Features
SRI LANKA’S KILLING FIELD
UNP’s Defeat-II
By Jayantha Somasundaram
“I survived once but he will finally get me killed. He will get Gamini Dissanayake killed. Then I am sure he himself will get killed.” Lalith Athulathmudali (The Print 27/12/17)
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Though his ascent to the Presidency was heavily thwarted by the Govigama elite that created the UNP, Premadasa succeeded to the office in January 1989.
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Even after he became President, the UNP’s Govigama establishment kept up a latent but relentless campaign to undermine Ranasinghe Premadasa. In August 1991 Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Athulathmudali succeeded in surreptitiously getting the support of the opposition to present a motion in parliament to impeach the President, accusing him of everything from treason to corruption. It contained 123 signatures, including 47 of the 121 UNP MPs.
“As Premadasa walked into Parliament he was fiercely heckled by MPs. The President’s security men were concerned enough to have a helicopter on standby, in case the assaults turned from verbal to physical.” (Time 7 Oct 1991) Premadasa was able to get a sufficient number of UNP MPs to confess that they did not know what they had signed and narrowly avoided impeachment. Political Scientist Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda explained, “The attempt to impeach Premadasa can be seen as a backlash from the ruling stratum in Colombo that cut across the old guard of the UNP as well as the SLFP. They saw Premadasa as a usurper.”
“The two leaders of the impeachment were both drawn from the anglicised elite in Colombo. Premadasa put down the revolt by getting an acquiescent speaker of parliament (M. H. Mohamed) to deny the impeachment motion, but it fed his lifelong bitterness about caste discrimination.” (Far Eastern Economic Review 13/5/93) Athulathmudali and Dissanayake represented that elite, educated at Royal and Oxford, Trinity and Cambridge respectively, they commanded the loyalty of the Sinhala establishment who saw them as the natural leaders. They and their supporters were now expelled from the UNP. Lakshman Perera, one of Athulathmudali’s supporters, a municipal councillor who had authored a controversial play about Premadasa, Me kawda? Monawada karane? (Who is this? What is he doing?) disappeared. “The political rivalry between Premadasa and Athulathmudali led to a media war between the state-owned TV, radio and newspapers and the opposition-owned press. UNP thugs openly attacked journalists who covered opposition rallies.” (Asiaweek 12/5/93)
Premadasa had been trying to get the point across that he would not take kindly to schemes to unseat him, or media attempts to criticise him. “Scores of UNP goons, armed with bicycle chains, clubs, swords and small firearms, descended on a group of journalists covering a leaflet distribution campaign conducted by UNP dissidents Lalith and Gamini opposite the Fort Railway Station. Cameras were smashed and journalists beaten up mercilessly. When the victims tried to lodge a complaint with the Fort police the then OIC stood, blocking the entrance to the police station and declaring that it was closed for the day!” (Editorial The Island 25/5/16)
“One of Sri Lanka’s top cartoonists, Jiffrey Yunoos was stabbed and his home and vehicle were wrecked … Athulathmudali was fired on twice … his supporters were assaulted with iron bars and cricket stumps … The last year witnessed the destruction by police of an anti-government printing press, a grenade attack on a meeting of dissident members of the ruling party, death threats against human rights lawyers and assaults on opposition politicians,” reported Janes Foreign Report (24/9/92)
Richard de Zoysa
Richard de Zoysa epitomised the elite. He was the grandson of Manickasothy Saravanamuttu and Francis de Zoysa, belonging therefore to two of Colombo’s best-known families. “On the night of February 18th 1990 Ronnie Gunasinghe, Senior Superintendent of Police and a confidant of Premadasa, was having drinks with Deputy Defence Minister Ranjan Wijeratne. At one point says a senior police officer, Wijeratne called Premadasa and told him of a plan to pick up the journalist. The next day de Zoysa’s tortured body was found floating off a beach south of Colombo. Wijeratne was killed in a car bomb explosion in March 1991. Gunasinghe died with Premadasa.” (Asiaweek 12/5/93)
Sri Lanka had now become a political killing field.
Richard de Zoysa was involved in Psychological operations (PSYOP) and propaganda for the Army when Lalith Athulathmudali was Minister of National Security. His abduction occurred when Athulathmudali was out of Colombo and could not be contacted.
According to human rights lawyer Basil Fernando “when the abduction and disappearance became a scandal the government began a campaign to ridicule the personality of Richard de Zoysa.” (Sri Lanka Guardian 13/4/10) “Another was that RAW (Indian Intelligence) was the culprit; this idea was put forward by Premadasa’s man, (Information Minister) A. J. Ranasinghe.” (Sunday Observer 26/3/17)
“You keep referring to abduction and murder. What if it is not murder, but suicide or something else?” asked Ranil Wickeremesinghe, a government minister. ‘What I hate these people for is their lies,’” says (Richard’s mother) Manorani Saravanamuttu (The Washington Post 3/3/91).
“I see no reason to disbelieve Manorani’s claim that a week after Richard’s death Ranjan Wijeratne held a party at the BMICH and told the death squads that he would ensure immunity for anything that happened previously.” (The Island 25/3/01)
Denzil Kobbekaduwa
The UNP had always seen Lieutenant General Denzil Kobbekaduwa as a political threat. While still a young officer he had been sent on compulsory leave both in 1967 and again in 1977 by the Senanayake and Jayewardena Regimes. Educated at Trinity and Sandhurst, he had assumed command of the Northern Theatre and his strategy for overcoming the LTTE was meeting with success. This made him immensely popular not only with the armed forces but also among Sinhalese looking for a military hero who would lead them to victory in the Civil War. As a kinsman of Mrs Bandaranaike he was seen as a possible presidential candidate. “In June 1992 Brig Chula Seneviratne, who was in Military Intelligence was summoned one night by Gen Kobbekaduwa (who) told him of a threat to his life from within the Army.” (Daily News 2/5/98)
Kobbekaduwa was killed in Kayts in August 1992. A hundred thousand attended his funeral, they were chanting slogans and attacking government supporters injuring among others Minister A J Ranasinghe and Deputy Minister John Amaratunga. Riot Police had to fire tear gas to quell the protesters.
Mrs Kobbekaduwa called for an international commission to investigate her husband’s death. After the UNP had lost power an independent commission was established revealing that “from January 1990 Gen Kobbekaduwa, Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake were investigating the secret delivery of weapons, arms and ammunition (to the LTTE by Premadasa and) … wanted to place all this before an international tribunal.” The Commission would determine that “the explosion was in the vehicle” in which Kobbekaduwa travelled and that it was able “to come to one conclusion only that President Premadasa targeted Maj Gen Kobbekaduwa for assassination.” (Daily News 11/3/98)
With Kobbekaduwa’s death Premadasa’s opposition came into the open. Gamini Dissanayake commissioned an investigation into the blast that killed Kobbekaduwa and brought in international experts. He and Athulathmudali formed their own party, the Democratic United National Front. “Within months it had more than 500,000 members. They held rally after rally denouncing the President to crowds of 50,000 or more. They were expected to win handsomely in the seven provincial elections to be held on May 17th 1993.” (Asiaweek 12/5/93)
Indian journalist Sekhar Gupta reported a conversation he had with Athulathmudali in June 1991. Pointing a finger at Premadasa, Athulathmudali had said: “I survived once but he will finally get me killed. He will get Gamini Dissanayake killed. Then I am sure he himself will get killed.” (The Print 27/12/17).
According to Colombo US Embassy staffer Daya Gamage, in August 1992 having finished her time in Colombo, the US Ambassador Marion Creekmore made a farewell call on Premadasa during which she warned “If any harm comes to one of them (Lalith and Gamini), the finger will be pointed at you.” (Asian Tribune) 5/1/18)
(To be continued)