Midweek Review

British actress gives new twist to now forgotten landmine warfare

Published

4 weeks ago

2026/08/19

Jaffna-born media peronality and actor Danu Innasitamny with internationally acclaimed actress Rosamund Pike and British HC Andrew Patrick at Westminster House, Wijerama Mawatha, recently.

Baffling MAG and others cleared 1 mn mines claim at Westminster House event

The Army, too, used mines against the LTTE with devastating success. Deep penetration units, operating in areas under the LTTE control in the run-up to the 2001 December parliamentary polls and during Eelam War IV (Aug 2006 to May 2009), carried out mine attacks on selected high value Tiger targets. The Army used mines in almost all operations carried out during President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga presidency and the last phase of the conflict. In fact, mines had been the main weapon used in such operations that weakened the LTTE’s hold. The deep penetration units, armed with mines and other weapons, posed such a formidable challenge, the CFA, arranged by Norway, included a clause that exclusively dealt with operations undertaken by deep penetration units behind enemy lines.

By Shamindra Ferdianndo

At the conclusion of Sri Lanka’s successful war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorists, in May 2009, the country faced two daunting challenges. One was rehabilitation of approximately 12,000 surrendered LTTE cadres and clearing the Northern and Eastern areas contaminated with various types of mines and unexploded ordnance.

Restoration of normalcy couldn’t have been achieved without proper rehabilitation of combatants as well as clearing the entire terrain of mines and unexploded ordnance to pave the way for speedy resettlement.

Although the eradication of the LTTE had been a combined security forces effort, the responsibility for the rehabilitation of the ex-LTTEers and clearing of landmines fell on the Army’s Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, who succeeded the war-winning Army Commander, Sarath Fonseka, in July 2009. With Jayasuriya, the former Royal College boxing Captain, with a never say die attitude, at the helm, and those on the ground, tasked to carry out post-war operations, proceeded speedily and methodically. The international community essentially backed both projects. Sri Lanka couldn’t have achieved success without their support.

This was despite a section of the global community, leaning to the West exerting crude pressure on Sri Lanka, on the basis of unsubstantiated war crimes allegations, then President Mahinda Rajapaksa pressed ahead with both rehabilitation and mine clearing operations. Some of those who turned a blind eye to the military threat posed by the LTTE, and terrorism perpetrated by the group, continued to undermine Sri Lanka’s efforts, but a determined political leadership was in overdrive.

It would be pertinent to mention that the country, at that time, was in deepening political turmoil, consequent to the 2010 presidential election won by then incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and the arrest of the defeated common candidate Sarath Fonseka, mostly due to his foul mouth ahead of the 2010 parliamentary elections.

To pile on the pressure on those who pulled off the victory that the so-called experts said Sri Lanka was incapable of achieving by crushing the Tigers in the battlefield, in the following year, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) serving as the cat’s paw of the spurned West, caused unprecedented turmoil when it blindly accused Sri Lanka of killing 40,000 Tamil civilians during the last phase of the offensive.

Instead of supporting post-war rehabilitation and resettlement, Geneva pursued a highly hostile campaign against Sri Lanka. The US and UK wholeheartedly backed the project to undermine Sri Lanka’s efforts to bring about reconciliation.

Against that background, let me discuss Golden Globe, Emmy, and Olivier Award-winning actress Rosamund Pike’s recent visit to Mannar and Mullaitivu minefields in support of Mines Advisory Group (MAG) engaged in clearing operations in Sri Lanka.

The British High Commission (BHC), on 7 August, issued a statement quoting High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Andrew Patrick as having said: “Sri Lanka’s progress towards becoming landmine-free is a remarkable achievement, made possible by the courage and dedication of Sri Lankan deminers, the leadership of the Government of Sri Lanka, and the support of international partners. The United Kingdom is proud to have supported this important work.

The BHC statement coincided with MAG Ambassador Rosamund Pike’s visit meant to mark the clearance of one million landmines since the end of war. According to the BHC, Pike’s visit underscored the remarkable progress made by Sri Lanka’s mine-action sector and the importance of maintaining momentum towards the country’s goal of becoming landmine-free.

Rosamund Pike was quoted as having said: “Having seen MAG’s work all over the world, I am always struck when the necessity for mine clearance and risk education follows civil war. There is a sense of reconciliation in restoring the land to safety. MAG’s programme in Sri Lanka inspires me for its courageous teamwork and moral integrity, providing superb training for deminers to do this dangerous work, with strict safety protocols and building a sense of family within the organisation.”

BR leads Uthuru Wasanthaya

Then Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, in his capacity as the head of the Presidential Task Force responsible for major resettlement, reconstruction, and development initiatives in the Northern Province, following the war, worked overtime to speed up the process. Whatever the accusations regarding corruption and abuse of political power directed at Basil Rajapaksa, the parliamentarian played a significant role in the much touted project called Uthuru Wasanthaya.

Corps of Engineers of the Sri Lanka Army spearheaded the effort. The others involved in mine clearing operations were DASH, HALO Trust, MAG, SHARP, DDG, NPA, Horizon, JCCP, MMIPE, RONCO, Sarvatra and FSD. The recovered items were categorised as anti-personnel mines, anti-tank mines, Unexploded Explosive Ordnance and small arms ammunition. At any given time of the hazardous operations, the Corps of Engineers had cleared more than double the recoveries made by all other agencies.

One-time Chief Field Engineer retired Maj. Gen. Udaya Nanayakkara told The Island that the country could quite rightly be proud of its achievements in post-war mine clearing, as well as rehabilitation of ex-combatants. The wartime Military Spokesman emphasised the pivotal importance in mine clearing and rehabilitation which he described as a prerequisite for meaningful post-war reconciliation.

In spite of constantly harassing Sri Lanka with fictitious and unsubstantiated war crimes allegations, the United Nations, too, grudgingly acknowledged the progress on the ground as the Rajapaksas sustained the momentum. However, there had been excesses on the part of the military and police.

The wartime Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa threw his full weight behind the operations that President Mahinda Rajapaksa took a personal interest in both initiatives – namely rehabilitation of ex-combatants and mine clearing operations. They didn’t allow continuing political turmoil to derail post-war reconciliation efforts. Sri Lanka not only rehabilitated ex-terrorists and made the Northern and East land safe for resettlement, the political leadership ensured that the military-held areas were gradually released. During the 2009-2026 period, successive governments released nearly 70,000 acres. The military now retained the bare minimum land in line with overall security requirements.

The government ensured the participation of the international community in the projects. Senior Colombo-based diplomats and representatives attended the regular progress meetings of the National Mine Action (NMA) programme. The meetings were held under the leadership of Basil Rajapaksa.

A government statement quoted the UN Resident Representative, Subinay Nandy, as having told a progress review meeting of the NMA, in August 2012:

“Sri Lanka has achieved excellent results in the demining. The country can complete the demining process soon in continuing the present institutional setup and machinery. The work carried out by the Ministry and the centre in this humanitarian movement is tremendous and now Sri Lanka can share its demining experience with other countries,”

But, in spite of various predictions made by successive governments and external parties regarding early conclusion of mine clearing operations, work dragged on. Multiple assertions were proved wrong.

Although the rehabilitation of ex-combatants had been completed years ago, mine clearing activity that began earnestly, after the end of the war, continues even today, under the political leadership of the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) government.

Pike, during her short visit here, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya. A selected group of persons were also invited to meet the actress at the British High Commissioner’s residence (Westminster House, Wijerama Mawatha) but, unfortunately, none represented the Army that spearheaded the operation and did the lion’s share of the work. The whole exercise seemed questionable as the notable achievement of clearing one million mines in Sri Lanka cannot be celebrated, under any circumstances, without the Army’s yeoman participation. In fact, the BHC statement, dated 7 August, conveniently left out the Army. Only a section of the media received an invitation to the special event at the HC’s residence where Pike declared that MAG and others cleared one million mines.

Sri Lanka should have celebrated the momentous occasion as the eradication of terrorism, once sponsored by India, with the able backing of a section of the Western countries, is undoubtedly the country’s greatest post-independence achievement. What made our government and the Army forget their responsibility to mark this occasion of immense national significance?

India, UK roles

Having launched the Sri Lanka destabilisation project, in the early ’80s, India introduced landmines as New Delhi stepped up pressure on the Sri Lankan military and police. Their agenda was clear. In line with their overall strategy to expand terrorist operations, the movements of armed forces and police had to be curtailed drastically.

The first major landmine blast, and small arms attack on two light vehicles in Tirunelveli, Jaffna, on the night of 23 July, 1983, set the country ablaze. The country’s then ceremonial Army couldn’t stomach the deaths of 13 men of the Light Infantry Regiment. The Army went on the rampage in the Thirunaveli area. In other parts of the country ordinary Tamil civilians were set upon by mainly Sinhala mobs, also comprising sprinklings of Muslims, especially from Colombo slums, more to get rich by grabbing whatever valuables belonging to fleeing Tamils. President JRJ administration virtually got paralysed by the audacity of the operation, targeting an Army patrol, and allowed the attacks on Tamil civilians that followed as if to assuage the rising anger in the South. Or, was it a deliberate way of warning the Tamils to behave by the President? Had the government promptly intervened and easily nipped the violence in the bud, a major catastrophe, that scarred the whole nation, could have been averted. The Government was so paralysed, deliberately or not, it was left to the duty conscious ordinary Sinhalese to save besieged Tamils by helping them to reach safety as often the police either turned a blind eye to what was happening or they simply failed to act or were busy helping looters

India achieved its despicable objective. Overnight, Sri Lanka’s security crisis received the attention of the West. The UK stepped in. Successive British governments turned a blind eye to senseless violence perpetrated by Indian-sponsored terrorists, gave them sanctuary and, most importantly, created an environment for separatist movement to engage in a massive fund raising campaign in the West that sustained the separatist project here.

The UK played a Jekyll-and-Hyde role that solidly backed the separatist movement, though its retired Special Air Services (SAS) personnel were allowed to train the paramilitary arm of the police, the Special Task Force, to counter the growing threat from terrorists. The UK went to the extent of giving British citizenship to one-time British High Commission employee, Anton Balasingham, who served as the theoretician to the LTTE terrorist movement. This writer interviewed him in Colombo in 1989.

The British knew that funds raised in the UK, in other European countries, and various other parts of the world, were used to procure armaments. Among the LTTE’s arsenal, various types of mines played a crucial role in the overall strategy. MAG and other British mine clearing organisations, like HALO Trust, launched mine clearing operations here consequent to the signing of the Norway-facilitated Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) that recognised an LTTE controlled region in the Northern and Eastern regions. The CFA came into being on 21 February, 2002.

Addressing the gathering at the BHC’s residence, Pike declared that MAG and others had cleared one million mines since the end of the war. The Sri Lanka Army, responsible for clearing more than half of the mines, etc., was simply ignored, other than MAG. Since the mine clearing operations began, 90 percent of the contaminated land had been cleared and, as Pike declared, just 21 square kms, or an area the size of half of the Colombo City, remained to be cleared.

As expected, Pike appealed for more funding for MAG. The world must not forget that India, that trained terrorists in the deployment of mines, and Western countries, including the UK, responsible for funding that enabled the acquisition of explosives and technology, should be held responsible for the deaths and injuries caused by them.

HALO Trust several years ago declared that it cleared over 60,000 mines from the Muhamalai frontlines, extending from Kilali to Nagarkovil, on the Vadamarachchi east coast. The Army, and the LTTE-held strongpoints, in this vital sector, with the largest concentration of mines, meant to prevent each other from breaking out. The HALO Trust claim of recovering over 60,000 mines in the Muhamalai sector underscored the gravity of the situation. The British mine clearing organisation is on record as having said that the cleared area in Muhamalai was roughly three times the size of the New York Central Park.

That HALO Trust statement is evidence of the unprecedented challenge faced by Sri Lanka in clearing mines. Those who repeatedly demand accountability on the part of Sri Lanka for unsubstantiated war crimes conveniently forgot that landmines were introduced by India and such operations were sustained by funding from the West. The UK must have been one of the largest funders, if not the largest funder, of the terrorist project here throughout the conflict. The UK involvement was so deep, the LTTE was allowed to operate freely, in the UK, even after the Tigers assassinated former Indian Prime Minister and Indian Congress Party leader Rajiv Gandhi.

How long those engaged in mine clearing operations here need to complete the job. Some of the mine clearing operators, who had been active here, terminated their operations years ago. Readers would be interested to know that Indian Sarvatra and Horizon groups, led by retired Indian military officers, were brought in by the then Minister Milinda Moragoda’s MMIPE. They moved in about a year after Norway arranged CFA and suspended operations as hostilities erupted following the 2005 presidential election that set the stage for Eelam War IV. Deployment of Indian mine clearing organisations cannot be discussed without taking into consideration that India introduced landmine warfare and they paid a heavy price when the LTTE used the same with devastating success against the Indian Army deployed here to implement the Peace Accord, signed in July 1987. Of nearly 1,500 Indian officers and men killed and nearly 3,000 others wounded here, among them there were probably hundreds of deaths and injuries due to mines.

Mine blasts shatter CFA

The LTTE suspended mine attacks following the 2002 CFA, arranged by Norway. That arrangement had the backing of the US, EU and Japan as well. Although the UK didn’t join Sri Lanka Peace Co-Chairs, the British backing for the Norway-led initiative was known. So much so, the British facilitated a secret meeting between UK citizen Balasingham and top level Norwegian facilitators, following the LTTE assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, in August 2005.

The LTTE resumed mine attacks in December, 2005, just weeks after Mahinda Rajapaksa won the 2005 presidential election. A series of blasts in the Jaffna peninsula claimed the lives of 15 soldiers in early December, 2005. The Norway-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) commended the military for its restraint but it conveniently failed to condemn the LTTE. Australia was the only country that unreservedly condemned the mine attacks.

The LTTE mounted mine attacks outside the Jaffna peninsula. The Navy was also targeted in the northwestern Mannar region. The LTTE set the stage for Eelam War IV with mine blasts that threatened to overwhelm the military. The claymore mine and rocket propelled grenade attack on the Navy, in December, 2005, sent shockwaves through the military establishment. The LTTE stepped up pressure on the newly elected Rajapaksa government, struggling to cope up with the unexpected and extraordinary threat.

In the first week of January, 2006, the LTTE launched a suicide attack on a Navy Fast Attack Craft (FAC) off Trincomalee in Koddiyar Bay. Thirteen naval personnel on board perished in the attack.

Neither the LTTE nor its supporters ever expected the combined armed forces to sustain the offensive action for nearly three years. During that period, the LTTE suffered a spate of irreversible setbacks, leading to the collapse of their strongpoints, south of heavily mined Muhamalai frontlines. The Task Force 1/58 Division attacking northwards, from Paranthan, made the LTTE positions at Muhamalai untenable. Their minefields, meant to deter the Jaffna-based fighting formations, namely the 53 and 55 Divisions, were largely rendered useless and the collapse of the formations deployed at Muhamalai.

The LTTE, surrounded in the Vanni east and unable to open a sea escape route, due to heavy Navy presence, collapsed within months. Velupillai Prabhakaran’s death was inevitable. Had he survived under any circumstances, national reconciliation would never have been a reality. Rehabilitation of ex-combatants and successful clearing of mines enabled the post-war national reconciliation process, though the ITAK sought to derail the process at every turn. The Tamil Diaspora, too, targeted the national reconciliation process.

The alleged attempt to assassinate an ITAK parliamentarian, during the Yahapalana administration, emphasised the threat posed by those who still believed in violence. The group, hired by the Diaspora, planned to trigger a claymore mine blast, targeting Sumanthiran’s vehicle on the Soranpatru-Thaalayadi road, in the Jaffna peninsula. The Police Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) uncovered the plot. There hadn’t been any other incident in which any type of mine was used/or planned to be used in the post-war period.

Sri Lanka needs to remain in a high state of alert as there can be interested parties hell-bent on causing mayhem.

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Midweek Review

Legacy of enforced disappearances: Vital facts conveniently forgotten to whitewash LTTE and India

Published

4 days ago

2026/09/9

Sahan Weerasooriya

One-time child soldier Jesuthasan Antonythasan poses with actresses Claudine Vinasithamby and Kalieaswari Srinivasan during a photocall for the film "Dheepan" at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. The movie won the Palme d'Or in 2015. Antonythasan fought for the LTTE terrorist group before fleeing Sri Lanka and reached France in 1993. Of those categorised as missing, perhaps he is the most famous.

Those demanding accountability from Sri Lanka for war crimes allegations are strangely silent on atrocities committed by the LTTE. On the orders of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE killed hundreds of members belonging to rival terrorist groups. It assassinated President Ranasinghe Premadsasa, almost succeeded in assassinating President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and made attempts on President Mahinda Rajapaksa. But, the indiscriminate use of children as cannon fodder went unnoticed. How many children, forcibly recruited into their ranks, perished in fighting? And, lastly, shouldn’t the Tamil community hold the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK)-led now defunct Tamil National Alliance, that recognised the LTTE in 2001 as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people, responsible for death and destruction caused since 2001?

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) representative Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, and head of the Association of Relatives of Enforced Disappearances (ARED) Yogarasa Kanagaranjini, on 30 August, opened an exhibition at the Thanthai Selva Auditorium in Jaffna. The exhibition, appropriately named ‘Long Road for Justice,’ coincided with the International Day for Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

Pérez later addressed a conference held therein where the responsibility on the part of Sri Lanka was stressed.

Civil society activist Sunanda Deshapriya, in an article titled ‘Sri Lanka’s Disappeared: Where Do We Go from Here?’ carried in Jaffna Monitor, dealt with missing persons issue. Deshapriya focused on the North-East war (https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/sri-lankas-disappeared-where-do-we-go-from-here/)

The ICRC, Colombo, issued a statement regarding the International Day of the Disappeared. When the writer sought the number of missing persons in the country, Ruwanthi Jayasundare, Head of Communications, said that they had a caseload of 15,000 registered tracing requests (1983-2009) but she asserted that the actual number of missing was far bigger (https://island.lk/icrs-sustained-and-collective-efforts-critical-to-address-issue-of-missing-persons/)

Perhaps, many people wouldn’t know that the ICRC arrived here in 1989 during the second Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) terror campaign in the wake of Indian military intervention here. The much discussed issue of disappearances must be appropriately dealt with, taking into consideration the relevant factors. At the time of their deployment here, President Ranasinghe Premadasa had been engaged in direct talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Geneva-headquartered body never expected a gruesome outbreak of violence. It would be pertinent to mention that within weeks after the ICRC’s arrival here, the JVP was crushed with brute force as it, too, resorted to senseless violence. The counter violence unleashed by the state apparatus was such that the then Marxist group’s top leadership was killed, except for Somawansa Amarasinghe, who escaped, with Indian help, in February 1990, and remained in exile till late 2001.

The ICRC deployment took place in mid October, 1989, and JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera was captured in the second week of November, at Ulapone, and shot in custody, and was allegedly cremated alive at the Borella cemetery.

In fact, at the time the ICRC arrived here, the JVP was on its last legs. The UNP government never bothered to hand over the bodies of slain JVP cadres to their families. Those who had been listed missing at that time were no longer in the land of the living, by the time the ICRC brought its operation in the South to an end.

What the country never expected was a fresh flare-up in the northern and eastern regions. The LTTE resumed large-scale hostilities, in June, after the Indian Army pulled out from Sri Lanka in late March 1990. Interestingly, some of those demanding justice for the missing/disappeared are conveniently silent about the disappearances during the Indian Army deployment here (July 1987 to March 1990).

Soon after hostilities erupted in the northern and eastern regions, following a 14-month truce between President Ranasinghe Premadasa and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran (May 1989 to June 1990), the ICRC was invited to open offices in that region. There had been excesses on the part of the military and law enforcement authorities as the government battled the LTTE, the world’s most ruthless terrorist organisation as assessed by none other than the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Yet Sri Lanka must earnestly address accountability issues and take meaningful measures to compensate the families of the innocents.

However, the Tamil community must come to terms with the reality that the vast majority of dead were members of the LTTE. The LTTE enjoyed considerable firepower as it literally wielded a conventional fighting capability, which even included a fledgling air force and directly challenged the government, and the armed forces had no option but to fight back. Obviously, the LTTE, that achieved significant battlefield successes over the years, never expected the almost non-stop three-year-long offensive that brought the war to an end in May 2009. Disappearances became exceptionally an important issue in the overall agenda pursued by the Tamil Diaspora and Tamil speaking political parties here only after the LTTE’s eradication.

Multiple reasons

In September 1990, several months after the Indian Army was literally forced to pull out from Sri Lanka as Tigers fought back the mighty IPKF to a standstill, while President Premadasa, too, made it clear that they were no longer welcome here, Amnesty International (AI) documented 43 cases of disappearances. According to the London headquartered AI, the majority of these disappearances happened in the Jaffna peninsula, following the outbreak of fighting in October 1989. The Indian Army launched ‘Operation Pawan’ meant to disarm the LTTE in line with the Indo-Lanka Accord, signed on 29 July, 1987.

During the Indian Army deployment here (1987 July to 1990 March), the Sri Lankan armed forces were confined to their barracks in the North and East. The AI accused the Indian Army of torture, extrajudicial executions and disappearances. The deaths of nearly 1,500 Indian officers and men, and injuries to approximately 3,000 others during the Indian deployment here, underscored the ferocity of the situation.

The Indian Army carried out reprisals, following LTTE attacks in both provinces. The Indian Army was also accused of sexual violence. Perhaps, the August 1989 Valvettithurai orgy of violence, during which Indian soldiers killed civilians, tortured detainees, committed sexual violence, and systematically destroyed homes and businesses, while the town was under curfew, was the worst case.

In October, 2025, the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) presented a detailed reparations claim, in association with the Valvettithurai Citizens’ Committee, to the Sri Lankan Office for Reparations, requesting USD $15 million (LKR 4.5 billion) for victims of a 1989 orgy of violence committed by the IPKF where at least 66 civilians were killed and 34 injured.

There hadn’t been a previous instance of a comprehensive compensation claim for such a wartime crime. Thousands of LTTE cadres, some of them trained in India, and civilians, perished in Indian Army action. The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) earned such a bad reputation it came to be dubbed the Indian People Killing Force.

The war in Sri Lanka, or whatever one chooses to call it, should be examined in the context of a high profile Indian destabilisation project ordered by Premier Indira Gandhi. Over a year after the Indian Army pullout, the LTTE assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, by then out of power, but he was the person Velupillai Prabhakaran held responsible for the Indian Army deployment in Sri Lanka. Following Gandhi’s assassination, India hunted down the LTTE team, involved in the operation, carried out by a female suicide cadre.

The LTTE forgot the Indian role in the transformation of the Tamil separatist terrorist movement to a deadly conventional threat. If not for the despicable Indian action, Sri Lanka wouldn’t have been hauled up before the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). That is the unpalatable truth.

How many Sri Lankan Tamils disappeared during weapons training in India? Did India investigate such disappearances as well as deaths caused by fighting among rival Tamil terrorist groups operating in India at that time? Among the groups that had been armed by India were PLOTE (People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam), EPRLF (Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front) and TELO (Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation) responsible for quite a significant number of killings and human rights violations.

India never accepted responsibility for the PLOTE raid on the Maldives on a contract to topple the then Maldivian PM Gayoom’s government given by a domestic rival in early November, 1988. Shouldn’t New Delhi at least apologise for the sea borne raid on the Maldives that resulted in deaths of Maldivians, as well as raiders? The Indian Navy sank a ship commandeered by the attackers fleeing the Maldives after air borne Indian troops brought the situation under control.

The Indian and global media praised swift Indian intervention but ignored two key factors, namely (i) the operation targeting Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was mounted by one of the groups trained, armed and deployed by India and (ii) two trawlers carrying the raiding party left the northern part of Sri Lanka, at that time held by the Indian Army.

The writer had the opportunity, in November, 2011, to interview the Maldivian businessman, Abdullah Luthufee, who convinced the PLOTE leader Uma Maheswaran to carry out the operation. (Male plot leader speaks out 3 November, 2011, Rajiv saved us from Gayoom-Male coup leader 4 November 2011 and How Luthufee moved SAARC venue from Male to Addu 11 Nov 2011) dealt with the operation that should have drawn international attention to the Indian destabilisation project. Let me stress that some PLOTE cadres perished when the Indian Navy sank the vessel commandeered by the fleeing PLOTE cadres. They were among those who had been listed missing during the conflict.

Australian and US interventions

One-time top JVPer Kumar Gunaratnam secret arrival in Sri Lanka as an Australian Citizen Noel Mudalige, in early September, 2011, emphasised the issuance of foreign passports in assumed names to Sri Lankans under controversial circumstances. The writer exclusively reported how the head of the breakaway JVP faction, known as the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), arrived here. The Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka acted swiftly and decisively when Gunaratnam disappeared after entering the country, using Australian passport bearing number N 1016123 on September 4, 2011 (https://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/?p=43914). The writer dealt with the same issue again in August 2016 (https://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/?p=47936).

Among thousands of Sri Lankans, now having foreign citizenship, there can be many people listed here as “missing/forcibly” disappeared. Western governments never helped Sri Lanka to establish the real identities of Sri Lankans living abroad, under assumed names. If Gunaratnam never acted in a manner inimical to the JVP, he could have easily lived a comfortable life in Australia as Sinhala Buddhist Noel Mudalige.

There had been many interesting stories of those categorised as missing/dead turning up in the West, under new identities. One of the most intriguing ones, is about an ex-LTTE terrorist turned Frenchman Antonythasan Jesuthasan, the lead actor in Dheepen that won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Internationally acclaimed Jacques Audiard directed the movie about three Sri Lankans who formed a fake family to escape the war and to secure asylum in France. Antonythasan Jesuthasan’s performance in Dheepan earned him a Best Actor nomination at the 2016 César Awards (the French equivalent of the Oscars). Jesuthasan is the only ex-LTTE terrorist to receive international acclaim as an actor.

In an interview with Tom Seymour (Dheepan’s Antonythasan Jesuthasan: from Tamil Tiger to star of a Palme d’Or winner in The Guardian) posted online on March 31, 2016, transformed Frenchman Jesuthasan, unwittingly revealed how he deceived the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to secure political asylum. Seymour reported that Jesuthasan, after having shown him a dense lattice of scars on his forearm, declared: “I did those to myself. I was 22, and I had spent years trying to come to the west. I wanted to get a fake French passport, but I had to be accepted as a refugee. I went to the UNHCR [the UN High Commissioner for Refugees], but they wouldn’t believe my story. So I cut myself, and held up my arm, and said to them: ‘Look at my blood. This is my word.”

Jesuthasan is just one among thousands who obtained political asylum on false claims. Jesuthasan ended up as the star of Dheepan, directed by Jacques Audiard, possibly France’s most celebrated modern director. There cannot be a better example than Jesuthasan to highlight the web of deceit pertaining to the vast majority of those who successfully secured political asylum. But, the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry never bothered to set the record straight. Born in Allaipiddy, on the Velanaitivu islet, Jesuthasan claimed he fought the Sri Lanka Army in August 1990 and subsequently fled the country and managed to reach France.

But, the case of Kathiravel Thayapararajah is one of the most controversial cases. Thayapararajah had been involved in a Tamil Diaspora funded project in Kilinochchi during Eelam war IV. He couldn’t have secured the Diaspora assignment without the approval of the LTTE and remained in the Vanni during the war. He disappeared in September 2009.

His disappearance prompted a section of the media, as well as some international NGOs, to accuse the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) of executing him. No less a person than the then US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs and one-time US Ambassador in Colombo, Robert O. Blake, inquired about the missing person.

The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), the Australian Government Refugee Review Tribunal, Tamilnet and the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights among others blamed the Sri Lankan intelligence for the disappearance. However, the Indian media, in May, 2014, revealed Thayapararajah’s arrest though they didn’t know at the time that he was the person who was supposed to have been killed by the Sri Lankan Intelligence. At the time Indian police apprehended Thayapararajah, at Arichamunai off Dhanuskodi, after arriving there in a boat from Sri Lanka, he had been with notorious female human smuggler Uthayakala. She claimed Thayapararajah was her second husband.

That chance detection exposed a blatant lie propagated over the years. The then Head of Missing Persons Commission, retired High Court Judge Maxwell Paranagama, is also on record as having called for international cooperation to trace persons living overseas under new identities. Paranagama told the writer that at that time both the international community, including the ICRC, had declined to help Sri Lanka identify those taking cover behind new identities.

Chemmani mass graves

Sri Lanka needs to investigate war crimes allegations, particularly the high profile Chemmani mass grave. The country cannot ignore the continuing accusations with the international media taking advantage of the situation to tarnish the country, especially the Rajapaksa rule. It must be a way of the West taking revenge from the Rajapaksas for going against their wish to save the bold thirsty Tigers. It is like their logic that Israel can do no wrong!

The CNN dealt with the Chemmani issue while the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), in July last year, called for what it claimed as victim-centred investigation into the alleged mass graves in compliance with international law and standards.

Tamil political parties, too, repeatedly demanded tangible action against the perpetrators. The Chemmani mass grave site drew national and international attention in 1998 following the confession of a soldier implicated in the rape and murder of schoolgirl Krishanthy Kumaraswamy. Chemmani has become a powerful and painful symbol of the country’s war-torn past.

Krishanthy Kumaraswamy was raped and killed by soldiers on the 7th of September, 1996. The same group of soldiers later killed her mother, her younger brother and a family friend who went out searching for the teenager.

An excavation, in 1999, led to the recovery of 15 sets of remains, and then the matter was allowed to rest for about a quarter of a century. On the orders of the Jaffna Magistrate’s court, a fresh excavation was ordered last year, following the chance recovery of some skeletal remains and so far nearly 600 sets of human remains have been found, among them children and infants. Tamil media have declared Chemmani as the largest mass grave found in Sri Lanka.

It would be pertinent to mention that some time back the Army was accused of the Mannar mass graves but investigations undertaken by the Office of Missing Persons (OMP), with international expertise, proved the claims false. Bone fragment samples were submitted to Beta Analytic, a specialised US radiocarbon-dating laboratory. This happened during the Yahapalana administration (2015-2019) Later, the lab indicated that the tested bone samples dated back to the period between 1499 and 1719 AD (the 15th to 18th century). That brought an end to the Mannar mass graves hoax.

Whatever the circumstances, the government cannot remain silent regarding the Chemmani mass graves. The area that had been under Security Forces Headquarters, Jaffna continues to receive public attention, both here and abroad. The Army will have to address the issue without further delay. Let me stress the importance of investigating the atrocities perpetrated by others, namely the Indian Army for which the responsibility lies with the government of India as well as the LTTE, and over half a dozen other terrorist groups that subsequently entered the political mainstream.

The formation of Tamil National Army (TNA) by India before the Indian Army pullout by March 1990, too, must receive the attention of Sri Lanka as well the concerned international community. Having totally destabilised the smaller neighbouring county by arming scores of terrorist groups, New Delhi went a step further by the formation of the TNA meant to protect Varatharaja Perumal’s North-East provincial administration.

In spite of President Ranasinghe Premadasa drawing strong criticism for arming the LTTE against the Indian Army, in hindsight, if not for his controversial decision, India’s proxy, TNA may have taken root. Whatever various parties say today, the TNA had been formed to ensure the continuation of the deeply unpopular Perumal’s administration that went to the extent of forcible conscription. India can never absolve itself of responsibility for what it did in Sri Lanka. The destabilisation project, largely influenced by the then Premier Indira Gandhi’s concerns over the developing situation in Tamil Nadu, caused massive death and destruction. No less a person than J.N. Dixit, who served as their High Commissioner in Colombo (1985 to 1989), and later appointed National Security Advisor (2004 to 2005) disclosed in his memoirs ‘Makers of India’s Foreign Policy: Raja Ram Mohun to Yashwant Sinha’, Indira’s Gandhi’s intervention. The late Dixit in no uncertain terms blamed her for Indian intervention in Sri Lanka.

Midweek Review

A street where Sri Lankan stories found their readers

Published

4 days ago

2026/09/9

Sahan Weerasooriya

Margaret Richardson and Asanka de Mel / Ashok Ferrey

By Ifham Nizam

Pictures by Nishan S Priyantha and Kamal Bogoda

Ashok Ferrey took readers into an older Colombo through Colpetty People. Vivimarie Vanderpoorten opened the door to the personal stories behind her poetry. Andrew Fidel Fernando brought cricket, culture and the distinctive world of Sri Lankan school cricket into the conversation, while Ramya Jirasinghe spoke candidly about the long and often difficult road from writing a manuscript to seeing it published.

Then came Margaret Richardson and Asanka de Mel, whose conversation moved from literature to the question of where Sri Lanka should be by 2048.

These were among the voices that gave life to Fairway Street of Stories, a new initiative that sought to bring Sri Lankan English-language writers closer to their readers.

But behind the gathering of authors, readers, books, children, book clubs and aspiring writers was a bigger idea—the brainchild of Amendra Haputhanthri, Director of Sarasavi Bookshop (Pvt) Ltd.

For Haputhanthri, Fairway Street of Stories is not merely another literary event. It is part of a much larger attempt to create a marketplace for Sri Lankan talent and to persuade readers to discover stories that are unmistakably their own.

“Usually, when we have exhibitions, such as the Colombo Book Fair, we always think about what sells the most. Here, we wanted to create a niche market for people who want to read Sri Lankan writing,” she said.

And the first event demonstrated just how wide that literary world can be.

Stories from a Sri Lanka we know

Haputhanthri believes one of the greatest strengths of Sri Lankan English writing is its sense of place.

A thriller set in an unfamiliar foreign city may be entertaining. But a thriller unfolding at the Galle Face Hotel or Mount Lavinia Hotel carries another kind of intimacy for a Sri Lankan reader.

“You have familiar words and actual real-world places that we have been to. There will be a connection with the book,” she said.

That connection can be even more powerful when the story takes readers into places and experiences that are disappearing.

This is one reason she admires Ferrey’s work.

During his Fairway session, Ferrey, together with Tanya de Mel, offered readers an engaging glimpse into the world behind Colpetty People and the Colombo it captures.

Amendra Haputhanthri (extreme left) with winners

For Haputhanthri, Ferrey’s writing is also a record of a rapidly changing city.

“Even Sri Lanka is changing very rapidly. Within Colombo also, the environment is rapidly changing, and that is being addressed nicely in the books of Ashok Ferrey,” she said.

Literature, in that sense, becomes more than entertainment.

It becomes memory.

The stories behind the poems

Vivimarie Vanderpoorten offered a very different literary experience.

Haputhanthri describes her as one of the country’s outstanding contemporary talents, particularly because of the personal histories embedded in her poetry.

A poem on a page may be only a few lines long. But behind those lines can lie an entire life.

Vanderpoorten spoke about those experiences at Fairway, including deeply disturbing events she had witnessed during her university years.

For Haputhanthri, hearing those stories transformed the poems.

“All her stories, there is a back story. All her poems, there is a back story,” she said.

She believes such conversations are precisely what literary events should create—a space where readers can move beyond the printed page and understand the human experience that produced it.

She also encouraged people to read poetry, even if only one poetry collection a year.

Poetry, she believes, forces readers to think beyond what is immediately presented.

“It gives you the ability to think out of the box,” she said.

Cricket is more than a score

Andrew Fidel Fernando brought yet another dimension to the event.

For someone who writes and comments on international cricket, his work naturally takes readers into the world of the game. But Haputhanthri noted that Fernando’s writing also captures the culture surrounding cricket in different countries.

And Sri Lanka has a particularly richstory to tell.

Andrew Fidel Fernando / Dr. Vivimarie Vanderpoorten

For Haputhanthri, the island’s school-cricket culture is something the world should know more about.

“We are the best in the world when it comes to having a culture for school cricket. It is something very unique to our country,” she said.

She even suggested that writers interested in Sri Lankan cricket should explore this largely distinctive phenomenon in greater depth.

Because literature can sometimes reveal what statistics cannot.

A schoolboy walking onto a cricket ground carries with him a school, a city, friendships, rivalries, family expectations and an entire culture.

From manuscript to book

Ramya Jirasinghe’s contribution was particularly relevant to aspiring writers.

She spoke about her own journey and the realities of getting a book published.

Her experience demonstrated that literary success rarely happens overnight.

Winning recognition is one thing. Turning a manuscript into an internationally published book is another.

For emerging writers listening to her, the message was clear: writing requires patience, revision and persistence.

Haputhanthri knows that process well.

Writers, she said, can be rejected repeatedly—even at international level.

And translations create another layer of difficulty.

Sometimes an author reads a translation of his or her work and says: “This doesn’t have my voice.”

That, Haputhanthri acknowledged, illustrates how complex the journey from an original manuscript to another language can be.

A speech from the future

Carmel Miranda

Asanka de Mel and Margaret Richardson brought another perspective to Fairway.

De Mel’s 2048: A Speech from 2048 looks towards the centenary of Sri Lanka’s independence and asks why the country has not yet become a developed nation.

But his message, as Haputhanthri interpreted it, was not one of resignation.

Sri Lanka should not allow its small geographical size to become a psychological limitation.

De Mel’s own journey—from two decades in Silicon Valley to returning to Sri Lanka and embarking on entrepreneurial ventures—was offered as an example of what persistence and confidence can achieve.

For Haputhanthri, it reinforced one of the central lessons of both writing and life.

“There is no shortcut in life,” she said.

Stories that preserve a country

Fairway Street of Stories also reflected Haputhanthri’s belief that literature can preserve aspects of Sri Lankan identity that are increasingly vulnerable.

She spoke about Angampora, Beeralu weaving, traditional culture and historical stories.

Even the country’s royal heritage can become a gateway for a new generation to understand the island’s past.

She recalled seeing foreign visitors browsing books about Sri Lankan kings.

Those books were doing more than recounting history. They were presenting the story of a country with a long and complicated heritage.

Haputhanthri believes Sri Lankan literature can perform a similar role internationally.

“Our stories should also reach people in the same way our food and cultural experiences have reached the world,” she said.

She recalled meeting two foreigners who had visited Sri Lanka around 156 times.

Their extraordinary attachment to the country reminded her that Sri Lanka’s culture has an ability to attract people repeatedly.

The stories of the country, she believes, deserve the same reach.

The problem is not the e-book

Ramya Jirasinghe (third from left)

Yet while Haputhanthri is passionate about books, she is equally concerned about the future of reading.

She does not believe e-books are necessarily the enemy.

“If people are reading an e-version, as long as they are reading something valuable, that will add something to you,” she said.

The bigger threat, in her view, is the endless scrolling culture of the smartphone.

“Scrolling on the phone reduces your attention span and you can’t do any sort of deep work,” she said.

She has observed this challenge among young people entering the workplace and believes sustained concentration is increasingly difficult.

But her answer is not to blame young people.

It is to begin much earlier—with parents and teachers.

“Whatever the parents read, the children also will read,” she said.

‘Readers Are Not Born, They Are Created’

That belief is now developing into another initiative.

Haputhanthri is working on a programme titled ‘Readers Are Not Born, They Are Created’, which she hopes to take from school to school and community to community.

The target will be parents as much as children.

The message is that reading habits are cultivated. They are demonstrated, encouraged and nurtured.

She also hopes to involve children who have themselves developed through reading, allowing them to share their experiences with others.

For Haputhanthri, the issue is deeply personal.

“I would credit everything that I have today, and everything I am today, because of reading,” she said.

She believes avid readers develop empathy, creativity and critical thinking—qualities that are increasingly valuable in a world dominated by information but often short on attention.

Beyond one literary weekend

Fairway Street of Stories, therefore, is not intended to remain a once-a-year literary celebration.

Haputhanthri wants to see activities connected with reading and books continue throughout the year.

A bargain book sale is among the ideas being considered, making use of books from Sarasavi’s extensive network of branches that may have suffered minor damage or discolouration while remaining on shelves.

The next major event will be the book fair, followed by further initiatives.

But the larger ambition goes beyond sales.

It is about discovery.

A reader discovering a Sri Lankan writer.

A child discovering poetry.

An aspiring author discovering that rejection is not the end.

A foreign visitor discovering that Sri Lanka’s stories are as rich as its food, landscapes and traditions.

And a country discovering itself in its own books.

That is perhaps the most significant contribution of Fairway Street of Stories.

Because the authors who gathered there did more than talk about their books.

They demonstrated the many ways in which Sri Lanka can be written, remembered and imagined.

And behind that gathering was Amendra Haputhanthri’s conviction that these stories deserve not only a place on a bookshelf, but a place in the minds of readers—and eventually, a place in the wider world.