Features

Issues of co-ordination during the 1971 insurgency

Published

2 years ago

2024/08/18

Thilina Walpola

Rohana Wijeweera with comrades

(Excerpted from the autobiography of MDD Peiris, Secretary to the Prime Minister)

A major responsibility I took upon myself during this period (of the 1971 insurrecton) was to co-ordinate essential services such as food distribution; the movement of petroleum products; electricity, water; and transport. I, of course, had enough experience of handling food distribution. Some of the same principles and part of the same drill could be applied to some of the other sectors.

In a way food was the most important. Long curfew hours not only restricted food movements, but also gave very little time for the mass of the population to buy their essentials such as rice, flour and sugar from their co-operative, or authorized dealer point. During the few hours available for shopping, there were large and somewhat restive crowds at cooperative stores in particular. It was clear that if food was not available at these points or the service was not efficient, there would be panic.

The many thousands of these points particularly the ones in Colombo and some of the major cities had to be regularly stocked. This was to a great extent solved after much negotiations by arranging for curfew passes for lorries. The next problem was the quick clearance of the queues at the co-operatives. If this was not done quickly enough there would be panic and even rioting. The last thing the country could afford were food riots.

Since the great majority of the people came for small quantities at a time of food items such as flour, sugar dhal etc, very often in portions of a quarter pound or half pound, it was essential that such commodities were pre-weighed, packeted and kept ready for instant sale. In the conditions that prevailed, slow weighing and distribution after the stores had opened for a few hours before the re- imposition of the curfew, would have led to general unrest. Such unrest would have complicated the security situation immensely.

Here again the public service rose to the occasion. More specifically, wives of public servants. Many of them were organized into voluntary groups, and they helped the store employees to weigh and packet essential food commodities, often working through the night. A serious crisis was thus averted. Much of the experience I gained from the operation was put to very good use later during the troubled times in 1983, when I found myself as Secretary to the Ministry of Food and Co-operatives.

One evening at about 8 p.m. I walked to the main building of Temple Trees, from the administrative block in order to see the Prime Minister. When I reached the verandah I was surprised to see a familiar figure pacing up and down. It was Mr. JR Jayewardene. I did not know why he had come, so I went up and spoke to him. He was both distressed and angry. I was quite surprised to learn that his son had been taken in under the emergency regulations.

He wanted to see the Prime Minister immediately. She was at a meeting inside, but when she was informed of the development, she came out and met Mr. Jayewardene. The Prime Minister listened patiently to an angry father. It was decided that his son would be released on a personal guarantee given by him. I had many things to do, and to this day I do not know why Mr. Jayewardena’s son was taken in.

The Public Service and the Secretary to the Prime Minister

For over a month since the beginning of the insurrection, life was hectic. I worked from Temple Trees. I hardly went to the Senate office. I insisted that normal and routine correspondence be attended to. The curfews, the disruptions and the tensions were not to be made an excuse. These were the instructions given to the Secretaries of the Ministries and Heads of Departments as well. The restoration of public confidence was important. The machinery of government had to be seen to be functioning normally, even whilst under extraordinary strain.

This was also a period of many stories and rumours, some of them quite dramatic, or perhaps more accurately, melodramatic. The most effective antidote to this was the visible and manifest functioning of government, in matters small and big; in routine functioning as well as in the efficient delivery of essential services. The public service worked under great strain during this time.

Out in the districts, the Government Agents had to provide leadership in a much less secure environment than in Colombo, to solve a multiplicity of problems. These included not only maintaining essential supplies and services vital to the life of the community, but also the co-ordination of the civilian and military aspects of the restoration and maintenance of security.

Secretaries and heads of departments had to constantly monitor matters relating to their areas of responsibility, and liase with the Government Agents and their area field officers. The Secretary to the Prime Minister, who in any case, was in an apex situation, had, when relevant, in consultation with the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and singly most of the time to address a large number of issues that came pouring in from the rest of the public service.

Most of the matters that came up concerned problems faced by various public agencies, which required an early, if not an immediate response. Some questions were extraordinary, and manifested a state of paranoia. For instance, the question as to whether one should not blow up or otherwise seriously disable a major bridge, so as to isolate Colombo and so better protect it!

All this meant over a month of going home, in most instances well past 2 a.m. to be back in harness by about 8.30 a.m. the same day. In the hours in between, on many a day, there were telephone calls at home. Physiologically, I had crossed the border from a feeling of sleepiness, to sleeplessness, or inability to sleep.

Going home at those early morning hours was also a nerve wracking experience. I had to cross the Bambalapitiya/Wellawatte bridge over the canal on Galle Road, near the Savoy cinema. The whole area was in pitch darkness because the security forces guarding the bridge had switched off all the road lights. They had also placed some old double decker buses right across the bridge at some points, so that any vehicle crossing the bridge had to navigate in the pitch dark along a narrow and meandering path, using only the lights of the vehicle.

Lurking in the shadows were armed personnel with automatic weapons, and one never knew how much sleep or rest they have had, and in what condition their nerves were. Approaching the bridge was an eerie experience. Confronted with this major hazard on my route home, I managed to get a police car for the journey. The police also very kindly arranged for a police sergeant to accompany me. They did not trust a mere police driver.

The reason for this added precaution was perhaps the rumours circulating at the time, that the JVP would come in various disguises, including in hijacked police cars. The sergeant seemed to be a hardened veteran. He had fundamentally uncomplicated views about what to do to the JVP. He said that they were like a “cancer,” and had therefore to be “completely eradicated.”

We were already thinking of an appeal by the Prime Minister to the youth to lay down their arms, as well as various schemes of rehabilitation, leading on to employment. I was naturally not prepared to share these views with a fundamentalist police sergeant, into whose hands I had temporarily entrusted my life!

In recording momentous events, one is always faced with the problem of selection. Thereafter, the problem arises as to how much of the selected areas one should dwell on. There are areas which could be of special interest or significance to smaller numbers, the narration and analysis of which would call for separate monographs or booklets. For instance an extended analysis of the immense effort of co-ordinating so many disparate areas of vital activity; the role of institutions and personalities; and achievements and mistakes, could be of great interest to the practicing public servant.

It would be in a way a unique series of case studies. There are many such areas. Unfortunately, however, there is no place for such detailed work, in a general memoir. Therefore, I will leave the subject of the insurgency of 1971, with only one other observation. This pertains to the manner in which the Prime Minister, Mrs. Bandaranaike functioned during this tense and testing period.

To the Prime Minister too, the insurgency came as a shock. There was no precedent of such an outbreak within living memory or even beyond. This wave washed over a government which had come into office with an unprecedented two-thirds majority. a government which contained within its fold the two major established left parties of the country.

As far as the traditional left parties were concerned, revolutionary rhetoric had been subsumed in a process of evolution in the intricacies of constitutional government. Left leaders like Dr. N.M. Perera. and Dr. Colvin R.de Silva, were widely known and acknowledged to be authorities on parliamentary practice, and experts on the interpretation of Erskine May the “Bible” of Parliamentary procedure. It was widely stated that they would have made excellent Ministers in a British Labour government.

It was in this intellectual climate that the JVP shock was administered. Did it presage the rise of a new, militant. revolutionary left? Or was it an untidy bundle of rural disparities, caste oppression, the frustration of unemployment, and naive idealism emerging in a fascist garb’? It was the latter theory that the traditional left subscribed to. As far as they were concerned, they constituted the left. The JVP could not be anything other than a fascist aberration.

But whatever the theories, the country was now faced with an episode of hard reality, the real and deadly practice of, if not revolution, an insurrection. It fell to the Prime Minister, both as Prime Minister and Minister of Defence to orchestrate a practical response to this very real peril.

The PM and the handling of the Insurgency

In this moment of unprecedented and grave danger, the Prime Minister was calm., collected, indefatigable and totally focussed. She was an oasis of calm in an arid desert of rumour and panic. The despondency and fear in the faces of most of the Ministers were visible and to a significant extent contagious. After some time. the Prime Minister had to virtually order them out of Temple Trees, with the remark that if they were wanted, they would be sent for. I remember her telling some of them, “you are spreading panic here.

The Prime Minister worked closely with the operations room and the Defence authorities. Sometimes she spent time in the operations room. listening to the radio messages and the telephone calls. That way, she received first hand information about the evolving situation. The Trade Unions were mobilized, and she spent important time with their leaders. There were also various civic groups who were helping out in various ways and she found time to see some of them. The main party in opposition, the United National Party lent its support to the government during this moment of great national peril. There were meetings of the Security Council morning and evening. Most of the meetings went on for long. I myself did not attend these meetings. It was not necessary for operational purposes that the Secretary to the Prime Minister should attend these meetings. In any case, I was far too busy co-ordinating a very large area of civilian activity to afford the time to spend hours at Security Council meetings.

If there was any important policy issue arising from these meetings, the Prime Minister in many instances discussed matters with me. What I marveled most about. was the ability of the Prime Minister to keep going hour after hour. never looking tired, or as far as I was aware, never losing concentration. She was clearly in charge; clearly in control; and in fact solely in charge. She listened carefully, and decided quickly. There were no committees.

When the Cabinet met, the Ministers were briefed by the Prime Minister, strictly on a need to know basis. She was not prepared to reveal to the Cabinet or anyone else sensitive plans and operational details. She was the dominating and decisive influence, and it was a common saying that the Prime Minister was “the only man in the Cabinet.” I was to realize during this period that all these qualities and attributes were grounded on a deeper philosophical base.

In the early days of the insurgency. when the government had not yet gained substantial control over the situation, and when the Prime Minister’s own life was in danger, for one was not sure at the time of the degree of infiltration of the armed services and the police, and whether some guard armed with an automatic weapon at Temple Trees was one of the JVP cadres. the Prime Minister calmly contemplated her own death. She was composed and reflective. She told me that one had to face calmly whatever comes. She said that she had a heavy duty to perform, and that one had to perform one’s duty irrespective of consequences.

“Even if they kill me.” she said, “I want in my mind to be clear that I had done my duty to the best of my ability. I know my religion!” This was not a public statement she made. It was something that came out of her spontaneously in a grave and reflective moment. She was more deeply immersed in Buddhism than most people knew. I became aware that she spent some time in the shrine room unfailingly every morning.

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Features

The Easter investigation must not become ethno-religious politics

Published

17 hours ago

2026/04/7

Sahan Weerasooriya

Zahran and other bombers

Representatives of almost all the main opposition parties were in attendance at the recent book launch by Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila. The book written by the PHU leader was his analysis of the Easter bombing of April 2019 that led to the mass killing of 279 persons, caused injuries to more than 500 others and caused panic and shock in the entire country. The Easter bombing was inexplicable for a number of reasons. First, it was perpetrated by suicide bombers who were Sri Lankan Muslims, a community not known for this practice. They targeted Christian churches in particular, which led to the largest number of casualties. The bombing of Sri Lankan Christian churches by Sri Lankan Muslims was also inexplicable in a country that had no history of any serious violence between the two religions.

There were two further inexplicable features of the bombing. The six suicide bombings took place almost simultaneously in different parts of the country. The logistical complexity of this operation exceeded any previously seen in Sri Lanka. Even during the three decade long civil war that pitted the Sri Lankan military against the LTTE, which had earned international notoriety for suicide attacks, Sri Lanka had rarely witnessed such a synchronised operation. The country’s former Attorney General, Dappula de Livera, who investigated the bombing at the time it took place, later stated, upon retirement, that there was a “grand conspiracy” behind the bombings. That phrase has remained central to public debate because it suggested that the visible perpetrators may not have been the only planners behind the attack.

The other inexplicable factor was that intelligence services based in India repeatedly warned their Sri Lankan counterparts that the bombings would take place and even gave specific targets. Later investigations confirmed that warnings were transmitted days before the attacks and repeated again shortly before the explosions, yet they were not acted upon. It was these several inexplicable factors that gave rise to the surmise of a mastermind behind the students and religious fanatics led by the extremist preacher Zahran Hashim from the east of the country, who also blew himself up in the attacks. Even at the time of the bombing there was doubt that such a complex and synchronised operation could have been planned and executed by the motley band who comprised the suicide bombers.

Determined Attempt

The book by PHU leader Gammanpila is a determined attempt to make explicable the inexplicable by marshalling logic and evidence that this complex and synchronised operation was planned and executed by Zahran himself. This is a possible line of argumentation in a democratic society. Competing interpretations of public tragedies are part of political discourse. However, the timing of the intervention makes it politically more significant. The launch of the PHU leader’s book comes at a critical time when the protracted investigation into the Easter bombing appears to be moving forward under the present government.

The performance of the three previous governments at investigating the bombing was desultory at best. The Supreme Court held former President Maithripala Sirisena and several senior officials responsible for failing to act on prior intelligence and ordered compensation to victims. This judicial finding gave legal recognition to what victims had long maintained, that there was a grave dereliction of duty at the highest levels of the state. In recent weeks the investigation has taken a dramatic turn with the arrest and court production of former State Intelligence Service chief Suresh Sallay on allegations linked directly to the attacks. Whether these allegations are ultimately proven or disproven, they indicate that the present phase of the investigation is moving beyond negligence into possible complicity.

This is why the present moment requires political sobriety. There is a danger that the line of political division regarding the investigation into the Easter bombing can take on an ethnic complexion. The insistence that the suicide bombers alone were the planners and executors of the dastardly crime makes the focus invariably one of Muslim extremism, as the suicide bombers were all Muslims. This may unintentionally narrow public attention away from the unanswered questions regarding intelligence failures, possible political manipulation, and the allegations of a broader conspiracy that remain under active investigation. The minority political parties representing ethnic and religious minorities appear to have realised this danger. Their absence from the book launch was politically significant. It suggests an unwillingness to be drawn into a narrative that could once again stigmatise an entire community for the crimes of a handful of extremists and their possible handlers.

Another Tragedy

It would be another tragedy comparable in political consequence to the havoc wreaked by the Easter bombing if moderate mainstream political parties, such as the SJB to which the Leader of the Opposition belongs, were to subscribe to positions merely to score political points against the present government. They need to guard against the promotion of anti-minority sentiment and the fuelling of majority prejudice against ethnic and religious minorities. Indeed, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa in his Easter message said that justice for the victims of the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter Sunday attacks remains a fundamental responsibility of the state and noted that seven years on, both past and present governments have failed to deliver accountability. He added that building a society grounded in trust and peace, uniting all ethnicities, religions and communities, is vital to ensure such tragedies do not occur again.

Sri Lanka’s post war history offers too many examples of how unresolved security crises become vehicles for majoritarian mobilisation. The Easter tragedy itself was followed by waves of anti-Muslim suspicion and violence in some parts of the country. Responsible political leadership should seek to prevent any return to that atmosphere. There are many other legitimate issues on which the moderate and mainstream opposition parties can take the government to task. These include the lack of decisive action against government members accused of corruption, the passing of the entire burden of rising fuel prices on consumers instead of the government sharing the burden, and the failure to hold provincial council elections within the promised timeframe. These are issues that touch the daily lives of citizens and the health of democratic governance. They offer the opposition ample ground on which to build credibility as a government in waiting.

The search for truth and justice over the Easter bombing needs to continue until all those responsible are identified, whether they were direct perpetrators, negligent officials, or political actors who may have exploited the tragedy. This is what the victim families want and the country needs. But this search must not be turned into a partisan and religiously divisive matter such as by claiming that there are more potential suicide bombers lurking in the country who had been followers of Zaharan. If it is, Sri Lanka risks replacing one national tragedy with another. coming together to discredit the ongoing investigations into the Easter bombing of 2019 is an unacceptable use of ethno-religious nationalism to politically challenge the government. The opposition needs to find legitimate issues on which to challenge the government if they are to gain the respect and support of the general public and not their opprobrium.

by Jehan Perera

Features

China’s new duty-free regime for Africa: Implications for Global Trade and Sri Lanka

Published

17 hours ago

2026/04/7

Sahan Weerasooriya

Image courtesy The Global Times

* The new duty-free regime for Africa, announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in February, is the most generous unilateral nonreciprocal trade concession offered by any country to developing countries since the beginning of the modern rule based international trading system.

* Yet, it is a clear violation of the cornerstone of the multilateral trade law, the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle.

* Hence, its implications on developing countries, without duty-free access to China, will be extremely negative. Sri Lanka is one of the few developing countries without duty-free access to China.

On 14 February, 2026, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China will grant zero-tariff treatment to 53 African nations, effective 01 May, 2026. Under this new unilateral policy initiative, China would eliminate all import tariffs on all goods imported from all the countries in Africa, except Eswatini. China already enforces a zero-tariff policy for 33 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Africa. Now this policy would be extended to non LDCs as well. This policy initiative clearly aims at reducing the continuously expanding trade deficit between China and Africa. In 2024, China’s trade surplus against Africa was recorded at US $ 61 billion.

This trade initiative, a precious gift amidst ongoing global trade tensions, is the most generous unilateral nonreciprocal trade concession given by any country to developing countries, since the beginning of the modern rule based international trading system.

Though this landmark announcement has far-reaching implications on global trade, as much as President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, it was almost overlooked by the global media.

Implications for Global Trade

This Chinese policy initiative, though very generous, is a clear violation of the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle and the “Enabling Clause” of the International Trade Law. The MFN principle is the cornerstone of the multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and is enshrined in Article I of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It mandates that any trade advantage, privilege, or immunity granted by a WTO member to any country must be extended immediately and unconditionally to all other WTO members. Though, the GATT “Enabling Clause” allows developed nations to offer non-reciprocal preferential treatment (lower tariffs) to developing countries without extending them to all WTO members, this has to be done in a non-discriminatory manner. By extending tariff concessions only to developing countries in Africa, China has also breached this requirement.

This deliberate violation of the MFN principle by China occurs less than 12 months after the announcement of “Liberation Day” tariffs by President Trump, which breached Article I (MFN) and Article II (bound rates) of the GATT. However, it is important to underline that the objectives of the actions by the two Presidents are poles apart; the US objective was to limit imports from all its trading partners, and China’s objective is to increase imports from African countries.

Though the importance of the MFN principle of the WTO law had eroded over the years due to the proliferation of preferential trade agreements and unilateral preferential arrangements, the WTO members almost always obtained WTO waivers, whenever they breached the MFN principle. Now the leaders of the main trading powers have decided to violate the core principles of the multilateral trading system so brazenly, the impact of their decisions on the international trading system will be irrevocable.

Implications for Sri Lanka

China’s unilateral decision to provide zero-tariff treatment to African countries will have a strong adverse impact on Sri Lanka. Currently, all Asian countries, other than India and Sri Lanka, have duty-free access, for most of their exports, into the Chinese market through bilateral or regional trade agreements, or the LDC preferences. Though Sri Lanka, India and China are members of the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), preferential margins extended by China under APTA to India and Sri Lanka are limited.

The value of China’s imports from Sri Lanka had declined from US$ 650 million in 2021 to US$ 433 million by 2025. However, China’s exports to Sri Lanka increased significantly during the period, from US$ 5,252 million to US$ 5,753 by 2025. This has resulted in a trade deficit of US$ 5,320 million. Sri Lanka’s exports to China may decline further from next month when African nations with duty-free access start to expand their market share.

Let me illustrate the challenges Sri Lanka will face in the Chinese market with one example. Tea (HS0902) is Sri Lanka’s third largest export to China, after garments and gems. Sri Lanka is the largest exporter of tea to China, followed by India, Kenya and Viet Nam. During the last five years the value of China’s imports of tea from Sri Lanka had declined significantly, from US$76 million in 2021 to US$ 57 million by 2025. Meanwhile, imports from our main competitors had increased substantially. Most importantly, imports from Kenya increased from US$ 7.9 million in 2021 to US$ 15 million in 2025. For tea, the existing tariff in China for Sri Lanka is 7.5% and for Kenya is 15%. From next month the tariff for Kenya will be reduced to 0%. What will be its impact on Sri Lanka exports? That was perhaps explained by a former Ambassador to Africa, when he urged Sri Lankan exporters to “leverage duty free access from Kenya” to expand their exports to China!

(The writer is a retired public servant and a former Chairman of WTO Committee on Trade and Development. He can be reached at senadhiragomi@gmail.com)

by Gomi Senadhira

Features

Daughter in the spotlight …

Published

17 hours ago

2026/04/7

Sahan Weerasooriya

Jeevarani Kurukulasuriya was a famous actress and her name still rings a bell with many. And now in the spotlight is her daughter Senani Wijesena – not as an actress but as a singer – and she has been singing, since the age of five!

The plus factor is that Senani, now based in Australia, is also a songwriter, plays keyboards and piano, dancer, and has filmed and edited some of her own music videos.

Says Senani: “I write the lyrics, melody and music and work with professional musicians who do the needful on my creations.”

Her latest album, ‘Music of the Mirror’, is made up of 16 songs, and her first Sinhala song, called ‘Nidahase’, is scheduled for release this month (April) in Colombo, along with a music video.

‘Nidahase’,

says Senani, is a song about Freedom … of life, movement, love and spirit. Freedom to be your authentic self, express yourself freely and Freedom from any restrictions.

In fact, ‘Nidahase’ is the Sinhala translated version of her English song ‘Free’ which made Senani a celebrity as the song was nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award in the RnB /Soul category and reached the Top 20 on the UK Music weekly dance charts, as well as No. 1 on the Yes Home grown Top 15, on Yes FM, for six weeks straight.

Senani went on to say that ‘Nidahase’ has been remixed to include a Sri Lankan touch, using Kandyan drums and the Thammattama drum, with extra music production by local music producer Dilshan L. Silva, and Australia-based Emmy Award winning Producer and Engineer Sean Carey … with Senani also in the scene.

The song was written (lyrics and melody) and produced by Senani and it features Australian musicians, while the music video was produced by Sri Lanka’s Sandesh Bandara and filmed in Sri Lanka.

First Sinhala song scheduled for release this month … in Colombo

Senani’s music is mostly Soul, Funk and RNB – also Fusion, using ethnic sounds such as the tabla, sitar, and sarod – as well as Jazz influenced.

“I also have Alternative Music songs with a rock edge, such as ‘New Day’, and upcoming releases ‘Fly High’ and ‘Whisper’“, says Senani, adding that she has also recorded in other languages, such as Hindi and Spanish.

“As much of my fan base are Sri Lankans, who have asked me to release a song in the Sinhala language, I decided to create and release ‘Nidahase’ and I plan to release other original Sinhala songs in the future.

Senani has a band in Australia and has appeared at festivals in Australia, on radio and TV in Australia, and Sri Lanka.

She trained as a vocalist, through Sydney-based Singing Schools, as well as private tuition, and she has 5th Grade piano music qualifications.

And this makes interesting reading:

“I graduated from the University of Newcastle in Australia with a Bachelor of Medicine and I work part time as a doctor (GP) and an Integrative Medicine practitioner, with a focus on nutrition, and spend the rest of the time dedicated to my music career.”

Senani hails from an illustrious family. In addition to her mum, Jeevarani Kurukulasuriya, who made over 40 films, including starring in the first colour movie ‘Ranmuthu Duwa’, her dad is Dr Lanka Wijesena (retired GP) and she has two sisters – all musical; one is a doctor, while the other is a dietitian/ psychotherapist.