KAMALIKA PIERIS

LTTE was not just anti-Sinhala, it is also anti-Buddhist. This aspect of LTTE rule has not received the attention it deserves .The LTTE had a deep hatred of Buddhism and showed it by repeated attacks on temples, bhikkhus and   worshippers.

The LTTE leaders starting with Prabhakaran were Christian, some Roman Catholic , some  Protestant. Tamil Selvam, Balraj, Pottu Amman, Soosai and Anton Balasingham were Christian. Prabhakaran was a lapsed Methodist, said one writer. But Valvettiturai, where Prabhakaran comes from is mainly Catholic so I do not think that can be correct.

LTTE attacked the two most revered symbols of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura and the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. These were carefully planned attacks, intended primarily, to show their contempt towards Buddhism and the Sinhala Buddhist community.

LTTE ATTACK ON SRI MAHA BODHI

ltte attack on Sri Maha bodiya Sri Lanka 1985 recorded by the ltte”
(This video focused on violent part of a film, To see it press watch on you Tube”)

The LTTE group which planned to attack Sri Maha Bodhi, had come into Wilpattu from Mannar by boat during the night  The group was led by their Mannar leader Victor Fulgencius   Douglas B. Ranasinghe in his biography of Thilo Hoffman said that   Hoffman had seen at Wilpattu a madela laid out on the beach. Hoffman knew at once that it was not the work of regular fishermen. it was a cover up by the LTTE who attacked Anuradhapura the next day. 

From Wilpattu, LTTE moved through Kala oya to Elvankulam where they hijacked the early morning  Anuradhapura bus, and reached Anuradhapura at 6 am on May 14, 1985. The bus entered the main city and at the main Anuradhapura bus station, they opened fire indiscriminately with automatic weapons, killing and wounding  civilians who were waiting for buses. LTTE then drove to the Sri Maha Bodhi  and gunned down the worshipper there. The final casualty figure given by the Government was 146 killed and 85 wounded. Anuradhapura residents say, is in fact closer to 200. The LTTE  then sped back to Nochchiyagama and Pukulam where boats were waiting to take them back to Mannar.

Mervyn de Silva, forme Editor in Chief of Lake House described the event. It was all over in less than half-an-hour, a blood-splattered scene straight out of a movie by Sam Peckinpah, of pure, unbridled terror, he said.

A Ceylon Transport Board bus pulled up at the bus station and four young men in military-style uniforms and carrying AK-47s alighted and walked towards the police station some 300 yards away. Then the rest (more than 20, said an eyewitness later) got down and in a perfectly rehearsed drill, formed two rows along the sides of the street.

Suddenly a command, a few words shouted, they opened up with their automatic weapons, mowing down every person in sight.With well over 200 persons dead or bleeding to death in the street, the attackers got back into the bus and drove to the Siri maha Bodhi and killed worhippers.

The attakc has all the hallmarks of a LTTE operation, especially the cold-blooded attack and its ferocity, Lalith Athulathmudali, National Security Minister told India Today. The massacre did not provoke a massive Sinhalese backlash in the south. The community remained calm, concluded Mervy de Silva.

LTTE ATTACK ON DALADA MALIGAWA.

On 25 January 1998, three suicide LTTE Black Tigers drove an explosive laden truck along the King’s street (Raja Veediya), Kandy, firing at soldiers manning road blocks and exploded a massive truck bomb in front of the Dalada Maligawa. The truck contained 300–400 kilograms (660–880 lb) of high explosives.

The entrance and the roof of Dalada Maligawa were damage, but the inner chamber was intact. 10 civilians, including a two-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother, were killed. Over 25 people, including 4 women, a monk and a police officer were injured. 

In October 2003, three LTTE cadres involved in the attack were convicted by the Kandy High court and sentenced to death. Two others were sentenced to 680 years of rigorous imprisonment and third to 490 years ( CONTINUED)