JVP owes country an apology for 1971 and 1989

The JVP should realize that they caused the deaths of many youths misled by their theories and also caused the death of many innocents who had contributed much to the country.

They included professionals like Dr Rex de Costa, Prof. Stanley Wijesundera, Premakeerthi de Alwis, Terrence Perera, Intelligence Officer (Posthumously promoted DIG), Vijaya Kuaranatunga and much respected and very honest politician, Keerthisena Abeyawickrema, MP, to name a few.

The JVP was ill equipped in 1971 to overthrow the elected Government of Mrs Bandaranaike. Their plans were unprofessional and dependent on some misdirected youth from depressed castes who heard their so-called ” five lectures ” and were trained on crude locally manufactured arms. Their main plans were only known by Rohan Wijeweera and a few close associates. Their was no plan B if plan A failed and they did not know how to proceed after capturing police stations as the Radio Station and headquarters of the police and armed services were not within their control.

The police was aware of an insurgent group during the 1970 election campaign and I recall arresting many of them with hand bombs similar to tennis balls at Narammala. Though the government was alerted by the Intelligence Division, The Dudley Senanayake government of the time took the matter as a joke saying “how can some ill educated youth take control of the police stations, and overthrow a government?”

Till then our armed services had never faced a war and were only ceremonial outfits untrained in combat. The police too had only basic riot drill training. In fact the police and the armed services were trained to delouse hand bombs only after several detections had been made. Despite many messages following my detection of several hand bombs, I was just told to keep them in a bucket of water for 24 hours and send them to the Government Analyst for examination and report. Accompanied by a sergeant I brought the bombs in a bucket of water from Narammala to Colombo in my old Ford Anglia.

At the Government Analysts’s office, the Analyst and his deputy, Mr. Mendis, my onetime classmate, asked me to wait 45 minutes for the report. They asked me how I brought the productions and when I replied told me “you had a lucky escape.” The bombs had plastic and not paper wrapping and I was told they may well have exploded possibly killing me and my sergeant.

I had the experience, of arresting many insurgents including the 38th suspect Hewabatage Premapala, Narammala Leader “Bola Samare’, and “Bullet Mahinda” alias Mahinda Jayawardana ( I am told he’s a lawyer now). They were all armed with pistols and other weapons.

In 1989 despite the JVP leaders being given a pardon by the government to enter the political mainstream, they again attempted to overthrow the government causing immense death and suffering. They were ruthless and killed innocents for failing to obey their orders. My sister-in-law, with a knife at her throat, had her car taken away from her Dehiwela home. It was returned many hours later, perhaps after being used to commit murder and mayham.

Considering the violent crimes they committed, if prosecuted in courts, probably the JVP would not be in existence and neither will most of its leaders. I have great respect for Mr Anura Kumara Dissnayaka as a leader of a political party and an excellent debater who is armed with factual evidence and is certainly a politician with a good future. But he must abstain from making emotional speeches and face the fact that the people of this country will not support an armed revolution to overthrow a democratically elected government.

This country has a constitution and there are laws which clearly indicate that, illegally constituted parties or individuals cannot take the law in to their own hands and force themselves on the public. We are not a Communist country; nor has any communist or leftist party been elected to office without the help of democratic parties like the SLFP and UNP.

Many of the youth of today remember the atrocities committed by the JVP in 1989, and will never vote them in as they recall horrendous crimes committed, how they missed their schooling and the terror unleashed on their parents. The JVP must face this reality and make an open apology for their past mistakes and present their plans for a democratic future rather than saying “youth of today little realize the enormity of sacrifices made by the youth of 1971”

This is trying to justify their blunders and ruthless activities of the past. The JVP must learn from their mistakes.

NIHAL DE ALWIS