Midweek Review

War crimes: Türk’s visit again underscores SL’s wholly inadequate response

Published

1 year ago

2025/07/2

Türk at Chemmani mass graves (pic courtesy Tamil Guardian)

Various international bodies with vested interests cooperate with the Western agenda. There cannot be a better example than the United Nations nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declaration that Iran was not adhering to nuclear nonproliferation obligations the day before Israel launched massive air and missile attacks on that country. The UNHRC is no exception. However, that sordid operation involving the IAEA resulted in Iran obliterating the myth that Israeli defences couldn’t be penetrated. At the time the US forced Israel and Iran to cease attacks on each other, Iran has proved to the world that Israel could be overwhelmed. Sri Lanka seems to be not interested in countering false narrative thereby keeping the path open for the UN to continue its deceitful project here.

Sri Lanka military and an invading army conducted two separate mock media briefings at the Defence Services and Staff College (DSSC), Batalanda, recently. They dealt with a fictitious but developing situation, following a major confrontation in the general area of Dambulla.

The briefings were held at the end of an exercise, called ‘Shadow Dance,’ conducted at the DSSC, where a group of journalists, representing the print and electronic media, participated.

Having explained the circumstances leading to the latest fighting, the two warring armies fielded the questions posed. The invading army addressed/handled the media much better than the Sri Lankan military, represented by the 55 Division. The 63 Division represented the invading army that occupied the entire Northern Province, for a decade, and was threatening the rest of the country.

In a way, the 55 Division reflected the pathetic failure on the part of successive governments and the Army to counter unsubstantiated war crimes allegations levelled, since the successful conclusion of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 17 years ago.

The writer was among those invited to participate in the mock media briefing. The Sri Lankan military was aptly called the defenders of the nation while the occupying army was called videsh forces. The Sri Lankan military performance reminded us of the shoddy way successive governments faced the Geneva challenge. Even 17 years after President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government achieved the unthinkable – the LTTE’s battlefield defeat – the country is still under intense Geneva pressure.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk’s recently concluded visit (June 23-26) proved beyond any doubt the Geneva strategy is on track. The Austrian lawyer’s pronouncements demonstrated that Geneva is absolutely confident of its strategy and the war-winning country lacked a cohesive approach to counter Geneva lies and expose their so far unchallenged narrative.

The National People’s Power (NPP) government seems wholly inadequate to counter the Geneva strategy. The Austrian simply repeated what Geneva and those who had been disgracefully exploiting post-war developments here, for domestic political reasons, were saying over the years.

The reportage of the four-day visit and various comments made by interested parties highlighted Sri Lanka’s failure to address accountability issues. That is the ugly truth. Having eradicated terrorism that was exported to Sri Lanka from India in the ’80s, the country seems simply incapable of comprehending and countering the PRIMARY lie propagated by the UN that the Sri Lanka military killed 40,000 during the final phase of the offensive in 2009.

We should at the same time not forget the fact that most organisations like the UN, set up in the aftermath of World War 11, were created by the victors, i.e. former evil colonial rulers who had previously plundered their subjects to no end. So, naturally, most of the new world bodies, created by them, are stacked against the third world. They are literally often manned by their handpicked ‘yes’ men and women in key positions. It is no coincidence that most top positions even, in the UN office in Colombo, are held by Westerners.

Can we actually expect any fair play from bodies like the United Nations? At a time when UNHCR’s tail should be on fire with an active genocide taking place for at least two years in Palestine, its Chief Volker Türk, however, with an entourage, more or less flogged a dead horse in Sri Lanka for publicity and in an apparent attempt to revive the world’s most ruthless terrorist organisation that had a conventional fighting capability that Sri Lanka defeated in the battlefield against all odds. In other words, the UN landed us with a proverbial Tartar last week. Some estimates put Palestinian civilians already killed in the Israeli genocide, in Gaza, at as much as 400,000 on Türk’s watch! Bravo! Folks don’t be surprised if this tartar (our apologies to real tartars, who continue to be maligned by colonial thinking) gets the Nobel Peace Prize ahead of convicted criminal Donald Trump.

Instead of staging annual circuses by such UN bureaucrats to hoodwink the world, wasting millions of dollars, why not just try the Sri Lankan Army in a kangaroo court for the preposterous charge levelled against it in the UN Darusman report of killing 40,000 Tamil civilians in the last stage of the war, which figure had already been contradicted by statistics maintained by other responsible bodies, and individuals, including the UN’s local office.

Sri Lanka never properly challenged the primary UN accusation as no one, who wielded political power, since 2009, bothered to do so. Instead, all Presidents played politics with the issue, while Maithripala Sirisena (2015-2019) treacherously betrayed the armed forces by teaming up with Yahapalana Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe to co-sponsor an accountability resolution, in August 2015, against their own country. That resolution was titled “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.”

Volker Türk’s visit reminded us that Sri Lanka remained entrapped in that resolution, in spite of the SLPP’s sham move in 2020. The SLPP right royally deceived the country by declaring that Sri Lanka quit the Geneva resolution. The bombastic declaration was made in Geneva by the then Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena during the February-March 2020 sessions. That hoax was perpetrated on the country.

Geneva warning

At the end of Volker Türk’s visit, the Austrian reiterated their long standing demand for an internationally-backed accountability mechanism, the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), an end to surveillance on human rights defenders, and the release of military-occupied land.

The Geneva official also called for the repeal of the recently enacted Online Safety Act. The Austrian’s call for an end to surveillance on human rights defenders is nothing but a joke. The accusation is nothing new and often repeated both here and abroad. Sri Lanka should have asked Geneva a long time ago to identify those civilians who had been under surveillance in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and in Colombo. Unfortunately, successive governments never made an honest bid to counter high profile operations directed at Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka should have asked the Austrian whether at least one of those who had been categorised as human rights defenders sought their intervention to halt forcible conscription of children or prevent the LTTE from using innocent Tamil civilians as human shields.

Volker Türk’s own organisation never bothered to ask the LTTE to stop child recruitment or do away with human shields.

The often repeated demand to repeal the PTA, that had been introduced in 1979 and made permanent in 1982, in response to terrorism perpetrated in Sri Lanka by India over the years, became a key point in the overall strategy against Sri Lanka. Perhaps, Sri Lanka should study the Austrian anti-terrorism law that raised concerns among the interested parties. But Austria, faced with terror threats, has adopted powerful anti-terrorist law and seemed to be confident in its security strategy. The Geneva Human Rights Chief cannot be unaware that comprehensive Austrian anti-terrorism law covers almost all possible threats. Surveillance is in line with the Austrian security strategy.

Türk also played politics with the Chemmani mass grave in Jaffna though there is no confirmation of the identities of the victims or who the perpetrators were. There is absolutely no doubt that there had been some excesses on the part of the military and law enforcement authorities when fighting the most ruthless terrorist outfit in the world. Whoever is responsible for those atrocities should be held accountable, regardless of their rank. The accountability on the part of political authorities, too, cannot be ignored and, therefore, Sri Lanka should accept moral responsibility for excesses, whatever the circumstances in which they were perpetrated.

But we cannot forget how some high profile accusations, directed at Sri Lanka, backfired on the Geneva Human Rights organisation. Türk’s predecessor Michelle Bachelet (2018-2022), without hesitation, accused Sri Lanka of killing and secretly burying Tamils. The former Chilean President declared the existence of Mannar mass graves after some Colombo-based Western diplomatic missions, particularly the British and the Germans, played their part in the propaganda project.

The following is the relevant section, bearing No 23, from Bachelet’s report: “On May 29, 2018, human skeletal remains were discovered at a construction site in Mannar (Northern Province). Excavations conducted in support of the Office on Missing Persons, revealed a mass grave from which more than 300 skeletons were discovered. It was the second mass grave found in Mannar following the discovery of a site in 2014. Given that other mass graves might be expected to be found in the future, systematic access to grave sites by the Office as an observer is crucial for it to fully discharge its mandate, particularly with regard to the investigation and identification of remains, it is imperative that the proposed reforms on the law relating to inquests, and relevant protocols to operationalize the law be adopted. The capacity of the forensic sector must also be strengthened, including in areas of forensic anthropology, forensic archeology and genetics, and its coordination with the Office of Missing Persons must be ensured.”

The Bachelet report dealt with the situation here from October 2015 to January 2019.

Bachelet ended up with egg on her face when a US carbon dating report into six human skeleton samples taken from Sri Lanka’s largest mass grave revealed they belong to the 15th century. The radiocarbon dating report by Florida-based Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, which found that the remains belong to between 1499 and 1719 AD, was submitted to the Mannar Magistrate court and made public. Geneva didn’t talk about Mannar mass graves again. Now Bachelet’s successor Türk seems obsessed with Chemmani.

Case for int’l backed accountability mechanism

Whatever those critical of repeated calls for an internationally-backed accountability mechanism to probe Sri Lanka, the writer is of the strong belief that such a setup is necessary. The origins of terrorism here cannot be investigated unless all stakeholders agree for an internationally-backed accountability mechanism. Would Geneva explain its stand on India’s accountability for launching its terrorism project here that had to be destroyed militarily at a great cost to the Sri Lanka armed forces and innocent civilians?

Accountability issues here cannot be investigated, leaving India out, as the environment for Nanthikadal was created by India … and India alone. Western powers simply looked the other way.

A monument built by Sri Lanka for the Indian Army personnel killed in Sri Lanka is a grim reminder of New Delhi’s intervention here purely based on domestic reasons. No less a person than the late Indian National Security Advisor J.N. Dixit, who had been New Delhi’s top envoy during the deployment of the Indian Army here, in his memoirs ‘Makers of India’s Foreign Policy: Raja Ram Mohun Roy to Yashwant Sinha’, launched, in 2004, admitted the destabilisation project undertaken under Indira Gandhi’s leadership. Dixit faulted the then Premier Indira Gandhi for their intervention in Sri Lanka.

Those who had been demanding justice and accountability on the part of Sri Lanka are silent on massacres carried out by the Indian Army. The Jaffna hospital massacre, in October 1987, and the Valvettithurai carnage, in August 1989 ,were two examples.

Against the backdrop of Dixit’s admission, the declaration made by the late veteran diplomat, Jayantha Dhanapala, at the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, is of pivotal importance.

One of Sri Lanka’s celebrated career diplomats even headed the revamped UN nuclear disarmament department as Under-Secretary General, Dhanapala discussed the issue of accountability when he addressed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), headed by one-time Attorney General, the late C. R. de Silva, on 25 August, 2010.

Dhanapala, in his submissions, said: “Now I think it is important for us to expand that concept to bring in the culpability of those members of the international community who have subscribed to the situation that has caused injury to the civilians of a nation. I talk about the way in which terrorist groups are given sanctuary; harboured; and supplied with arms and training by some countries with regard to their neighbours or with regard to other countries. We know that in our case this has happened, and I don’t want to name countries, but even countries which have allowed their financial procedures and systems to be abused in such a way that money can flow from their countries in order to buy arms and ammunition that cause deaths, maiming and destruction of property in Sri Lanka are to blame and there is, therefore, a responsibility to protect our civilians and the civilians of other nations from that kind of behaviour on the part of members of the international community. And I think this is something that will echo within many countries in the Non-Aligned Movement, where Sri Lanka has a much respected position and where I hope we will be able to raise this issue.”

Dhanapala also stressed on the accountability on the part of Western governments, which conveniently turned a blind eye to massive fundraising operations in their countries, in support of the LTTE operations. It is no secret that the LTTE would never have been able to emerge as a conventional fighting force without having the wherewithal abroad, mainly in the Western countries, to procure arms, ammunition and equipment. But, the government never acted on Dhanapala’s advice.

Geneva conveniently follows Western strategies. Sri Lanka is a victim of that approach. Therefore, US withdrawal from the UNHRC, in June 2018, is questionable. The US withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council, with then-US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, calling the council a “cesspool of political bias”. The US decision followed accusations that the Council was biased against Israel and failed to adequately address human rights abuses. Perhaps, the US has conveniently forgotten how Israel dealt with the Goldstone war crimes report on Gaza. Interestingly, that discarded report coincided with the UN report on Sri Lanka’s successful war against the Tamil separatist movement.

Western agenda on track

Retired security forces officers Rear Admiral D.P.K. Dassanayake and Maj. General G.V. Ravipriya, on behalf of those who had been accused of war crimes, sought an opportunity to meet the official from Geneva. They also sought the intervention of the Foreign Ministry to explore the possibility of meeting the Austrian. Their efforts were in vain.

Some found fault with Volker Türk’s visit to Chemmani mass graves where he controversially blamed the government for killing and burying them. The man from Geneva sprinkled flowers on the Chemmani graves. Sri Lanka should have invited him to pay floral tribute at the graves of many Tamils killed by the LTTE during the conflict. Perhaps, he could also have visited the burial site of the LTTE’s number two Gopalswamy Mahendraraja, alias Mahattaya, and his loyalists, executed by the LTTE on the suspicion of working for India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Actually those who had been shedding crocodile tears and demanding justice for war victims are only speaking on behalf of the LTTE dead, whoever was allegedly killed by the government. Therefore, the assassination of TULF greats Appapillai Amirthalingam and Vettivelu Yogeswaran (both in July 1989 in Colombo) or Sarojini Yogeswaran (May 1998 in Jaffna) or Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam. The list is too long to mention.

Volker Türk is not the first foreign dignitary to play ball with the anti-Sri Lanka grouping. He won’t be the last either. In November 2013, Canadian delegation to CHOGM, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deepak Obhrai, laid a wreath at Elephant Pass in memory of those who were killed during the armed conflict. Obhrai did so while returning from Jaffna where he met the then Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran at the premises of the Tamil Jaffna-based newspaper, Uthayan.

In August 2016 Wigneswaran confidently declared that the Army killed over 100 LTTEers in custody after the end of the conflict by injecting them with a poisonous drug. That blatant lie received massive media coverage and the pathetic Yahapalana rulers failed to vigorously take up the issue with the retired Supreme Court justice.

Wigneswaran went to the extent of claiming that the US Air Force would examine the rehabilitated LTTE cadres to establish the truth. He got away with that barefaced lie.

Sri Lanka’s continuous and mysterious failure to build its Geneva defence, on the following facts, is baffling: (1) US denial of battlefield executions/war crimes by 58 Division on the Vanni east front. This was in June 2011, in Colombo, at the first defence seminar following the eradication of the LTTE (2) Disclosure of confidential British diplomatic cables that disputed the UN claim of 40,000 civil deaths. This was in October 2017 at the House of Lords (3) UN Colombo estimated that there were 7,000-8,000 deaths (both combatants and civilians) during the period August 2008-May 13, 2009. That report, prepared with the direct involvement of the ICRC and hospitals in war one, too, contradicted the claim of over 40,000 killed. In January 2010, less than a year after the Army put a bullet through Prabhakaran’s head on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon, the people living in the Northern and Eastern provinces declared that they really appreciated the eradication of the LTTE. Then Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, wartime commander of the Army, handsomely won all the Northern and Eastern electoral districts at the presidential election. Where were the so-called human rights defenders when the Tamil electorate endorsed Fonseka, whose ruthless execution of the war by taking the fight to the enemy, often using tactics the Tigers earlier thrived in, ensured the LTTE’s eradication? But that wouldn’t have been a reality without the significant contributions made by the Navy and the Air Force.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

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Midweek Review

Unexpected focus on ‘pieces of tin’ worn by military men

Published

1 day ago

2026/07/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

Maj. Lalith Jayasinghe with Kaushalya on his wedding day. Jayasinghe, receipient of Sri Lanka's highest military honour, has been credited with unprecedented raids behind the enemy lines. He died in late November, 2008, in the Vanni east.

Second Lieutenant S.U. Aladeniya, the first recipient of the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya, died fighting the LTTE in the second week of July, 1990. The young commanding officer of the isolated Kokavil Army detachment refused an opportunity to leave his wounded colleagues. Instead, he chose to set an extraordinary example. The fate of the Kokavil detachment, as well as the unprecedented military debacle that forced the Army to vacate the Kandy–Jaffna A9 road, north of Vavuniya, in 1990, happened due to the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s folly. Premadasa trusted the LTTE to such an extent, he ordered several hundred police officers, in the East, to surrender to appease the LTTE. The rest is history.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Additional Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris recently questioned in court as to why retired Air Force officer Shantha Jayathilake appeared in court wearing armed forces medals.

The highly decorated war hero Flight Lieutenant Jayathilake represented himself under Section 260 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the trial of Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay, the alleged mastermind of the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage.

During his submission, Dileepa Pieris looked at the medals worn by the retired officer and said: “He comes wearing pieces of tin.”

When Jayathilake objected to the ASG’s remark, Magistrate Pasan Amarasena warned the ex-officer not to interrupt proceedings. Then Peiris said that he couldn’t see Jayathilake’s medals properly. Jayathilake is the recipient of Weewa Wickrema Vibhushanaya (WWV), the second highest gallantry medal awarded to Sri Lankan military. The PWV is the highest gallantry decoration that can be received by a living military man. Jayathilake who joined the Air Force in 1989 at the height of the JVP-led insurgency, retired in 1999, and was also the recipient of the Rana Sura Padakkama (RSP).

Senior President’s Counsel Maithree Gunaratne, who represented Sallay in court, said: “The problem is not with your eyes, but with the red-tinted glasses you are wearing. You wore blue-tinted glasses for a while, and now you wear red-tinted glasses, so the gallantry medals, earned with blood, sweat, and tears for the country, look like pieces of tin to you”

Gunaratne requested that Pieris’s comments on the ex-officer be formally recorded in court records. This happened in the Fort Magistrate’s court on 2 July, 2026. The court proceedings caused controversy with various interested parties expressing differing views on Jayathilake wearing medals to a courtroom.

Some found fault with him for wearing medals while others strongly backed him. The issue at hand received social media attention. Obviously some sought political advantage at the expense of the government and the Attorney General’s Department. Others lambasted the former State Intelligence Service (SIS) Chief Sallay (2029-2024) for causing unnecessary developments. However, the gallantry medals worn by military, both officers and men, cannot be ridiculed by anyone, regardless of his/her position in the society. Gallantry medals remind the country of immense and untold sacrifices made by the military, during the war, and any attempt to dilute them should be strongly opposed.

Those who silently backed or publicly take action against war-winning Army Chief General (retd.) Sarath Fonseka, in 2010, after his defeat at the 2010 January presidential election, shouldn’t see the incident at the Fort Magistrate court as an opportunity.

Although Sri Lanka has been deeply divided over investigations into the conduct of armed forces during the war and after, no issue caused controversy like the arrest of Sallay, a post-war head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) over the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage. Sallay served as the Director of State Intelligence Service (SIS) from 2019 to 2024 before President Anura Kumara Dissanayake replaced him. Perhaps President Gotabaya Rajapaksa shouldn’t have brought Sallay as Director, SIS, contrary to the practice of SIS always being headed by a senior police officer or he was quite right in bringing in a serving military officer with a proven intelligence track record, knowing the shameful behaviour of responsible top police officers in the run up to the Easter Sunday suicide attacks, despite there having been adequate advance intelligence warnings to prevent them.

The intervention made by the retired Air Force officer triggered an unexpected reaction from the Attorney General’s top representative and the subsequent continuing controversy influenced The Island to discuss the awarding of gallantry medals, namely Parama Weera Vibhushanaya (PWV), the highest, followed by Weera Wickrema Vibhushanaya (WWV), Rana Wickrema Padakkama (RWP) and Rana Sura Padakkama (RSP). The fourth medal, Weeradhara Vibhushanaya, is awarded for bravery, regardless of the risks to one’s own life, but for voluntary interventions outside the battlefield.

Bravery of an exceptional kind

During the war, Sri Lanka awarded 32 PVWs posthumously. The Army, Navy and Air Force shared 29, 2 and 1, respectively. The PVW is awarded to all ranks of armed forces, both regular and volunteer, for individual acts of bravery in the face of enemy, disregarding the risks to one’s own life. Of the 32 recipients of the PVW, the extraordinary case of Maj. J.A.L. Jayasinghe (Lalith Jayasinghe), posthumously promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, captured unprecedented public attention.

On many occasions, PWVs were awarded posthumously for sacrifices made in defensive action, while the armed forces were responding to enemy action. However, Lalith had initiated action deep within the enemy-held territory and his efforts reflected the overall military strategy.

The 29 recipients consisted of 27 Army: Second Lieutenant S.U Aladeniya, Lance Corporal (LC) Y.G.G. Kularatne (Hasalaka Gamini), Second Lt. K.W.T. Nishshanka, Staff Sgt. H.P.B. Gunasekera, LC W.I.M. Seneviratne, Lt. Col. A.F Lafir, Capt. G.S. Jayanath, Maj. J.A.L. Jayasinghe, Maj. K.A. Gamage, Capt. U.G.A.S. Samaranayake, H.G.M.K.I. Megawarna, Sgt H.G.S. Bandara, Corporal P.N. Suranga, Corporal P.M.N. Pushpakumara, Corporal D.N\M.S. Chandrasiri Bandara, LC K. Chandana, Private R.M.D.M. Ratnayake, LC A.M.M.P. Abeysinghe, recruit A.M.B.H.G. Abeyratne Banda, private T.G.R. Dayananda, Lt. P.N. Punsiri, Second Lt W.D. Jayathilake, Sgt. K.G.N.L.R. Perera, Corporal K.P.D.T. Gunasekera, LC H.A. Nilantha Kumara, LC S.V.A.M. Pushpamal. Navy: Lt. J.L.D.S. Wijetunga, Petty Officer K.G. Shantha and Air Force: Squadron Leader T.D.S. Silvapulle.

Although Jayasinghe paid the supreme sacrifice, while serving the Special Forces, he had been a proud member of the Gemunu Watch (GW). GW veteran Maj. Gen. K.B. Egodawele in his Hewayekuge Mathaka Satahan (Memories of a soldier), first launched in 2012, declared that Jayasinghe had been among four GW personnel, namely Captain U.G.A.S. Samaranayake, Captain H.P.M.K. Meghawardena and Corporal D.M.A.M. Pushpakumara to receive the PWV, posthumously.

All of them received the highest gallantry award for actions on the Vanni east region during Eelam War IV (2006 August to 2009 May).

Jayasinghe’s wife Kaushalya accepted the PVW on 19 May, 2012, at the annual Victory Day parade. Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne read the awardee’s official citation. Kaushalya had been five months pregnant at the time Jayasinghe mounted a raid deep inside the LTTE-held territory in the Vanni east region. Gunaratne, the wartime General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the 53 Division declared that Jayasinghe had been in command of an LRRP (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol)/Deep Penetration Unit tasked to eliminate LTTE leaders. That unit had moved about 40 kms into the enemy held territory in Oddusuddan and was positioned alongside the Mankulam-Oddusuddan road to kill LTTE leaders, on 26 November, 2008.

Suddenly, Jayasinghe had fallen sick but joined other members of the LLRP to fight the enemy after fierce fighting erupted between the two sides. In spite of having an opportunity to retreat, Jayasinghe, hero of many previous battles, suffered grievous injuries during the battle and succumbed to his injuries.

Jayasinghe had been an extraordinary soldier and was the recipient of the second highest gallantry medal, WWV, on three or four occasions. In one such occasion, Jayasinghe had received two WWVs at one ceremony and recalled retired Maj. Gen. Dhammi Hewage, who received the RSP at the same event. Hewage spoke admirably about what he called high risk and extraordinary LRRP operations undertaken by Jayasinghe over a period of time. Let me give you an opportunity to know more about Hewage whose no holds barred examination of the Army during the war received public attention ( https://island.lk/a-special-forces-officers-narrative/)

Those who risked their lives to earn battlefield recognition played a significant role in transforming the armed forces, particularly the Army. Gallantry medals had been earned by armed forces officers and men in various circumstances but the deadly LRRP strikes, deep within the LTTE held territory, made quite a difference in the overall direction of the war. Those who operated in enemy territory in a way functioned as suicide cadres/units as the probability of them being intercepted by the LTTE was very high. But, regardless of severe risks, they ventured out of government-held areas to infiltrate deep inside enemy held territory to carry out operations. The LRRP team, led by Jayasinghe, is a case in point.

Clandestine operations received public attention in the run-up to the 2001 December parliamentary election when UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe all of a sudden alleged that the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) was planning to assassinate him. Within weeks after the UNP victory at the parliamentary election, the UNP unleashed the police on the DMI. The police raided the DMI safe house at Millennium City, Athurugiriya. In spite of Army Chief, the late Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle, personally assuring the UNP that there was absolutely no basis for such claims, Wickremesinghe was not prepared to change his political strategy. He gave Minister John Amaratunga in charge of police the go ahead for planned action.

The January 2, 2002, raid led to the arrest of Captain Mohamed Nilam, Staff Sgt. P. Ananda Udulagama, Staff Sergeant I. Edirisinghe Jayamanne, Corporal H.M. Nissanka Herath, Lance Corporal H. Mohamed Hilmy and an LTTE operative identified as Niyaz/Subashkaran. Others involved in that particular operation had been living in the East and were called into join operations, depending on the requirement. On the instructions of Lt. Gen. Balagalle, those tasked with carrying out attacks on selected targets received the opportunity to train under Special Forces instructors from Maduru Oya. They underwent training at the Panaluwa Test Firing Range, where firing special weapons was a key element in the training schedule.

In a bid to ensure secrecy, those operatives mostly operated on their own, and had their own arsenal, which included a range of weapons, including claymore mines. In fact, those involved in such operations functioned on a need-to-know basis. Even senior DMI officials, as well as the Army top brass, except a few, hadn’t been aware of what was going on. Even the then powerful Deputy Defence Minister, the late Anuruddha Ratwatte, hadn’t been told of the Millennium City safe-house, though he knew of the ongoing hits behind enemy lines.

Shortly after the exposure of the DMI operation, Balagalle met Premier Wickremesinghe to explain the secret operations undertaken against the LTTE. The Army chief had been accompanied by officials, including Hendarawithana, while one-time Attorney General Tilak Marapana, National List MP holding the Defence portfolio, and Minister Milinda Moragoda, too, were present.

“Except for Minister Moragoda, the others obviously didn’t realise what we were doing. They acted as if we were conspiring to do away with the political leadership so as to undermine the Norwegian initiative,” a source familiar with the dynamics of the project said. “We quickly realised we were up against a government, which simply wanted to negotiate a deal with the LTTE at any cost. The LTTE and the Norwegians exploited the situation to the hilt.”

Success in the East

Hitting the enemy in the area under its control had been Balagalle’s idea. The DMI hadn’t been successful in its first and the second attempts to take two specific targets. The targeted area had been Batticaloa south and the first and the second operations were mounted on 18 July 2001 and 12 September 2001. But both actions went awry and the targeted men identified as Jim Kelly (commander of Jeyanthan regiment) and Jeevan escaped death.

But, they succeeded on 17 September 2001. Operatives carried out a successful attack on ‘Major’ Mano Master, who was at that time in charge of the communications network in the Ampara-Batticaloa area.

But immediately after the UNP’s victory, the government terminated all such operations. The treacherous government betrayed those who risked their lives for the country. Ex-LTTEers and others who worked for the Army were exposed and the LTTE hunted them down. Scores of men were killed. Some were tortured and killed.

Apart from Mano Master, the secret raids claimed the lives of Batticaloa District Intelligence Head Lt. Col Nizam and Capt. Thevathasan.

Among those killed in the north were LTTE Air Wing Head Col. Shankar (Vaithilingam Sornalingam) and Sea Tiger Deputy Commander Lt. Col Kangai Amaran.

S.P. Thamilselvan, his Deputy Major S. Thangan, Vavuniya Special Commander Col. Jeyam and Deputy Military Chief Col. Balraj were believed to have been targeted in the North but escaped. In the East, among those who escaped targeted killings, were Col. Karuna, Karikalan, Jim Kelly and Intelligence Chief Lt. Col. Ramanan.

In spite of the LTTEers, particularly its leaders on a heightened state of alert, the Army ambushed Karikalan’s vehicle on 18 October, 2001. The destruction of the vehicle fuelled speculation of Karikalan’s demise, with a section of the media reporting him killed in a special operation. Shortly before the attack on Karikalan’s vehicle, the Army intercepted a radio conversation between Karikalan and his wife, a medical doctor by profession, serving in the Northern Province. “She simply begged him to leave Batticaloa and take refuge in the North to avoid the Army’s deep penetration operations,” a source familiar with LRRP operations told the writer many years ago.

The Army struck again on 26 November, 2001. ‘Major’ Swarnaseelan and ‘Captain’ Devadas were eliminated in the Pulipanjikkal area. It was the last operation before the December 5 General Election.

The UNP terminated the operation. But, the Army revived the strategy after the eruption of hostilities in 2005.

It would be pertinent to mention that hit and run attacks, deep within the LTTE held territory, troubled them to such an extent, they took up the issue with Norway. Fearing a relentless campaign, the LTTE got Norway to include LRRP operations in their negotiations, leading to a one-sided Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed in February 2002 by the Wickremesinghe regime. That CFA revealed the existence of a secret Army project to target the LTTE in their own area. The CFA called for termination of LRRP operations.

Three PVWs

Lieutenant J.L.D.S. Wijetunga was the first Navy recipient of the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya (PWV), Sri Lanka’s highest gallantry award given posthumously. Wijetunga, Commanding Officer of the Israeli built Dvora Fast Attack Craft (FAC), maneuvered his vessel to intercept an explosives-laden Sea Tiger suicide boat approaching a troop transport ship off Point Pedro on 30 March, 1996. Wijetunga, in spite of knowing his action was suicidal, went ahead with the risky maneuver that saved the lives of a large contingent of off duty servicemen on their way to Trincomalee from Kankesanthurai (KKS).

The Navy earned its second PWV on 1 November, 2008, off Point Pedro, during the Eelam war IV. A Petty Officer of elite Special Boat Squadron K.G. Shantha rammed an explosives-laden Sea Tiger suicide craft with his Arrow boat (Z-142 ). Shantha and his three SBS colleagues were blasted to smithereens, though their action saved an Inshore Patrol Craft (IPC) carrying a dozen SBS personnel.

Wing Commander T.D.S. Silvapulle received the nation’s highest gallantry award PWV for attacking Sea Tiger boats firing at Army defences south-east of Elephant Pass on 19 December, 1999. Silvapulle, flying a Mi 24 helicopter gunship in adverse weather conditions, regardless of the threat posed by surface-to-air missiles, engaged the enemy craft. Silvapulle compelled the enemy to flee but was hit during the confrontation. His individual act of gallantry was recognized in 2012, four years after the eradication of the LTTE. The then President Mahinda Rajapaksa conferred the PWV at a ceremony held on 19 May, 2012. Maj. Lalith Jayasinghe received his PWV at the same ceremony.

The betrayal of the armed forces in October, 2015, at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, by the treacherous Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime, underscored the mentality of those who wielded political power. The calling of gallantry medals ‘pieces of tin’ reminded the country of the pathetic and disgraceful state of affairs.

Midweek Review

Poor, little upper-middle income country

Published

1 day ago

2026/07/8

Sahan Weerasooriya

“Sri Lanka has been ranked among the least happy countries in the latest World Happiness Report 2026…standing alongside Ethiopia”- The Sunday Island March 2026

Sri Lanka was officially declared an Upper-Middle Income country by the World Bank in July 2026, regaining the classification it had in 2019.

On the 30th of June, the IMF delegation meeting the President at the Presidential Secretariat praised the government: “…IMF praised the government’s economic programme and noted that Sri Lanka has made greater progress than many other countries implementing IMF-supported programmes. The delegation commended the government for maintaining macroeconomic stability despite a series of external shocks and for remaining firmly committed to its reform agenda…” (Presidential Media Division, 30 June 2026)

Meanwhile, a UN-backed World Happiness Report 2026 compiled by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, ranked Sri Lanka 134th out of 147 nations. A daily newspaper which ran the story on the 19th of March 2026, added that the report showed that “Sri Lanka has slipped one place from its 133rd ranking in 2025, now standing alongside Ethiopia. The country also trails behind its South Asian neighbours, with India ranked 116th, Pakistan and Bangladesh positioned significantly higher.”

Good News, Bad News

The Upper-Middle Income classification was declared by the World Bank during the Yahapalana government in July 2019. 6 months later, the Yahapalana government was swept out at elections.

Only 2 years later, in April 2022, the country was declared bankrupt, and by July that year the newly elected President was toppled by a people’s uprising for the first time in the country’s history.

To fill the vacuum, an unlikely combination of an unelected MP from the Opposition who was made President by the Parliament and an unpopular government that had barely survived the uprising, governed the country together. It was massively defeated by the people only 2 years later in 2024, despite ‘stabilising’ the economy.

An Upper-Middle Income status may give the impression of a prosperous people, but prosperous people are not an unhappy people. The World Bank report 2026 (World Bank, Sri Lanka Development Update) notes the anomaly: “the recovery is unfinished and has not translated into widespread improvements in welfare.”

The report adds:

* Real output remains below 2018 levels.

* Although poverty is projected to decline in 2025, it remains double the 2019 levels.

* Vulnerability remains high with an additional 10 percent of the population living just above the poverty line.

* Malnutrition continues to be elevated.

* The labour market recovery is slow with real wages and labor force participation well below 2019 levels.

The World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Brief (October 2025) sheds further light:

* Poverty is projected at 22.3-22.4 percent in 2025 and around 20 percent until 2027 without stronger inclusive growth.

* Real earnings remain below pre-crisis levels.

So, are Top of the Class in the IMF index and almost Bottom of the Class in the Happiness Index related?

As a friend who is a highly-placed economist explained to me, if people are poorer, undernourished, indebted, and insecure after stabilisation, then reserves, inflation, and primary balances alone cannot be relied on to judge the next IMF programme. Sri Lanka needs a national programme whose success metric is household recovery, jobs, nutrition, and productive capacity.

From the praise heaped on the President and this government’s strong leadership by the IMF for their performance thus far, sticking closely to the IMF conditionalities, we can only infer that things for the unhappy citizens will hardly get better as they negotiate the 18th IMF programme.

The AKD administration doesn’t haggle on behalf of the people. They see the rewards of that approach in fiscal consolidation and macroeconomic stability. This however, is not the only kind of stability they have to bear in mind, given recent history.

By the People, But Not for the People?

The new or renewed (from July 2019) ‘Upper-Middle Income’ classification has served to remind people where the government has failed, been weak, as much as where it has been strong and succeeded. The economy in the abstract is better off, but the majority of the people who gave the government a two thirds majority, are much worse off in material reality.

To return to my top economist friend, she explained that Sri Lanka should not reject fiscal discipline, but it must own the design of fiscal adjustment. The country needs a fairer tax mix, better tax administration, public investment discipline, and protection of health, education, nutrition, and climate-resilient infrastructure. Otherwise, fiscal discipline becomes socially brittle and growth-reducing.

The direction she recommended is hardly where the government is heading. The World Bank warns that the on-going reliance on regressive indirect taxes could worsen the poverty outlook, while the primary expenditure ceiling of 13 percent of GDP can constrain public investment and service delivery.

A leading financial daily (6 July) reported that at the CA Sri Lanka’s 5th Annual Economic and Tax Symposium, both the Government’s tax policies and the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) “came under sustained criticism from leading private sector tax professionals”. Gajma & Co. Senior Partner N.R. Gajendran argued that “…higher revenues had come largely from imposing a heavier burden on existing taxpayers rather than widening the tax base.”

He said that “When taxes become excessive and unbearable, and it is not coming from the widening of the base, it is coming from the same taxpayer, it erodes expenditure capabilities, it erodes saving capabilities, and it erodes investment capabilities,” warning that “sustained over-taxation ultimately weakens consumption, investment, and long-term economic growth.”

Sri Lanka has already lost a large number of skilled professionals who migrated in droves in the last two years. Factum reports (April 2026) that the annual departures for foreign employment have hovered above the 310,000 mark. This includes Healthcare Professionals (Doctors, nurses), Academics and Researchers (including 80-90% of State University graduates), Technologists and Engineers.

Will the Lawyers be next? The Island editorial of 6 July 2026 strongly supports the stand that the BASL has taken, (endorsed by the Colombo Law Society, Colombo High Court Lawyers Association, LAWASIA and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association) opposing the government’s effort to move a constitutional amendment to extend the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, denouncing political interference in the judiciary and urging the government to avoid a Zimbabwean crisis.

None of this makes for a happy citizen, stability notwithstanding.

By the People, for the Creditors

So, what of all those promises made with such passion to do better than all previous governments since Independence in 1948?

The World Food Programme has this to report:

* Households unable to meet essential food needs increased from 14 percent in 2024 to 20 percent in 2026.

* If price trends continue, another 1.3 million people could be unable to afford essential food needs, including nearly 300,000 urban poor.

* Child nutrition remains worrying: stunting 10.1 percent, wasting 8.6 percent, and underweight 16.1 percent. (WFP, Food Security Under Pressure)

Economists warn that a programme that ‘stabilises’ the economy while households sell assets, cut food, reduce education and health spending, and slide into coping strategies, i.e., de-stabilises the household economy and lives, will not be socially, politically or developmentally sustainable.

Those who care for the people recommend that Sri Lanka’s own programme must place adaptive social protection, nutrition, and livelihoods at the very centre.

The promised re-negotiation of the 17th IMF package to make the necessary economic recovery less taxing (pun intended) for the people, less painful, and more sustainable overall, never happened. The government acted as if it was elected by the People for the Creditors.

We have been warned that Sri Lanka’s shift toward commercial borrowing and ISBs changed the debt-risk profile, with ISBs carrying high interest rates and short maturities. The government’s promised negotiations didn’t resemble anything like what was expected by the people, and went the way of the ISB holders who celebrated the victory in Canary Wharf toasting our President in absentia.

IMF Country Report No 26/111 indicates that even after restructuring, debt sustainability risks remain high. Public debt is projected at around 100.1 percent of GDP in 2026, with central government gross financing needs at 19.8 percent of GDP.

Economists remind us that Sri Lanka’s recent graduation to the Upper Middle-Income classification means that we will have to pay more in debt repayments as per the macro-linked bond of the debt restructuring settlement with the creditors.

IMF 18, going on 19?

Who’d have thought it? In the last 77 years, the most pro-people, pro-poor administration has certainly not been the AKD government. There were much better ones, even during the 30 year war, when policies were more enlightened and served the people; were undertaken with confidence and determination, and some still continue to provide the foreign exchange to pay for subsequent errors of judgment. And with the courage of their convictions and confidence in their capacity to deliver, those leaders didn’t feel the need to postpone any elections.

Stabilisation was an immediate necessity. But my economist friend spoke for us all when she told me “Sri Lanka cannot stabilise its way to prosperity. It should not risk turning emergency discipline into a permanent development model”.

With the current state of play, is that what we are looking at? There is little evidence that this administration has the capacity to design an independent programme, not subject to the whims and fancies of IFIs, but as my friend put it, “our own programme: fiscally responsible, socially protective, production-oriented, climate-resilient, and politically owned. The IMF can support that programme, but it cannot be the programme.”

An unhappy people is surely as much of an indicator of the real health of the economy, as the Gross National Income per capita calculated in US dollars by the World Bank. A Sunday newspaper quoted a young economist, Rehana Thowfeek, co-founder/director at Arutha Research, who says: “There is no point in celebrating becoming an upper-middle-income country while 1 in 4 of our people is in poverty, two out of every 5 Sri Lankans cannot afford a healthy diet and 1 out of 3 of our children under 5 years is malnourished.”

This is not a situation that should be allowed to prevail by an allegedly pro-people government, or indeed any government that has been granted the privilege to govern, through the people’s vote. The planning, the policy choices are all in the hands of the government. Will they choose a better path?

People are not unhappy because they are too mean to acknowledge what a wonderful job this government is doing, and give praise to this administration like the IMF at the Presidential Secretariat. It is because they are in pain, they are suffering, they are hungry, they cannot pay the bills, and they are looking at a future where none of these things are going away, but is set to get much worse, as the government slouches towards its next IMF programme and the next debt repayment.