KAMALIKA PIERIS

 THIS ESSAY INCLUDES MATERIAL WHICH COULD NOT BE USED IN THE PREVIOUS ESSAY.

BOMBS

• In 1970 JVP had experimented with making  safety bombs and Molotov cocktails.
• JVP conducted training classes in bombs at Kandy, Matale, Nuwara  Eliya, Moneragala, Ampara, Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee, Kalutara.
• In  1970 3000 bombs were sent  to Badulla, Anuradhapura, Trincomalee and Jaffna.   
• JVP had underground stores for the bombs.

SCHOOLS

• Principal of Polonnaruwa Rajarata Vidyalaya was threatened when he took down a black flag on Independence Day hoisted by pupils.
• JVP regularly  organized demonstrations in schools.  There were widespread protests by school children in  1987-1988. These were well organized  within the JVP district and division structure.
• In 1988  Several Colombo schools shut down   and  students of several small schools in Kandy boycotted classes.
• The main feature of the October 1988 agitation was the large scale involvement of school children. On October 3 about two thousand children for the elite schools of Galle, St Aloysius, Mahinda, Richmond, Southlands Balika, Sanghamitta Balika and Ripon Balika demonstrated in Galle. Schools in Hambantota, Tangalle, Ambalantota, Tissamaharama, and Debarawewa were            closed following agitation form children.

In Matara students of Rahula College and Sujatha Balika were tear gassed.In Ambalantota an army detachment was attacked with stones by demonstrating school children.  In Kalutara the demonstrating school children had been tear gassed and chased away.

Demonstrations spread to Colombo and Kandy as well with Isipatana Vidyalaya in Colombo and Vidyartha in Kandy joining in.  Demonstrations erupted in Anuradhapura at St. Josephs College and Anuradhapura Central.  In Anuradhapura school children had stoned a police patrol and injured six policemen. In Matale, students of St. Thomas, Wijeya College and Science College had also joined in the street demonstrations.

Soon afterward alls schools were closed indefinitely. Later it was announced that 115 schools would remain closed while others would re-open. The schools to stay closed were the privileged schools in each district.  In Colombo it was Ananda, Nalanda, Thurstan, DSS Senanayake, Isipatana, Mahanama, as well as Ananda Sastralaya Kotte, Dharmapala Pannipitiya and Prince of Wales Moratuwa. In Galle it was Richmond, Mahinda, St Aloysius, and Ripon Balika. In Ambalangoda it was Dharmasoka, In Matara it was Rahula, Sujatha, St Thomas and St Thomas Balika.

Later when school reopened, demonstrations erupted again. Schools that were not previously affected now came out on strike. In Colombo district, Carey College, Lumbini, Mahabodhi, St Thomas ,Veluwana Maha Vidyalaya (Dematagoda), Janadhipathi (Kotte), Samudradevi ( Nugegoda). 

In remote areas of south and Uva striking school kids were heard calling out ‘Colombata kiri apita kekiri’. These  demonstrations centered on the  elite schools of the provinces. But none of the English speaking schools such as Royal , St Thomas , Ladies College in Colombo were involved, only the schools of the ‘Sinhala elite’ were in the demonstrations.

UNIVERSITIES

• Universities were paralyzed in the period 1987-1989. University staff was held hostage
• JVP dominated University through IUSF.
• University agitation started in March 1987. JVP made undergrads demonstrate and protest at the slightest thing. Students were made to go in procession, they hung flags, put up posters, distributed leaflets, sprayed and wrote on buses.
• University of Peradeniya was the one of the main centers of  JVP activity in Kandy, some members of University minor staff and University security were  in JVP military wing. 
• Instructions for prison  attack and central command attack in Kandy were issued from Hilda Obeyesekera Hall, Peradeniya
• Over one hundred staff and students saw  the Nagahawatte killing take place in the early afternoon. Gunman escaped in a push cycle warning the audience  In the Senate not to come out or use phone. No one dared to stop them.

PRISONS

• There were  spectacular jail breaks in 1988. . At Pelawatte rehabilitation camp most JVP escaped through a tunnel they had cut. Welikada escape was  done with inside help. JVP had supported from the air force personnel guarding the prison.
• In Nov 1988 ,there were  prison riots at Colombo, Kandy, Mahara, Anuradhapura , Negombo and Pelawatte.

BHIKKHUS

• In 1988 there were  more than fifty monks in custody. It is estimated that over 100 monks had disappeared  or were killed in1989 .
• In Jan 1988, army arrested  Ven. Nakkala Kusalnyana of Kumbukwella temple Galle. Kottegala Gantana of Ruhuna University  and  Ratanesa Upali.
• Ven. Kotuhene Premawansa, chief prelate of  Nawalawatte temple in Tudella and Pohoddaramulle  Premaloka were killed in temple premises. Ven.Upali of Dickwella was killed in temple.
• Others were abducted. The abducted monks  included  Ven. Balangoda Dhammissara, Gonadeniya Sirinanda, Medirigiriye Sumana, Godakande Mahinda,  Wattala Piyadassi, Kakuranpala Dhammananda. Parts of  four bodies  of bhikkhus who had been abducted   while visiting a temple in Galle were found on Hikkaduwa beach .

KILLINGS

• Weapons training was one thing,    killing was another matter. To kill  one needed special expertise. When JVP needed large number of killers in 1987 they recruited professional killers. JVP had close links with Piliyandala mafia .

‘KOKU GAHANAWA’

• To hook someone in, he is given  a task,  probably irregular,  which commits him to the JVP. He is  then involved inextricably in the movement.

POLICE HARASSMENT

• The Police harassed JVP . Piyadasa Ranasinghe of Angunakolapalessa went to police to get a permit for a loudspeaker for  JVP rally  to be held in August 1978 and was assaulted by a sergeant, police officer and reserve constable.
• When the police arrested and assaulted a person, JVP recruited him.

JVP COMMUNICATIONS

• In most semi- urban and village areas  JVP were faceless. Threats came without the courier seen. JVP delivered messages,  tied to stones and thrown into gardens of the intended recipients. These had to be obeyed otherwise the JVP punishment was very severe.
• There were message drops for the JVP members   
• Aliases were used. The other members would know only that X was a member but not his position in the JVP .

JVP STRONGHOLDS

• JVP started      in the south, . Then it went to the North Western Province and thereafter to Central province .
• In 1989 main areas of JVP was Piliyandala, Homagama,  Hokandara, Kahatuduwa circle.
• .JVP had always been weak in Ratnapura.

WEAPONS

• The 1971 insurgency  fizzled out in Chilaw as  the weapons  were  too  few and unsatisfactory. 

JVP  VIOLENCE AND STRIKES 1988-1989

• The wave of violence that swept in after 1987 cannot be explained . There were suddenly large number of people who were willing kill. And a larger number who were willing to accept this. There was a general increase in murder, rape, abduction and holdups.
• The family of senior Police officer Udugampola were shot and burnt in their ancestral home.  His mother, brother, brother’s  wife, and their children  died. 100 per day of robberies and arsons and average of 20 people  killed each day in 1988.  Death rate was 100 per day in Dec 1988.
• 1988 started a phase of open confrontation, fights with security forces. Forces personnel were regularly killed, defense installations attacked, prominent person and intellectual died every day, many left the country  . 
• Trees were  cut and placed across roads, power pylons and transformers damaged and telephone exchanges were  sabotaged, , even hospitals were not functioning,  huge rallies  organized by JVP were well attended,  public brought in forcibly.
• JVP wanted to keep the urban areas  of the country constantly on the boil.
• June 1988 JVP said the first give voters for southern PC election would be shot. In Hambantota an early voter was shot dead.
• From mid 1988 JVP made officials, government servants,  families of MPs and Provincial Councilors,  prominent business men and their families who supported the government   paste  JVP posters , stitch and hang flags, distribute leaflets and even  collect money.
• From Sept 1988 JVP imposed unofficial curfew at least once a week. Sometime for over a week in a town or village, district or province . Those who defied were killed.
• On Sept 12 1988 in most part  of country, not a single shop or pharmacy opened, no buses, few people on the road,  streets of villages deserted,  no sounds of  radio, tv 
• Situation in Oct- Nov 1988 was unlike anything before.
• Thanks to infiltrating the  trade unions, in 1988, banks were closed, buses did not run, harbor was dead, postal service were crippled, no supply of water no electricity and not even  food.
• JVP ordered a strike on Oct 1988 , it was a total success. Workers in whole country were  told not to go to work on  Oct 26  railways stopped by threatening letters,  Tulhiriya textile Mills closed down. Mattakkuliya CTB depot 150 workers stopped work  on orders of JVP.  3 to 4 thousand had demonstrated carrying anti government posters. Government establishment in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Matale, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Panadura were closed. A  threatening letter  brought out demonstrators in Eppawela..
• On the orders of JVP trade unions, professionals, student bodies, religious Association s and even  old boy Association of certain schools marched  in the funeral procession  of Thrimavithane  in 1988,   with prominently displayed  banners. Intelligence videoed the entire procession and this was used later to identify  JVP .
• On Nov 3 1988, JVP ordered all shops, offices, hotels, business establishments to close. All state institutions to close, also  banks, state and private transport,   petrol stations . No one should watch  government TV or listen to government radio.  Switch off lights till midnight. All houses and institutions to  hoist red and black flags. The order was  signed Keerthi Vijayabahu. This protest was a great success. All obeyed orders to the letter reported Chandraprema. 
• In Nov 1988 JVP ran the country .  It was in a  state of near anarchy. People were  threatened and they  kept  away from work. No transport, shortage of petrol, bus drivers who defied  orders were   killed. There were queues for kerosene.   Shops closed for weeks in certain areas. There was a  food shortage. Bank, postal and telecommunications came to a halt.
• April 1989 there was a  landmine war  in south which showed signs of spreading .
• May 1989 spate of strike in all sectors.
• June 1989 Gam Udawa celebration in Mahiyangana  were attacked .
• At 1988 Presidential  election despite JVP there was a turnout of 65%. Wave of terror continued and many families  were gunned down. On day of election four killed near polling booth at Tissamaharama. But still people voted and were relieved to have had elections.
• In 1989  killings continued. There was arson, robbery, death squads murdered large  numbers  Mahaweli had an average of 70 bodies floating every day. Government  did nothing.
• Spate of violence in south  in June 1989.
• At the end of the June 1989 strike JVP had killed an estimated 130 SLTB employees, destroyed about 200 buses, in order  to keep the terror level ‘ high’.
• In august 1989, JVP forced  government hospitals ,private hospital and dispensaries to stop work

DEFEAT

• June 1989 JVP held a massive rally at Nugegoda. This was its last public show.
• Around June 1989, Media personnel resigned or kept away from work. Security forces took over the work and the media functioned. Newscasters were navy men.
• General strike in June 1989. Army   drove the buses and ensured there was public transport. And navy took charge of unloading food ships in port.
• In August 1989 there was a partial hartal of government Departments, transport, banks after JVP issued threatening letters. This was JVP ‘s last hartal .
• 1989 SLTB strike was the crucial tug of war between government and JVP .At the start SLTB could not say why they were on strike. Two leading JVP were killed and this shook the JVP and gave confidence to the public. Strike was a defeat for JVP .  It was the beginning of the end.  Two JVPers in CTB were killed.
• A new element had   also come in. there was a new urban guerilla movement against the JVP . These persons  arrived at the most unexpected  times, and killed with cold blooded ruthlessness. They had accurate inside information, and had probably heavy infiltrated the   JVP. There was a  spate of killings of JVP .
• The  public now realized that state was getting the upper hand.
• Earlier, In Dec 1987 the army started to break through JVP , and gain control of  Embilipitiya area. They found an underground armory there, 9 feet long. Embilipitiya area was  cleared  in 1988. This was not easy,  there were  vast jungle tracts. 
• A JVP   member had led army to a hideout at Kakkangodella on Embilipitiya Middeniya road.. Ruhuna ranahanda” had been issued from there. 
• JVPers also led the authorities to  another hideout at Bando Kokkayaya near Panamure. Sophisticated radio equipment was discovered in a concrete bunker near latrine.
• By 1989 JVP Colombo had been successfully infiltrated . Intelligence  knew  a least some JVP  centers, such as one in Ratmalana. Intelligence  had even worked their way into   the Ratmalana outfit. 
• State Intelligence  had videoed the entire procession  at the Thrimavithane funeral. Informants with inside knowledge of the JVP were  brought in, given lists of names, shown the video and told to identify the people as faces appeared on the screen.
• Most cadres  were caught   through information given by JVP activists in custody.
• The moment  an arrest was made the  victim was blindfolded . Police did not give the bodies back.   
• Most of the JVP cadres were liquidated in  October 1989.  ( continued)