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by Kumar Wethasinghe

Mohamed Abdul Malik a one time supporter of the SLFP, yesterday during his evidence before the Trial-at-Bar hearing the Udatalawinna Mass Murder said he saw Lohan Ratwatte travelling in a Defender vehicle with uniformed armed men who had covered their faces below the nose on the 2001 General Election day.

The Trial-at-Bar comprised High Court Judges Eric Basnayake (President), Deepal Wijesundara and Sunil Rajapaksa.

Examined by the Deputy Solicitor General Palitha Fernando, Mohamed Abdul Malik, an eye witness in the Udatalawinna incidents in his evidence said that he is a resident of Ukuwela and that he was born at Madawela in the Patha Dumbara electorate.

The witness said that he could not understand high Sinhala words and could not read Sinhala newspapers.

In the year 2000 he had gone to work in Saudi Arabia. He came back to Sri Lanka in October 2001 and could remember the 2001 General Elections.

During the 2000 Election he was residing at Madawala. During that election he had worked for the SLFP candidate Ratwatte. He had strongly supported him and had put up posters, flags and had also attended the propaganda rallies.

Court - You said you were in Saudi in the year 2000? Yes but I returned to Sri Lanka in October. I can't tell the date without referring to the passport.

DSG - Do you remember working for Mr. Rawatte? - Yes. In 2001 I worked for the UNP.

DSG - In which election were you injured? In 2001 when I worked for the UNP.

DSG - Prior to that election to whom did you support? From the age of 16 I worked for the SLFP for Mr. Ratwatte.

The witness also identified the first accused as Mr. Ratwatte to whom he was referring. The witness testified that Mr. Ratwatte was quite familiar to him and that he had even visited the accused's Mahaiyawa house.

On further examination the witness said he had been to Mr. Ratwatte's residence on five occasions. Asked why he went there the witness said that he had given the full support to Mr. Ratwatte and therefore he went to see him along with other supporters. The witness did not know how many children Mr. Ratwatte had but knew that he had two sons named Lohan and Chanuka.

The witness said he learnt the names of the children through the people. He only seen them and had also never spoken to Mr. Ratwatte when the others shook hands with him to congratulate he too had done.

At the stage following a question by the DSG, the witness identifies the 3rd and 4th accused as Lohan and Chanuka.

Witness Malik further said that during the 2001 General Elections he had worked for Mr. Rauf Hakeem of the UNP.

Asked having worked so hard for the SLFP, why he became a UNP supporter he said after his return from abroad he had worked as a private bus conductor. In the course of his work the commuters had grumbled that the bus fares had hike the others had expressed displeasure that the cost of living was high. Therefore he had decided to change the party for better prospects.

Asked in what ways he supported the UNP the witness said he canvassed for the UNP candidates Rauf Hakeem and Keheliya Rambukwella. For the UNP he had put up posters and even banners too.

During 2001 General Election his polling station was at the Madina Maha Vidyalaya, Madawala.

The witness said he regularly went to the Mosque for prayers at 5.30 a.m. Thereafter along with his friends who were also supporting the UNP he had gone to vote around 8 a.m. Riyas was also among them. Having cast his vote the witness had gone home. At the time the voting was going on smoothly.

Around 9 am while the witness was walking along the road in front of the Madina Vidyalaya, two Defender vehicles had come. They were green coloured. In one of them he had seen Lohan Ratwatte (2nd accused). There were nearly fifteen others in both vehicles and all of them had masked their faces below the nose. They were military dresses similar to camourflage kits. As the vehicles headed towards Wattegama the witness went home.

The witness saw these Defenders going up and down on several occasions during the day and all the time those who travelled in them carried firearms.

The witness further said that at 4 pm the voting ended. Before that he had stayed at home. Since morning the road opposite the polls centre were blocked with logs to prevent vote rigging. There stones and logs placed in a zig zag manner enabling only people to walk up and vehicles to go at low speed.

When he returned back to the centre having stayed about one hour at home, there were village folk gathered near the poll centre and the Mosque. There were no strangers and there were rumours that there was a plan to rig the election. Therefore the people stood alert. Some said that Ratwatte's supporters had attacked a nearby polling centre. Therefore they waited there to confront in case such an incident occurred.

Since it was the fasting time Muslim went to the Mosque several times a day. Around 3 pm there was a commotion among the crowds who were them. A UNP supporter had been injured with a knife.

He said he was present at the time the Ballot boxes were transported after the voting was over. The ballot boxes, the election staff and the others who worked at the centre were transported in a special CTB bus.

The witness also saw white Dolphin van parked nearby with a poster of Mr. Rauf Hakeem. At the invitation of Rizmi he too had got into the said van to follow the bus carrying ballot boxes.

Q - Why did you get in to the Van? Usually such vans go behind the ballot boxes vehicles to the Kachcheri.

The witness did not know the driver of the van. But there were several known persons Rizvi, Fizer, Mirsuan, Poo Appa, Nazmi and Zulfar. The van was full and some sat on other's laps.

The witness sat in the 2nd raw of seats behind the driver. Zakeer sat next to him. Nizar was in the front left seat.

He said no one in the van carried any weapon. Another light blue similar van was also following behind them. At one place they had to move slowly because tar had been put to obstruct. Then the bus had stopped at the next centre near the Polgolla Co-operative school to collect the ballot boxes when the bus resumed he had signalled the blue van to overtake them.

He said at Polgolla there were four Defenders parked, two were facing towards Madawala other two were facing towards Kandy. When the bus travelled towards Kandy speedily he saw the two Defenders following them then half way through their van had turned to another road.

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