KAMALIKA PIERIS

Why did the attackers not attack the President’s residence in Mirihana, asked Shenali Waduge, though the residences of Mahinda Rajapakse in Tangalle, Medamulana, Carlton House & Kurunegala were burnt down as well as the monument to his father.

The attackers were very selective when it came to burning houses. Houses of SJB and UNP parliamentarians were not touched. The houses of some leading Pohottu MPs, such as Ali Sabry and GL Pieris (Chairman of Pohottu) were also not targeted.

However, Batticaloa District Parliamentarian and former Minister Habiz Nazeer Ahamed’s office, shop, garment factory and residence in Eravur town, Batticaloa, were destroyed and set on fire on  May 10.

In the case of  Tamil politicians, only offices were attacked not homes. The office of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) MP, Angajan Ramanathan’s office in Sandilipai, Jaffna, was destroyed. The photographs of the President and the Prime Minister were brought out to the road and set on fire at Podujana Peramuna Batticaloa District Organizer P. Chandrakumar’s office at Kaluwanchikudy and Iruthayapuram. The lotus bud decor on the boundary wall were damaged..

Following this, the residences of Douglas Devananda, Cader Masthan and Angajan Ramanathan, as well as those of Batticaloa District Parliamentarians Sathasivam Viyalendran and Sivanesadurai Chandrakanthan  were given   protection.

The general opinion is that the JVP were behind this  all island arson. SLPP  MPs  said that the JVP and its offshoot the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) carried out the attacks.  Both  JVP and FSP denied this.

The public   also think that it was the JVP. When television news showed the houses burning,

The group I was watching television  with, including domestics , promptly  exclaimed, ‘This is  JVP’. That is what everybody is saying, said  friend who rang me later.

Sunday Times spoke to several MPs whose properties were attacked. Many  said it was Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP),together with personal and political enemies who were out to settle scores.  

Government MPs accused JVP in Parliament, of instigating mob violence targeting them. MP Shantha Bandara said that among the mob that had attacked his house there was a prominent JVP activist.

Keheliya Rambukwella  said he suspected JVP, FLSP and Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF)  The attackers were wearing helmets and carrying petrol bombs and had come from  protest site at Galle Face.

SLPP Digamadulla District MP W.G. Weerasinghe accused local JVP activists of being behind the attack that destroyed his house in Ampara. Weerasinghe claimed the attackers were mainly JVP activists and came from the Gota Go Gama” branch set up in Ampara town. Some even broadcast the attack on Face book Live. A JVP organizer and a JVP Pradeshiya Sabha contestant have been arrested in connection with the burning of his house.

Those who took part in the attack on the residence of Bandula Gunawardena at Nugegoda have been identified through the CCTV footage, police said. Among those identified were a JVP activist and an Inter-University Student Federation member.

A tense situation arose in Parliament in  mid- May, when several SLPP MPs began to obstruct JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s speech during the debate on the recent violence in the country. Some Parliamentarians began calling Dissanayake a murderer and blaming him for the violence. SLPP Parliamentarians started shouting various allegations at Dissanayake.

JVP hotly denied in Parliament that they were responsible for the arson. NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake told the House, that after returning to democratic politics in 1994, the JVP had never responded with violence. None of the arrested in connection to the attacks so far are from the JVP, he said.

MP Arundika Fernando replied that the IGP had said that out of the some 400 arrested over the recent violence, around 150 of them were JVP members. JVP then wrote to the IGP requesting a clarification on  this allegation. JVP also asked for an appointment with the IGP to ascertain the truth behind the allegations against the JVP.

However, most people are  certain that it is the JVP. SLPP Digamadulla District MP W.G. Weerasinghe  said that many of those arrested over these attacks are youth between 20 and 30 years of age. But the attacks were planned and led by the JVP. An organized group has succeeded in brainwashing youths into resorting to violence , said Nimal Lansa. Today’s youth do not know anything of the 71 riots by the JVP,  or 88/89 riots by the JVP and  have been misled by the JVP again, added Weerasinghe.

 If this is correct, then JVP have succeeded in  gaining control of three separate  generations, to  help destroy the country. They are the youth of 1971, 1988 and now 2022 . The 1970 and 1980 lots were trained to  kill. The 2022 lot have been  taught to burn, to carry out arson. They were taught how to burn down  large, solid, spacious, multi storey buildings using   petrol bombs.

This means that  Sri Lanka now has a   set of  young  arsonists, controlled by  a single authority,  poised to strike anywhere in the island  when ordered to do so. This is a new ,very dangerous  development.