Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse referring to the channel 4 documentary which charges that an LTTE leader of the East Colonel Ramesh was killed after he was arrested by the Army , stated as follows at a Nugegoda meeting:
‘In the channel 4 documentary it was shown that an LTTE leader being arrested by the Army and interrogated, and later his dead body was found . They are blowing this incident out of proportion . But they do not say who this terrorist is . This terrorist is the leader who killed our Buddhist prelates in the East in cold blood. He is the individual who killed 600 policemen who were unarmed. He is the one who killed innocent mothers and children in the villages. This documentary displays scenes without explaining who this individual is’.
Now , the need is not to weigh the deeds of the LTTE leader and the deeds of the Army in the past. The question is as a responsible Govt., should an investigation ought to be launched into the death of an LTTE leader while in custody or not. I am aware that there is an international law that an enemy taken into custody cannot be killed. By this enunciation of the defense Secretary , isn’t he impliedly telling that such a killing is justifiable and the channel 4 documentary allegation is true.?
But , what we are trying to report is not about these details , but about the absolute falsehood in the statement of Gotabaya when he says that the individual who is shown in the channel 4 video is an individual who killed 600 policemen en masse after tying their hands . Of course we are not attempting to clear Colonel Ramesh of guilt , if any . If Gotabaya wishes to mete out the due punishment to the actual culprit who committed this genocide, we are herein giving details of him and his whereabouts with evidence , and with whom this murderer is now. .
On the day 1990-06-11 this genocide was committed , two police officers who saved their lives by escaping were also there . The Lanka e news representative went to meet one of the police officers. Right now we cannot reveal his name . Hereunder is the authentic story this eye witness related from which one can conclude who is the real murderer in this mass murder.
Name :…………….. /RPC……………../ date of birth 196 ………… / address ………………
‘Late R Premadasa was the President at that time. IGP was Frank Silva. At about 12.20 p.m. on 11-06-1990, the OIC of the Potuvil police station Kohona, following the orders of the IGP ordered our police officers to put all our arms and weapons into the police station armory, and appear carrying a white flag in front of the police station. At the same time the IGP from the plane gave orders by the Motorola telephone device to hoist white flags in front of the police stations , Potuvil,Akkaraipattu, Kalmunai , Katankudy and Mahakalugolla , and for the police officers to appear in front of their stations divested of arms and weapons. At this stage our Motorola communication advice registered the communication between David , the Thirukovil, Potuvil district commanding officer of the LTTE and Karuna Amman, with David taking instructions from the former as regards the police officers. David spoke to Karuna Amman in Tamil. I understand Tamil very well. OIC Kohona told me to explain what was being related in Tamil registered by the device. At about the same time , Ampara SSP Noordeen instructed the OIC to load the police officers after they have been divested of arms to the buses supplied by the LTTE along with the LTTE cadres.. He added , to obey the instructions of Karuna Amman.
OIC Kohona then informed the Mahakalugolla OIC via the device to enter the buses of the LTTE after leaving back the arms. The OIC Kohona told us to enter one of the two buses supplied by the LTTE , and to leave room for the Mahakolugolla police officers to be loaded into the other bus and half of the lorry supplied by the LTTE. A little while later, the OIC of the Mahakalugolla gave a message through the Motorola that he and his officers will not be abiding by the LTTE orders , and as they are not divesting themselves of the arms , they will not come to be loaded into the buses.
Thereafter there was an argument between Kohona and the Mahakalugolla OIC . Then , KOhona after asking us to enter the buses , went in his red Volkswagen car . The LTTE leader David then came near to our police station , and informed us to travel with the LTTE cadres in the buses.
He further ordered that no weapon , not even a knife shall be carried by us. Only our travelling bags shall be our only possession. At that juncture David asked from Karuna Amman about the route which should be followed by the police officers. Since I could understand Tamil well I was keenly listening to the conversation . Karuna told , based on the instructions received ,to go towards Ampara via Thitukovil route. It was then about 5.40 p m. There were 58 police officers including me in my bus. I distinctly remember this figure because an LTTE cadre took count within the bus. The bus we were travelling suddenly turned to the left towards the jungle from the Thirukovil – Ampara route. We were startled. Although we were sans arms , about ten LTTE cadres had T 56 guns , A K 47, 84 S and mini ushi weapons. In the middle of the jungle we were made to alight. At that venue there were three more similar bus loads . . Those in them were all tied and blindfolded. I knew they were from Kalmunai because the Kalmunai OIC Botejue was there wearing a red shorts. His hands and eyes were also tied. Katankudy OIC was also there . But , at that time hands and eyes were not tied of those who came in our bus. There were about 20 LTTE cadres there. They told us to remove our Tee shirts and shirts. They tied our hands and eyes with them. I thought they were going to take us to their camps. Then they pushed us down . They told in Tamil to put everyone down. I couldn’t see, but I heard them telling in Tamil. After that they told in Tamil to shoot. With that repeated shooting the mass murders were committed. Wailing and screaming filled my ears. I thought I too had been shot and I was benumbed. But the gunshots did not strike me. Two others next to me had been shot and they fell on me. Then the LTTE cadres carried the dead bodies and threw them into a heap . I also pretended that I was dead.
Because my whole body was splattered with blood of the other two , they thought I am also dead, and threw me into the heap of dead bodies. Dead bodies were piled up over me. I remained silent. A radio message came to one of those LTTE cadres present there ,‘ I am Divid speaking . Karuna wants to know whether everything has been completed? ‘ The LTTE cadre replied ‘ I am Thilangan speaking. Everything is okay as instructed’ . All these were spoken in Tamil. Then I could hear the buses being started . Then they left. Even at that moment I was blindfolded . May be I remained there in that condition for about an hour even after they left. I rolled to the ground and loosened the knot on my hands. Later removed the blindfold around my eyes. Then I saw another person also struggling. I removed his blindfold too . He had also not received serious gunshot injuries. He was from the Katankudy police In the night itself we moved as far as possible into the jungle….’
That frightful experience is too long to be described in his own words. Hence , let us stop at this. These two officers after several days had at last reached a Sinhala village called Thammana . They reported to the Ampara police thereafter.. After being hospitalized for about a month they along with the police special task Force were able to locate the place where this ghastly genocide was committed by the LTTE on Karuna Amman’s instructions. By that time the dead bodies were all decomposed . While in the Hospital , this police officer who narrated this had made a statement to the police. He had clearly recorded in his complaint about Karuna and David. But until today nobody knows what action was taken.
This police officer who was in the reserve police grade at that time , after saving his life was treated with ‘special care and pampering’ by the police Dept. That is , he was not even taken in to the permanent police cadre . Besides , he was not even given any special rewards .Will you believe , if we tell you that this officer had now left the police service and is now cutting firewood to eke out a living and keep his home fire burning ? But this is the truth and nothing but the absolute truth. When the police Dept observed two minutes silence on the 11th to honor the 600 dead police officers in that genocide of 1990 engineered by Karuna Amman, it was a rude surprise that the Dept. had forgotten these two officers. On the one hand it is not a matter for surprise, for , in this Sri Lankan murder culture where murderers are being shielded and safeguarded and eye witnesses who saw the murders and genocides with their own eyes are being killed ruthlessly , these two officers who saw these mass murders and escaped death to relate the actual episode being left alive is something to feel happy about. In order to protect the life of this officer , we have not published his name and address. Some day when truth declares itself and the day in SL when an environment for genuine investigations dawns, that day we shall reveal his details.
Since Karuna left the LTTE and has aligned himself with the Govt. it may be impossible to conduct investigations against him. In any case if such investigations are instituted they should be conducted duly and according to the legal norms and practices. He must either tender an apology on account of this genocide ,or all must be subject to a general pardon. All these however should be carried out strictly according to the law. By improvising laws and changing rules to suit each ruler and his selfish agendas , the disastrous end result will be : problems of the country escalating , nation getting increasingly divided and ultimately hatred taking monstrous proportions.
Let us now ask just one simple multiple choice question from Gotabaya :
Please underline the correct answer .
Truly why do you wear an attire ?
1) because of habit ?
2.) to be fashionable ?
3.) Because there are no results despite so many security personnel being deployed , is it therefore to ward off the deadly dengue mosquitoes?
4) because of shame ?
By -LeN Special Reporter
LEN