Chronology Of Ltte Terror -Part 69

From the Daily News Archives:

When the euphoria of victory dies down, and together with it the media hype ceases, when the guns do not rattle and boom anymore and the sky, the land and the sea become calm and serene, when tranquillity reigns through it is natural to live in the present moment and forget the past. But one cannot live in the present without a past.

Nor can one envision the future discarding the experience of the preceding events. Hence the Daily News is serialising the Chronicle of LTTE Terror taken from our own archives which would remind our readers how it all began.

An awareness of the chronology of terror would help us prevent the recurrence of such terror and frustrate any attempts by misguided elements to repeat history to suit their evil designs. It was not simple terror. Nor was terror sporadic. It was all pre-planned, pre-determined, well-calculated terror. The victims were innocent people. Though it is too many innumerate we would like to recall the major episodes in the Chronology of Terror.

[Saturday, August 13, 2005]

Kadirgamar assassinated

E. Weerapperuma and Rohan Mathes

Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar a man who stood for peace, unity and the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka became the first victim of the Freedom Alliance Government when he was assassinated by a sniper bullet fired by an unidentified gunman in Colombo last night at around 11.35.

Former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has condemned the assassination of Minister Kadirgamar and has declared a State of Emergency and high security alert. The authorities have already taken steps to arrest the perpetrators.

Kadirgamar a close confidante of President Kumaratunga, was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of the National Hospital Colombo critically wounded with head and chest injuries.

Three doctors had carried out emergency surgery to save Kadirgamar’s life, but he succumbed to his injuries, hospital and police sources said. Police told the Daily News that the gunmen had shot the Minister from higher elevation close to his heavily guarded residence at Bullers Lane, as he was returning home after a swim. According to informed sources shots had been fired from a neighbouring house of a Tamil resident where the sniper was allegedly mounted.

Kadirgamar is a key figure and exponent of the peace process of the Freedom Alliance Government. It was a well-known fact that he was a high profile target of the LTTE.

As Foreign Minister, he had travelled extensively around the world championing the Sri Lanka cause and exposing the terror tactics of the LTTE. He was a man highly respected by foreign leaders and Governments. One of the finest contemporary orators of the English language, he was the most high profile figures assassinated by the LTTE next to President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and many other Ministers and MPs were at the Hospital no sooner they came to know of the shooting of their colleague. Kadirgamar, President’s Counsel, entered Parliament for the first time in 1994 when the People’s Alliance Government was formed under the leadership of President Kumaratunga.

Born in April 12, 1932, he was educated at Trinity College, Kandy where he won the Ryde Gold Medal for the Best All Round Student. He passed out from the University of Ceylon in 1953 and was placed First Class in the Advocates Intermediate Examination the same year. He was admitted to the Bar in 1955 winning First Class at the Advocate Final Examination of the Ceylon Law College. He was admitted to the United Kingdom Bar as a Barrister at Law, Inner Temple.

He was awarded B. Lit by the University of Oxford where he served as the President of the Oxford Union. He was honoured by the Oxford Union by unveiling his portrait at the Union Hall. He practised at the Ceylon Bar from 1960 to 1971 and before the Privy Council, London. He was a consultant to the International Labour Organisation in Geneva in 1974.

He was a world authority on Intellectual Property Law and was the Director of the Intellectual Property Organisation from 1976 to 1988 and provided advise to all developing countries in Asia and the Pacific on Intellectual Property. Kadirgamar who entered Parliament as a National List MP served as the Foreign Minister both in the PA and the United People’s Freedom Alliance Government at the time of his demise.

[Friday, October 06, 2000]

Ten killed, 40 injured in LTTE suicide bombing at PA rally

Ranil Wijayapala

At least ten persons were killed and 40 others injured when an LTTE suicide bomber blew himself up in an attempt to People’s Alliance election meeting at the Medawachchiya bus stand last evening, Police said.

The suicide bomber, who tried to get close to the stage of the meeting which was being addressed by Deputy Health and Indigenous Medicine Minister Tissa Karaliyadde, was stopped by a Police Constable.

The assailant had triggered off the bomb when Constable Sugathadasa tried to bodycheck him before allowing him to enter the meeting. The Deputy Minister escaped unhurt as the bomb exploded 50 metres away from the stage, his close relatives told the Daily News. Tourism Minister H.B. Semasinghe had also just left when the explosion occurred, sources added.

Hospital authorities said that many of the injured were in a critical condition. They were admitted to the Medawachchiya Hospital. The critically injured had been transferred to the Anuradhapura Base Hospital.

This suicide bombing comes just three days after a similar attack at Muttur, Trincomalee, which left 26 persons dead, including National Unity Alliance Batticaloa District candidate M. Baithullah. Forty nine persons were injured in the blast. Four policemen were among the dead. The bomber had approached the rally on a bicycle. The LTTE also killed PA Batticaloa District candidate Cheliyan J. Perimpanayagam and organiser Sathasivam Manoharan Pillai at Kalmunai on September 10. Five days later, an LTTE suicide bomber blew himself opposite the Eye Hospital, Colombo, killing eight persons and injuring 28.

The LTTE also made two abortive attempts to assassinate Deputy Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Media M.L.A.M. Hizbullah.

In the first attempt, a gang of armed men blasted a claymore mine and opened fire at the bullet-proof vehicle in which the Deputy Minister was travelling on the Batticaloa-Eravur road last Saturday evening. A bicycle bomb went off after Hizbullah passed the spot where it had been parked on the Eravur-Kalmunai main road around 4.00 p.m. on Monday.

[Tuesday April 25, 2006]

LTTE kills woman in Serunuwara

Ranil Wijayapala

The LTTE continued with their barbaric acts against civilians yesterday too killing one more civilian, this time a 38-year-old feeding her child at home at Block C, Serunuwara in Trincomalee, military and Police sources said yesterday.

The 38-year-old mother was stabbed to death by two LTTE cadres who came there to launch another brutal attack on the civilians in the village yesterday around 1.30 p.m.

Two homeguards designated to the village who came there hearing the cry of the woman were able to chase away the two LTTE cadres but they were injured in the LTTE fire, military sources said.

Earlier, on Sunday night too the LTTE carried yet another attack on civilians killing a three and a half year old child at a Muslim colony in Kaduruwela, Polonnaruwa. “The child’s mother who sustained serious injuries in the incident is now undergoing treatment at the Polonnaruva hospital,” the military said.

Meanwhile, two unarmed homeguards who were walking from one guardpoint to another in Dutuvewa, in Vavuniya were shot dead yesterday around 11.45 a.m., military sources said.

Two LTTE cadres who had come to the Theevu road, Vantharamoolai, were killed yesterday in their bid to attack the Security Forces on a road clearing patrol in the Vantharamoolai university area yesterday around 7.15 a.m., military and Police sources said.

“In a search operation conducted in the area following the incident, they recovered one claymore mine, a hand grenade and a wire from the area,” Eravur Police HQI Dharmasena Ratnayake told the Daily News.

[Saturday, August 13, 2005]

Top level police probe underway:

SLRC presenter shot dead

Sarath Malalasekera

A popular Tamil newscaster and presenter of Rupavahini was shot dead yesterday.

Veteran media personality Relangi Selvarajah, 44, who also works for the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), and her husband Sinnadurai Selvarajah, 47, were slain by unidentified gunmen suspected to be from the LTTE opposite St. Peter’s College, Colombo last afternoon.

The couple had been killed at the Bambalapitiya Kinross Communications and Travel Centre, which they owned. They had been shot while the other employees were out for lunch.

Selvarajah started her broadcasting career as an announcer of the Jaffna ‘Manikkural’ local broadcasting service from 1979 to 1983. She joined the SLBC in 1987 and became a senior announcer in 2000. A popular face on the Channel Eye Tamil programmes and newscasts of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), Selvarajah anchored the Uthaya Darisanam programme every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. She also played an award-winning role in the 1978 Tamil film Theivam thanta Veedu. Relangi, a mother of one, was also an exponent of Barathanatyam. She hailed from Kurumbachitty, Jaffna.

Investigations revealed that the couple had been associated with the PLOTE. The probe is being directed by Senior DIG Sirisena Herath and Colombo DIG Pujit Jayasundera. This follows the killing of senior journalist Dharmaratnam Sivaram, popularly known as Taraki, in Colombo in April.

Meanwhile, the owner of Varuna Video Centre Kotahena was also killed by an unidentified gunmen yesterday morning in the Kotahena police area. According to police, Varuna Samaratunga, a father of three, had been killed by two persons who had come in a three wheeler and escaped towards the Borella Magazine Road. On the direction of Senior DIG Herath a special police squad had been deployed to arrest the killers.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse has expressed his shock and deep sorrow over the brutal murder of veteran media personality Relangi Selvarajah and her husband.

The Prime Minister has conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the family and relatives.

Rajapakse has strongly condemned the killing and states that Selvarajah had every right to engage in her profession without hindrance.

The Prime Minister has emphasised the need to stamp out this kind of crime whoever is responsible for the dastardly deed.

Kadir killed by LTTE sniper

Wijitha Nakkawita

The assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar by an LTTE sniper at Colombo created a void in the political arena of the country as he was one of a very rare person among politicians whose integrity, academic excellence, oratorical skill, legal expertise and a fine grasp of international relations and diplomatic realities – a combination that could not be matched for a very long time to come.

Sailors stand vigil around remains of Minister Kadirgamar

Before Lakshman Kadirgamar joined the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga he was based in London appearing for international bodies in their law suits and was a highly respected citizen of the world. His entry to politics therefore raised several eyebrows as he was sacrificing a very lucrative career to take up the position of Foreign Minister on the invitation of a newly elected government.

During the few years Lakshman Kadirgamar served the country as its foreign minister he brought in a new vision of global diplomacy in making a very strong case against the LTTE terrorists and successfully convincing the most powerful and globally strategic countries to ban the terrorist group.

His convincing presentation of Sri Lanka’s case against terrorism had the ring of truth the moment he was heard presenting it.

Hailing from an eminent Jaffna Tamil family the Kadirgamars had produced eminent people including the first commander of the Sri Lanka Army

Rajan Kadirgamar. But once in one of speeches he said, “ A label had been given to me as a Tamil but my birth among that group of people was an accident and I belong to humanity and not to a particular group of people.”

It was this wide perception and belief that he held about belonging to humanity sans borders or divisive constraints that built a niche for himself among the great human beings whose compassion and empathy for humanity outshone all other good qualities they possessed.

He was also witty and very clever. Once when a foreign journalist was interviewing him about the armed conflict the journalist happened to say that some international human rights group had levelled allegations of human rights against the country. Kadirgamar’s cryptic reply was,

“I am not impressed,” clearly showing the journalist that such human rights watchdogs need not necessarily be taken as the authentic, truthful and genuine groups working for the welfare of humanity. Kadirgamar was very proud of his country and though he was not born a Buddhist he valued the teachings of the Buddha, especially loving kindness and tolerance of the views of others.

He lived his life following the Buddha’s teachings and was the main force behind making Vesak the most important day of Buddha’s life a UN-declared international holiday.

When the LTTE killed Kadirgamar they proved to the world that their hatred was built on an edifice of untruth and racial prejudices as they had made him number one on their hit list. For the LTTE noted for its paucity of intellect and negation of ethics or human values the greatest ‘crime’ Lakshman Kadirgamar had committed was to have been born to an ethnic Tamil family!

His death shook the whole country and people of all ethnic groups mourned his death and gave him the honour due to the noblest sons of the country and the LTTE could not kill the contribution he had made to the country and the world.

Tomorrow - Landmines kill civilians in Wilpattu

Yesterday - C. V. Gooneratne assassinated by LTTE suicide bomber