{"id":106709,"date":"2020-09-16T16:20:21","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T23:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=106709"},"modified":"2020-09-16T16:20:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T23:20:21","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-17-c-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/09\/16\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-17-c-8\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 17 C 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n

Why did the two JVP uprisings happen precisely\nin 1971 and 1987, asked Nira Wickremasinghe. The answer is that they were both\nlinked to the Eelam war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rohan Gunaratna observed that JVP insurgency\nand the Eelam Wars both started around the same time.  The first JVP insurgency started in the south\nin 1971 and violence in the  north\nstarted in 1972.   The second JVP insurgency   of 1987-89 ran parallel to Eelam War 2. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The timing of the second JVP insurrection was\nsignificant.  1987 was the year of the Vadamarachchi campaign in Jaffna.\nThis campaign, set for May and June, was certain to succeed, but it was called\noff by President JR Jayawardena. 1987 was also the year when JVP started its  second insurgency in the south.  The\n1987-1989 JVP insurgencies forced the army to fight on two fronts, up in the\nnorth against the LTTE and down in the south against JVP. This, it was hoped, would\nenable the far weaker LTTE win the Eelam war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In  April 1987, JVP attacked Pallekelle Army camp\n and took away a quantity of automatic\nweapons. In June 1987 JVP  attacked Katunayake Air Force<\/a> base and\nKotelawala Defence Academy (KDA) and removed a valuable haul of weapons from\neach. From KDA  they got eleven T56 and\n15 submachine guns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 1988, JVP attacked Katunayake air force\nbase  a  second time and took away weapons and\nammunition.  In  the same year,  JVP also attacked Pannala National Air Force\ntraining camp and  the army training camp\nat Kumbukke in Horana . There was also an unsuccessful attack on Panagoda army\ncamp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts \nhave shown connections between JVP and LTTE . JVP was the Sinhala twin\nof the LTTE said Rohan Gunaratna. Gamini Samaranayake\nsaid his thesis consisted of a comparison between JVP and LTTE. The JVP\ninsurrection of the 1987-1989 period should also be investigated, not only the\nEelam war, said Nalin de Silva. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PLOTE and the LTTE were reported to have sold weapons to the\nJVP.  The intention was to create a\nsecond front against the Sri Lankan armed forces.  EPRLF had provided training for JVP\u2018s Vikalpa\nKandayama in north east Sri Lanka and in  \nIndia. Gunaratna was told that they had received the training first and\njoined JVP after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An explosive expert from PLOTE had given JVP training in\nimprovised land mines in the jungles between Matale and Batticaloa, reported\nChandraprema.  JVP   exploded its first experimental land mine in\nKumbiyangoda in Matale.  The first\nlandmine of JVP was the work of a PLOTE operator, said Gunaratna. A Tamil\ninstructor had been present, said Chandraprema. \nIn 1989 PLOTE was seen in Akuressa training JVP of the Matara district\nin land mines. JVP  carried out a\nseries of land mine attacks.  Landmines in Weerawila and Hungama killed six\npolicemen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There may have been  a\ntransfer of explosion technology between the LTTE and JVP, as well, said A.J.\nBehra.  JVP had used powerful land mines\nsimilar to those used in the north by the LITE. Intelligence reports had indicated\nthat JVP was receiving regular supplies of explosives from overseas, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1970s JVP gave the impression\nthat they were champions of the Sinhala race. This\nwould have been done to capture Sinhala youth for the movement. After 1977 JVP\nchanged its stance. JVP discarded its pro Sinhala attitude. JVP recognized the\nright of Tamil people for self determination and by 1980 they were supporting\nthe secession of Tamil areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the\nEelam wars, there was collusion between LTTE and JVP.\nNo member of the JVP was ever harmed when the LTTE attacked Sinhalese. JVP\nhad   established JVP  cells in the \nSinhala border villages  in the\neast, by the end of 1987, said Gunaratna. When LTTE swooped down on a Sinhala\nvillage they avoided going to the homes of JVP \nactivists in the village, said Chandraprema. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were allegations  in\n1987  that JVP was in collusion with\nLTTE  in Trincomalee . This appears to be\ncorrect,  said Chandraprema. There was an\ninstance when an  armed JVP contingent\nhad met an LTTE  contingent in the\nTrincomalee jungles and JVP warned the LTTE not to proceed as the army was in\nthat area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was evidence to show that JVP was\nsupporting the separatist Tamils, said Godahewa. There is evidence\nto show that the JVP was actively collaborating with the LTTE to chase the\nSinhalese out, agreed Chandraprema.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 1987, JVP had  entered Sinhala  settlements in Aluth oya where settlers were\narmed, threatened them and took away 20 shot guns.   Sinhala refugees  from Trincomalee ,escaping after an attack on\ntheir village, said they were absolutely certain that their attackers were\nSinhala. One had shouted obscenities in perfect Sinhala which showed that he\nwas Sinhala not Tamil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 1987 JVP  attacked Kallar army camp in Trincomalee  and after a 20 minute gun battle,    took away a huge amount of weapons,\nincluding  six T56 and  three LMG spare barrels.  This was JVP \u2018s largest haul of weapons.  JVP attacked \nKallar camp at the  height of the IPKF\nsponsored LTTE attacks on Sinhala peasants in Trincomalee <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JVP, though armed never tried to\ndefend the Sinhalese in the border villages.. If  JVP had the ability to successfully attack the\nKallali army camp,  so why could they not\ndefend the Sinhalese, asked Chandraprema. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is not a single confirmed account of a\nJVP attack on the LTTE or IPKF. JVP never killed a single Tamil or Indian\nsoldier, said Chandraprema.   JVP\ninstead, used their arms on the Security forces,  on the JVP\u2019s  Sinhala opponents and on  \u2018traitors\u2019. JVP killed more Sinhalese than the\nLTTE.  ( Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Why did the two JVP uprisings happen precisely in 1971 and 1987, asked Nira Wickremasinghe. The answer is that they were both linked to the Eelam war. Rohan Gunaratna observed that JVP insurgency and the Eelam Wars both started around the same time.  The first JVP insurgency started in the south in 1971 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}