The Marian church dedicated to our Lady of the Holy Rosary at Marudhamadhu – commonly known as Madhu – in the North – western district of Mannar has provided safety and refuge at different times to thousands of people fleeing the violence of war.
[Our Lady of Madu-Photo Courtesy: Mannaar Diocese]
The benign presence of “Madhu Maadhaa” (Our Lady of Madhu) or “Sebamaalai maadhaa ” (Our Lady of the Rosary) had made church precincts and environs an oasis of refuge and haven of peace in the past.
Yet, in what was perhaps an illustrative indictment of the escalating war, the sacred statue of our lady of Madhu and baby Jesus joined the ranks of those internally displaced by the war in Sri Lanka .
Four Catholic priests Fr.S. Emilianuspillai,Fr. A. Gnanapragasam,Fr. E. Sebamalai and Fr. T. Sahayanathan arrived in a white coloured motor vehicle at the premises of St. Xaviers Church in Thevanpitty on Thursday April 3rd.
They brought with them the sacred statue from the Church in Madhu. It is unclear at present whether the statue will be kept indefinitely at St. Xaviers Church or taken to another safer place in the near future.
As for now the internally displaced “Maadhaa” statue will remain at the church in Thevanpittty .
Thevanpitty adjoins Mulangaavil along the Mannar – Pooneryn road. Technically Mulangaavil falls under Kilinochchi district though it is on the border of Mannar district.
A large number of displaced Tamil Catholics from Mannar district have sought refuge in Mulangaavil and adjacent areas. Now the Marian deity herself has been compelled to follow in the footsteps of her followers and join the fellowship of the displaced.
[Pictures from Mannar Diocese Photo Gallery]
The on going war between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has pervaded and invaded almost all aspects of life in the North – Eastern regions of the Island.
The war has escalated and intensified after President Mahinda Rajapakse was elected with the help of an enforced boycott by the tigers.
In this climate of war the Catholic Bishop of Mannar Most. Rev. Rayappu Joseph has been trying very hard to safeguard and protect the Madhu church from harm.
The Bishop has made repeated requests to both the GOSL and LTTE that Madhu area be declared a zone of peace.
There is very little “military” value in Madhu. It is politically significant.
The security forces can easily by- pass Madhu and progress forward. If that happens the LTTE will have to move out.
Instead of that the forces zeroing in on Madhu.
It is believed that the forces are trying to take Madhu simply because President Rajapakse wants it.
When he was Prime Minister Rajapakse wanted to go to Madhu with his wife who is a catholic.
The LTTE imposed unacceptable conditions and the visit did not take place.
During his presidential election campaign Rajapakse harped on this and “complained” that despite being premier he could not visit all parts of the Country.
The question of Madhu came up during President Rajapakse’s trip to the Vatican.There were specific requests that the Government engage in peace talks and that Madhu not be endangered.
But Colombo was determined to push ahead with war.
Madhu was regarded as a prize target. There are plans to “capture” it and derive political mileage by facilitating pilgrimages of Southern catholics there.
The LTTE is equally determined to resist these military advances as much as it can.
Thus Bishop Rayappu’s plea to officially declare Madhu as a peace zone has fallen on deaf ears.
The Madhu church has been in a beleaguered state for a long time. Still it managed to provide refuge and succour to thousands of internally displaced persons.
[Pictures from Mannar Diocese Photo Gallery]
When the year 2007 dawned there were more than 10, 000 IDP’s in Chuch environs.That number began dwindling drastically due to a number of reasons including brutal LTTE pressure tactics and escalation of war.
By the end of March 2007 the number had reduced by half with about 5,000 people being forced to evacuate by the LTTE during the last week of March.
This process continued and by December last year the IDP population in Madhu had come down to about 1500.
The new year of 2008 saw further decline in numbers. When March 2008 began the number was about 700. When March 2008 ended it was just about 200 people from 36 families.
April saw the last of the remaining IDP’s also leave Madhu. The clergy and laity serving the church also began leaving.
A skeleton “staff” of four priests, four nuns and five civilian employees remained to oversee the evacuation. Many valuables and important documents of the Church were taken out.
On Wednesday April 2nd all communication to the Madhu church and office ceased as military hostilities intensified. Finally on Thursday April 3rd there was a lull.
Utilising that interlude the remaining thirteen left Madhu amidst tears and prayers. They took along with them the sacred statue of Mother Mary. Our Lady of Madhu had left her abode.
Later on the senior priest in charge of Madhu church Rev. Fr, S. Emilianuspillai and three other priests reached the St. Xaviers Church in Thevanpitty/ Mulangaavil.
[Pictures from Mannar Diocese Photo Gallery]
It was indeed a sad moment to listen to the voice of Bishop Rayappu as he stated sorrowfully over the BBC Tamil service “Thamilosai” that the statue was being re- located and that our Lady of Madhu had become a refugee in her own land.
It was for Bishop Rayappu Joseph a personal tragedy as the much misunderstood and much – maligned prelate had struggled very hard to stave off this disaster.
But now like Job of the old testament” the thing that he had greatly feared had come upon him”.
Bishop Rayappu had tried hard in the past to preserve and maintain the sanctity of Madhu . He wanted to avoid military action that would damage the church.
From former LTTE political Commissar Suppiah Paramu Thamilselvan to President Mahinda Rajapakse and sibling defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Bishop Rayappu had made several appeals.
There was a tacit agreement that the Church premises and precincts including the 70 acre pilgrim camping area would be strictly a no – war zone.
There was also agreement that the surrounding area of a one – mile radius would be kept free of military activity by either side.
It was an unofficial arrangement.
The weakness in this arrangement was that capturing Madhu church remained a military objective while its outer areas were an unofficial “no – war zone”.
Though Madhu had remained a military objective for more than a year the unofficial “no – war” agreement had been honoured for many months by both sides.
Initially the LTTE had established its defences to the South of Madhu much ahead of the unofficial no war zone.
The security forces in the meantime inched forward slowly towards Madhu. A major reason – if not the only one – for this progress was the exceptional care taken to refrain from causing damage to the Church or its environs.
The military strategy was to surround the Madhu area and interdict supplies to fighting LTTE cadres. This would compel the LTTE to withdraw and melt away from Madhu.
Thereafter the security forces could take Madhu without causing damage to the Church.
The 57 division commanded by Maj – Gen Jagath Dias has been engaged in a three – pronged offensive operation to “seize ” Madhu.
The 57 – 1 is at a point near Palampitty;the 57 – 3 is at Vilaathykulam; 57 – 2 is at Periyapandivirichaan and Sinnapandivirichaan in the South of Madhu.
Despite the stiff resistance put up by the LTTE it was widely believed that the security forces with their overwhelming military superiority would at some point overcome opposition and reach their objective.
Slowly but relentlessly the security forces were pushing the tigers back and a hard – pressed LTTE shifted gear.
The unofficial pledge was supposedly broken by the tigers first who allegedly took 81 mm mortars “back” to the outlying areas of Madhu church and fired at the army.
This apparently was a diabolical ruse to provoke retaliatory fire from the army and thereby make the Madhu church precincts vulnerable.
Firing from civilian infested areas and bringing about counter – fire has been a familiar tactic of the LTTE.
Once this happens and innocent civilians are harmed the LTTE propaganda machine goes into action, lamenting about the plight of civilian casualties.
By all accounts the security forces had not taken the bait this time and had refrained from engaging in unfettered counter – fire.
Maj – Gen Dias however complained bitterly to Bishop Rayappu urging him to pressure the LTTE into removing their mortars from church area vicinity.
Bishop Rayappu kept on “requesting” the removal of those mortars but the tigers flatly denied the charge. They had a logical explanation.
Why should the LTTE shift mortars back from their frontline positions?
Also the LTTE had long – range artillery that could fire from longer distances, it was pointed out.
Militarily the LTTE argument made sense but those familiar with tiger tactics recognized the ploy for what it was.
The tigers had shifted mortars “back” not to gain military advantage but political mileage through provocative firing.
After much delay the LTTE removed the disputed mortars from Madhu church “no – war zone” vicinity
Meanwhile troops to the South of Madhu made significant advances into tiger territory.
A major triumph was the overrunning of a three km long trench. Two artillery positions of the LTTE were also destroyed.
This brought the security forces to about 1. 5 – 2 km of the unofficial ” no – war zone”. This happened in March.
By the end of March a new and troubling development took place. An order was issued in Colombo that Madhu should be “taken” by April new year.
The armed forces made a determined military drive from Periya and Sinna pandivirichaan towards Madhu through the Madhu sanctuary jungle terrain.
Even as the security forces intensified military efforts the LTTE also changed tactics. The tigers began setting up positions inside the Madhu church sanctuary jungle areas.
The LTTE also came into the outer precincts of the church. The tigers were not inside the church or church compound but began using the church camping area which technically is classified as church precincts. This is more than 70 acres in extent.
When church authorities objected the LTTE said “Ask the army not to proceed further in this direction. we will go away”.
The security forces in turn insisted that the LTTE move away first with their artillery and mortars
Both sides were intransigient.
Thus Madhu church environs got militarised
Fighting escalated and shells began raining.
Shells began falling inside Madhu church precincts and camping areas for pilgrims. Shells fell on the priests quarters, outer premises of the church, a drinking water well etc.
The church did not suffer a direct hit but window panes cracked due to explosion impact. A barrage of shells landed on the outlying road to Palampitty.
All civilians evacuated. The skeleton staff took refuge in bunkers, popping out during lulls , to engage in evacuation work.
With the LTTE moving into church precincts and the security forces moving forward church authorities realised that Madhu church was going to be directly caught up in fierce fighting.
This prompted them to leave.
Even as Madhu church precincts became increasingly vulnerable, charges and counter – charges began flying.
The LTTE accused the security forces of making war on holy ground and charged that army shells were falling inside church premises. The army denied the charges and pointed the finger at the LTTE.
The tigers were accused of using church premises as a mortar launching pad. These charges in turn were vehemently denied by the LTTE.
Bishop Rayappu made a last – ditch effort to prevent impending disaster and preserve church sanctity and safety.
He issued a public appeal on Tuesday April 1st urging that both sides keep the Church and vicinity as a peace zone.
Full text of the appeal from the Bishop to protect the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu is as follows:
Apeal to protect the Shrine of Our Lady of Madu from all military presence and operations
The Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu is a much respected and venerated shrine to Catholics all over Sri Lanka. For more than 400 years Catholics and as well as non Catholics have gathered around Our Lady of Madhu as a unique Shrine that has served the spiritual needs of Sri Lankans from different walks of life, different ethnicities, different religions and different areas of the country. For more than two decades, in the midst of the conflict and mass displacement, Madhu Shrine also served as a place of refuge for all affected people. Madhu Shrine has been recognised locally and internationally as a “safe haven” and “place of refuge” for people fleeing in the face of war and destruction.
The Church administration has always maintained the Shrine and the area around purely as a place of religious worship and a place of refuge for displaced people. It was strictly kept out of bounds for any type of military or political activity. In the last few weeks we have been extremely concerned that this sacred Shrine and its functions as a centre of spiritual and humanitarian service has come under severe threat due to the escalation of the ongoing military conflict. Shells are falling within the Church premises several times and many of those staying there have been compelled to leave, while priests and the other church workers who are still remaining, live in fear and are being forced to seek shelter in bunkers.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Sri Lanka, the Bishop and the priests of Diocese of Mannar have been appealing to the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army to refrain From using the area gazetted as the Madhu Church Reservation under the “Pilgrimage Ordinance” in 1982 for military and political purposes and to respect its sacred and humanitarian nature. Appeals have been made to the President of Sri Lanka to declare the Madhu Shrine as a “Zone of Peace” through a special gazette notification in order to ensure that the Shrine can continue to serve as a religious and humanitarian space.
Today, as military operations are taking place very close to the Shrine, we are compelled to make an urgent appeal to both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to respect the Madhu Shrine and the area mentioned above as a Zone of Peace, keep away from the Shrine areas and to ensure that the area remains completely and solely under the administration of the Church. At this crucially difficult juncture, we appeal to all Catholics, all Sri Lankans, particularly those who have a deep sense of belonging and devotion to Our Lady of Madhu as well as all religious leaders and the International community to join in our efforts to safeguard the sacred and humanitarian character of this very special place of worship.
For this intention, we will hold a special prayer service in Mannar tomorrow, 2nd April stating from 9:30am at the St Sebastian s Cathedral. We Invite all our Catholics and people of goodwill to join in our cry addressed to both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to completely desist from using the Madhu Shrine for their military and political purposes.
We also invite all faithful and devotees to fast and pray on Fridays and pray the rosary every Saturday for this purpose and for peace in our dear land.
May our Lady of Madhu, the dear Mother of the people of this land bless our country with peace through politically negotiated settlement.
Consequent to the Bishop’s appeal thousands of catholics gathered on April 2nd at the St. Sebastians Cathedral in Mannar for a special service of worship to pray for our lady of Madhu church. Bishop Rayappu Joseph himself conducted the service.
Thereafter the Bishop along with hundreds of religious dignitaries, and devotees of all religions engaged in a peace march from the cathedral through St. Sebastian and Bazaar streets and reached the District Secretariat located on Mannar Main Street
The Bishop handed over an appeal to Mannaar District Secretaty/Government Agent A. Nicholas Pillai.
Mannaar Bazaar remained shut down, public offices and private businesses did not function for more than 3-hours, during the prayer and procession.
Despite Bishop Rayappu’s fervent efforts, events began to overtake.
The LTTE was setting up defences within close proximity to the Church. At the same time there were indications that the security forces would not practise earlier restraint.
Escalating military activity meant that the church would be in the line of direct fire soon.
In that context damage to the Church was a strong possibility
The greatest treasure of Madhu was the sacred statue of Mary and baby Jesus.
The risk of the statue being damaged was very much there.
Thus the painful decision to re-locate the statue was taken.
Earlier it was planned to bring the statue to St. Sebastans Cathedral in Mannar. But the LTTE objected as it was in GOSL controlled area.
The tigers wanted the statue to be brought to the tiger heartland of Mullaitheevu district.
Church authorities refused. After heated arguments there was a compromise.
So the statue was taken to Thevanpitty along Mulangaavil in LTTE controlled territory.
How long the statue will remain at this temporary abode is a perplexing question.
If the security forces establish full control over Madhu and the Church can resume normal functioning then the statue can be brought back.
But will the LTTE allow it?
On the other hand can the statue remain in safety for long at Thevanpitty?
If and when the security forces push forward along the Mannar – Pooneryn road , Mulangaavil along that route will be affected.
What happens then?
Will the statue be taken further to the interior inside tiger territory?
Meanwhile there would be pressure on Bishop Rayappu that he negotiate with the LTTE and ensure that the statue is brought to GOSL controlled areas.
With contending demands and pressures Bishop Joseph Rayappu will be in an unenviable position.
It has become fashionable in certain circles to blame the Bishop and accuse him unfairly of being a tiger agent.
Only those familiar with the intricacies of the relationship between the Catholic church and the LTTE understand the difficulties involved and the tight – rope walking undertaken.
Few are aware of the numerous incidents of friction between Bishop Rayappu and the LTTE. The Bishop does not publicise these matters due to a sense of greater responsibility and duty.
[at the Madhu Church-pic by Mahesh]
Fr. Emilianuspillai who is the priest in charge of Madhu church has also had many altercations with the LTTE in trying to maintain the independence of the Church at Madhu.
Bishop Rayappu and Fr. Emilianuspillai like all men are fallible and may have compromised or made errors of judgment. But their hearts have always been in the right place and have remained true to their calling and mission.
The Catholic Bishops Conference (CBCSL) issued a statement on Madhu after the statue was taken out.
Here are some excerpts:
“It is with deep sadness we learn that the hallowed and miraculous Statue of Our Lady of Madhu had to be removed from the Shrine due to the escalation of the armed conflict in and around the sacred area.
What alarms us is that the sacred precincts of this particular sanctuary is rapidly becoming the arena of the war and continued military oper tions.
There is every danger that the sanctuary will be devastated in such an armed conflict..
We, the Catholic Bishops, therefore earnestly appeal to the Government and the LTTE to be conscious that the hallowed shrine of Madhu has been and is precious to all communities of our beloved land and thus avoid at any cost making it a zone of the combat and thereby ensure its safety and sanctity. It will hurt the sensibilities of all Catholics and people of good will to see the desecration of this shrine and its destruction.”
Meanwhile Bishop Rayappu Joseph appealed for assistance from the Vatican to resolve the prevailing volatile security situation in the Madhu Church area.
The Bishop informed the Vatican about the ongoing conflict situation in the Madhu Church area between the LTTE and the government forces and requested the Vatican to intervene diplomatically in resolving the matter.
He told a Colombo newspaper that he had informed the Vatican through Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Mario Zenari.
“I briefed him of the situation and told him to inform the Vatican to do something,” he said. Meanwhile he had also told the LTTE to vacate the church area and the army to reopen the roads. ” the Bishop said.
Bishop Rayappu is desperately seeking an end to the fighting around Madhu and bring back the sacred statue.
The possiblity of this happening is doubtful due to the “prestige” issue surrounding Madhu. One cannot see Colombo or Kilinochchi giving in.
There is an imperative need for the sacred statue to return to its rightful place soon.
There is no doubt that thousands of Catholics are hoping and praying for such a return.
Bishop Rayappu’s request that faithful devotees fast and pray on Fridays and pray the Rosary on Saturdays evokes a sense of poignant irony in this columnist.
Though a protestant Christian I have moved with many devout Catholics and witnessed first – hand their faith and devotion.There is a special place in their hearts for Our Lady of Madhu .
This columnist has been a pilgrim to Madhu during happier times and has worshipped with people of different races and religions at the holy shrine. Madhu has truly been a multi – ethnic , multi – faith magnet.
The legends surrounding Madhu speak of Mother Mary curing snake – bite victims and extending protection from elephant ravages. Many people bring back earth from the sacred soil as a token of blessing
People make pious vows to the Church and observe them strictly. Our Lady of Madhu is specially prayed to by many on Friday prayer – fasts and Saturday Rosary prayers.
Today faithful Cathoilics are being asked by the Bishop to pray for Madhu being preserved as a haven of peace.
Devotees would be praying to our Lady of Madhu who is herself today displaced from her abode.
Tragic!
Humanity cries out for divine intervention at times of sorrow and distress. This is the basis on which religion is perpetuated.
But what does one do when the earthy manifestation of the divine deity to which one prays is herself in distress and is displaced?
Yet the history of our lady of Madhu and the mystique that surrounds her demonstrates that her displacement is only temporary.
The “Maadhaa” will surely return triumphantly to her rightful abode in Marudhamadhu.
If the displacement of the sacred statue is the nadir of war then the return would herald the zenith of peace.
The return of our lady of Madhu could be a harbinger of peace with Justice
Hope springs eternal in the human breast.
Let us hope then that our Lady of Madhu will be restored to her rightful abode soon and that peace prevails with justice in this land .
The continuing strife between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has had many unintended consequences.
Chief among them are the numerous victims caught in the politico – military crossfire of a conflict they were never a part of.
The latest casualty in this respect is the Catholic church dedicated to our lady of the Rosary in Marudhamadhu (Madhu) in Mannar district.
Our Lady of Madhu Church is the premier place of Marian worship in Sri Lanka. Until the ethnic conflict escalated it was a magnet drawing all Catholics and even people of other faiths towards it.
Sadly the deepening conflict widened the ethno – linguistic chasm. The Catholic church in Sri Lanka became increasingly divided between Sinhala and Tamil as religious unity crumbled before ethnic identity.
[Road in Madhu-file picture-pic by Mahesh]
Currently a savage war rages around the vicinity of Madhu Church and the sacred statue of Mary and baby Jesus has been taken away to another location for safety.
The LTTE has obstructed plans of taking the sacred statue to St. Sebastians Cathedral in GOSL controlled Mannar.
Instead the statue has been taken to St. Xaviers Church in Thevanpitty in the LTTE controlled area of Mulangaavil.
Arguably there has been a political dimension in Colombo’s military project of acquiring Madhu.
Madhu has political significance far in excess of its military value though sections of the media continue to harp on its “strategic importance” without any concept of the region’s geography.
The hidden factor that increased the importance of Madhu in recent times was the involvement of the first family.
Madhu Church dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary is called Sebamalai Matha Thevaalayam or Madhu Maatha koyil in Tamil.
[Madhu Rosary Stall-Pic. Courtesy of Mahesh]
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is a devout Buddhist but the First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa is an equally devout Catholic.
Shortly before his Presidential election campaign in 2005 Rajapaksa wished to go to the Madhu church with his wife.
Since the Madhu church was in LTTE controlled territory, “permission” was sought from the Tigers for the visit. Rajapaksa was Prime Minister then.
The LTTE laid down the condition that once inside LTTE territory, Rajapaksa should dispense with his security detail and rely only on Tiger escort. This was unacceptable and the idea of a Madhu visit was aborted.
The issue however rankled in Mahinda’s mind. During his election campaign he often referred to the fact that though he was Prime Minister he was not allowed to visit some parts of the country.
After assuming the Presidency one of Rajapaksa’s achievements was his visit to the Vatican with the First Lady and his audience with his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
President Rajapakse met with Pope Benedict and the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, as part of a four-day visit to Italy.
The question of Madhu church transpired during the Papal audience. It was discussed in greater detail with Cardinal Tarcio Bertone. It was emphasised then that the church should not come to any harm during the on going war.
President Rajapaksa had to explain that the Madhu church was not under government writ. He gave an assurance that no harm would come either to the church or pilgrims while military operations were in progress.
“In light of the current situation in Sri Lanka, the need to respect human rights and restart the path of dialogue and negotiations was stressed, as the only path to put an end to the violence that has bloodied the island,” a Vatican statement then said.
“The Catholic Church, which offers a significant contribution to the life of the country, will intensify the delicate commitment to form consciences, with the sole aim of favoring the common good, reconciliation and peace,” the statement also added.
Despite the sentiments evinced by Vatican there was no adherence to it in Colombo. The “divided” Catholic church in Sri Lanka did not engage in any significant pro – peace activity in deference to the Vatican
Military activity in Mannar district escalated after the entire eastern province was captured in July last year. A noteworthy aspect of the fighting in Mannar was the ostensible focus on the area surrounding Madhu church.
The military gain in capturing Madhu does not seem to be much but the political and symbolical value is great. Besides members of the First Family, many southern Catholics would love to do a pilgrimage and worship at Madhu.
The Madhu victory was played up during an election campaign in President Kumaratunga’s time. If southern pilgrims are able to visit Madhu safely in large numbers it would no doubt enhance President Rajapaksa’s prestige further.
It is therefore important to understand that the military project to take Madhu is more political than military.
Instead of trying to move into Madhu and endangering the Church the security forces could have by – passed the area and tried to advance further up.
If the security forces had done so successfully the LTTE would have had no option but to abandon the militarily non – important Madhu and withdraw.
Then the security forces could have simply walked in without any damage to Church or civilians.
But this was not done due to a gigantic ego problem where people wanted to “conquer” areas they were not allowed to go in earlier.
Madhu had to be conquered and exhibited as a trophy like Kudumbimalai/Thoppigala.
It had to be thrown open to Southern pilgrims before the northern war was over to derive political mileage.
The security forces to their credit were extremely cautious earlier and took great care to avoid damage to the Church.
Recent events suggest that an element of impatience has entered. Recent firing has not been that cautious.
It is not correct to charge the security forces of an “evil” intention to wilfully damage the church.
If destruction was the motive the forces have the firepower and airpower required to demolish it.
That is not the objective and any damage inflicted can only be accidental and not intentional.
But there seems to be a sudden” hurry” militarily.
This may be due to fresh directives that Madhu should be taken before April new year.
Again political motives are dictating over military considerations.
The security situation however is not likely to imporove after the re- location of the sacred statue from Madhu.
It was perhaps anticipation of further deterioration that compelled church authorities to transport the statue elsewhere.
The tigers have so far remained outside the church and church compound but they are now openly visible in the outer precincts> They are setting up defensive positions in the vicinity.
Increased artillery and mortar fire by both sides is an indicator of the future.
As troops advance the LTTE may entrench themselves on church premises and precincts.
The security forces will be caught in a dilemma as damage and destruction to the Church will be politically damaging.
LTTE political Commissar Balasingham Nadesan has come out strongly against the GOSL on the question of Madhu.
“The Sinhalese armed forces that cause danger to the people has imposed yet another atrocity on them. Once again, the GoSL is striving to transform the sacred area of the Madu Shrine into a war zone.” Nadesan said in a statement.
Expressing concern over escalating military conflict in Madhu and the plight of civilians is a legitimate exercise. But when the LTTE does so it becomes a rank exercise of hypocrisy.
The LTTE is the proverbial “uruthiraatchap poonai ” or sanctimonious cat (or tiger) in this instance.
There was earlier an unofficial agreement that an area of one mile radius around the church be kept free of fighting as a “no war zone”. Both sides adhered to it for many months.
But it was the LTTE which violated this agreement first. Mortars were taken to the Madhu church vicinity (though not into precincts) and fired. Subsequently LTTE positions were established in close proximity to the Church.
The military made many requests to Bishop Joseph Rayappu to prevail upon the LTTE to abide by the assurances. But despite the best efforts of the Bishop the LTTE did not oblige.
It was finally in frustrated agony that church authorites decided to pull out with our Lady of Madhu’s statue. Church leaders realised that the LTTE was going to turn the area into a battle zone.
Against this backdrop Nadesan’s accusation about “transforming sacred Madhu into a war zone” rings hollow and smacks of duplicitous hypocrisy.
That is not all.
The tiger political commissar also laments over the plight of civilians being displaced from Madhu.These are people who were displaced from their homes and sought refuge in Madhu.
The Tiger Political Head termed as “barbaric” the Sinhalese government’s act of making a war zone out of the Madu Shrine that provided refuge to thousands of internally displaced people says the LTTE mouthpiece “Tamilnet”.
Expressing concern over IDP plight is legitimate but such tears are “crocodilean” when the LTTE starts shedding them over IDP’s in Madhu.
Due to escalating military activity more than 10,000 IDP’s of all religions had found shelter at the Madhu church precincts last year.Youths fleeing LTTE conscription also sought refuge in Madhu
The LTTE was not happy. They had set their sights on 1000 – 1500 youths sheltering in Madhu. The predator wanted its prey.
When church authorities prevented it the LTTE turned nasty against the church dignitaries. Several priests were abused and threatened. One priest had to seek protection elsewhere.Even an eminent church leader was reprimanded harshly by low – level tiger cadres.
This is what happened next according to a report ” Conflict-related Internal Displacements In Sri Lanka”, released by the Inter Agency Standing Committee last year.By March 19, 2007 there were 10,197 IDPs seeking shelteri n Madhu
The report details how the IDPs had to leave the compound in the nine days after March 19.
“The LTTE had a tacit agreement with the church authorities that they would not recruit from within the church grounds. However, with over 1000 men and women of ‘fighting age’ amongst the IDPs sheltering at the church the LTTE started to put increasing pressure on the church authorities to allow unarmed, plain clothes LTTE cadres access to the church to speak to the families about recruitment.
[Madhu Church sign announcing festivals]
By the beginning of March, LTTE cadres were entering the church premises on a regular basis for this purpose.
“At the same time, the LTTE announced that it would prevent any more displaced families from entering Madhu Church to seek temporary shelter and that it would ask IDP families currently inside Madhu Church to relocate to alternative displacement sites.
The LTTE also claimed that it could not guarantee the safety of humanitarian agency staff travelling by road to the Madhu Church which meant that humanitarian organisations were unable to access the area.
“On March 23, it was reported that the LTTE had ordered the IDPs to leave Madhu Church and head north towards Vellankulam, allegedly for security reasons. It was also agreed that the LTTE was using the movement of IDPs from the church as a recruitment opportunity.
On the evening of March 23, the LTTE brought trucks to the church and started to force the remaining IDPs to leave.
The LTTE cadres were allegedly armed and they used wooden sticks to force the most reluctant IDPs to get into the trucks. By March 25, more than 5000 IDPs (75% of the IDP population) were forced to leave the church. T
he LTTE cadres told the IDPs that they would be able to return after three days to collect their belongings, but the IDPs were not allowed to do so and their belongings were taken by “thieves”.
The IDPs moved to Andakulam, Adampan and Vaddakandal in LTTE controlled areas of the Mannar District.”
The report said that by March 28 the Tigers stopped all supplies to the church compound and shops in the vicinity were closed. On April 2, they informed the UNHCR that all IDPs had left Madhu Church.
When the UNHCR raised concerns over forced relocation on April 4, the Tigers said “that the Madhu Church area had been under heavy shelling by the Sri Lanka Army and as a result the IDPs had spontaneously and voluntarily fled the area.”
As of end December 2007 only 1, 223 remained in the Madhu division as IDPs, and an additional 208 remained with host families.
However the whole Madhu region has been demarcated as an area where there was ‘no access’ to UN and other agencies and it is very unlikely that detailed reporting of the kind seen last year would take place this year.
This then was how the LTTE treated the IDP population in Madhu and virtually shut down the refugee haven.
Thereafter the LTTE applied further pressure and made the remaining IDP’s also relocate.
The tigers also banned further IDP’s coming ito Madhu.
Nearly 20, 000 people displaced from the Musali , Nanaattaan and Manthai West AGA divisions were forced to move further north into the Mulangaavil – Vellankulam areas at different times instead of seeking refuge in the Madhu church premises
After such inhumane treatment meted out to the pathetic IDP’s in Madhu the very same LTTE is now evincing concern over Madhu refugees.
The “Tamilnet” also says Nadesan ” recalled that in 1999, “invading Sinhalese troops had fired from armoured tanks laying siege to the Madu Shrine and killed more than 30 people, including children, women and the aged, who had sought refuge there.”
The question of who fired the shells at Madhu is something that is yet to be answered conclusively. Both sides accuse each other.
It may be relevant however to quote from Bulletin no 23 of the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) about the incident.
This is the same UTHR (J) that is being hailed in the Tamil media for its courageous exposure of those responsible for the AFC employees massacre in Muthur.
This is what the UTHR had to say about the Madhu incident referred to by Nadesan now.-
“We said in our last bulletin that the Church believed that the shells which killed 38 refugees in Madhu in November 1999 had been fired by the LTTE. We now have confirmation that this is widely shared by church officials in Madhu and technically the Army could hardly have fired those shells. We also learn that shortly after the incident, Bishop Joseph Rayappu gave Karikalan, a senior LTTE figure, a dressing down”.
Nadesan also called upon the International Community and Human Rights organizations to come forward to condemn the Sri Lankan government, which according to the LTTE “concerns itself about the mental peace of the Buddhist people and the sancticity of the Buddhist places of worship, but tosses away the peace and holiness related to other people and instead prioritizes only its military interests.”
It is certainly correct that Buddhism has been given foremost place in Sri Lanka but it is disgusting to see the tigers accusing the Govt saying it ” tosses away the peace and holiness related to other people and instead prioritizes only its military interests.”
This is the LTTE talking!
Yes the very same LTTE that attacked the sacred Bo tree in Anuradhapura and drove an explosive laden truck into the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy; the same LTTE which massacred young Buddhist samaneras in Aranthalawa;
This is the same LTTE that killed in cold blood Muslim worshippers in the Mosques of Kattankudi, Eravoor, Sammanthurai and Akkaraippatru;
It is the same LTTE that killed Tamils dubbed as “traitors” in Hindu temple premises and used Hindu and Christian places of worship to conceal weapons or hide themselves.
It was the LTTE that killed a Hindu priest in Santhiweli for doing Pooja during President Rajapakse’s visit to Vaakarai
But now the tigers are accusing the GOSL of “tossing away holiness ” related to other people and ” prioritizing only its military interests”.
One can only cry out “vetkam! vetkakedu! (shame!shameful)
Attempts are also on in pro – tiger media to justify the transporting of the sacred statue to Thevanpitty instead of Mannar.
Only time will tell whether the statue of our Lady of Madhu will be protected or be subjected to greater harm in the future.
What is being overlooked or deliberately distorted is the fact that our Lady of Madhu belongs to all of her devotees regardless of race or region.
The church may have been located in a pre – dominantly Tamil area but the “Maadhaa” is universal and not a parochial deity.
It must also be remembered that but for a quirk of history the sacred statue may have been ensconced in the Kandyan kingdom 400 years ago.
Let me quote from the historical account of Madhu as stated in the official website of the church. Here are the relevant extracts -
“Those who brought Christianity to our shores planted also in our midst the devotion to the Mother of God. The kingdom of Jaffna in the 16th century consisted of the northern peninsula (called Yalpanam in Tamil and in Sinhalese Yalpane) along with the neighbouring is lets, a portion of the adjacent mainland and the sea coast up to the island of Mannar.
The first news the people of this kingdom had of Christianity was from the new converts of the Fishery Coast of India. About the year 1544 the fame of the preaching and the mairacles of St. Francis Xavier induced the Mannarites to sent deputation to the saint to come to them. As he was busy in Travancore at the time, he sent them a priest who bore his name, to instruct and baptize them.
Over 600 men, women and children embraced the faith and most of them sealed with their blood their belief in Jesus Christ The massacre of the new converts was carried out on the orders of Sankily the king of Jaffna.
The new religion that was planted in Mannar and its neighbourhood did not die. In 1583 the number of Christians is said to have been about 43,000 with 26 churches.
One of these churches was situated in Mantai, a village on the mainland and about six miles from Mannar. This church was the original home of the statue of Our Lady of Madhu, which at that time was called Our Lady of Good Health.
The conquest of the Island by the Dutch opened an era of cruel persecution against the Catholics and the faithful of Mantai were forced to consider seriously the desirability of removing the statue of Our Lady of Mantai to a haven of safety.
There were no priests to give them any spiritual support or strength.
With the consent of the people twenty devoted families, in the year 1670, migrated with the statue of Our Lady of Mantai into the Kandyan territory, where they hoped to save the statue from profanation and them selves from persecution.
Under the protection of the Heavenly Mother the little company wandered hither and thither in the thick forest of the Wanni in constant fear of the enemy.
Guided by divine Providence, they reached a hamlet by the side of an ancient tank on the royal Rameswaram-Kandy route, wherethere was a customs house belonging to the Kandyan king.
The hamlet was called Maruthamadhu; and there the Manthai Catholics planted the seed of Catholicism.
In the calm and serene atmosphere of Maruthamadhu the seed grew under Our Lady’s protection, while persecution raged throughout Jaffna Pattanam.
About the same time there was another movement to wards Madhu from the Jaffna Peninsula. To avoid the Dutch persecution about 700 Catholics crossed over to Poonaryn and sought refuge in the Wanni. Having wandered for days in anxiety and fear, they too, as if by a miracle, were led to Maruthamadhu.
What a happy meeting amongst sylvan surroundings! Among the newly arrived Catholics named Helena whose fervent piety and edifying life won for her the title of “Santa Lena” i.e. St. Helena. In the course of time she married the officer who was in charge of the customs house at Madhu and the first little church dedicated to Our Lady of Madhu was built by this pious lady.
For this good act the Christians have immortalized her memory by calling the place “Silena-Marutha-Madhu” which to the present day continues to be one of the names of the holy sanctuary. From her sylvan shrine Our Lady of Madhu dispensed liberally her favours spiritual and temporal to her children.”
[Madhu Church-pic by Mahesh]
Let us remember then the history of how Our Lady of Madhu found her abode though the original intention was to take the sacred statue into the Kandyan kingdom.
Of course some of the Waani chieftains of the time were paying tribute to the Kandyan King.
So the reference to Kandyan territory could be those of Wanni fiefdoms under the Kandyan kingdom.
People of faith however would not see this event as a historical twist but simply as manifestation of a divinely defined destiny.
For people of such simple yet strong faith all what is happening now to the sacred statue is part of an ordained fate.
As the bard of Avon said “there is a divinity that shapes our ends , rough-hew them how we will”.
The suspension of Wimal Weerawansa, the JVP ’s public face and most popular leader is an event of immense signficance for the JVP and is fraught with possibility. Although the party is nominally headed by Somawansa Amarasinghe and General Secretary Tilvin Silva, it is Wimal who is the poster boy of the new JVP in its most recent avatar. Weerawansa is the party’s most brilliant orator: revered by the rank and file, and feared by his opponents. Weerawansa is closely associated with the JVP’s recent political transformation towards Sinhala nationalism in the post-2000 period, and particularly to the way in which the JVP captured the mantle of Sinhala nationalism in the course of opposition to the CFA and the Norwegian sponsored peace process.
[Wimal Weerawansa]
By the 2002-2003 period, Wimal had become a media sensation. Himself a former journalist, Wimal had for long held the deceptively humble title as the JVP’s media spokesperson. He was an exceptionally skilful performer in front of the camera, as his steely glare, his sharp, clinical style, and his immaculately coiffeured persona has since catapulted him to fame. In the long exile years of Somawansa Amarasinghe through the 1990-2004 period, it was Wimal, together with Tilvin Silva, who were the two top leaders of the JVP on the ground. And of these two, it was Wimal that dominated, at least on the public stage.
From 2003 onwards, Wimal has been the General Secretary of the Patriotic National Movement (PNM), an umbrella organization floated by the JVP at the height of their agitation against the Ranil Wickremasinghe government and the peace process. The PNM was effectively an openly Sinhala nationalist organization, and although it contained a number of leading JVP activists and fellow travellers, it also included a large number of outsiders, such as its Chairman Gunadasa Amarasekera. As head of the PNM, Wimal was presented a new platform to pursue his fiery Sinhala nationalism with some degree of independence from the organizational discipline and collective decision making of the JVP.
Tensions within the JVP have always existed, but have been skilfully kept away from the media eye due to the party’s culture of silence and discipline. There were a number of splits in the party in the 1993-96 period, mostly in the context of party reorganization and consolidation. In the aftermath of the party’s shattering defeat at the hands of the Premadasa government’s counter-terrorism in the 1989-90 period, the fragmented and leader-less remnants of the party naturally gravitated in different directions. While it was ultimately the Somawansa Amarasinghe faction, headed in exile from Paris, that gained control of the party brand name and held a national convention in 1995, there were at that point as many as five separate organizations calling themselves the JVP.
But what has been remarkable about the JVP, which went through a similar period of splintering in the post-1977 period, is that it has prevailed and steadily grown in size and significance. Tens of thousands have entered and exited the ranks of the JVP, but the party has survived. The JVP went from almost complete annihilation in 1990 to winning 1 MP in 1994; 10 MPs in 2000, 16 in 2001, and 39 in 2004. The JVP commands a steady 10%-20% of the Sinhalese vote, and has when contesting under the UPFA, attracted very high levels of preference votes compared to their SLFP colleagues. Much of the JVP’s present image and strength derives from their successful campaign against the peace process and the CFA – a campaign that caused them to mend fences with their old antagonist Mahinda Rajapakse, and to work energetically for his election as president in November 2005.
For the first year after the election, the JVP remained close supporters of Rajapakse, and were assumed to be the power behind his presidency. In actual fact, tensions between the JVP and Rajapakse always remained acute behind the façade of unity, and the JVP refused to actually join his government and re-assume the ministerial positions they had briefly accepted in April 2004. In the first half of 2006, the JVP impatiently goaded Rajapakse to an ever more radical, extreme and militarist stance against the LTTE and indeed achieved that objective. In the early days of fighting in mid-2006, Weerawansa was on several occasions deployed on speech tours of the troops on the front-lines, with his growing influence causing alarm even within Rajapakse’s own party.
But at the same time, while the JVP appeared to be at the peak of their powers in the midst of the military crisis of Maavil Aaru, Muttur, and Sampur in July-August 2006, the party continued to press the government for further extreme measures outlined in the ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ election manifesto that they had signed up to. As the price for joining the government and consolidating Rajapakse’s chronically weak base of parliamentary support, the JVP put forward a set of ultimatums including the formal abrogation of the CFA, and the removal of the Norwegian monitors. Rajapakse was not averse to these measures – indeed he has since implemented them, but in his own time, and when the military, political and international circumstances suited him. At that time, Rajapakse and many in his party were deeply unsettled at the JVP’s perpetual brinkmanship, and their uncompromising and confrontational style. A partnership in government with the JVP looked increasingly unappealing, and Rajapakse began looking elsewhere for parliamentary support.
Between late-2006 and early 2007, Rajapakse successfully finessed an extremely complicated political manoeuvre that finally won him the pliable parliamentary majority that he had sought. He simultaneously rid himself of the petulant JVP, won over a sizeable faction of defectors from the ailing UNP, and consolidated his position within his own party by expelling a small faction of opponents from within his own party led by former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera.
As a result, by early 2007, the JVP found themselves in the extremely awkward position of opposing a government which they had helped elect into power, and whose policies they were closely identified with. Since 2002, the JVP had defined itself in terms of its campaign of opposition to the peace process, and to some extent, with opposition to market reforms. By appropriating both these policies, Rajapakse was effectively denying the JVP the political oxygen and the opportunity for populist fervour that had sustained them for over a decade.
Rajapakse’s primary political agenda item was the war against the LTTE. As long as the war remained successful, and appeared to be prosecuted aggressively, the JVP would struggle to find political traction. Not only could the JVP not oppose the war, but they could not even (as they had done under Chandrika in the late-1990s, or JR in the mid-1980s) complain that the war was not being pursued with enough determination. Life has been tough for the JVP under Rajapakse – for most of the past year, they have had to make do with the slim pickings yielded by issues such as corruption, the cost of living, or government wastage. Even here, the JVP has desisted from exerting their presence, for example by using their considerable union muscle. Indeed, the JVP has held back their unions from any serious strike action for fear that it would be seen as disrupting the economy and the war effort.
Rajapakse has also been an extremely skilful political manipulator, and has constantly out-manoeuvred the JVP by appropriating key elements of their agenda, and denying them an issue to fight him with. In 2007, Rajapakse produced groans of disappointment both within Sri Lanka and internationally with his primitive and clearly unacceptable proposals for power devolution. But this, and much else, has been done with a clear eye to the JVP, which has threatened to oppose and campaign against any meaningful proposals at power devolution – just as they did in August 2000 at former President Kumaratunga’s devolution bill.
To some extent, Rajapakse’s actions amount to a back-handed ideo-political victory for the JVP. Their entry into parliament since 2000 has effectively resulted in the elevation of their agenda into state policy. It has reversed the grand political tide towards greater acceptance of devolution that has been in motion since at least the Chandrika years. Negotiations with the LTTE are now completely off the agenda, as is any incremental devolution. The government has an actively hostile approach to the western donors, NGOs, and to absolutely any measure of the humanitarian intervention and human rights agenda. Similarly, Rajapakse has also not undertaken any major privatizations, and most market reforms remain frozen since 2004. All this is largely the handiwork of the JVP. To this extent, they have much cause for self satisfaction. But the ascendance of the JVP’s ideo-political agenda has paradoxically caused deep tensions within the organization itself, with a spate of high profile media reports about dissent at the top.
In 2006, the JVP’s erstwhile Presidential candidate from the 1999 elections, Nandana Gunathilake effectively left the party and spent almost a year in hiding, presumably abroad. There have also been persistent rumours in recent weeks that another MP, Sunil Handunetti was the subject of unusual disciplinary measures including some form of house arrest. The Handunetti affair came to a head, together with the present crisis over Wimal Weerawansa, in the wake of the budget vote in December 2007. A government that loses the vote on the budget must resign immediately – so that much more was at stake than the actual appropriations bill. The opposition parties, which have suffered much under Rajapakse, had gone to great lengths to coordinate amongst each other and to muster defections from the government benches in order to defeat the budget. Given the complex arithmetic of parliamentary support, the survival of the government ultimately came down to the issue of which way the JVP’s 37 MPs would vote.
There were heated debates on this issue within the JVP itself – and it is widely assumed that the sentiment within the party was to vote against. As an opposition party, the JVP was loath to keep the government afloat, but was under heavy pressure from Sinhala nationalist opinion not to cause the collapse of a ‘patriotic’ war-time government. What is interesting to note is that the Sinhala nationalist PNM, headed by Weerawansa, and which sponsors the soldier’s welfare organization, Manel Mel, which lobbied heavily for the JVP to support the government. There was tight secrecy over the JVP’s decision in the run-up to the actual vote, and the final decision was apparently communicated to the JVP MPs themselves only at the very last minute. Eventually, the JVP, which had voted against the budget on its second reading, had under heavy pressure, changed this on the critical third reading to abstaining. It was ultimately the JVP’s mass abstention that helped stem the tide of any latent desertion from the government benches, and helped preserve the government.
What emerged in the aftermath of the budget is that the PNM – the JVP’s own brainchild – has thus come to play an important role in pressuring the JVP to moderate its opposition to the government. This situation has caused embarrassment and irritation within the JVP leadership, and Weerawansa’s own leadership role within the PNM has thus placed him in the hot seat of contention. In the last two weeks, a new controversy over the PNM has placed Weerawansa openly at odds with the JVP’s position on the issue of paramilitary disarmament in the Eastern elections – and it is this issue which caused an unusually open display of rivalry within the JVP’s leadership ranks and precipitated Wimal’s fall.
From the perspective of Somawansa, Tilvin, Lalkantha and the other JVP leadership, Wimal Weerawansa has been cut down to size. They would ideally hope that he slides quietly into the background without a fuss, and without causing any negative vibes within the party – so that he could be rehabilitated and re-groomed for power in the future. But at this early stage, the situation remains fraught with unpredictable possibilities. Wimal is entirely a creation of the JVP, and is indeed the JVP’s poster-boy of an angry young man, so that it is difficult to conceive of him as thriving under any other political brand name. At the same time, his public persona is such that it would be difficult for him to fade from the public limelight. He has a large and loyal following within the party cadres, who must surely be confused by this unusual departure of their larger than life leader. The PNM has not spoken yet – but they must similarly be displeased with what amounts to a manoeuvre by the JVP against their organization. Meanwhile, the dissension within the JVP ranks is cause for grim satisfaction for the Rajapakse brothers, who would only wish for it to deepen and escalate. The ineffectiveness of the UNP as an opposition party has meant that the JVP poses a far more immediate and unpredicatable source of political threat.
Media reports over Weerawansa’s suspension have speculated over the personality clashes within the organization. Weerawansa is alleged to have been lured into the Rajapakse orbit through his friendship with the President’s brother, Basil. Within the JVP, opposition to the government centres around Tilvin Silva and Anura Kumar Dissanayake. The unresolved rumours over Sunil Handunetti’s house arrest, and the intimidation of his wife have scarcely died down. Nandana Gunathilake has added further fuel to fire by alleging that the JVP contains die-hard militants who are plotting for a return to armed struggle. But personalities aside, the problem within the JVP is a result of the party’s overall unease at the strange political circumstances that they find themselves in – and are effectively caught within a problem of their own making.
As a party of recovering revolutionaries, the JVP has relied on the presence of grand external antagonists to pull themselves forward and to tide over internal differences under the force of forward momentum. In the 1994-2000 period, the JVP had much to shout and scream about – they gained from the growing body of disenchanted PA voters who were frustrated with the Kumaratunga government’s privatizations, devolution, corruption, abuse of authority and failed promises such as on abolishing the executive presidency. In the 2001-2005 period, the JVP experienced unprecedented prominence by leading the opposition to the peace process, which they depicted as a grand threat to the nation posed by a grand ensemble of imperialist powers, Tamil terrorists, NGOs, and their local surrogates. But having come this far, the JVP has suddenly since 2005 found itself unable to project and sustain a grand anti-governmental vision on which to rally their cadres and occupy their considerable energies.
In what appears to be a bizarre throwback to their tragic past in the 1980s, the JVP has recently launched a retro anti-India campaign, and has threatened to launch a boycott of Indian products. But if the JVP’s anti-India campaign in the 1980s was tragic, it is this time a rather desperate farce. Wimal Weerawansa’s suspension is the outcome of the party finding itself in an entirely perplexing situation – of having nothing to oppose. As a result, the party’s frustrated energies and fiery revolutionary spirit have turned inward to consume one of its own for want of an outlet.
Almost all major political parties in the country are currently making a fuss of the Eastern Provincial Council election scheduled to be held next month. Frantic efforts are on in making, breaking and confusing electoral alliances and winning Chief Ministerial post for certain communities. But how much are the people of the province interested in these alliances, positions and after all in this election itself.
The United National Party which boycotted the Local Government election in Batticaloa district citing the security situation, especially the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) or the Pillayan Group, one of the main contestants carrying arms, is now challenging the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government to win the Provincial Council if it can.
And it is said that the TMVP Acting leader Sivanesan Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan is insisting that a Tamil should be the Chief Minister of the province. While the ruling united People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is contesting in an alliance with the TMVP, the Muslim Ministers of the Government have had talks with the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) to form a Muslim front and win the Chief Minister’s post to a Muslim. Are the people in the province concerned about these things?
People in the North and East do not have pleasant memories of the Provincial Council system in spite of the fact that all Tamil political parties and armed groups except the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) clamoured for it and perhaps genuinely believed that it would solve their problems when it was first introduced. They along with the leftists except the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) aspiringly thought that once the system was implemented and people were benefited by it, even the LTTE would be compelled to accept it once and for all.
But history created an altogether different scenario where the LTTE itself turned to be the main stumbling block for the implementation of the Provincial Council system and it successfully turned not only the Tamil people but also those Tamil parties that sacrificed the lives of their leaders and thousands of members for the system, against it.
The LTTE was so hell bent to sabotage the Provincial Council system and Varadhraja Perumal’s North Eastern Provincial Council that they went back on their own declared demand for maximum devolution and swayed President Premadasa during the peace talks in 1989-1990 to promulgate laws so that the central government would be able to dissolve the Provincial Councils-a power that was not granted to the President either by the 13th Amendment to the constitution or the original Provincial Council Act.
President Premadasa accordingly brought an Amendment to the Provincial Councils Act in August 1990 even after the LTTE broke the ceasefire and waged an all out war in June 1990.
In a practical sense the amendment was a vain exercise since Chief Minister Perumal and his ‘comrades in arms’ had long left for Orissa with the last batch of Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and the war with the LTTE had broken out.
The Provincial Council system in the North and the East so far had passed a turbulent period that the people might be afraid of the system. The 16 month administration of the first Provincial Council for the merged North East had been bogged down in various controversies and entangled in a struggle of survival- politically and militarily.
People of the two provinces did not taste any sweet fruit of it but in a way they were harassed and humiliated by the goons of the Province’s ruling Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and the Ealam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF) and their guardians, the IPKF.People living out side the North and the East who supported the concept of devolution of power were also disturbed by events that took place in March 1990 which was taken by most people as Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by Chief Minister Perumal.
In point of fact, it is a misconception that Varadharaja Perumal declared Tamil Eelam. What he did on March 1, 1990 was to convene a special meeting of the North Eastern Provincial Council and announce an ultimatum to the Premadasa Government for the fulfillment of 19 demands that his party, EPRLF had put forward or face declaration of Eelam on March 1 1991, the following year. It was not UDI, but giving notice to that effect.
By then the Premadasa Government had started peace talks with the LTTE which wanted the Government to dissolve the Provincial Council led by Perumal. And in the meantime they were butchering members of EPRLF and ENDLF while the Government was turning a blind eye. Also by that time withdrawal of IPKF under whose protection Perumal ran his Provincial Council was fast reaching completion with the insistence of President Premadasa pressured by the LTTE.
In addition to this context under which Perumal gave notice for the UDI an important fact that most people ignore is that it was the lion flag that was flying on the council building in Trincomalee when he was making this controversial announcement.
The irony of the scenario was that Perumal himself later on some occasions was under the impression that he had declared independence and not given notice to that effect. When the then Minister of State for Defence Ranjan Wijeratne threatened in his own style to arrest the Chief Minister, Perumal retorted with this writer ‘how can he arrest a ruler of another country?’ and it was carried in the Tamil daily Dinapathi.
Thus the institution of the North Eastern Provincial Council and its short but tumultuous history might be a painful reminder for the people of those two provinces. Furthermore the rulers of the Provincial Council and the members of the ruling party could not win the hearts and minds of the people.
It was said that some teenaged EPRLF members who ran some of the affairs of the Provincial Council sometimes rudely treated the administrative service officers. And the notoriety of the IPKF which was responsible for the security of the provinces added insult to injury. Some question as to whether the LTTE would have gone against the provincial council system or Varadharaja Perumal would have resorted to such a dangerous and controversial endeavour, had the Provincial Council system been fully implemented with powers on police and land granted to the periphery.
This is again being countered with the contention that police and land powers cannot be devolved while secessionist armed groups are in action. This goes on as an endless argument like the one as to whether it is the egg or the hen that came first. The fear that the constitutional powers on the subjects of police and land might strengthen the hands of secessionist forces in the North and East has prevented so far five Presidents- from JR Jayawardene to Mahinda Rajapaksa- from signing the gazette notification on the institution of the provincial police division and the land commission that have been stipulated in the 13th Amendment to the constitution.
Although Chandrika Kumarathunge insisted that the police powers be vested in the Provincial Councils when she was the Chief Minister of the Western Provincial Council in 1993/94, she too did not sign the relevant gazette notification following her ascendance to the Presidency of the country in November 1994.
The JVP has now enlivened the controversy of granting powers to the Provincial Councils while armed secessionist groups are roaming around, objecting not only the Government’s move to implement the 13th Amendment to the constitution in full but also the very concept of devolution. They claim that it will strengthen the objectives of the secessionist LTTE.
But devolved powers and the armed power are going to be married under the very nose of those opposed to granting of police powers to the provincial councils in the event of TMVP coming to power in the Eastern Province. It is sensible for the JVP parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa to argue that disarming of the Pillayan group is tantamount to sacrificing them to the LTTE.
But if Pillayan or one of his comrades becomes the all powerful Chief Minister of the eastern Province he will have at his disposal not a police contingent which comes under the command of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), but an armed force of his own which is legally not bound to take orders from any of the commanders of the three armed forces or the IGP.
As violence surges in Sri Lanka, so does the number of abductions and disappearance of mostly Tamil men. That is the assessment of human rights activists and international aid groups operating in the Indian Ocean nation.
[VOA Audio Report by Raymond Thibodeaux]
Soli Chana, 23, is trying to find out what happened to her husband. Witnesses say three men in civilian clothes stopped him, not far from his house in Vanuniya in central Sri Lanka. They handcuffed him, shoved in a plain white van and sped away. That was a year and a half ago. He has not been heard from since.
“She is shocked and upset, [very] upset. She made complaint to the police, the Red Cross, the Human Rights Commission and ICRC [Red Cross/Crescent] also,” Chana said. “All they can say is, ‘We will search.’”
Thousands of other families across Sri Lanka are doing the same – making the rounds at human rights agencies to find family members who have disappeared.
The missing and the families left behind, most of them left struggling, impoverished without their breadwinners, are caught up in a growing list of atrocities being committed by both sides of this 25-year conflict between the Sinhala-dominated Sri Lankan government and Tamil militants, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The American government and others, around the world, say the LTTE is a terrorist organization.
The numbers of the disappeared are in dispute by the Sri Lankan government, but human rights groups and foreign observer say that thousands of mostly Tamil men have been abducted in the past decade and remain missing.
Palitha Kohona is Sri Lanka’s foreign affairs minister. He says the government is sincere in trying to locate those who have disappeared. He says the numbers are being exaggerated by Tamil activists and international aid agencies to tarnish the government’s
human rights record. Kohona says he helped investigate the disappearance of 355 people from list that an American diplomat recently handed to him.
“To us, one person disappearing is one too many,” Kohona said. “When you have 355 it is a matter of serious concern. But, in that list, when we went through the list, there were some repetitions in it. There were 23 in that list whom we have located, up to now, and they are well and kicking. And, there are others whose names are suspiciously similar to those recorded by our immigration authorities as people who have left the country.”
He says nearly half of the 355 people on the list were accounted for and that authorities are continuing their investigation.
Father Henry Miller is a Jesuit priest who has . He has a list of eight-thousand people – mostly young Tamil men – who have been abducted in the past decade. He says most of them are still missing.
He says the Sri Lankan government is touting a recent election here as a sign that democracy is flourishing in a part of the country once controlled by the LTTE. The winner of that election – the first here in 14 years – was an supposedly-less-militarized political split-off of the LTTE, known as the Tamil Makkal Vidutalaip Pullikal, led by a former LTTE commander.
For some, their victory could usher in a new era of trust between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil community.
But Father Miller is skeptical. He says the TMVP is merely a proxy party of the government.
And, now the government can say we have restored self-government to the people of the Batticaloa District and it has not been done,” Miller said. “This is the government’s program. And, with this they proclaim to the world that they have liberated and restored democratic government to the people of Batticaloa. It is a falsity.”
Father Miller says that, in the government’s ongoing attempt to control Tamil militants, they treat all Tamils as potential terrorists. He says that, with Sri Lanka’s civil war flaring up once again in the Tamil-dominated north, that is not likely to change anytime soon.
A March report issued by the U.S. State Department cited almost daily extrajudicial killings and attacks against civilians by the army, paramilitaries and pro-government militias in the government-controlled Jaffna Peninsula. [VOA News]
It was very early on a Saturday morning, we were all gathering in front of the Fort Railway Station. No we were not planning to go on a trip, We were the wives/sisters of the four journalists taken into detention on March 7th. Saturday is visitor’s day to the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID). Family members of the detainees have to gather at the Fort Railway Station between 9 a.m and 12 noon. There they are checked, bundled into a police van and taken to the TID.
So the five of us together huddled together at the station – half ashamed and hoping no body would notice us. We reminisced the many times our husbands/brothers had come to this very station to ‘cover’ various protest rallies but how there were none for them. A man approached us asking if this was the line for those waiting to board the train to Anuradhapura we waved him on embarrassed in case he found out where we were really going.
Suddenly the police jeep appeared and all of the families of the detainees got up from their own little groups and surged toward it. There were plainclothesmen shouting at us to get into lines – men on one side and women on the other. There were very few men going to visit people at the TID and most of them had come to accompany the wives, sisters and mothers of detainees. As this was the first time that I was doing this I just followed the rest of the families as they seemed to know the system. The checking began through the hustle and bustle with babies crying and plainclothes men yelling at the families to keep to their lines. Loud wails from the checking room emanated as carefully prepared food parcels that the families were bringing the detainees were man handled and made unfit for consumption.
Finally we were bundled into a large blue police jeep, which one had to climb into. It was too high for everyone and all the elderly ladies had to crawl in on all fours or be carried in by the other members of the family. We were packed liked sardines. For if we got late that was so much less time to see our loved ones, so we were all eager to go as soon as possible. One elderly gentleman had a problem with his knee and therefore he could not bend it but had to keep it stretched out. The plainclothesman yelled at the gentleman to put his leg inside the vehicle. The gentleman being a monolingual Tamil speaker was bewildered at this barrage of Sinhala. Those of us who knew Sinhala tried to explain to the plainclothesman the plight of this man. The plainclothesman then yelled at some people who were already in the van to get down and after they got out, he pushed the elderly gentleman’s leg inside the jeep and slammed the door shut. The elderly gentleman was in pain all the way to the TID on Chaitya Road.
As we were dropped outside the TID office on the roadside the plainclothesmen shouted at us to get into the nearby bus that was parked on the side of the road there, so we could be transported to see our loved ones. Those of us ‘newbies’ who were able to do the jump from the back of the jeep by ourselves, scrambled to get the front seats of this bus. As we neared it, the plainclothesman laughed out loud the bus had all of its tires deflated. This was his little joke to rag the newbies who did not know the system!
Another TID officer came up to the broken bus and he asked us for the names of the detainees that we had come to see. Then came the long slow wait in the relentless sun. At first we (journalists’ wives) did not speak with the relatives of the other detainees. Then as the hours wore on we went from timid smiles to exchanging information.
One lady had been a bride of one week before her husband was detained. Now he had been detained for 3 months and no reason had been given to him or to her as to why he was in custody.
Another had a babe of three weeks in her arms, her husband had also been held for three months without reason being given for detention.
This was the first time that her husband would be seeing this child. One other lady had to come from Kurunegala every week just to see her husband. He had been held for six months and not yet been charged.
As we stood exchanging stories in the blistering sun it became clear that while all of our races, backgrounds and cases were different what bound us together was fear. Fear of what might be happening to our husbands inside the TID, fear that neighbor’s might find out our husband’s were in detention and hound us from our homes, and fear that any of our actions could be misconstrued by the police and TID officers there and that could lead to the further detention of our husbands.
All of us, regardless of ethnicity or case had been warned by the TID officers not to take this matter to court or involve any lawyers. If we did involve lawyers then our husbands could be held indefinitely we were told. I, in my desperation to ensure my husband’s freedom was also thinking that I should not stand up for my husband’s rights. But then in the blazing sun I realized that for 20 years my husband had worked for the rights of the people of Sri Lanka and that in his own case he would not want me to stay quiet about his own rights.
In the early 1990’s my husband worked for the Organization of the Parents and Families of the Disappeared-an organization that worked in the South helping Sinhala families get justice for their children who had disappeared. My husband was one of those who compiled the documents that contained the names of the disappeared that then MP Mahinda Rajapakse took to Geneva in 1992. Today he is being accused of being a terrorist for seeking justice for those who had disappeared in the North and East. Here was a man who truly believed in the Rights of all people in Sri Lanka, who worked unstintingly for peace with ministers of this government and of members of all parties at the One Text Initative. He is now being incarcerated for speaking up for the people of his country.
When I looked at the tired, scared faces around me, I asked myself whether I should be ashamed of my husband or of my country?
[Ronnate is the wife of journalist JS Tissainayagam who is being held in detention from March 7th. A fundamental rights petition filed on his behalf has been given leave to proceed by the Supreme Court. It is to be taken up on March 31st. Meanwhile the Terrorist investigation dept has sought a court order seeking to seal up the Tissainayagam residence. It is also learnt that a detention order for three months was issued on March 27th against Tissainayagam]
Doing the same in North, just as in the East is going to work-is the mistaken belief that is hovering major diplomatic, economic and militaristic burdens for the Government of Sri Lanka today, says Irasiah Ilanthirayan, the Military Spokesman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Fighting a war for political reasons and unable to pull out due to the fanfare shown at the start of the warfare is turning the Northern war front into a quagmire for Sri Lankan forces according to Irasiah Ilanthirayan.
The LTTE Military spokesman talked to the Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation on the prevailing conditions at the Vanni theatre of war.
[Irasiah Ilanthirayan]
Excerpts from his comments as follows:
“The war towards North that began on 15th of March 2007 in Vanni continues through this day. There is a vigorous war going on in several parts of Mannar and Manalaru.
The major thrust that was started in a similar manner on the 11th of October in 2006 in Killali, Mukamalai and Nagar Kovil areas have not advanced an inch. Attempts to advance from these areas are being made continuously. Under the guidance of our leader V.Pirapaharan, our Colonels and cadres are waging a vigorous fight utilizing the landscape and tactically appropriate ways to inflict casualties.
Mannar
There are several reasons for Sri Lanka armed forces to keep targeting the areas around Mannar. In accordance with their agenda, bringing the greater Mannar area under their total control and opening a land route along Mannar-Poonaryn is important for them.
There is a striving to gain politically as well by trying to push towards the holy shrine of Madhu in the meantime.
If a specifically named military operation is conducted consisting of a mission and goal, it will also have to spell out the time limitations to accomplish them. In order to avoid being entangled in such circumstances, vigorous attacks and tactics utilizing large number of forces are increasingly being carried out in those areas.
Through these attacks they may attempt, to capture places that they could mention; or to gain politically, by bringing the holy area of Madhu under control.
They have not announced a time frame under these circumstances, but the push towards capturing the greater Mannar areas and securing a land route along them is on.
The armed forces are using maximum strength in these operations. 57th and 58th divisions along with several sub forces, guard troops, special forces, and artillery units are being put into action with great anticipation. But the war is grinding on over years.
What is the result of this ’serial’ operation? What are the loses to the armed forces during this war that has spanned over an year? And many analysts have begun to look into what the implications will be from these.
Mannar is our soil. We will fight for it intensely. Operation is underway to open a land route to Jaffna and also political purposes. But Sri Lankan forces are in deep angst on the prospects of capturing these areas as time goes by.
In these areas, in accordance with the prevailing conditions we employ several tactics by going forward and backward; such as attacking sideways after allowing to advance and attacking by intervening the moving forces.
The forces may arrive at Madhu tomorrow. The following day we will be in Mathawachchi. This is a rotating aspect. What losses will the forces encounter on every inch they advance.? Our cadres carryout their maneuvers in this war, by grasping the befalling realities when the Sri Lankan forces feel for their losses in the battlefield.
The Sri Lankan military base in Anuradhapura is being used as the command center for these continuous operations.
As I said earlier there are several reasons for these operations. Even though there is no clear vision, there are compelling political reasons. There are no accomplished victories to speak of and politics is preventing to curtail the operation that began with much fanfare. This is what the Mannar battlefield is today. They have fallen into a quagmire.
When Mahinda Rajapakse came to power, war was a sub text. But now it has taken full embodiment of his administration. His early dazzle was that over powering the Tigers will be easy. But Rajapakse has repeated the same historical mistakes made by previous Presidents and Armed Forces Generals.
With the set time frames within only them and not in the limelight, operations are being carried out by playing a mere numbers game. The same errors were made previously in the math of the war.
Propagandas trumpet that hundreds of Tigers are dying while just a few government soldiers are getting wounded. They are unable to avoid this. Propaganda is a tool to deflate and distract the feelings on inflation, distrust over the Rajapakse brothers and resulting confusions and mistrust of the government in the South when the truth of the war zones creeps amidst the iron clad on the media.
Manalaru
As in Mannar, the Armed Forces are attempting to advance in Manalaru as well. But we have very strong defense structures there. And like Mannar, Manalaru is also our heartland. Our forces are engaged in two types of warfare there.
It is a suitable terrain for conventional as well as guerilla warfare. The Sri Lankan forces are stuck there too without moving forward.
Mukamalai
As far as the Northern battlefront is concerned, skirmishes in Mukamalai, Kilali and Nagarkovil are of continuous daily occurrences. They are unable to inch forward while facing casualties here too.
Amidst this, they have built up the troop strength in the peninsula. This is due to their fear that the Tigers may land there and launch attack anytime. This is why their most trusted 53rd division elite forces are stationed there. Some support guard troops are also accompanying them.
The Air Force base is nearby. With this facility they could transport the wounded and attend to other logistics faster. But they are unable to do much with all these capabilities.
Success and failure in a battlefield is determined by meeting set goals. Since 2006, we have been succeeding on the warfare of attacking, upon cutting short the advancement of troops in the Northern front.
East
The situation of the Sri Lankan armed forces is like ‘Thinking of unhusked rice and pounding the mortar’. Even the international watchers of this conflict are now saying this. Those who invested believing in the tactics of the Sri Lankan Army are now questioning the results. Part of this development is what has led to President Rajapakse and Military Generals to now say that time limits cannot be imposed on winning the Tigers, as previously thought of.
As far as the East is concerned our need is to wage a fight with intense. Within that limit we are managing to fight a war. This situation has forced the government to station troops there.
When armed forces have to be deployed elsewhere as new fronts open far from the East, government is facing the necessity of replacing them.
Doing the same in North, just as in the East is going to work-is the mistaken belief that is hovering major diplomatic, economic and militaristic burdens for the Government of Sri Lanka today. And the battle front is turning towards our favour at this critical juncture.
The Sri Lankan Armed forces have come to know of the intensity of our attacks over numerous times. For example, our attacks on the Anuradhapura and Katunayake Air Force bases are of one kind. Then there is ‘Unceasing Waves’. And there is another kind, in which our fight back against ‘Agni Kela’ stands proof of the parity of our forces on the balance of militaristic strength.
When such reality prevails, international analysts are vociferously pointing out to the Sri Lankan government the larger reality, that the Tigers have not lost their capability to carry out such attacks. Have you done anything to change the attack capabilities of the Tigers is what these analysts are asking the government.
[BBC News footage on the recent sinking of Sri Lanka boat off Mullaithivu seas]
Mullaithivu Black Tiger Attack
I cannot say anything in detail on the attack on the seas of Mullaithivu a few days ago. The fallout from this attack is huge for the government. We have brought this sea lane under our control, which is also the distribution route to the Sri Lankan armed forces in the North.
The Black Tigers have again challenged the notion of maritime sovereignty of the government of Sri Lanka. The questionable status of Sri Lankan maritime waters sovereignty is lingering in the international arena today.
The Sri Lankan government has vast militaristic resources and we cannot match those. But our determination is greater than that of the Sri Lankan forces. They go through a lull in the war as they don’t have justness to wage this war.
The armed forces are now aimless. They distrust the task at hand. They are depressed and in deep angst. In these circumstances their determination is dented; their will is getting destroyed.
[This report is a translation of an article that appeared in the Sri Lanka Tamil Daily Thinakkural]
Reporting on events in Tibet, Myanmar and Thailand, the Associated Press recently headlined a news story ‘Monk led protests show buddhist activism,’;
“There is the responsibility of every individual, monks and lay people, to act for the betterment of society,” said Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile and a high-ranking lama to the Associated Press in Dharmsala, India, discussing protests in Tibet this month that were initiated by monks.
Many reports include mention of activism by monks in Srii Lanka as well, from the assassination of Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike to the stand of Jathika Hela Urumaya party in pushing for brute force against the LTTE. They also mention Sri Lankan Buddhist monks carrying out projects to provide drinking water in the villages of Sri Lanka to fighting for the rights of “the untouchables,” the lowest caste in India.
And the Web Portal Tehelka says in new a report that, activism by Sri Lankan monks in Tamil Nadu is being called a ploy to wean Dalits away from the Tamil separatist cause.
Full Report by Vinoj Kumar, in Tehelka-Buddhist Visitors Bring No Peace:
Sinhalese delegation that included many prominent Buddhist monks recently laid foundation stones for several Buddhist places of worship in Tamil Nadu. The visiting delegation held dedication events for Buddhist temples at Perur village near Trichy and at Alangulam in Tirunelveli district. In addition to the monks, the delegation included the main opposition United National Party (UNP) MP Jayalath Jayawardena. ‘ We are grateful to India for giving us our Buddhist culture and heritage. We want to show our gratitude to India by building these temples,’ Jayawardena said on his arrival. ‘Buddhism belongs to mankind, not to the Sinhalese alone.’ The delegation’s actions, however, triggered a strong response from Tamil groups.
Viduthalai Rajendran, general secretary of the pro-LTTE Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (PDK), termed the temple-building a ploy to woo Indian Dalits and pit them against Sri Lankan Tamils on religious lines. ‘We won’t let the Sinhalese set foot on Tamil soil and engage in their conspiracy to divide Tamil society,’ he said. Rajendran’s PDK is a non-electoral party and an offshoot of the socio-political reformist movement Dravidar Kazhagam. It has been organising agitations in Tamil Nadu against the Sri Lankan Mahinda Rajapakse-led government, which it describes as a Sinhalese chauvinist regime. On March 3, one such agitation led to the arrest of several PDK workers.
Displaying black flags, they had been protesting the Sinhalese delegation as it conducted a bhoomi pooja at the Perur village site. In his daily show on Win TV, ‘News and Views’, political analyst TSS Mani fuelled the fire with his comments on the issue. ‘The Lankan government is playing the Buddha card to divide the Tamils. It is their strategy to counter the Tamil support for Eelam Tamils.’Mani also claimed that circumstantial evidence supported ‘the hand of the Lankan government’s National Intelligence Bureau’ in the Buddhist temple-building ‘campaign’. In Sri Lanka, many Buddhist monks are members of the chauvinist Sinhalese parties Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and Jathika Hela Urumaya.
The Dalit groups affiliated with the visiting Sinhalese monks deny any pro-Sinhalese sentiment. Thangavayal Vanidasan, founder of the Dalit Makkal Munnani, says, ‘I have always been a supporter of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Our connections with the Sinhalese monks are limited to our spiritual needs.’ According to Vanidasan, only the Buddha statue was given to them by the Chennaibased Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka. The organisation mentioned by Vanidasan, the Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka, is the nerve centre of Buddhism in Tamil Nadu. Its headquarters is in Sri Lanka, where it was founded in 1891. The society’s leader in Chennai, Sinhalese monk Kalawane Mahanama Thero, described the visiting monks as belonging to another sect and said he was keeping away from them. ‘ They don’t seem to be doing any real religious work,’ he said.
Interestingly enough, the senior MP in the delegation, Jayawardena, is Catholic. Thero ascribes a political motive to his involvement:’ He wants to show to the Sinhalese people that he is doing great service to Buddhism not only in Sri Lanka but also in India. He has been claiming that he is building Buddhist enclaves in India.’ For his part, Jayawardena dismissed claims of ulterior motives. ‘ If anyone had the slightest doubt about my intentions, do you think a person like Chakravarthy Naidu, a senior BJP leader, would have donated an acre of land in Tirutani for building the temple?’
Meanwhile, PDK leaders claim they are not against Buddhism but only against the Sinhalese monks. PDK general secretary Viduthalai Rajendran said that as followers of Periyar, they welcomed the Buddhist movement because of its anti-Brahmin plank. But he was quick to add, ‘No one can deny the fact that Sinhalese Buddhists have practised chauvinistic politics against the Lankan Tamils. It is because of this reason we are opposing them.’
The thirteen men and four women who were killed in the deadliest
attack on aid workers in Sri Lankan history would not have even
thought for a moment that they were walking into a death trap. It is
difficult to fathom what final thoughts crossed their minds while
watching their colleagues being shot. There was a father, a driver and
a daughter, a programme officer among the deceased. Which one of them
died first? Who had to bear the agony of watching their loved one
being killed? These are questions that would plague our collective
psyche to which answers may never be found.
[An aunt of Ambigavathy Jayaseelan, one of the 17 Action Contre la Faim aid workers killed, gives evidence in front of a panel of judges in Colombo March 24, 2008-Pic: Buddhika Weerasinghe, Reuters via Yahoo! News]
Setting off on a deadly journey
Mr. Ponnathurai Yogarajah’s eldest son Kodeeswaren was also killed in
the ACF massacre. He had already lost another child, Hemachandran in
January of the same year, when five students were killed in
Trincomalee after tensions arose due to the construction of a Buddhist
statue in the town.
“Before my son Kodeeswaren left to Muttur at about 6.00 a.m. on August
2, I gave him Rs. 200 for his meals. That was the last time I spoke to
him,” he sobbed while giving evidence to the CoI via video
conferencing from an undisclosed location. Mr. Yogarajah fled the
country due to threats on his life and family.
“I spoke to him for the last time on August 3, 2006 after 6.00 p.m. He
told me that there were LTTE terrorists on the main street in Muttur,”
the grieving father said.
A relative of Ambikapatthi Jayaseelan, who received Rs. 480,000 as
compensation from the ACF, recounted the beloved boy’s final departure
through tears, unable to appease her sorrow after almost two years.
“I took Jayaseelan under my wing from the time he was 10 years old. He
had no father and his mother found it difficult to raise four
children. I spent for his education and looked after all his needs.”
“After he passed his OL exams he did his AL’s. Then he followed a
computer course and also completed a pharmacists’ course. He joined
the ACF in February 2005,” she added. Jayaseelan who worked as a water
supplying officer attached to ACF’s Trincomalee office usually took
the ferry to Muttur at 7.30 a.m. and return on the same night.”
“They will come and take us”
On August 4th he was trapped in Muttur because the ferry service had
stopped due to the heightened security situation.
“We could hear explosions from the sea. When I spoke to Jayaseelan he
said that he was frightened. He said that there was ongoing fighting
and that people have been asked to get out of the area,” she continued
recollecting the final conversation with him. “We are alone here. The
Trincomalee office wants us to stay in the compound and not go out
because it would be difficult to trace us then. We are dependant on
them to come and take us because we can’t get out,” late Jayaseelan
had said in that conversation. I rushed to the Trincomalee ACF office
and pleaded with them to do something. I tried to call him again on
Friday but the line wasn’t clear. The next day, I went again to the
Trinco ACF office. There were no foreigners there at that time. The
local staff said that the phones were out of order and that they were
trying to use the radio link. They asked us not to worry and to go
home,” she said.
Helpless and distraught without any information, on Saturday (August
5) afternoon the witness then went to Konaligam Madya Maha Vidyalaya
which had turned into a temporary shelter for refugees flooding out of
Muttur. But this also proved futile. “On my return, as I was entering
the house, the phone started ringing; it was a call from Muttur.
The person identified himself as a Muttur Pradeshiya Sabha MP. He said
that he had received information that the 17 aid workers at the ACF
office had been killed. He asked us to make arrangements to get the
bodies,” she explained.
The identity of the call is yet unconfirmed.
Stumbling on the bodies
A government official in Muttur left home at about 7.30 a.m. on his
routine rounds of the refugee centers. While he was at a junction on
the Main Street in Muttur, near the turn to Abdul Cassim Mawatha on
which the ACF office is located, he saw a villager from his own
village gesturing at the AFC office, trying to give him a signal.
“The villager made a hand motion towards the ACF office and walked on.
I saw crows flying overhead. So I turned my motorbike and went to see
what it was,” the witness said. “I saw the bodies lying between the
front wall and the portico. They were bloated and a strong stench was
emanating from them. The blood splattered all over had clotted. Based
on these observations I concluded that they would have been killed
about 24 hours earlier. I made these observations based on my
experience,” he informed us.
When asked whether he informed any authorities in the immediate
aftermath of the discovery he said, “I knew that there weren’t any
proper authorities to take necessary action at that time in Muttur. I
went straight to the Al-Hilal Boys’ Maha Vidyalaya refugee camp. That
school had a three story building. I could only get clear signals on
my mobile phone from the third floor,” the witness continued.
“The camp housed Muslims from the Muttur beach area who hadn’t left.
People frantically wanted to know whether their relatives were safe.
It was utter chaos. There were some people who didn’t even have the
phone numbers of their relatives but as they are illiterate people
when they saw the phone in my hand they thought that they can talk to
their families. I was trying to help them. A person called Imam Asally
wanted to get a phone call. I knew he could handle a phone so I gave
it to him. At that moment a call came and someone asked ‘what happened
at ACF?’ I said that I saw that some people were dead. There was no
time to ask the caller who he was because there were people waiting in
queues for the phone. Thereafter, calls came continuously from the
Trincomalee ACF office and others inquiring about the incident.”
In the meantime the witness had related the incident to a journalist
from a Tamil FM station. After the news was aired he was flooded with
calls.
Faced with the problem of giving more details about the incident he
went back to the ACF office and while standing outside the compound,
counted 15 bodies. “Nine of them were wearing ACF t-shirts. I had to
go back to the refugee camp to get the phone signals. After confirming
the death of 15 persons I started getting calls asking about what
happened to the other two.”
The witness went back to the scene, this time with a team from another
humanitarian organization and entered the compound. That’s when he saw
the other two bodies, one near the garage and the other in the
opposite direction.
Let’s not forget
The relatives of victim Madawarajah Kedeeswaren – a 36 year old
programme officer who supervised road work and sanitation projects -
received his remains in a sealed coffin with his picture pasted on it
for identification.
“Kedeeswaran had said that there were problems in Muttur and that they
found it diffcult to come alone and that the ACF Trincomalee office
had told them that there was an important meeting in progress when
they had called and once that was over they would come to Muttur and
take them back,” a relative of late Kedeeswaren said recounting a call
between the deceased and his father.
“We sent our child to an international organization. We wanted our son
to work in a respectable place. He went there to work and he had to
come back in a coffin. We couldn’t even open it and see the body.
They are all educated children,” Jayaseelan’s relative said.
Independent reports compiled by the University Teachers for Human
Rights (UTHR) went as follows.
“Before a large crowd walked to Killiveddy at about 8.30 a.m. on
August 4, a Christian priest and the Divisional Secretary had gone to
the ACF and advised the workers to join them in going to Killiveddy.
The ACF workers had said that their Trinco office would send a vehicle
for them and had asked them to remain where they were.”
“A man who was from Mullipotana said that some of them went to the ACF
office and asked Mohamed Jaufer of the ACF who was also from
Mullipotana to join them. Jaufer said that he must stay with the
others. This was around 2.15 p.m. or 2.45 p.m. on August 4. Another
ACF worker M. Narmathan was asked by his cousin who worked for the DS
office in Muttur to join him and leave on his motorcycle. Narmathan
declined saying that a vehicle would be sent to escort them out. This
was around 3.00 p.m. on the same day.”
“Different organizations have different policies about staff safety
and security. But it is better to let those who are in the situation
to make the decisions on what emergency steps to take especially in a
very volatile situation, where it is very difficult to decide the best
strategy while sitting in Colombo without access to adequate
information on the ground situation,” an aid worker attached to a
humanitarian organization said on grounds of anonymity.
A code of ethics for humanitarian agencies
A spokesperson from an umbrella organisation for humanitarian agencies
said that they were currently working with the government’s NGO
secretariat and other stakeholders to device a code of ethics for the
non governmental organizations sector. “Transparency and
accountability are of paramount importance if aid agencies are to
function effectively, while winning the trust of different
stakeholders, especially in volatile situation. Therefore, we are
working on a code of ethics which our members should abide by,” he
said. “The NGO secretariat has the option of making it mandatory for
everyone to adopt this code of ethics,” he added.
________________________________
Finding the crucial evidence
The team from another humanitarian organization that managed to
capture the first photographic evidence of the ACF massacre on August
6 recounted the fateful events which took them to the crime scene in
an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror. They were instrumental
in revealing the facts of this gruesome horror to the world and in
creating enough pressure to ensure that bodies “just didn’t
evaporate.” It was a perilous journey that they embarked on to assess
the humanitarian crisis triggered by a mass exodus of over 40,000
people from Muttur.
“We didn’t have plans of going to Muttur at first, but when we got to
Kanthalai people were pouring out in hand tractors and on foot and
they were asking for a safe place to stay. Rows of aid agency vehicles
were parked near the Kanthalai DS office, because they were unable to
proceed without information on the situation. It was a pathetic
scene,” a team member who wished to remain anonymous said. “We felt
that there was an urgent need to assess the ground situation due to
conflicting reports on deaths and injuries en-route and of others
trapped in Muttur who needed immediate attention. When we reached the
army checkpoint in Sirimangalapura we saw an ICRC convoy and two ACF
vehicles waiting to get clearance.”
“Although the army gave all of us the green light to proceed we had to
go through a cluster of Singhalese villages, whose inhabitants had
stoned aid agency vehicles on the previous day because they were
furious about not receiving assistance in securing drinking water
after the Mavil Aru incident when the water supply was cut. That was
when we saw an army tank bulldozing its way through and we just put
our vehicle in front of it and drove on. Later we learnt that the ICRC
convoy and the ACF vehicles had to turn back after being stoned,” he
added.
They passed through ghost towns in Serunuwara and crossed the
Kiliveddi bridge. The few people they met; those who had come to
collect some of their belongings had said that a group of Tamil
civilians had fled in the direction of Ichalampattuwa, towards LTTE
controlled areas, while others, mainly Muslims were fleeing to
Kanthalai. “We met with the BBC correspondents by chance in Thoppur.
They decided not to come with us due to the continuous shelling. By
this time I had received two SMS’s from colleagues alerting me about
15 ACF workers in Muttur who were believed to be missing,” he told us.
“When we entered the town, we saw army personnel trying to restore
electricity. They told us to ask the people to come back because there
was no more fighting. We started asking civilians where the ACF office
is. Then one person on a motorbike asked us whether we wanted to go to
the ACF office. We followed him without knowing what was in store,”
the witness, who had given evidence to the CoI said.
“There was a short parapet wall around the compound. When we parked
the vehicle, we could see the bodies that were stretched on the floor,
face down near the gate. All the bodies were bloated. Gun shot
injuries to the back of their heads were visible. Some of them were
wearing ACF t-shirts. We counted 15 bodies. Two others were on the
sides.”
“We went inside the office which looked ransacked. There was one room
that was locked. We spent about 10 or 15 minutes there, took the
photographs and left. The shelling was still on. There was no police
station around and at that moment we were afraid because anything
might happen to us because we had this vital evidence. So we didn’t
approach any authorities at that time,” he added.
The team went on to inspect refugee camps in Muttur and then Kinniya
and returned to Trincomalee for the night. “We e-mailed the report and
the pictures to Colombo on that night itself. Once the details were
out, with photographs to prove it, we could ensure that the bodies
were retrieved and handed over to the families. If not there may have
been a possibility where the fate of these aid workers would still be
a mystery. Although we were the first to disclose this incident with
proof, there have been no personal threats so far,” he added.
________________________________
Commissioner in the line of fire
Feathers were ruffled when the counsel for the army, Dayasri Gomin
called for Commissioner Dr. Devanesan Nesiah to step down, citing that
he was a “paid employee” of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)
who had acted as a reporting agent and had represented the
organization at international fora. This issue arose after a group of
civil society organizations, including the CPA was given
representation status on the CoI cases.
“The rule that a person who has an interest in the matter should not
be in any way play the role of a judge disqualifies him. More serious
is the failure on the part of Dr. Nesiah to disclose his role and
failure to do so amounts to misconduct. Therefore he should not sit in
the commission,” Mr. Gomin asserted. “In public sittings the
likelihood of bias arises if the public gets the impression of a bias
due to the presence of a judge who may have an interest. If an order
is made by such a person the entire report can become flawed. That is
the danger,” he added.
Mr. Gomin used information available on the CPA website, like Dr.
Nesiah’s official CPA email address and reports to which he was a
co-signatory as exhibits to bolster his objection. However, as a CPA
spokesperson pointed out all that information was available on a
publicly accessible website and therefore allegations of
non-disclosure is dubious.
“Dr. Nesiah was only a consultant of CPA and not a member of the
director board and even other commissioners are attached to similar
organizations in similar capacities. The CoI is not a judicial setup
with parties. It is a quasi-judicial process with a fact finding
mandate,” the spokesperson added. Dr. Nesiahs’s résumé posted on the
CoI website also states that he is attached to the CPA as a consultant
from 2004 to this date. ________________________________
Does the minister know who the killers are?
All hell broke loose when a President’s Counsel made a “foot in mouth”
statement, which he later denied, claiming that an important cabinet
minister in a “confidential discussion” had allegedly revealed that he
was aware of the perpetrators of the ACF massacre. This astonishing
statement, blurted out while an aggrieved relative of a victim was
still in the witness box, created an uproar among the State Counsel
who called on Mr. Desmond Fernando (PC) to “gracefully volunteer” to
become a witness if he was privy to such critical information.
However, this matter hangs on the balance due to a technical glitch.
“Unfortunately the statement may not have been recorded because only
four microphones can be used at the same time. We will have to check
the official recordings later,” the CoI Chairman N. Udalagama said.
While some commissioners seem to have not heard the statement clearly,
it was evident that it had registered in the CoI Chairman’s ears when
he said, “He [Mr. Fernando] said that a particular person in authority
has claimed that he knows who the killers are.” [courtesy: DailyMirror.lk]
Sri Lanka Army Headquarters
P.O. Box 553, Colombo.
Editor, The Bottom Line
Rivira Media Publications (Pvt) Ltd.,
742, Maradana Road ,
Colombo 10.
March 12, 2008.
Clarification on feature ‘LRRP Infiltration Demolishes Impregnable Tiger Terrain Myth’ in your March 12, 2008 issue:
1. Your kind attention is drawn to the above article written by Mr. D.B.S Jeyaraj, in which he has compiled a catalogue of killings and retaliatory attacks that have been attributed to a so-called ‘Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol of the Army.’
2. More importantly, the writer, since the beginning of the report, has strongly implied that the TNA Parliamentarian K. Sivanesan’s death was caused by this alleged wing of the Army, which was repeatedly denied earlier by the Army and rejected outright.
3. Most of the contents in the article were largely based on assumptions and hypotheses, in some instances even going to the extent of blaming the Army for attacks on school buses and ambulances.
4. The Army categorically denies having to do anything with the TNA Parliamentarian’s untimely death in the un-cleared Kanagarayakulam area and also the presumed LRRP operations, as stated in the report.
5. The Army also wishes to request the journalist or any other party to keep the Army informed of existence of any such wing in anywhere of the island under the Army, as stated in the report, supported by substantial evidence or eye-witnesses.
6. You are kindly requested to give this clarification also its due prominence in your next Wednesday’s issue.
The heading and general thrust of the article outlined Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) activities of the Army in general and pointed out in particular that the impregnable LTTE terrain myth had been exploded as a result.
In such a situation, Army directors of media would usually be happy but Brig. Nanayakkara seems to be an exception. He refers to my having compiled a catalogue of attacks ‘attributed to a so-called Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol.’
I would like Brig. Nanayakkara to clarify what he means by ’so-called’ LRRP? Is he denying the existence of the LRRP or is he unaware of the existence of the LRRP?
I wish to point out that one of his predecessors, Brig. Sanath Karunaratne, used to deny the existence of the LRRP and blamed killings of LTTE leaders inside Tiger-controlled territory to internal rivalry until events blew up in his face. The result was that the Army Spokesman of the day cut a sorry figure as far as credibility was concerned.
The LRRP, described as deep penetration unit by the LTTE, was officially acknowledged by the Ceasefire Agreement of February 22, 2002.
Article 1.2 of the CFA debarred offensive military action by either side and included certain acts specifically. Among those mentioned were the deep penetration units.
Consequent to the arrest of some members of the LRRP at Athurugiriya, the entire LRRP story became known to the country. Sections of the media went to town about the fact that an injustice had been done to members of the then LRRP. Some even went to courts admitting that they were members of the LRRP and that their rights were violated.
Subsequently, the then Defence Minister Mr. Tilak Marapone ordered an inquiry through then Army Commander Gen. Lionel Balagalle. Another inquiry was ordered by then Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe through the Defence Secretary of the time, Mr. Austin Fernando. Former President Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga also appointed retired Appeals Court Judge D. Jayawickrema to inquire into the matter.
All three inquiries confirmed beyond doubt the existence and functioning of an Army unit known as LRRP. I am therefore puzzled as to why Brig. Nanayakkara is denying the obvious by referring to a ’so-called LRRP.’
If the name of the LRRP has been changed, then it is Brig. Nanayakkara’s duty as media director to reveal it.
The media director also refers to my ‘catalogue’ of attacks. May I ask him whether he feels these incidents also fall under the “so-called” label?
Brig. Nanayakkara also refers to ‘assumptions and hypotheses’ by me. My analysis is based on the incidents that occurred.
Many people including both LTTE members and innocent civilians have lost their lives. These are undisputable facts.
I also wish to point out that there were glowing media reports about the LRRP and even its modus operandi when LTTE Military Intelligence Chief ‘Col.’ Charles was killed on January 5 this year. I do not recall Brig. Nanayakkara protesting against such media references to the LRRP or issuing clarifications then. Why did he not do so and deny the existence of the ’so-called’ LRRP then?
In my article I have clearly explained the dilemma faced by authorities with regard to unorthodox outfits like the LRRP and the fact that many of their successes are un-claimable. I also called LRRP operatives unrecognised heroes.
It is a pity that these nuances have escaped Brig. Nanayakkara, who tries to invoke sarcasm by referring to ’so-called’ LRRP.
I would also like to ask Brig. Nanayakkara whether he admits to LTTE leaders like Shankar, Kangai Amaran, Charles, Nizam, Mano, etc., being killed. If so, will he let us know who killed them?
Brig. Nanayakkara categorically denies that the Army did not kill the TNA Parliamentarian Mr. Kiddinan Sivanesan. I state categorically that the LRRP was responsible for Mr. Sivanesan’s death.
I also understand that there are certain acts that cannot be officially acknowledged.
Brig. Nanayakkara also calls upon the media to keep the Army informed of the existence of any such wing (LRRP) supported by substantial evidence or eyewitnesses.
The Army Media Director must understand that it is not the role of the media to keep the Army informed privately. Whatever is known will be reported publicly by the media.
But the question that arises is, how will the Army respond to such reports? If Brig. Nanayakkara’s clarification is any indication, only ‘hurrah’ stories will be responded to positively, it seems.
If Brig. Nanayakkara is truly in the dark about the LRRP, it is inappropriate for him to seek media assistance in this matter. He should go through proper channels and seek enlightenment from the Directorate of Military Intelligence about the LRRP.
Brig. Nanayakkara can also read the proceedings and reports of the three inquiries to find out all about the LRRP.
I thank Brig. Nanayakkara for issuing this clarification and request him as Director Media to keep the media informed regularly with authentic information to enhance the quality of reporting on military matters without endangering national security.
So the five of us together huddled together at the station – half ashamed and hoping no body would notice us. We reminisced the many times our husbands/brothers had come to this very station to ‘cover’ various protest rallies but how there were none for them. A man approached us asking if this was the line for those waiting to board the train to Anuradhapura we waved him on embarrassed in case he found out where we were really going.
