KAMALIKA PIERIS

President J.R.Jayewardene (1978 – 1989) had as his close advisors, two leaders of the Tamil Separatist Movement, A.J.Wilson and Neelan Thiruchelvam. Professor A.J. Wilson served as a constitutional advisor to J.R. from 1978-83.  And Neelan Thiruchelvam was associated with Wilson in discussions with JR.

JR would undoubtedly have come under their influence. We had a carefully planned operation, to arrest Tamil terrorists, said Army Commandeer Cyril Ranatunga. The operations were conducted on a low key with no publicity; JR was many times on phone to inquire about the release of the arrested Tamils. Obviously the TULF was standing beside him.

JR helped to further entrench the Tamil ethnic group. JR ignored the Sirima- Shastri Pact and   gave citizenship to the 93,000 estate Tamils still in Sri Lanka at the time.  To do this, the government revised the Citizenship Act,   to include the Grant of Citizenship to Stateless Persons of Indian Origin.

JR initiated the 16th amendment of 1988 which made Tamil the language of administration and legislation across the island .The right to speak in Tamil was now extended to whole country. The 7^th amendment of 1983 created the Kilinochchi district.

  JR had met Prabhakaran in secret in Bangalore, around 1987. Prabha was living there, reported Shantha Kottegoda. But according to Ranatunga, the JR government did not consider the LTTE threat a serious one. During the JVP insurgency, Cyril had reported directly to Sirimavo, In the JR government, there was no one to whom Ranatunga could report directly.

When I informed the authorities, that the first batch of LTTE trainees were going to India, they ignored it, said Ranatunga. He had informed Secretary, Defence that he had reliable information that Tamil separatist youth were leaving for various unknown destinations in India via Katunayake for military training. Defence Secretary Colonel C.A Dharmapala was indifferent.  He had said only few were going and they would not make any difference to the LTTE fighting capacity.

Commander Ranatunga had displayed photos of 35 Tamil terrorists all over the island, caught 27 and sent them to Colombo. This was in Operation Round up, in the mid- 1980s probably.   They were wanted for bank robberies, highway robberies and murder. They were freed by DefEnece Secretary and returned to Jaffna, without even informing Ranatunga.

Colonel C.A Dharmapala was Defence Secretary from 1977 to 1983. He was also Security Adviser to JR. The appointment of Col Dharmapala was one of the worst decisions taken by JR, said Ranatunga. There was no point in complaining against him to JR either. They were old friends.

JR heads the list of Presidents who helped to advance the cause of Eelam by obstructing the Eelam war and preventing a military victory. He stopped the Vadamarachchi operation which would have helped to crush the LTTE in 1987. Can JR be considered a traitor after Vadamarachchi, asked Izzeth Hussain.

 President Jayawardene started by agreeing to eliminate the LTTE. He supported the Vadamarachchi operation of 1987, which would have crushed the LTTE and stopped any further war. LTTE were surrounded and were about to be defeated.

In 1987, the Sri Lanka Army under the command of Major General Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Brigadier Vijaya Wimalaratne had broken out of their defensive positions in the general area  of Vadamarachchi and were steadily advancing towards Jaffna town which was held by the LTTE. LTTE were surrounded and were about to be defeated. They contacted India and asked to be saved. India rose to the occasion.

The Government of India had  told our President J.R. Jayawardene to cease this operation or face dire consequences. When Sri Lanka turned back Indian boats carrying food, India did a food drop by air.

Before the Sri Lanka army could advance to the next stage of the  Vadamarachchi campaign, the operation was stopped on the orders of J.R. who said that he could not fight India. General Ranatunga had two hours to stop the war. He had no option other than to order the ceasing of this advance.  When the soldiers were informed  I saw the disappointment on their faces.’

The Indian Air Force transport aircraft escorted by four Mirage 2000  fighter aircraft  were   para dropping supplies to the Jaffna area, recalled Ranatunga. .Air Force Commander asked me to  inform Palaly that our aircraft, which in fact were only helicopters, were not to get airborne, recalled Ranatunga.

I requested permission to get a helicopter airborne to video this gross infringement of our air space. He very curtly told me nothing is to get airborne”. He said that the four  Mirage 2000 fighter bombers had the capability of flattening almost half of Colombo, said Ranatunga.   I went up to the control tower and watched the ‘parippu drop’. I recall J.N. Dixit, who was the then Indian High Commissioner, telling me, “India will never permit Jaffna to be taken over.”  

JR Jayewardene  also carried out another historic maneuver. He  merged the Northern and Eastern  provinces. The two provinces were merged in 1988 under Emergency Regulations. This was a  significant step towards the creation of Eelam. Varatharaja Perumal then declared an UDI for the merged North-east.

JR had exceeded his powers in making this merger. He had  assumed legislative powers which parliament alone possessed.  This merger was declared ‘unconstitutional, illegal, and invalid’ .

A five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Sarath Silva held that President Jayewardene could not invoke Emergency Regulations to effect the merger. According to the constitution, only Parliament could merge provinces, and not the President, Court said. The merger was to be ratified in a referendum, but this was not held. Successive governments had been postponing the referendum.  The two provinces were de-merged in 2006.

Ven. Kitalagama Seelalankara ,better known as Dimbulagala Hamuduruwo and Ven. Ellawala Medhananda decided that the best way to prevent  LTTE coming into the East was to settle Sinhalese in the Maduru Oya area. Dimbulagala Hamuduruwo led a movement to settle some    40,000 landless Sinahla peasants  in Maduru oya.

  ‘We settled the excess population from Hingurakgoda  and Minneriya, numbering 40,000 in Toppigala, Kunchanamalai,  Nelugala,  Atubandigala,  Vesibandigala and  Piyangala.     We informed President  JR  Jayewardene that we were going to settle Sinhalese there. JR was against this, but we  continued  with the project, recalled Medhananda .

The proposed settlement of Sinhalese on Maduru oya right bank  came under opposition from  Tamil separatists and international donors.  JR had sent Ranil Wickremasinghe  for a first hand report on ‘what the Dimbulagala priest is doing out there.’

Under their growing pressure JR ordered the forcible removal of all settlers. The settlements were dismantled and the Sinhalese displaced. Subsequently Maduru oya and 20 other small projects were closed down, reported Asoka Bandarage.

 The settlers were assaulted and chased away, on JR’s orders, by Paul Perera, said Medhananda    UNP Minister Paul Perera was  the invisible leader of the Gampaha underworld, observed Dharman Wickremaratne. The houses of the settlers were set on fire. The settlers  took refuges in Dimbulagala pasala. They were later sent to Dollar and Kent farms  where they were  killed, said  Medhananda. ( Continued)