016 08:37 am
It was honestly, a terrible scene. My rage resurfaced; if we had any powerful anti-aircraft weapons in our possession, we would have not only shot down these aircraft but would have crushed them with a sledgehammer into smithereens and flushed them down the toilet,” writes Maj.Gen.Kamal Gunaratne in his book Road to Nandikadal released on here on Tuesday.
We had no power or capability to shoot down the hooligans who were raping our airspace. We were all totally helpless and powerless against this violation. Great leaders in our presence like Brig. Kobbekaduwa and Col.Wimalaratne were equally powerless. There are no words sufficient to describe the anger, hatred, disgust and sadness which shot through my entire being. For all of us, it was a huge humiliation.”
Blaming the non-equalitarian Indian social order for the way India was treating Sri Lanka, Gen.Gunaratne asks: As a country which believes, promotes and maintains the caste system in its very social fabric, wasn’t this like treating Sri Lankan as Harijans (low caste people) by a bunch of Brahmins (high caste people)?”
A further reason for dismay for Gen.Gunaratne and his comrades was the world’s turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to Sri Lanka.
Though the Government of Sri Lanka took this matter up with the international community, no country took it seriously and the message conveyed by the world’s powers was: India is the regional power. Anything that happens in the region should not affect the Indian interests. Therefore work in collaboration with India.”
The Sri Lankan government then decided to abort the Vadamarachchi operation which was then poised to progress into its second phase.
But this did not stop the LTTE from continuing its aggression. On July 5, 1987, it introduced to the world the first suicide bomber”, Capt.Miller, who drove a lorry loaded with explosives into the Nelliady army camp in Vadamarachchi.
Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
About the India-Sri Lanka Accord of July 1987, Gen.Gunaratne says that it was pushed down the throats” of Sri Lankans and adds: Everybody wished and prayed that India would learn a good lesson from the LTTE one day, for its role in breeding and nurturing terrorists against our motherland.”
However, he completely disapproves of the naval rating’s rifle attack on Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi when Gandhi was inspecting a Guard of Honor at the President’s House in the Fort after signing the Accord on July 29, 1987.
When a Guard of Honor is presented by one country to the leader of another, and if a member of that guard assaults the leader who was being honored, it is a disgrace of the highest order to the host country. Not only us, as members of the Sri Lankan Forces, I think all Sri Lankans irrespective of their age, gender or race, should feel ashamed of this highly unethical action of this sailor,” Gen.Gunaratne says.
He then reproduces a poem written by fellow officer Lt.Palitha Weerasinghe, lamenting the disgraceful act and unpardonable offense” of the naval rating.
On the deployment of the Indian Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-speaking North and East, from July 30 onwards, Gen.Gunaratne says: There were some amongst us who were tired of fighting and were therefore very happy about this new development, but for us battle-hardened young officers and men, it was another bitter experience,” New Indian Express reports.
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September 8th, 2016 at 2:10 am
In Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Tamils were not only provided fully language, religious and cultural rights as per the UN charter let alone citizenship, but going beyond the UN charter provided them political rights too (which is at the discretion of the country’s government only as per the UN charter, which means a government does not necessarily have to provide any political rights to a minority, especially not an immigrant minority). The Sri Lankan Tamils have provincial councils with all reasonable powers.
What did these Sri Lankan Tamils, the TNA separatist terrorists and the LTTE do in return? Ethnic cleanse the entire North of Sinhala and Muslim people, deny the indigenous Sinhala people even the right to live in the North or even in the East and commenced a conventional war where even Sinhala villagers in their villagers were massacred.
What in return did the US, UK, EU, Canada, Norway, Sweden and India the US imperialists do? Supported the brutal terrorist group the LTTE and they are now busy trying the create Eelam or a separate state. This is a good lesson for Sri Lanka. We have gone out of our way to be just and fair by the Sri Lankan Tamils and look at what we have got in return, our country will soon even be partitioned as per the US imperialists demands. The only way out is to refuse to carry out the US resolution and tell the US imperialists to leave Sri Lanka alone and to get out of Sri Lanka for good once and for all and to leave us alone.
September 8th, 2016 at 2:12 am
Apart from highly commending you for taking legal action against the treacherous CBK (Chaura Rejina) regarding the defamatory and utter lies she keeps repeating to defame her rivals, legal action should be taken against her for stating that she will definitely devolve more powers to provincial Councils within the new constitution. Does this evil woman CBK think she owns Sri Lanka and that she is the one who is going to draw up the new constitution of Sri Lanka (according to the wishes of the imperialistic US, UK, EU, Canada, Norway, Sweden, India, the racist TNA and the separatist terrorists)? The constitution of Sri Lanka should satisfy first and foremost the majority of people of this island i.e. the Sinhala people and the Sinhala people firstly do not want to draw up a new constitution nor do they want any more powers whatsoever be provided to the provincial councils especially land, police and fiscal or to illegally merge the North and the East.
Someone has to go to the supreme court and take action against treacherous CBK for suggesting that she will definitely devolve more powers to provincial councils within the yet to be drawn up constitution since this means the treacherous Ranil, Sirisena, CBK and Mangala have already drawn up a constitution to satisfy the imperialistic US, UK, EU, Canada, Norway, Sweden, India, the racist TNA and the separatist terrorists which is illegal.
September 8th, 2016 at 2:12 am
When looking at Sri Lanka’s history, it is extremely obvious that from 600BC to around 1400AD there were three kingdoms, all Sinhala Buddhist, Ruhuna, Pihiti or Rajarata and Maya or Malayarata. Rajarata encompassed today’s North Central, North Western, Northern and even the Central Province. Ruhunu rata encompassed today’s Uva, Eastern and Southern Provinces. The Kandyan Kingdom from 1400AD encompassed most of the island inclusive of today’s Northern and the Eastern Provinces except for the Jaffna Peninsula. Even the Jaffna Peninsula was invaded and occupied by force by Aryachakravarthi (Pandyan) and actually did belong to Rajarata earlier and later the Kandyan Kingdom.
Today’s provincial boundaries were drawn up by the British colonialists as per their divide and rule policy and the Sinhala people were not consulted when drawing up these provincial boundaries. In the meantime, most Sri Lankan Tamils of today were actually brought over during Dutch and British times to the Jaffna Peninsula and elsewhere to work on tobacco and indigo plantations which were planted extensively in all the colonies since they were much sought after and made a lot of money for the colonialists. Therefore they are recent arrivals and cannot claim homelands or separate states whatsoever.
The usual practice when a colonial power hands over their former colonies is to hand it over to its original owners. Therefore the British colonialists should hand over the Kandyan Kingdom to the Kandyan Sinhalese from whom they took it by force. Since the Kandyan Kingdom encompassed the North and the East, these provinces too should be handed over to the Kandyan Sinhalese who are its rightful owners. Even the Jaffna Peninsula should be handed over to the Kandyan Sinhalese since it was part of Rajarata and was forcefully occupied by Aryachakravarthi (Pandyan).
Since this has now been done already, the TNA and other separatist terrorists or the US, UK EU, Canada, Norway, Sweden and India cannot demand that present day Northern or even the Eastern provinces be provided any more powers or be made into federal states since this is totally going against the history and archaeology of the island and totally going against the rights of the Sinhala people who also have fundamental rights to claim the entire island inclusive of the North and the East as their homeland first and foremost. Therefore, the TNA , the separatist terrorists, the US, UK, Norway, Sweden, Canada and India has to respect the history and archaeology of the island and accept that the present day provincial councils are more than sufficient to run the affairs of the provinces. Sri Lanka must be a unitary state and no more powers should be provided to the provincial councils. In fact, when talking about the 13th amendment, the concurrent list subjects must be included in the national list. The provision where two provinces can merge should be deleted. The bogus claim of the North and the East being the homeland of the Tamil speaking people should be deleted. The entire island should be declared the homeland of all its peoples.
Sinhala people should be resettled in the North in quite a large number if there is to be peace and harmony within the island since Sinhala people have every historical right to live in the North as well as the East. It is only due to ethnic cleansing of the North of Sinhala people by the LTTE and the other separatists that Sinhala people are not at present living in the North. Many thousands of landless elsewhere in the island especially Sinhala people should be provided land in the North since most of the vacant land in the country is in the North and in the East since both these provinces encompass over 28% of the land area of the island. Then only will there be peace since when people mix, there is more harmony. This is the only way towards peace and development in the island.
September 8th, 2016 at 5:01 am
The Sri Lankan Tamils have provincial councils with all reasonable powers.-Agreed after 33 years our fight machang .
September 8th, 2016 at 9:29 am
Thank you, Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne. Though both Sri Lanka and India are members of the UN, UN has studiously ignored the bullying of Sri Lanka by India when they imposed the 13A on Sri Lanka in 1987. UN has also ignored the damage done to other smaller countries around India by India such as the shooting of protestors in Kashmir with pellet guns effectively blinding many of them, the manipulation of the Nepal’s new Constitution, acquisition of Sikkim by India to be another province of India, and the presence of the caste system in India which is a human rights violation. Now India is turning its attention to Bhutan which is a beautiful country and as in Sri Lanka they are sending their unemployed Dalits as a vanguard to create a minority in the country who will like in Sri Lanka agitate for a separate state at which point India will come to the “RESCUE” of the minorities as in Sri Lanka and take over the country. UN will, as usual, take the side of what the powers that be want and blame the majority and divide the country like they did in Yugoslavia, Sudan etc.
September 8th, 2016 at 12:47 pm
We commend Maj.Gen.Kamal Gunaratne for his book, placing on permanent record the events of war with the LTTE and INDIA’s role in the events.
Thank you !
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Since Independence of INDIA from Britain (1947) & Independence of Sri Lanka from Britain (1948), INDIA has done acts against the sovereign State of Lanka. The ripple effects from the Cold War was responsible for most of those acts.
Among these acts, the worst are :
* INDIA imposed the ILLEGAL 13-A on the ultra pro-west JRJ govt in 1987, thus making a bad situation worse, by a false division of the country on ethnic/language lines. Even today, more than half the Tamil population of Lanka lives in the south, among others of Lanka. The divide via PCs is artificial and a burden on the State of Lanka.
* INDIA trained the Tamil Terrorist group, the LTTE, in Tamil Nadu, INDIA, in the early 1980s.
The LTTE terrorists have brought untold misery and death to Lanka. They have brought down the good international repuation that Lanka once enjoyed, and turned the country into one death bed.
Neither the UN nor the west uttered a note of protest against these undemocratic and illegal acts by INDIA. To date,
INDIA has not been pulled up for these acts.
To date, INDIA has not addressed the Root Causes of Terrorism from Tamil leaders & Tamil people.
INDIA will continue to bully Lanka in many ways.
It is high time that Sri Lanka citizens, including Lanka Tamil too, accept the Root Causes of the so called Tamil Problem i.e. Caste and Poverty issues stemming from Tamil Nadu, and not paste the blame on Sri Lanka.
It is time that Sri Lanka citizens start to properly defend their country before it becomes a sub-state of INDIA, and the Lanka culture becomes that of Tamil Nadu, complete with the Caste System.
September 8th, 2016 at 3:55 pm
Thank you Maj Gen Gunaratna for your brave stance to speak up against our biggest enemy, India. You have always a brave officer and a true patriot. I only hope the present armed forces are true patriots like you and take over the country and clean up this political mess. The only good thing that evil murderer Prabhakaran did was to kill that thug Rajive Gandhi.
September 8th, 2016 at 10:47 pm
Although thankful for telling the truth as it is (India is Sri Lanka’s adversary), there is some inconsistency in the short excerpt. At one point India is blamed for causing humiliation to the armed forces and in the other condemns the assault on the invading Indian PM. Surely, attacking a foreign visitor (or anyone else) is unacceptable but invading Sri Lanka’s airspace and forcing the Peace Accord and 13A are even more unacceptable. Given the disaster the Peace Accord and 13A caused, a ghastlier response by the military would have saved Sri Lanka. The only act of defiance by the naval rating stands out as a beacon of heroism than anything else. If not for his bravery, Sri Lankans would not have registered any viable protest against the 1987 dastardly invasion. Even Tamil terrorists deserve a thank you for eliminating this threat to Sri Lanka.
India will always remain Sri Lanka’s enemy and the gravest threat to the continuation of Buddhism. India succeeded in wiping out Buddhism from India. Now only 0.7% of Indians are Buddhists – that too mostly marginalised Dalit people. It must be countered with a Chinese military base in the island preferably in Trincomalee. It does come with problems. But inability to come to such a bold understanding will seal our fate.
September 9th, 2016 at 1:38 am
Very well said ex-maj.general !
As a Sinhalaya I would agree with Dilrook but what the maj.general is diplomatically correct. He cannot express his anger here and say Rohana W is a hero. As a professional soldier he said everything correctly, yet made sure strong protest against Indian vermin.