Report 12
CHAPTER
6
TRINCOMALEE & THE SWORD
OF CAIN
Introduction:
6.1.
B.Vijayanathan:
6.2.
Sivalingam Guhendiran(22) :
6.3.
Dr. Gnanasekaran:
6.4.
Ganeshalingam, Secretary, Rehabilitation, NEP:
6.5
George Thambirajah, & Dikka, EPRLF leaders:
6.7.Sakuntala
- Wife of George Thambirajah:
What follows below are accounts of a series of killings
ranging from August 1988 to February 1993. These killings though tenuously linked
as individual incidents, are intimately associated with the baneful and ruinous
flow of events, and particularly so for Trincomalee. The actors wielding guns,
who either to satiate the caprice of the hour, or with a remoter calculation
in view, take a life, however valued in its time. Once the life is ended, the
world will, the killers usually suppose, go on as though it never existed. Peace
makers too with quick fixes in view, often, adopt this line in the name of pragmatic
calculations dealing with the balance of good. The people rendered powerless
are often against their judgement, left with no other option. But such assumptions
cannot ever hold. Unless justice is done to the dead, the poison remains submerged,
eating away the social fabric in secret places. Indeed, the killers were themselves
often victims of the tide of events. By putting these down, we hope, in a small
way, to do justice to the dead and give some insight into how Trincomalee lost
some of her promising sons in a politics tending towards auto-genocide.
Note: Cain was the son
of Adam, the first man in the Judaic tradition, who killed his brother Abel.[Top]
Vijayanathan was amoong the foremost sons of Tricomalee
marked out by unshakeable honesty and forthrightness. These gave him an appearance
of rigidity in a world where flexibility had come to mean being economical with
principles. He was among the first to protest when confronted with something
unfair and was in turn tireless in the pursuit of justice. As much as people
admired him, they were also bemused by his energy.
Vijayanathan's social concern led to his involvement
in several voluntary organisations, including the Young Men's Hindu Association
(YMHA). The phase of the conflict following the arrival of the IPKF placed
the Tamils in the East, particularly in Tricomalee, in a severe dilemma.
Vijayanathan, like most community leaders believed that the IPKF
presence must be used to stabilise the position of Tamils who had previously
suffered massive displacement.
But Vijayanathan in no sense compromised with
inhuman behaviour by members of the IPKF. An officer by the name of Andrew
thrust a boy named Manivannan from Kumburupiddy into a pit containing a python
(boa constrictor). He was pulled out after a week and sent home, where he died
shortly after arrival. Vijayanathan was furious and told Andrew in no
uncertain terms that Lord Konesar would punish him for his action. That was
Vijayanathan.
About mid-August 1988, the IPKF began assisting
Tamils displaced from Pankulam by Sri Lankan forces to resettle in their lands.
On 17th August, unarmed IPKF soldiers went into the nearby jungles with
men from Pankulam to cut branches so as to make poles that would make up temporary
shelter for returning refugees. The LTTE sneaked in and shot dead about
six unarmed soldiers. Subsequently several refugees were beaten and rehabilitation
ceased.
Pankulam folk went to Trincomalee and informed Vijayanathan
as the president of the citizens' committee. Vijayanathan was critical
of the LTTE and indicated to the refugees that they too were to blame,
as the LTTE could not have stalked the area without their knowledge.
A senior official of the citizens' committee who was present asked Vijayanathan
whether he should not have been more cautious. Vijayanathan responded
dismissively that what needed to be said ought to be said.
There was another event which also took place during
these dangerous days. From mid 1986 the LTTE was regularly visiting NGOs,
monitoring their receipt and disbursement of funds, and also suggesting projects
for them. The LTTE thus exercised de facto control over large NGO funds.
Following the war with the IPKF in October 1987 the LTTE's ability
to operate in urban areas became seriously limited. It was here that the EROS
came into the act.
Since the LTTE attacked the TELO in mid-1986,
there were considerable sections in the EROS that opposed the leadership's
inclination to dance to the LTTE's tune. The leadership ignored these
sections and became sniffer dogs for the Tigers. It was in these circumstances
that Kanthasamy of the TRRO was abducted by the EROS, who then
disappeared. Kanthasamy, on a visit to Trinco a short time earlier, had
given Vijayanathan Rs1 lakh and had asked him to use it whenever an emergency
arose. Vijayanathan took it on condition that it would be kept in a savings
deposit and used only on express instructions from Kanthasamy. When the
EROS came sniffing for the money, Vijayanathan put them off by saying
it was not his to touch.
On 18th August 1988, the day following the Pankulam
incident, Vijayanathan was sent a message saying that a militant group
wanted to talk to him in Kanniya, a couple of miles west of Trinco. He was taken
to Kanniya on the pillion of motor cycle by a lad well known to him. A number
of persons in Trinco have said that the group concerned was the LTTE.
Vijayanathan, though outspoken was cautious. Had the EROS or a pro-Indian
group wanted to talk to him, he would not have easily budged from Trincomalee
town where they openly operated. Vijayanathan too disappeared.[Top]
Guheendiran was born on 2nd February 1966 and at
the age of 2 became a sufferer from tuberculosis of the spine. For the next
4 years the parents devoted every possible attention towards his cure. He was
taken to a number of specialists starting with Dr. Anton Mariathasan. Finally
he was treated and cured at Trincomalee hospital by the team of Dr. Duraisingam,
surgeon, who is now in Australia. Guhendiran was in one bed for 22 months.
His mother was with him by day, and his father, a senior civil servant, by night.
For about an year, Guhendiran's neighbour on an adjoining bed was an
old man from Muthur with a leg amputated and facing the prospect of losing the
other as well. The old man, who later died, had become Guhendiran's close
friend. The man's dying wish was that when Guhendiran became cured, he
should go to the Hindu temple at Verugal and perform a vow. Guhendiran
was six when he was cured and was then under observation for an year.
His parents regarded him a son who was brought back
to life by God and spoke of him as God's child. The ceremonies at Verugal were
duly performed as wished by Guhendiran's late companion. Owing to a heavy
dose of antibiotics administered, Guhendiran continued to suffer from
a tendency to obesity. His diet was therefore closely monitored by his mother,
who prepared special food for him.
During the mid-80s Guhendiran's elder brother
Babu went to the University of Jaffna as a medical student and was boarded with
friends of the family. This was the time government backed violence in Tricomalee
was at a peak. About a year later, Babu's parents were told by his guardian
that he felt disturbed by the company Babu was keeping. His mother wrote to
him discreetly, "Son, you come from among people faced with great difficulties.
Should you not set your mind on your studies?" Babu replied, "Mother,
during ancient times in our great tradition, Tamil mothers used to tell their
sons, `Son, be a great warrior and I will be proud of you'. Now you tell me,
`Son, study and be a doctor'. Mother, do tell me, your son, `Be a warrior'.
Then my mind will be at peace". That was the last they heard from Babu.
Babu dropped out of his medical studies, joined the LTTE and received
the name `Ravi'.
Then came in October 1987 the war between the LTTE
and the IPKF and a bitter bout of fratricide involving militant divisions.
This rose to further heights when groups in the provincial administration felt
more insecure following President Premadasa's call for a departure of the IPKF.
On 26th August 1989, Guhendiran was abducted
near the Moor Street Mosque junction in Trincomalee by two militants said to
belong to the EPRLF. Guhendiran being well known in Trincomalee,
the progress of his abduction was widely observed. He was conducted through
Green Road, Mudaliyar Street and Vanniya Street. Guhenthiran's father then being
away from Trinco, his mother Balamaheswari went to Major Sharma of the IPKF
and complained. His father, being an experienced administrator, had been consulted
by very senior IPKF men on a number of occasions, who also knew him well.
As soon as he got back to Trinco, he, with his wife, went to Major Kumaon, secretary
to the brigadier with a written appeal and asked for an interview which was
granted. But the IPKF in practice seemed far less eager to help him than
they were to use him when it suited them. An appeal was also made through Dr.
K. Vigneswaran, secretary to Chief Minister Varadarajaperumal of the NEPC, but
to no avail.
Feeling utterly distraught, the couple went to the
Sri Lankan police. A concerned Tamil sergeant called the father aside and asked
him, "Iyah, can you go and stay peacefully in your house after complaining
to us?" The idea was dropped. For all practical purposes Guhenthiran
had disappeared.
The parents saw Ravi for the first and the last time
since his joining the LTTE during the 3 months between the IPKF
pull-out and the commencement of the war of June 199O. It was a brief meeting
during which little was said. Following the outbreak of war the Sri Lankan army
placed a sentry point just outside Guhenthiran's house. A captain told the soldiers
that it was a Tiger house. At the start the parents were humiliated and ordered
to keep their doors and windows open all the time. After an year the sentry
point was removed. Even friends are now reluctant to visit them unless they
are old.
The passing of Guhenthiran is something the parents
can hardly come to terms with: "He was such an innocent boy of delicate
health whom everyone knew and loved. God cured him and gave him life. Now he
has taken him away. We have surrendered him to God and perform all temple ceremonies
on his birthday as if he were alive. We have mostly withdrawn from social and
public life, except for going to the temple. People too are scared and generally
avoid us. We understand their plight and do not blame anyone."[Top]
From the time Gnanasekaran was a dental student
at the University of Ceylon (Peradeniya) he was known to be both unselfish and
socially concerned. His idealism led him to identify with the EPRLF.
Later owing to disagreements over the conduct of the group he left the EPRLF.
The rise of the LTTE placed him in a delicate position.
Gnanasekaran associated with the TDYMHA and became a prominent
channel of NGO funding. It is believed that he had, to safeguard himself, reached
some passive understanding with the LTTE - an almost routine occurence
for those in NGO work.
The EPRLF had asked Gnanasekaran to be
their candidate for the February 1989 parliamentary elections. The offer was
declined. Gnanasekaran, it is believed, had decided that, under the circumstances,
it was best for him to distance himself from militant groups and make his contribution
in social work.
On 3Oth September 1989, ten days after the IPKF
had announced its pull-out, members of the EPRLF met him in the morning
on his way to work and gave a him a note with the message that some of their
leaders wished to talk to him. Gnanasekaran gave them a scribbled message
at the back of the note given to him, to say that his heavy routine did not
allow a meeting. When Gnanasekaran went for lunch in the afternoon, he
was abducted by militants on bicycles and taken away, never to be seen again.
A social worker who knew Gnanesekaran well testified
that he was a most singular human rights activist. He did an additional degree
in Law so that he could make representations without incurring exorbitant legal
costs. When he took witnesses to Colombo, while looking after others he drove
himself hard and severely limited his personal expenses (i.e. Rs 1O/- per day
for food - about Rs 3O/- today). He personally visited scenes of violations
in disguise - such as that of an ice-cream vendor.
Uppuveli was a prosperous Tamil suburb, from which
people were in 1985 being progressively evicted by means of terror. There was
an incident where the Sri Lankan forces locked up people in a house and exploded
a device inside. Five were killed and several others injured. Gnanasekaran
was instrumental in taking 14 of the civilians involved to Colombo as witnesses.
During 1986, in Peruveli in the Muthur area, the Sri Lankan army in one of its
massacres killed and burnt about 45 refugees. Gnanasekaran promptly visited
the area to collect evidence - something very dangerous at that time. The social
worker also added that Gnanasekaran had also actively worked for the
coming of the IPKF.
A young member of a literary group gave another side
of Gnanasekaran. According to him, Gnanasekaran's commitment and
integrity made him a major channel of NGO funding for local concerns. This nudged
him into a balancing act requiring both considerable skill and luck. He maintained
a close relationship with Robert, an ENDLF member of the North-East Provincial
Council. Though the ENDLF was a pro‑Indian group fighting a bitter
battle for survival with the LTTE, Robert was not reputed to be a strong
party-man. Robert is described as a Left wing intellectual who could maintain
a relationship on the basis of an exchange of ideas.
As to the literary group concerned, it was in a difficult
environment and was lacking in funds to continue. According to this member,
Gnanasekaran had approached them and offered to find the funds, provided
they would carry material that is favourable to the LTTE. The group decided
to suspend publication indefinitely.
After long administrative experience, Ganeshalingam
retired as AGA, Town and Gravets. As a man anxious to do something for Trincomalee,
he, among many able administrators, joined the provincial administration formed
at the end of 1988, as secretary to the ministry of rehabilitation. Towards
the end of 1989 when pro-IPKF groups were preparing for an exit, the
ENDLF, it is said, sought funds from his ministry. Ganeshalingam
declined to be party to handing over such funds on the grounds that it contravened
financial regulations. On the morning of 28th January 199O a gun man entered
his house and killed him. An IPKF guard was in front. Ganeshalingam's
personal bodyguard, a member of the ENDLF, had then been in the toilet,
leaving his pistol on the bed. The killer, it is surmised, had come from the
back of the house.
The following day Sathananthajothy, GS/Sambaltivu,
was shot dead, reportedly by a pro-Indian group. In the minds of the local people
the two murders are linked. The identity of Ganeshalingam's killers is
said to depend on whether the second murder was a reprisal or a cover up.[Top]
George was an activist even as a student at
St. Joseph's Institution, Trincomalee, and later joined the EPRLF-a popular
phenomenon among Eastern students in the early 8Os. The EPRLF dispersed
following its proscription by the LTTE in December 1986. George
and other local leaders of the EPRLF, such as Dikka, arrived with the
IPKF in August 1987.
Over the years Tamils, subject to attacks from mobs
backed by the forces, had abandoned premises in Market Street and Central Road.
Main Street marked the new communal border. Tamils were now west of Main Street.
Following the arrival of the IPKF there was some localised communal violence
in this area. During this commotion in early August 1987, George and
Dikka arrived in a CTB bus with an EPRLF party and faced the Sri Lankan
police at Sivan Kovil Junction. At this point de Silva, Superintendant
of Police and Richard Wijesekera, ASP, arrived in a jeep. The IPKF
too was present. The SP who knew George as a boy, his father having been
a policemen, summoned him, "Thambirajah, come here". George
said that he would not move until the police withdrew east of Central Road.
The IPKF persuaded the police to comply. Richard Wijesekara evidently
never forgave George this humiliation. Dikka was killed by the LTTE
later in 1987 in the course of events marked by killing and counter-killing.
The circumstances in which the EPRLF and associated
groups were asked by India to run the N-E Provincial Council led to a sharp
downward spiral in their fortunes. [See Reports 1,2,& 3]. The tragedy
comes through strongly in the fate of George during this period.
Faced with running the provincial council, the government
placed hurdles in their way from the start. A council was `elected', but was
lacking even office space. Officialdom in Trincomalee too was obstructive and
was reluctant to provide facilities unless instructed by Colombo. The EPRLF
tried to imitate the LTTE in their manner of dealing with people without
the corresponding legitimacy, and thus opened themselves to progressive alienation.
The result was a form of self destructive insanity.
To find space for the provincial council, George
went to a government office and asked for the premises. The head refused. George
ordered the head to be bodily loaded into a truck together with his desk and
driven away. With a series of government offices cleared the provincial council
began its functions in commandeered premises. The move had the support of many
ordinary people in Trincomalee.
To sabotage the working of the provincial administration,
the LTTE sent warning letters to heads of departments and commercial
institutions asking them not to open their premises. George went about
reopening these institutions with a mixture of counter - threat and cajolery
and succeeded without too many hard feelings.
In administrative matters, despite their youth and
inexperience the EPRLF showed considerable maturity. The best Tamil public
servants were chosen irrespective of their past associations, and were allowed
complete freedom in the exercise of their judgement. Munsoor, the secretary
of education, was one against whom, in his capacity of director of education,
George, then a student at St. Joseph's, used to put up wall posters.
Several people in Trincomalee describe that period
as a golden era when Trincomalee was transformed from a sleepy town into an
administrative centre, with masses of office employees going to work. Compared
with their killings elsewhere, where provicial council employees were concerned,
the EPRLF and other groups, it is said, observed considerable restraint.
Those suspected of supplying the LTTE with information on a regular basis
were often warned by George and let off.
From mid-1989 the LTTE becoming more active
with material help and political backing from the Sri Lankan government. The
IPKF gave indications of withdrawal and the of the EPRLF and other
groups began forced conscription for the ill-fated Tamil National Army(TNA).
This further queered the pitch and sent these groups into a panic stricken frenzy.
George's state of mind is illustrated by what he told a friend, "I
know the LTTE will one day get me. Before then I will make sure that
many of them would go down with me". In this state of obsessive vindictiveness
the EPRLF reached a new low where it went for innocent boys like Guhendiran
(see above), a member of whose family was in the LTTE. Moreover it could
not cope with an essentially decent fellow like Gnanesekaran whom its
leaders well knew.
On 9th January 199O George was travellling to
Nilaweli in his jeep with the customary IPKF escort behind. The LTTE,
firing from a distance, stalled George's vehicle. George was killed
while trying to get away on foot. The IPKF reportedly did not intervene
to save him.
George and Dikka were two more tragedies in a `liberation
struggle' where the youthful energies of thousands were misdirected and wasted.
For those who lost near ones for which George
is held responsible, there is no forgiving him. One senior citizen said, "He
was a good boy. But with the onset of his role in the provincial administration,
he changed for the worse." Another said of him, "George
was a dedicated leader in many ways. When he came back to Trincomalee with the
IPKF, he placed the well-being of the cadre under him first. He drank
plain-tea and ate poorly. In the nights he often kept watch while others slept.
If he wanted position, such as that of a minister, he could have taken it. But
he did not crave for power". A senior administrator who had observed
George and Dikka over a long period said, "These boys had several
good qualities and the IPKF could have used them positively. Instead
the IPKF used them as killers and destroyed them."
6.6. Early 199O: The Uppuveli
incident: The >IPKF was preparing to leave Trincomalee, with its allied
groups preparing to decamp with them. That was the situation at the ENDLF
camp in Uppuveli. The camp had a number of cadre who had caught a debilitating
tropical infection and were convalescing. The LTTE attackers under Daya
came by sea. Hardly meeting any resistance they killed over ten ENDLF
memebers groaning in sickness, loaded the captured weapons into boats and set
off. One of the heavily laden boats capsied - it being the north-east monsoon
- and about 22 LTTE men, including senior persons, were drowned. To many
in Trincomalee, it was divine judgement. One of the two who survived promptly
left the LTTE.[Top]
Having lost her husband in January, Sakuntala returned
to her native place of Trincomalee after the outbreak of war in June 199O. Life
was not easy for her. Once she was reportedly mocked by policemen at a sentry
point and she had told them back in strong terms. This was also the time people
were disappearing in Trincomalee. One day about Septemebr 1990, she was going
along Court Road with another lady when she was bundled into a bus which came
that way, and was not seen again.
Brigadier Lucky Wijeratne was informed, and many believe he tried
hard to get her released. He had in fact invited Sakuntala to serve on
the citizens' committee. People also believed Lucky Wijeratne to be above
skull-duggery for personal reasons. The fact the he could not release her, they
conclude, points to Richard Wijesekera, Superintendent of Police, as
her abductor. The reason is attributed to her late husband Geoge's confrontation
with the police soon after the IPKF arrived - in August 1987.
Wijesekera is also believed to be the cause of the disappearance
of the entire Bhavan family later that year. Bhavan was a hotel
owner who had lodged a complaint for misdemeanor against Wijesekera the
previous year, and an inquiry was reportedly ordered. Bhavan reportedly
withdrew the complaint after Wijesekera entreated him. The family was
abducted one night about December 199O. The disappeared included six children
of Bhavan, including a girl who attained age about 14 days previously,
and an elderly sister of Bhavan's. Wijeratne and Wijesekera
were killed in a landmine explosion in December 199O.
6.8. Uthayarani - Dikka's
wife: 26th February 1993: Dikka's wife Uthayarani continued to live
in Trincomalee following her husband's death. It is said that members of the
forces used to make conversation with her as often happens. To one section this
made her a loose woman who got what she deserved. One charitable senior citizen
advised her to take a break in Colombo. Uthayarani lived in Colombo for
over a year, married and returned home to Sambaltivu with her second husband
Iqbal - a trader in sundry goods. The couple lived with Uthayarani's
parents Mr & Mrs. V. Sellathurai.
On 26th February 1993, shortly before 1O.OO A.M, the
LTTE entered the house and dragged the young couple out. An LTTE
man stepped on Uthayarani's feet and stuffed cloth into her mouth and
prepared to take them away. Old Mr. Sellathurai came out and remonstrated,
"Are you not also Tamils, why are you doing this to us?" The
old man was assaulted. He then followed the young couple as they were taken
away and turned back upon being threatened.
A distraught Sellathurai can be regularly sighted
in Sambaltivu taking his goats to the pasture. His daughter and son-in-law were
tied to the lamp - post in front of the local school
and were shot dead a few minutes after
being taken away. They were succeeded by their 8 months old infant.[Top]
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