Midweek Review
Parliament reels as Easter Sunday accusations tarnish members’ credibility

By Shamindra Ferdinando
The Parliament last week wasted two days on a much hyped debate on national security and the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage carried out by local Muslim extremists radicalized by ISIS ideology. The debate didn’t help political parties represented in Parliament to reach consensus on the post-Easter Sunday reconciliation plan.
But, the ruling ‘Pohottuwa’ party and the solitary UNP National List MP Wajira Abeywardena defended the handling of the Easter Sunday investigations, whereas those who were in the Yahapalana Cabinet, that ruled the country at the time, attacked the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government over its alleged failure.
A careful consideration of speeches made on September 21 and 22 clearly reflected the fact that political parties remained committed to their original positions, though the political landscape has changed. The exchange between former President Maithripala Sirisena, MP, and war-winning Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, MP, on the first day of the debate, underlined the pathetic state of affairs.
Polonnaruwa District ‘Pohottuwa’ lawmaker Sirisena’s claim that the war veteran wouldn’t have received the Field Marshal’s rank without his intervention proved again he didn’t have any sense of what he was talking about. If not for Fonseka’s strategic, courageous, ruthless and relentless leadership in pursuit of his goal to destroy the Tigers, the LTTE wouldn’t have collapsed in less than three years (Aug 2006-May 2009) though the successful war effort hinged on the combined forces commitment, and leadership in their respective fields.
MP Sirisena owes an explanation as to why wartime Navy and Air Force commanders, Wasantha Karannagoda and Roshan Gunathilake, respectively, were denied honorary ranks of Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Air Force when Fonseka was awarded the rank of Field Marshal in March 2015. Karannagoda and Gunathilake finally received their due honours in Sept. 2019, several months after the Easter Sunday carnage, the subject of the two-day debate that didn’t achieve anything.
Lawmaker Sirisena should be reminded that he held the public security portfolio as the then President and Commander in Chief at the time of the Easter attacks. Sirisena steadfastly refused to swear in an UNPer as Public Security Minister though he reluctantly swore in Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Premier after the Supreme Court thwarted his constitutional coup. In fact, an influential section of the Yahapalana setup wanted Fonseka appointed as the Public Security Minister, though the proposal didn’t find favour with Premier Wickremesinghe.
While Parliament debated the Easter Sunday carnage, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who served as the Premier at the time of the near simultaneous suicide attacks, was away in Washington to attend the 78th sessions of the UN General Assembly in New York. Let me reproduce verbatim the assessment made by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter Sunday carnage. “Upon consideration of the evidence, it is the view of the CoI that the lax approach of Mr. Wickremesinghe towards Islamic extremism, as the Prime Minister, was one of the primary reasons for the failure on the part of the then government to take proactive steps towards Islamic extremism. This facilitated the build-up of Islamic extremism to the point of the Easer Sunday attack.” (Final report, Vol
01, p 276-277).
Against the backdrop of lawmaker Sirisena seeking UN intervention following the Channel 4 allegations, based on Hanzeer Azad Maulana (ex-aide to State Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan aka Pilleyan) over claims of complicity of Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay in the Easter Sunday plot, it would be pertinent to point out the CoI’s assessment on the then President Sirisena. “Upon consideration of evidence of facts before 4th April 2019, the CoI is of the view that President Sirisena has failed in his duties and responsibilities and that his failure transcends beyond mere civil negligence.” (Final report, Vol 01, p 263)
CoI suggested: “….based on the evidence, the CoI is of the view that there is criminal liability on his part for the acts or omissions explained above. The CoI recommends that the Attorney General consider instituting criminal proceedings against President Sirisena under any suitable provision in the Penal Code.” (Final report, Vol 01, p 265)
Supreme Court Justice Janak de Silva chaired the CoI. The other members of the CoI were Court of Appeal Judge Bandula Karunaratne, retired Court of Appeal Judge Sunil Rajapaksa, retired High Court Judge Bandula Atapattu and retired Justice Ministry Secretary W.M.M.R. Adikari. The CoI commenced its hearings on Oct. 31, 2019 and sat on 214 days in total, holding 640 sittings and interviewing 451 witnesses.
The ‘Pohottuwa’ caused suspicions among the Catholics by appointing a six-member team to study the report prepared by such an eminent group. The group, headed by Chamal Rajapaksa, and included Johnston Fernando, Udaya Gammanpila, Ramesh Pathirana, Prasanna Ranatunga and Rohitha Abeygunawardena, was named on Feb. 19, 2021. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa received the report on Feb 01, 2021.
The Catholic Church repeatedly pointed out that none of the recommendations made by the CoI had been implemented.
Retired AVM doubts C4 claims
Air Vice Marshal [retired] A.B. Sosa V S V, psc, emphasized the pivotal importance of what he called maximum possible legal punitive action against those responsible for the attacks and security failure at all levels.
The former coordinating Officer of the Hambantota District at the height of the JVP-inspired insurgency (1987/88) and Mahiyanganaya in 1989 where the JVP declared a curfew to sabotage President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s Gam Udawa project explained how various interested parties exploited the developing situation to their advantage.
Declaring that the Easter Sunday carnage is a crime against humanity, Sosa examined the sequence of events as presented by C4, based on Hanzeer Azad Maulana, ex-CID Officer Nishantha Silva, who sought political asylum in Switzerland a week after Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election as the President in Nov. 2019, and an anonymous Sri Lankan Government Official.
C4 accusations pertained to the period about four years prior to the Easter bombings. They rely on the accusations of Maulana and Nishantha Silva. C4 dealt with circumstances Pilleyan’s involvement in the murder of a sitting Member of Parliament Joseph Pararajasingham while attending holy mass on Christmas day 2005. That killing took place in Batticaloa.
One-time LTTEer and sidekick of Karuna Amman who served Mahinda Rajapaksa’s parliamentary group had been entrusted with the task of eliminating those opposed to the Rajapaksas, according to Moulana, who lucidly explained the role played by his former boss over the years.
Sosa questioned Moulana’s claim that Pilleyan’s group had been accommodated at the former Tripoli market premises and was named the ‘Tripoli Platoon.’ The former Director of Operations and Training declared: “This is an outrageous claim. As there had been an Army detachment therein, a motley crowd of civilians couldn’t have been positioned there under any circumstances. Such a situation is not possible in any disciplined military organization.”
Reiterating his concerns over the failure on the part of successive governments to punish those responsible for the assassination of Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunga in January 2009, the Air Force veteran said that Moulana’s claim that the wartime Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa directed the so-called Tripoli ‘platoon’ to eliminate the eminent journalist is nothing but a blatant lie.
Sosa said that the ex-CID officer’s unsubstantiated claims regarding the Wickrematunga assassination and his removal from the investigation should be examined against the backdrop of his failure to produce any documents or incriminating tapes. The retired AVM emphasized decisions couldn’t be made or consensus reached merely on a statement. Reference was made to an unprecedented Swiss Embassy ‘drama’ that followed the CID officer leaving the country along with his family.
During his career, Sosa, who had received training in the UK and Pakistan, held several command appointments, including as the Commander of the Katunayake Air Force Base.
Commenting on the alleged meeting arranged by Moulana between Sallay and the would-be Easter Sunday suicide bombers in a coconut estate called Lactowatta in the Puttalam district in Feb. 2018, Sosa emphasized this allegation should be examined taking into consideration the officer concerned was based in Malaysia as Sri Lanka’s Minister Counsellor. Sallay is on record as having said that he never left Malaysia in 2018 to visit Sri Lanka or any other country. Sosa stressed that Sallay, who had served as head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) at the time of the 2015 presidential election, was removed and sent out of the country. Malaysia could help Sri Lanka and other interested parties to establish/ascertain the then Minister Counsellor’s movements. Sosa said: “Sallay could not have been simultaneously in two countries.”
The retired AVM also disputed C4 claim that Moulana had received instructions from Sallay on April 19, 2019, over the phone on the basis the officer was on a National Defence College, India, course. The government and other interested parties could easily verify this with Indian authorities, Sosa said, pointing out that both Malaysia and India must have examined claims.
The retired officer said: “In such circumstances, it is obvious that some ill-considered notions had been accepted by C4. Did C4 engage in a deliberate project to discredit Sri Lanka? I hold no brief for anyone. I have never met those who had been interviewed by C4 or persons mentioned, including Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay. There is absolutely no doubt that the heinous Easter Sunday attacks and other allegations must be thoroughly investigated and perpetrators punished. However, it is necessary to sift out red herrings such as the farcical so-called C 4 hatchet job meant to discredit Sri Lanka. Perhaps, C4 is among those who pursued a different agenda as they couldn’t stomach our victory over terrorism.”
Sosa retired in Aug. 1990 on reaching the mandatory 55 years, several weeks after the eruption of Eelam War 11. Having successfully met the JVP challenge in the hotbed of subversive activities, where he served as CO for a year, Sosa received appointment as Base Commander, Karunayake, even though the Security Council wanted him appointed as CO, Kegalle. Sosa recalled how President Ranasinghe Premadasa, having succeeded JRJ, sent him to Mahiyangana to neutralise the JVP threat to facilitate the holding of Gam Udawa there. “Immediately after I took over security at Mahiyangana, President Premadasa met me there. We had a very cordial one-to-one meeting. The President told me to ensure that power supply was not interrupted and normalcy restored. The JVP had sabotaged the entire fleet of around 30 buses in the depot. I flew down motor fitters and mechanics from Katunayake air base who got the buses going by cleaning the sand spiked gear boxes and oil tanks. Army troops were placed on 24-hour patrols to ensure the power pylons were not destroyed by the JVP. These troops had to be maintained by helicopters as the area was not accessible by road. During the Gam Udawa period, President Premadasa met me every morning. The Gam Udawa drew a large crowd and everything went off well except for a minor incident after closing time on one occasion. When leaving in the morning after the final day the President said “Thank you, see me in Colombo.” Sosa said that he opted to get back to Katunayake air base and remained there until retirement.
The Thileepan affair
Amidst the ongoing controversy over the Easter Sunday carnage and ahead of the two-day debate in Parliament, a vehicle carrying a portrait of Thileepan was attacked by villagers at Shardhapura, Uppuveli.
Thileepan died of a hunger strike at Nallur Kandasamy Kovil on Sept. 26, 1987. His fast lasted 11 days. A section of the media reported that National List MP Selvarajah Kajendran (a member of the Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam led Ahila Illankai Thamil Congress) accompanying the vehicle was also attacked. It would be pertinent to mention that Kajendran first entered Parliament in 2004 on the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) ticket. The one-time President of the Jaffna University Students Union received the backing of the LTTE at that election in the wake of the TNA recognizing Velupillai Prabhakaran as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people, amidst the shocking split caused by then LTTE Eastern Commander Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan aka Karuna Amman defecting to the government.
The portrait-carrying vehicle began its journey at Pottuvil and was on its way to the Jaffna peninsula, where the final remembrance was to be held. A section of the media depicted Thileepan as a person who died for the rights of the Tamil speaking people.
Let us examine the circumstances 26-year-old Thileepan died following the 11-day fast after Velupillai Prabhakaran ‘deployed’ him as a suicide bomber. Actually, Thileepan’s fast unto death was meant to cause mayhem in the Jaffna peninsula. The LTTE mounted its first suicide attack on July 05, 1987, on the Nelliady Army detachment.
Former LTTE terrorist Niromi de Soyza (adopted pseudonym) dealt with Thileepan’s fast unto death, in her debut as a writer. ‘Tamil Tigress’ first published two years after the Sri Lankan military decimated the LTTE’s conventional military capability, the writer, who had been 17 at the time she joined the group in 1987, discussed Thileepan’s death against the backdrop of Velupillai Prabhakaran’s decision to take on the Indian Army. Sri Lanka was forced to accept the deployment of the Indian Army in late July 1987.
The writer ‘Niromi’ questioned Velupillai Prabhakaran’s choice as Thileepan was physically fragile and too intelligent to be sanctified. She had been one of those assigned for crowd controlling duties at Nallur Kandasamy Kovil where she witnessed Thileepan being welcomed onto the makeshift podium. The LTTE’s No. 02 at the time Mahattaya had been with Thileepan at the launch of his fast. ‘Niromi’ had been at the scene of the hunger strike on many days and experienced the LTTE propagating the lie that the dying man’s wish was for the LTTE to defeat the Indian Army. Recalling the opportunity she received to get onto the podium, the writer translated four lines of a Tamil song heard about a week after Thileepan launched his much advertised action.
A sweet-smelling flower is withering
It cannot speak, it cannot walk
Will Thileepan anna’s desire be satisfied?
Won’t the foreign army flee?
The writer named Thileepan as the person who conscripted her, handed her first assault rifle as well as a cyanide capsule which the writer called kuppie.
She had been present when a doctor who examined Thileepan on Sept. 26, 1987, pronounced him dead.
‘Niromi de Soyza’ wrote: With his life Thileepan had paved the way for war (Chapter 09: There’s still time to change your mind).
Less than 10 days after Thileepan’s death, the Sri Lanka Navy intercepted a trawler carrying a group of hardcore LTTE terrorists in the northern seas. Their detention and their subsequent mass suicide in Sri Lankan custody led to the resumption of war in the second week of Oct. 1987.
Niromi de Soyza quoted Velupillai Prabhakaran as having told a group of cadres, including herself, soon after the mass suicide at Palaly, “The Indian government engineered the so-called peace process as a plot to gradually eliminate us.”
Propaganda war will continue unabated until Sri Lanka countered lies. Fifteen years after the conclusion of the war, Sri Lanka is still struggling to counter various narratives. There cannot be a better example than the bid to exploit deliberately caused Thileepan’s death to launch a fresh rift between the Sinhalese and Tamil speaking people. The vehicle convoy that had been launched from Pottuvil was meant to cause maximum harm to these yet fragile relations. Unless the government takes tangible measures against such exploiting tactics to create fresh wounds between the two communities, the day the country erupts again is not far off.
Midweek Review
Vanni war and killing of Gazan civilians at food distribution sites

Hundreds of Palestinians died in the recent past while trying to obtain food in the Gaza strip. Al Jazeera, in a 05 July, 2025, online report, quoted the Gaza Health Ministry as having stated that at least 743 Palestinians had been killed and more than 4,891 wounded while seeking humanitarian aid at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution sites.
Al Jazeera pointed out that GHF is a project backed by the US and Israel. The international media have reported that GHF staff used live ammunition and stun grenades against those desperately trying to get some food against the backdrop of punitive Israeli blockade. It would be pertinent to mention that GHF came into being in May this year for the sole purpose of operating Gaza food distribution sites. GHF is a private organisation, fully backed by the US and Israeli Defence Forces (IDF)
Reportage of the ongoing violence at GHF sites emphasised that the whole project that had been cleared by the US and Israeli governments undermined the Gaza population. In other words, the so-called humanitarian project aided the overall US-Israeli strategy meant for Gaza where over 50,000 perished in Israeli attacks so far.
There is also a serious allegation that wheat flour, provided by the US for distribution among Palestinian refugees in Gaza, is spiked by Israel with prescription opioids.
Unparalleled Hamas attack on Israel on 07 October, 2023, triggered a spate of comments on Sri Lanka’s war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that was brought to a successful end in May 2009. But, no one, so far, has bothered to compare the barbaric situation in Gaza and how Sri Lanka, with limited resources, dealt with a complex and difficult situation in a far more humanitarian way in order to minimise casualties among Tamil civilians.
Sri Lanka sustained offensive action over a period of two years and 10 months but throughout this period the wartime Mahinda Rajapaksa government ensured the proper distribution of humanitarian aid. The plan involved the Colombo-based diplomatic community, the UN, as well as other reputed international groups, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Food Programme (WFP).
In addition to the above-mentioned grouping, President Rajapaksa directly involved India in the humanitarian project, thereby giving New Delhi direct access to the war wounded. In fact, if the wounded LTTE cadres sought transfer from Puthumathalan to the India-run emergency medical facility at Pulmoddai, about 55 km north of Trincomalee, in a ship carrying ICRC flag they could have done so.
Swamy’s comment
M.R. Narayan Swamy, discussed the similarities of Sri Lanka’s conflict and the ongoing Israel-Gaza war. New Delhi based Swamy, who had served the UNI and the AFP during his several decades long career, discussed the issues at hand while acknowledging no two situations were absolutely comparable. Swamy currently serves as the Executive Director of IANS (Indo-Asian News Service) and he dealt with the Gaza war soon after the Israeli invasion.
‘How’s Hamas’ attack similar to that of LTTE?’ and ‘Hamas’ offensive on Israel may bring it closer to LTTE’s fate dealing with the issues involved. Let me reproduce Swamy’s comment: “Oct. 7 could be a turning point for Hamas similar to what happened to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka in 2006. Let me explain. Similar to Hamas, the LTTE grew significantly over time eventually gaining control of a significant portion of Sri Lanka’s land and coast. The LTTE was even more formidable than Hamas. It had a strong army, growing air force and a deadly naval presence. Unlike Hamas the LTTE successfully assassinated high ranking political figures in Sri Lanka and India. Notably LTTE achieved this without any overt direct support from any country unlike Hamas that received military and financial backing from Iran and some other States. The LTTE became too sure of their victories overtime. They thought, they could never be beaten and that starting a war would always make them stronger. But in 2006 when they began Eelam War 1V, their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran couldn’t have foreseen that within three years he and his prominent group would be defeated. Prabhakaran believed herding together tens of thousands of hapless Tamil civilians as a human shield during the last stages of the war would protect them and Sri Lanka wouldn’t unleash missiles and rockets. Colombo proved him wrong. They were hit. By asking the people not to flee Gaza, despite Israeli warnings, Hamas is taking a similar line. Punishing all Palestinians for Hamas’ actions is unjust, just like punishing all Tamils for LTTE’s actions was wrong. The LTTE claimed to fight for Tamils, without consulting them, and Hamas claimed to represent Palestinians, without seeking the approval for the Oct. 07 strike. Well, two situations are not absolutely comparable. We can be clear that Hamas is facing a situation similar to what the LTTE faced shortly before its end. Will Hamas meet a similar fate as the LTTE? Only time will answer that question.”
Of course, as Swamy said two situations are not absolutely comparable. The IDF invaded Gaza whereas the Sri Lankan military battled terrorists on home soil. While referring to Hamas being an Iranian proxy, Swamy conveniently forgot how India set up a massive terrorist project in Sri Lanka in the early ’80s. It ended up with the LTTE assassinating Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991, a year after India pulled out its Army from Sri Lanka where over 1,300 officers and men perished in the hands of those who had been trained by India.
Let me get back to humanitarian operations here, particularly during the 2008-2009 period. Whatever those who cannot bear up the LTTE’s annihilation say now, Sri Lanka can be proud of how the displaced population was treated. Of course there had been instances of excesses on the part of the government security forces and police but that was never the state policy.
Vanni humanitarian project
Against the backdrop of continuing killing of hungry Palestinians waiting to collect food, we can examine a high profile operation carried out by Sri Lanka to provide food for the Vanni population during the war. President Mahinda Rajapaksa ensured that those who had been trapped in the war zone received not only food but the best possible medical care in spite of the raging battles.
The President never hesitated to involve foreign governments and international organisations in the Vanni humanitarian project. Regardless of the military reporting some elements positioned themselves within the international grouping involved in the humanitarian work that provided support to the LTTE, the government continued to involve international groups. Unlike the controversial Gaza humanitarian operation, Sri Lanka never handed over the mission to the private sector.
Contrary to accusations that Sri Lanka waged a war without witnesses, the ICRC had been in Puthumathalan till the second week of February 2009 but even after their pullout the governmentled system ensured the evacuation of those wounded in the LTTE-controlled areas and continuously ensured food and other essential supplies to the war zone. The operation involved the ICRC and the WFP.
As the Army advanced further into the fast dwindling LTTE-held territory, the ICRC international staff, who had been in the Vanni, west and east, throughout the offensive, were evacuated by ship flying the ICRC flag on 10 February, 2009. ICRC ships evacuated hundreds if not thousands of wounded civilians, as they were held by the Tigers at gun point as a human shield, beginning 10 February, 2009, till 09 May, 2009, the last voyage before the conclusion of the war. On 16 occasions, ICRC flagged ships arrived at Puthumathalan during this period, ICRC international staff were allowed to visit Puthumathalan each time the vessels came.
Would a country perpetrating genocide, as Canada alleged, allow ICRC international staff to visit Puthumathalan, permit transfer of the war wounded out of the battle zone or positioned Indian medical relief team between Puthumathalan and Trinomalee? Actually, if Velupillai Prabhakaran and his family wanted they could have given themselves up to the ICRC at Puthumathalan and brought the war to a faster conclusion. Instead, Prabhakaran sought to negotiate an arrangement that allowed him to survive while the armed forces were prevented from achieving their final objective. The wartime Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and three service commanders, Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, and Air Marshal Roshan Gunetilleke, were solidly behind the President.
Visit to Pulmoddai
The writer was one of the few journalists allowed to observe the transfer of people from Puthumathalan to Pulmoddai from a SLN Fast Attack Craft (FAC) positioned off the Puthumathalan coast, in the last week of April 2009, and then visited Pulmoddai where the wounded were handed over to the Indian medical team based there. That had been a very worthy move on the part of President Rajapaksa. The deployment of an Indian medical team to treat the wounded countered lies propagated by various interested parties. Those who faithfully believed in the LTTE’s invincibility couldn’t bear up the beating the group was receiving at the hands of the Sri Lankan military. Admiral of the Fleet Karannagoda’s memoirs ‘The Turning Point’, the English version ‘of Adhistanaya’ is a must-read for those interested in the Sri Lanka conflict. Published by Penguin Random House, India, the book dealt with the overall Navy’s role with the focus on the destruction of the LTTE’s floating warehouses that hastened the collapse of the fighting cadre. How the US provided specific intelligence to destroy four floating warehouses in September and October 2007, against the backdrop of the Army depriving the Navy of an opportunity to listen to LTTE communication, due to petty rivalries, is perhaps the most single significant help provided by a country by way of intelligence.
Having liberated Kilinochchi, in January, Sri Lanka intensified operations on the Vanni east front. Amidst the collapse of LTTE defences, Sri Lanka in February 2009 requested India to send an emergency medical team to Sri Lanka and the actual deployment took place at Pulmoddai on March 09, 2009. Following our request, New Delhi established an emergency field hospital where a 62-member Indian medical team worked until the conclusion of operations. Over 3,000 people, who had been wounded during the battles, were treated by the Indians over a period of two months and soon after the conclusion of the war, the team moved to Menik Farm refugee camp where the group treated over 25,000 people by the second week of July 2009. India pulled out its team by the end of August 2009. By then, Sri Lanka stabilised the situation and, contrary to some claims, the LTTE couldn’t revert to hit-and-run attacks.
The small group of journalists was allowed into the Indian medical facility. At the time of our visit, more wounded were brought in by the ICRC flagged ship.
UN report
The UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts (PoE) report acknowledged that altogether 2,350 tonnes of food had been delivered to Mullivaikkal, from 10 February, 2009, to 09 May, 2009, and 14,000 wounded civilians and their relatives evacuated during this period (Paragraph 108).
The government knew of the danger in some of them disappearing but still they were allowed into the south.
The ICRC made a bid to bring in supplies and evacuate the wounded on 15 May, 2009, but couldn’t do so due to heavy fighting. The bottom line is that the ICRC had access to Puthumathalan till 09 May, 2009, just 10 days before the SLA killed LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Sri Lanka’s continuing failure to set the record straight, in spite of having all required information/evidence is a mystery. In fact, successive governments never bothered to examine WikiLeaks revelations and use them to clear the country’s name from wild accusations of war crimes, emanating from the West, in support of the separatist cause. In one leaked document alone, a top ICRC official was quoted as having said that the Army paid a heavy price for taking civilian factor into consideration during the final phase of the offensive.
International organisations, including the UN, had access to the Northern and Eastern provinces. The bottom line is that the ICRC operated in Vanni east till late January 2009, though the UN pulled out of Kilinochchi in September 2008. However, the PoE report admitted that UN international staff were allowed entry to the Puthukkudiyiruppu Hospital, following the 29 January-04 February, 2009. artillery barrage directed at the facility by the Army.
Wartime MP Mano Ganesan had been one of those who alleged that Sri Lanka received the blessings of the international community to conduct a war without witnesses. Let me discuss the MP’s allegation, taking into consideration the PoE report on Accountability in Sri Lanka.
During high intensity battles in the Vanni east, the only permanent hospital functioning in that region was at Puthukkudiyiruppu. Regardless of government denials, that hospital had been hit repeatedly by artillery, including Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers (MBRLs) during the 29 January-04 February, 2009, period. There is absolutely no point in denying that fact. But it would have been more a scare tactic to speed up the end of the fighting, as if the SLA had wanted, it could have easily flattened the hospital with MBRL fire.
According to the PoE report that had been officially released on 31 March, 2011, the SLA granted UN international staff access to the hospital, damaged due to attacks during 29 January- 04 February, 2009. The report also disclosed that there had been two ICRC international members at the hospital when it was hit on 04 February. (Paragraph 91).
Therefore, there is no basis for MP Ganesan’s malicious claim that Sri Lanka conducted a war without witnesses. The UNSG’s report also acknowledged that LTTE cadres, who had been wounded in fighting in the nearby frontline, were brought to the Puthukkudiyiruppu Hospital where the organisation maintained a ward for them. (Paragraph 94).
The international community never gave Sri Lanka the go ahead for an all-out war in 2006. In fact, Western powers constantly put pressure on Sri Lanka to continue negotiations in an obvious attempt to help the Tigers, regardless of grave provocations by LTTE terrorists. There couldn’t be a better example than the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, at his Bullers Lane residence, in August 2005. The assassination had been carried out just four months before the presidential poll, regardless of the Norway arranged Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) that was really meant to destabilise the country in the guise of working for peace.
LTTE surrender
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk appeared to have ignored Sri Lanka’s efforts to provide relief for all affected parties, including the ex-LTTE, as soon as the war was brought to an end.
The Tamil community immensely benefited from the post-war rehabilitation of the ex-LTTE cadres. The government rehabilitated nearly 12,000, while child soldiers were simply released. But the likes of retired Supreme Court justice C.V. Wigneswaran brazenly sought to take the shine out of Sri Lanka’s genuine efforts to bring about reconciliation, by falsely claiming that the Army poisoned over 100 ex-LTTE combatants held in rehabilitation camps. He ended up with egg on his face but he never bothered to acknowledge his blatant lie. Sri Lanka never pursued the matter. Wigneswaran lie is far worse than unsubstantiated allegations, propagated by various interested parties, as he once was a member of the country’s apex court. We can imagine how he dispensed justice as a sitting judge in the lower courts for decades, even prior to being elevated to the highest court.
Sri Lanka should have used the high profile post-war IOM (International Organisation for Migration) project to help ex-LTTE, as well as members of the breakaway Karuna faction, to prove her efforts. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka never had a cohesive plan to counter lies. The situation remains the same as interested parties continue to humiliate the warwinning country. Let me end this piece by underscoring the importance of establishing the total number of ex-LTTE and members of other violent groups who received citizenship in the West. They are now all over the world. General Secretary of the British Tamil Forum (BTF) V. Ravi Kumar is an ex-LTTE cadre from Jaffna. Australian-born Adele Balasingham, widow of the late LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham, lives in the UK. What is Turk’s position on this woman, who, while wearing the LTTE uniform, handed over cyanide capsules to female LTTE cadres, some of whom were child soldiers? Perhaps Sri Lanka should raise the issue as part of its overall defence against wild war crimes accusations still being dished out against the country from the West.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Midweek Review
‘Masterpiece: The Origin and Evolution’ – II

(Part 1 of this article was published in Midweek Review on 25 June 2025.)
French sculptor and painter Marcel Duchamp say, “a Masterpiece is created by the viewer, not by the artist”. He highlights the idea that the interpretation as well as deriving meanings of art are subjective and embedded within the viewer’s experience, rather than being solely determined by the discretion of the artist. Former Director of the Louvre Museum Henri Loyrette once stated, “It became evident that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to articulate a definition of masterpiece that could be accepted universally”.
In terms of body of work, three conducive elements exercise a significant influence over recognising and positioning a creative work in the realm of art as a ‘Masterpiece’.
Firstly, a work of Art which showcases technical and artistic innovation is indelible from history books and capable of earning substantive accolades from the spectators. These conditions entitle a work of Art to continue to endure as a ‘Masterpiece’.
Created in 1872, Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s ‘Impression Sunrise’ is a work of art which received universal recognition as a ‘masterpiece’ for its innovative artistic and conceptual approach and technical amelioration. The ‘Name’ of this artistic tradition derives from the title of Monet’s ‘Impression Sunrise’. The name was coined by French art critic and journalist Louis Leroy, referring to the Impressionist style in a derisory manner at the first Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1874. Monet’s ‘Impression Sunrise’ was accompanied by remarkable technical advancement which resulted from research in Optics. Eugene Chevre, a French chemist, discovered that optical illusions could be created by placing certain colors next to each other. Taking advantage of this finding, Impressionists combined visible, short and thick brush strokes with glowing vibrant colors to create a sense of light and darkness, movement of objects and sense of distance.

Tomoko in Her Bath
Another key example of the innovative application of technical and artistic developments is D.W. Griffith’s silent cinematic anthology ‘The Intolerance’. Released in September 1916, with an enormous production cost of 2.5 million dollars, it is considered to be a bold step by a filmmaker in the history of creative filmmaking. Despite the movie’s commercial failure, considering its narrative style, sophisticated editing techniques, innovative cinematography, expensive costume design, massive set designs and 3000 extra cast, it consistently receives appraisal and recognition as a benchmark in film history. Many European and Soviet filmmakers drew inspiration from its unconventional editing and historical storytelling. In 1989, the American Library Congress recognized ‘Intolerance’ as “a film with lasting social and cultural significance”.
Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein’s silent film ‘Battleship Potemkin’ (1925) continues to be recognized as a cinematic ‘Masterpiece’ and persists as one of the greatest even to this day for its groundbreaking editing technique. The ‘Soviet Montage Theory’ developed by Eisenstein highlights the power of editing to create meanings and evoke audience’s emotional response. The essence of the theory suggests the juxtaposition of distinct shots to create a new meaning or effect, often conveying a specific meaning or emotion more powerfully than the individual shots alone.
Secondly, an artistic work with a strong emotional appeal tends to endure, transcending the spatial and temporal boundaries as a Masterpiece. A work of Art which evokes strong emotions in the human mind never fades away from the person’s emotional sphere. Profound human dynamics depicted in an artistic composition prompt the spectator to reflect on their own personal human dynamics. A work of art interacts with the viewer using a visual language. This enables the viewer to perceive and interpret the ideas as well as emotions that might be difficult to articulate through words.
The poignant historical photographic essay ‘Tomoko in Her Bath’, captured by American photojournalist Eugene Smith, manifests a strong emotional statement of profound love, tenderness and compassion between a mother and her child who is severely paralyzed and deformed, being bathed in a bath tank . The photographic composition, reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Pietà, reveals the traumatic story of Tomoko, who lived in the Minamata fishing Village in Japan and was crippled by mercury poisoning after consuming contaminated fish. The fish were contaminated with tonnes of industrial wastewater containing mercury dumped into the marine area of Minamata Bay by a chemical factory between the period of 1932 and 1968. Smith’s artistic and symbolic expression of the dimensions of human suffering caused by the devastating industrial pollution elevated this powerful image to the status of a ‘Masterpiece’.
The aesthetically expressed subliminal human conditions in cinema continue to endure in the human sphere, transcending all boundaries. They provide a strong catalyst for the viewer to be companionate, empathetic and humane towards the ‘other’. One such example is the outstanding cinematic expression Red Beard (1965) by Akira Kurosawa, who reflects the importance of empathy and compassion to the greatest extent possible. Kurosawa’s incomparable humanistic approach in this movie contemplates a simple humanist gesture of kindness that could give solace to humans who are bereft of attention, love and respect. This in turn awakens a profound sense of compassion and sympathy in the viewer.

The Green Mile
“I am always hungry, so are my siblings. I wish I was a horse. Horses eat grass; we have plenty of that”. These heart-wrenching words were from the outspoken little one called ‘Chobo ’in the movie. The character of ‘Chobo’ who is driven by hunger steals food for him and his family, reflects the magnitude of human suffering, helplessness and the depth of human misery in a poverty-stricken social backdrop. The weight of the humanist theme of the movie enables the viewer to deeply immerse and resonate with the narrative and characters, which eventually ensures the cinematic expression lasts as long as a ‘Masterpiece’.
Another cinematic creation which delves deeper into themes such as compassion, injustice and empathy is Frank Darabont’s ‘The Green Mile’ (1999), which signifies the importance of being humane towards the ‘other’ at any moment in life. The execution of wrongly convicted ‘John Coffey’, a man with a physically imposing figure and a childlike gentle soul, by electrocution is one of the most powerfully constructed and poignant scenes in cinema history. This scene made the audience deeply saddened and sustained a lasting impact on the human mind, making ‘The Green Mile’ stay among the most emotionally impactful movies of all time.
Thirdly, the ‘Creative Excellence’ reflected by a Work of Art holds authority to declare itself a ‘Masterpiece’. Such ‘Masterpieces’ shine bright as ‘Artistic Exceptions’. These exceptional works have a unique way of initiating an impressive conversation with the viewer using their iconic visual language enriched with aesthetic elements. These extraordinary pieces of Art possess a certain charisma to attract the viewer while allowing the viewer to find meanings and insights through interpreting them over time. Some of the prime examples found in the global realm of art include ‘David’ by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ (1503-1506), Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ (1665) and ‘Guernica’ (1937) by Pablo Picasso. And powerful cinematic expressions such as ‘Doctor Zhivago’ (1965) by David Lean, a movie based on the novel by Boris Pasternak of the same name ‘Doctor Zhivago‘ (1957), ‘The Mirror’ (1975) by Andrei Tarkovsky, Terrence Malick’s ‘The Tree of Life’ (2011) and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” (2023) continues to carry a powerful artistic charisma and enduring influence and considered masterpieces, regardless of critical acclaim or widespread criticism. These masterpieces often inspire prospective artists, while remaining inimitable and irreplaceable. The confluence of the extraordinary creativity of the artist and the unparalleled creative appeal reflected in the work elevate it to the state of eternity. The visual language of artistic creations, which is considered eternal, encompasses multiple inherent ambiguities. They evoke mystery, enigma and sense of wonder in the viewer and never allow the viewer to interpret or comprehend it extensively. The intriguing and enigmatic portrayal of visual symbolism in such masterpieces reflects the hidden mysteries of human nature which trigger curiosity in the spectator.
Leo Tolstoy, in one of his diary notes on May 17, 1896, writes ” the principal aim of art, if there is art, and if it has an aim, is to manifest and express the truth about man’s soul, to express those mysteries which it is impossible to express simply by speech. From this spring’s Art. Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the mysteries of his soul and shows to people those mysteries which are common to all”.
The meaning of ‘Masterpiece’ evolved through temporal stages, from a term devised within Craft Guilds in the 12th century to a modern definition encompassing a wider range of creative genres in the subjective space. The possibility for a work of Art to reign in authority as a masterpiece is determined by the amplitude of recognition, appreciation and its ability to resonate deeply with the viewer’s artistic and emotional perceptions, otherwise it is bound to fade into oblivion. The creative work’s visual power is a crucial factor for fostering an interrelationship with the viewer. This interrelationship could last for centuries. British historian and broadcaster Kenneth Clarke, in his 1979 book’ What is a Masterpiece’, mentioned the “extraordinary fact that they can speak to us, as they have spoken to our ancestors for centuries”.
by Bhagya Rajapakse
bhagya8282@gmail.com
Midweek Review
Steadfast Helmsman

Deshamanya Bradman Weerakoon,
Whose absence will be keenly felt,
Chose simplicity as his forte,
And skipped the glare of cheap publicity,
Instead worked silently behind the scenes,
And placed duty above self-glorification,
A quality that served him in good stead,
During that fateful year of 1983, for instance,
When he ensured Sri Lanka’s sustenance,
But this about him was most striking –
He served the state to the best of his ability,
But was not at the behest of Political Masters.
By Lynn Ockersz
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