RANJITH SOYSA

The nation was deprived of its most versatile military leader with a gentle heart on 8^th August 1992 at Araly Pont. Jaffna when Lt Gen Denzil Kobbekaduwa was killed by a remote-controlled bomb of the LTTE terrorists. If he survived, the threat paused by the separatists to the unitary Sri Lanka and her 21 million people would have been controlled much earlier than it took to root out the LTTE terrorists.

A quote from the well-known book, The Lost Art of War reminds us of Lt Gen Denzil K. The commanders must be JUST. If they are not, they will lack dignity. The commanders must be HUMAN. If they are mot, they will not be effective. The commanders must have INTEGRITY, if they are not, they will not have power”. Lt Gen Kobbekaduwa possessed all above qualities and was recognized as a true soldier who led his troops by example.

He was born in 1940 and had his secondary education at Trinity College, where he excelled as a rugby player captaining the team and was a prefect of the college. He joined the SrI Lanka army in 1960 as a second lieutenant. He then proceeded to the UK and received military training at Sandhurst.

His service period in the Army was not a bed of roses. He had to handle  two-armed instructions of the JVP and then to combat LTTE terrorism from the late 70s. The war against the LTTE was critical as the aim of the terrorists was to carve out a separated country from the territory of Sri Lanka. Lt Gen Kobbekaduwa exhibited his skills in the strategy of warfare in pushing back the LTTE armed carders and defeating them in many a place such as in the East, Vanni and some vital areas in Jaffna in the Vadamarachchi operation and under his extremely skilful leadership the capture of Jaffna fort. He would have finished the war against the LTTE, if not for the intervention of India in 1987 when they violated the airspace of our country.

He was a man whose aim was always to protect the ordinary civilians and consider options to rehabilitate them to lead them back to normalcy. In fact, when he was commanding the Vanni forces. he worked with Ven Wimalagana  thero of Tantirimale Raja Maha viharaya, a dedicated social service leader and initiated several welfare schemes. I met Lt Gen Kobbekaduwa in the 80s in Vavuniya when a team from Dharmavijaya Foundation. Colombo went to assist to provide housing to the Sinhala people who were driven away from Jaffna town. Under the able leadership of the Lt Gen and Wimalagana  thero , we built a village called Sandamala Eliya.  Lt Gen was involved actively giving directions and supervising connected activities and we were amazed how he was managing time while planning  the war against the terrorists.

He arranged to supply basic food, planting material, fertilizer etc to the farmers in the area and repaired many small tanks and built about 250 wells. 1400 houses  in Vanni area including the Veerapuram village for homeless Tamil people.  

He won the hearts and minds of his fellow soldiers and the ordinary citizens, He was very close to his troops and called the soldiers ‘putha’ (son) and he provided solutions to their personal issues such as a sick person, at home, a problem regarding a child in the family of a soldier.

His services to the nation were recognized by the nation and was the recipient of a number of medals awarded for excellence such as Poorna Bhumi. Veera Wickrama, Uttaraseva and Desha Putra medals

On the 8^th of August, the grateful people of Sri Lanka should resolve to remember Lt Gen Denzil Kobbekaduwa, a man of steel and a golden heart along with 29,000 armed personnel who sacrificed their lives and 14,000 maimed in defending the nation. Unfortunately, we seldom hear from our present-day youth or their social media about our war heroes as their mission and vision vary from the aspirations of the earlier generation.

When the sun rises, by its magnificent rays-

the dense darkness of the world gets dispelled but only during the day.

The deep sorrow of darkness both internal and external

Vanish at the mere sight of a noble leader, equally during day and night.

(Subashithya)

RANJITH SOYSA