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SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD
STORY
Chapter 55: Assassination of
Athulathmudali
By K T Rajasingham
In the 1989 presidential elections, Lalith
Athulathmudali, who was then the Minister for National
Security, Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa and the
Minister for Mahaveli Development, Gamini Dissanayake,
were widely believed to be the contenders for nomination
from the ruling United National Party (UNP). But
Premadasa was nominated, and he won the presidential
elections to become the country's second executive
president, succeeding J R Jayewardene.
Subsequently, Athulathmudali and Dissanayake
were believed to be the contenders for the post of Prime
Minister. But Premadasa overlooked both of them and
nominated D B Wijetunge. Furthermore, Premadasa took
away from Athulathmudali the important portfolio of
National Security and nominated Ranjan Wijeratne as
Minister of State for State Securities, as he has helped
him to secure the UNP nomination for the presidential
elections.
Athulathmudali and Dissanayake, who
had been powerful ministers and very influential
personalities in the J R Jayewardene government, were
progressively deprived of their powers and influence by
Premadasa. Athulathmudali was appointed Minister of
Agriculture and Cooperatives and later Minister of
Education and Higher Education. Dissanayake, who was
appointed initially as the Minister of Plantation
Industry, was stripped of this portfolio in the March
1990 reshuffle.
Earlier, during the
parliamentary general elections held in February 1989,
Premadasa supported his lieutenant, Srisena Coorey,
against Athulathmudali for the position of Chief
Organizer of the UNP for the Colombo District. In the
elections, Athulathmudali won the highest number of
preferential votes cast all-island - 235,447 - and also
came first in the number of preferential UNP votes cast
in the Colombo District. Whereas Srisena Coorey polled
92,236 votes and came a poor second. After the
parliamentary elections, Athulathmudali once again
became the Chief Organizer of the UNP of the Colombo
district.
On March 2, 1991, the Deputy Minister
of Defense and the General Secretary of the UNP, Ranjan
Wijeratne, was killed, and Premadasa appointed Srisena
Coorey as the General Secretary of the UNP, without
consulting the working committee or other senior leaders
of the party. Also, premier D B Wijetunge was appointed
as Deputy Defense Minister. However, primary party
elections were held a few weeks later and
Athulathmudali's position as district leader was
undermined by Srisena Coorey, who took over primary
election matters for the Colombo Municipal Council.
Earlier in this series, in chapters dealing with
the assassination of Lieutenant-General Denzil
Kobbekaduwa, the secret transfer of weapons to the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by President
Premadasa was outlined. Also, the evidence given by the
army deserter turned witness Vathiyage Visva Kumara has
been extensively discussed in the chapters dealing with
the Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of
Kobbekaduwa and nine others at Araly Pont, Kayts on
August 8, 1992.
Superior officers of the army,
Special Task Force (STF) and persons who held executive
and administrative positions in Premadasa's government,
namely General Sepala Attyagalle, Secretary of Defense,
K H J Wijedasa, Secretary to the President, Brigadier
Bohoran of the army, Lionel Karunasena and Sahabandhu
and Commandant and the Deputy Commandant of the STF and
a host of other officers have all admitted and confirmed
both in their testimony of the witness Vathiyage, to the
fact that arms and ammunition, including 6mm RPG guns,
motars, self loading rifles, 400 T81 automatic rifles,
T56 automatic rifles, pistols, hand grenades, ammunition
and equipment for all communications sets etc and other
components of modern warfare were given to the LTTE.
Tear gas rifles, tear gas, signal flames,
pistols, fingercups, etc and hand-held integrated
circuits, SG 700 car antennas, video cassettes, boot
mounts, tilting boot mounts pipe mounts etc were also
passed on. Furthermore, the LTTE ordered the import of
numerous items, such as well drilling machines, radios,
cables, mobile sets, head phones, microphones,
batteries, amplifiers and water purification tablets
which were imported and addressed to Defense Secretary
General Sepala Attyagala, c/o A S Balasingham of the
LTTE. The duty on these imported items was paid by the
Defense Ministry.
Money was also secretly given
to the LTTE in 1989 and in 1990. Weapons were given from
Government stocks, from armories, specially imported for
the purpose of usage of the air force, army, navy and
STF on the orders of the President, ostensibly to crush
the Tamil National Army, thought to be fostered by the
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), and through that the
IPKF was able to read the intentions and the signals of
the Sri Lankan Government and would leave the country.
As an aftermath of the transfer weapons by the
Government to the LTTE in 1989-1990, a Presidential
Commission in its Sessional Paper No. VIII - 1997
reports as follows:
(a) The Indian Peace Keeping
Forces leave Jaffna on 20th March 1990 (The date they
left the shores of Sri Lanka was 24 March 1990) and
returned to India a few days later, after licking their
wounds. They had been asked to leave by President
Premadasa in mid 1989. Towards the end of May 1990, the
outstation reports showed the LTTE were taking control
of more and more territory.
(b) Premadasa was
insistent that the IPKF leave Sri Lanka. The LTTE while
crushing the TNA emerges as a resurgent domineering
force in the North and East. They demand the withdrawal
of army camps in the North and East and the withdrawal
of the police in those areas. The IPKF have left. The
LTTE takes up police duties. They did inquiries into
complaints. They manned road blocks and policed the
roads. Government forces were humiliated on public
roads. The police are mostly confined to their station
premises attending to minor duties, such as attending to
cases of sudden deaths, accidents and insurance. Police
officers played games and guarded themselves. To leave
the police station, the police had to telephone and get
permission from the LTTE. Armed LTTE cadres used to come
into police stations to talk to the OIC. The LTTE used
to walk about the roads armed with sophisticated
weapons. The LTTE conducted its own training programs.
The Army camp at Akkaraipattu was withdrawn. At
instruction classes, police were told there were peace
talks between the LTTE and the Government for the
development of the country and the police were told not
to clash with them.
(c) On 11 June 1990, the
LTTE surrounded the police stations in the Batticaloa
and Amparai police divisions and asked the police to
surrender and they would transport them to Amparai. The
Government asked the police to act with restraint. Some
police officers were prepared to hold their and fight
and requested Artillery and Air support. Later that day
IGP (Inspector General Police) informed that such a
support was not available. President Premadasa did not
know what to do. He has been kept informed right along
what was happening since May. He had believed the LTTE
and now he felt let down - that was the evidence of Mr.
K.H.J. Wijedasa, Secretary to the President. The police
were asked to surrender. They did so believing that they
would be transported to Sinhala areas. In some stations
LTTE opened fire and police officers were killed.
The LTTE entered all stations breaking open the
gates and fences, broke open the armories and took all
weapons and ammunitions. In the Amparai district the
police officers were herded into vehicles and then taken
to Kanchikudicahiaru jungles and shot dead.
One
person who survived the ordeal and who escaped has
testified before the Commission. P S A L Najubudeen was
acting OIC of Akkaraipattu police at that time. He gave
a detailed account of what happened on June 11, 1990 and
how they were betrayed and taken into thick forest and
shot and his escape etc. The Commission believed him.
His evidence was not been contested in any manner. He
later led the authorities to the spot where the others
were shot death. The real evidence there confirmed his
death.
Meanwhile, after the displeasure between
Premadasa and Lalith Athulathmudali surfaced, President
Premadasa at public meetings spoke of "learned fools" to
wit and spoke of "learned men who robbed cleverly but
also went to jail".
There were obvious
references to allegations of wrong doing made against
Lalith Athulathmudali in regard to ships and shipping,
whilst being in charge and leveled during the general
election campaign, and of his being remanded in custody
in 1976 in respect of a conspiracy to cause grievous
hurt to Ediriweera by means of corrosive substance to
wit: acid and abatement of that offence which was
committed. Lalith Athulathmudali spent time in the
remand jail during the police investigations.
Meantime, Luxman Perera, Member of the Municipal
Council (MMC) wrote a play using the title "Me - caudate
- Monawada Karanne?" (The Sinhala translated into
English: Who is he - What is he doing?) This title has
been taken from the slogan of the same words used in the
1988, in support of President Premadasa's presidential
election campaign.
Luxman Perera's drama was
meant to be a satire on the Premadasa's administration.
Luxman Perera joined hands with journalist and media man
Richard Soyza. Luxman Perera's play was submitted to the
Public Performances Board, which approved it. It was
said that, Lalith Athulathmudali was aware of the
content of the drama, as Luxman Perera was one of his
close political associates.
Luxman Perera lived
in a bungalow belonged to the Railway Department, in the
Station Road, Dehiwala, with his family. Lalith
Athulathmudali agreed to be the chief guest of the
drama, on the opening night. Suddenly, a few days before
the opening night, a van without a number plate arrived
at Luxman Perera's home at night and took him away. He
disappeared. He was presumed dead. It was rumored that
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ronnie Gunasinghe
was responsible for the abduction.
A few days
later, on February 18, 1990, Richard Soyza was forcibly
carried away from his bed, by a group of men, who
arrived at about 3 am, despite his mother's protest and
intervention. Subsequently, Richard Soyza's body was
found washed ashore at Korolawella beach Moratuwa.
These were the beginning symptoms of Lalith
Athulathmudali's troubles in the UNP. When the episode
regarding the impeachment motion was staged, Lalith
Athulathmudali was sacked from the UNP. The theme of
depicting President Premadasa as being unsound mind in
the impeachment motion was said to have originated from
the play written by Luxman Perera. Premadasa referred to
Lalith Athulathmudali as a "Ugath Modaya" - Learned Fool
- because he was deeply insulted by the wording of
"unsound mind" in the impeachment motion.
The
impeachment motion against the President was given to
the Speaker on August 28, 1991. It was reported that, at
that point of time, Lalith Athulathmudali had not signed
those papers, whatever was given to the Speaker. The
Speaker communicated with the President about the
impeachment motion. Premadasa then sought a vote of
confidence from the Cabinet on that day. Lalith
Athulathmudali and Premachandra were present and they
voted with the other Cabinet colleagues, expressing
confidence in the President.
On August 29, 1991,
Athulathmudali and Premachandra both resigned their
ministerial portfolios. On August 30, Athulathmudali,
Premachandra and Gamini Dissanayake were sacked from the
UNP by the Working Committee of the Party. The President
prorogued parliament on the same day and the two
ministers and others filed action in the District Court
challenging their expulsion from the party. But they
failed at the District Court and they filed the same
petition in the Supreme Court, and there too their
action failed and the dismissal from the party was
upheld.
Subsequently, Athulathmudali and
Dissanayake and others, who were dismissed from the
party, began to organize public meetings all over the
country, to explain what had happened and to inform the
public of the content of the impeachment motion against
the President. Also in the public meetings, speaker
after speaker alleged the mental infirmity of the
President and the conversion of the democratic
constitution into a "One Man Show".
These
developments marked a watershed in the political lives
of Athulathmudali, Dissanayake and Premachandra. All
security given to these ministers was withdrawn by the
government. On August 30, 1991, the government withdrew
the 12 security officers of Athulathmudali, but later he
was given two back.
Athulathmudali, Dissanayake
and others organized themselves into a political
opposition to the Government of President Premadasa.
They set about broadcasting the content of their
resolutions against the President in numerous ways.
They held their first public meeting against the
Government on August 10, 1991 at Nugegoda. Prior to
this, Athulathmudali received information that the
meeting was to be attacked and he complained to Henry
Perera, SSP in charge of the Nugegoda division, on the
night of August 9. It was later learnt that the written
complaint made by Lalith Athulathmudali spoke of a
conspiracy to disrupt the meeting on the 10th and kill
him. It was further revealed that the complaint carried
the names of the conspirators and vehicle numbers.
Henry Perera took all necessary security
precautions for the public meeting, which commenced at
3.30 pm on August 10. The crowd was estimated at about
200,000. Lalith Athulathmudali addressed the meeting at
7 pm.
Besides the big meeting at Nugegoda,
several pocket meetings were organized in private
premises, which were held island-wide and at which
Athulathmudali would speak for nearly 10 to 15 minutes
and then stage a question and answer session for an hour
or so.
Meanwhile, on November 28, 1991, an
application to register the Democratic United National
Front (DUNF) was made. Athulathmudali joined the party
on December 3, 1991. The party was registered as a
political party on January 20, 1992. In 1992,
Athulathmudali was elected leader of the party.
On November 2, 1991, a public meeting was held
at the playground at Pannala. Athulathmudali,
Dissanayake, Premachandra and others addressed the
meeting. It commenced at 5 pm and about 100,000 to
150,000 people were seen gathered. At about 6.30 pm,
while Premachandra was speaking, a bomb exploded nearly
10 to 15 feet away from the stage, but the police
recorded it as a bomb exploding 50 feet away from the
stage. Two persons were injured. Unfortunately, no
arrests were made in connection with the bomb blast.
Athulathmudali demanded an inquiry but nothing came out
of the police inquiry.
A meeting was scheduled
to be held at Waidya Road, Dehiwala on April 2, 1992,
but it was abandoned because thugs destroyed the stage
and assaulted Athulathmudali's supporters. On the
following day, the DUNF party organizer for Dehiwala's
house was attacked and property destroyed, also his wife
was attacked by thugs, allegedly supporters of President
Premadasa.
Again, another important and serious
incident happened at the Fort Railway Station on August
7, 1992, when Athulathmudali and Dissanayake and other
DUNF supporters were at the station in the morning,
collecting signatures from the public to commemorate the
first anniversary of the motion to impeach the
President.
The DUNF leaders, accompanied by
numerous supporters, photographers and journalists,
arrived at the station at about 6.30 am to meet the
public commuting to work by train and to obtain their
signatures of approval to commemorate the first
anniversary of the impeachment motion in an effort to
impeach Premadasa in terms of the relevant article of
the constitution. The first anniversary was due on
August 28, 1992.
Suddenly, armed thugs entered
the station from the road side and began to attack the
DUNF supporters with weapons. A press photographer's
camera was snatched and a man brandished a knife at
Athulathmudali, who raised his arms and cried for help.
When the DUNF supporters saw the situation they came
running towards Athulathmudali. Sensing the mood of the
supporters, the attacker with the knife ran away and got
into a moving train and disappeared.
Athulathmudali and the DUNF party men went to
the Fort police station to make complaints. Lakshman
Wijeratne, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) came
out of the police station and said, "The police station
is closed."
Another mishap happened on August
29, 1992, when the DUNF was involved in a membership
drive at Kawdana, Dehiwala. About 50 to 60 DUNF
supporters and members were present when, according to
one report, Clement Perera, one of the lieutenants of
Athulathmudali, saw a maroon Peugeot 505 car go slowly
passed.
Perera recognized Vasantha Weerasekera,
an employee of Susil Jayasinghe, the Mayor of Dehiwala
-Mount Lavania, seated in the vehicle. Immediately he
realized that there may be trouble and he went and told
Athulathmudali, who told Perera not to tell others as
they could get excited.
Thereafter,
Athulathmudali and his supporters started walking along
Palliyodara Road, visiting houses and speaking to people
and enlisting new members for the DUNF. While this was
going on, they saw a group of people walking towards
them with cricket bats, baseball bats, sticks, clubs,
iron rods and pipes. They went up to Athulathmudali and
started assaulting him. One person brandished a pistol,
but before any harm was done, Athulathmudali kicked him.
Another beat Athulathmudali with a club on his legs.
Even Athulathmudali's security officers received blows.
Subsequently, the assailants ran away towards
Dehiwala police station. Athulathmudali then went along
with his supporters to make a complaint at the Dehiwala
Police Station. It was said that, the Officer in Charge,
Eric Perera, who had earlier been the body guard of the
woman Minister Sunethra Ranasinghe, the former UNPer.
The police treated Athulathmudali with disdain and
contempt. They did not even offer him a chair to sit on.
They refused to give any regard for the very minister
who earlier controlled their destiny. However, his
statement was recorded.
Meanwhile, the
Government dissolved the seven Provincial Councils on
March 16, 1993, and new elections were announced on the
same day. It was announced that, the nomination papers
to contest in the Provincial Councils should be handed
in between April 2 and 8 April 1993. Athulathmudali
handed in his papers to contest, seeking the Chief
Ministership of the Western Province Council on the DUNL
ticket. Others who filed nomination papers to contest
the position were: Susil Moonasinghe - the incumbent
from the United national Party and Chandrika B
Kumaratunga, from the People's Alliance.
About
this time, during the Sinhala New Year holidays in mid
April, Athulathmudali requested his secretary to
reschedule his meetings for the rest of April, as he
wanted to visit the Munneswaram Hindu Temple in Chilaw,
for religious ceremonies on April 23.
Originally, 23 April meetings were to be held in
the Central province in Bibile, Moneragala, Wellavaya
and Hali-Ela. At his request, his meetings for April 16
and 23 were rescheduled and on April 23, it was
rescheduled for meetings in the Colombo district -
Borella, Aluthkade and Kirulapone.
Meanwhile,
Rukman de Silva, the Senior Superintendent of Police,
told officers under him, at an instruction class
regarding the Provincial Council elections, not to
provide police protection to the opposition political
parties at their public meetings, but only to provide it
to Government party meetings. He also told, not to give
police protection to meetings to be held at Kirulapone,
where Athulathmudali was scheduled to make an address on
behalf of the DUNF candidate. He further added to send
police officers to record the speeches and make notes of
what was said in the meetings. It was said that this was
normally done by the City Intelligence Bureau at
Borella.
The public meeting of the DUNF was
scheduled to be held at Kirulapone park playground on
April 23, approximately four weeks before the Provincial
Council elections for the Western Province, due on May
17.
On April the Inspector of Police Ranagala,
who was the OIC of Kirulapone, sent two police officers
to tape record the speeches made at the meeting. The
stage was erected to face the road. Two lights were
focused on the stage and about 1,000 people were
present. It rained off and on and the ground was wet.
It was reported that Lalith Athulathmudali came
to the meeting at about 8 pm. Then the crowd began to
increase. As it was drizzling, people moved closer to
the stage, some even climbing under it.
At 8.10
pm, Athulathmudali started his address. Suddenly a
person approached him and pulled out a pistol and fired
three shots. Then one of the bodyguards, Tilak
Shanthana, it was told that he fired at the attacker,
hitting him on his right abdomen. The assassin shot back
at the bodyguard, catching him in the leg before running
away.
Meanwhile, Athulathmudali lay fallen on
the stage. Both he and the injured bodyguard were taken
to hospital, where Athulathmudali was pronounced dead at
8.50 pm on April 23, 1993.
A retired Judicial
Officer was informed of the death and he went to the
hospital and ordered a post mortem examination.
A police search party, including the Inspector
General of Police, scoured the area and several search
parties went to playgrounds in the neighborhood, but
after a few hours they found nothing.
It was
later reported that the next morning, April 24, IP
Ranagala, the OIC of the Kirulapone Police Station,
received a telephone call. The call was in the Sinhala
language and the caller informed that there was a body
near Cooperative Stores in Mugalan Road. According to
the police, rigor mortis had set in, and the body lay
about 200 meters from the stage where Athulathmudali had
been shot.
The police found an automatic 9mm
pistol with two magazines and several rounds of live
ammunition, empty cartridge cases, a hand grenade, a
national identity card and a little money.
The
Judicial Medical Officer, Colombo Dr L B De Alwis, held
a post mortem on the bodies of both victims. He
expressed the opinion as to the cause of the death of
each.
1. Athulathmudali. Death due to hemorrhage
shock from necessarily fatal firearm wounds to the
liver, heart and lungs. Two bullets had entered his
body. One 9mm slug was recovered from his body.
2.
The second victim was identified as Appiah Balakrishnan
alias Ragunathan - a Tamil. His death was due to cyanide
poisoning. A non-fatal bullet wound was found in his
lower back. A 9mm slug was recovered from his body.
The Sri Lankan security forces immediately
blamed the LTTE for the killing of Lalith
Athulathmudali. As Minister for National Security in the
UNP regime, between 1984 and 89, Athulathmudali had
aggressively pursued a "dirty war" in the Tamil
homelands and unleashed several unrestrained military
offensives into the Northeast. So, it was believed that,
the LTTE had a motive. The Colombo-based Sinhala-owned
press was also quick to fall in line.
The timing
of the assassination of Athulathmudali was important.
President Ranasinghe Premadasa was still smarting under
the ignominy of having to face an impeachment motion
brought against him by the DUNF in parliament. Accusing
fingers were pointing at Premadasa for the murder of
Athulathmudali, despite his repeated assertions of
innocence. He pleaded, "Assassinate me if you wish, but
don't assassinate my character, which I have cherished
from my childhood." Yet there existed a strong
perception among the Sinhalese that Premadasa was behind
the assassination.
At the time of the killing,
it was alleged that Ragunathan, whose body mysteriously
appeared on the following morning a few hundred yards
from the scene of murder, was the assailant who fired
the fatal shots that killed Athulathmudali. But later it
transpired that Ragunathan, a Tamil youth who came to
Colombo to go abroad in search of employment, had been
arrested and detained by Colombo police. There was
speculation that Ragunathan was shot dead by the police
and his body dumped with a cyanide capsule in his mouth
to fake his murder. It was an attempt to cover up the
real murderer(s). Nevertheless, the Sinhalese-owned
press, including The Island, continued to say that
Athulathmudali was killed by the LTTE.
A
communique from the Presidential Secretariat stated in
part, "The person now known to be Ragunathan, alias
Appiah Balasingham, shot and killed Mr. Athulathmudali
and was later found dead at scene 2. Seriously injured
and fearing imminent capture, he undoubtedly took his
own life by way of cyanide poisoning ..."
The
allegation against the LTTE was repeated over and over
and newswire services carried it to the world media. The
New York Times (May 10, 1993) said, "Ragunathan had been
identified as the gunman who killed the opposition
leader Lalith Athulathmudali."
The text of a
news release issued by the Presidential Secretariat of
Sri Lanka released internationally by the Permanent
Mission of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri
Lanka to the United Nations; July 16, 1993 - The
government analyst testified at the Lalith
Athulathmudali Commission that swabs taken from the
mouth of Ragunathan did not contain even a trace of
cyanide. Dr Lalantha de Alvis, the senior most Judicial
Medical Officer in Colombo, who conducted the autopsy on
the body, had earlier testified that the body smelled of
cyanide and that he found pieces of glass in the mouth
of the body.
Chapter
54: More peace talks
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