JVP fear psychosis - Part VII:

Attack on the Bambalapitiya Police Station

Geoff Wijesinghe

With the Presidential Polls held despite desperate attempts to sabotage it, the southern terrorist organization decided that the General Elections fixed for March 1989 must be prevented at all costs.

‘Gamini’, the JVP serial killer who was largely responsible for the prevailing fear psychosis - what with having gunned down 43 victims, many of them prominent personalities - was one of the 10 hit squad members who were gathered around a hurricane lantern in a small house at Meegoda, a junction town on the High Level Road, some miles away from the Army’s Panagoda Cantonment.

The terrorists were being addressed by a senior cadre ‘Cabraal’, who, after briefing them on the current political situation, said that despite their efforts, the Presidential Election had been held in December. It was now January 25, 1989, and this time, the JVP leadership was determined to prevent the General Elections from being held.

There were about three months more to go for the elections, which must at all costs be sabotaged. Violence and murder must heightened, people must be made to feel more afraid of the JVP and its military wing DJV. The killings must be more brutal. People must be made to believe that this time round, polling booths will be raided by armed terrorists. People must be made to believe that this time round, they will have their voting hand cut off from the wrist, ‘Cabraal’ told the group.

Hightened violence

There were signs that after the successful holding of the Presidential Polls, people now feared the JVP less. So, violence must be heightened, according to him.

‘Cabraal’ told ‘Gamini’, ‘Pathi’, the Colombo district military leader of the DJV and the others present and listening intently to him that although they had made many attacks on Security Forces establishments and police stations earlier, they had not been very productive, in that the amounts of arms captured had been comparatively small. The JVP needed much more weapons if they were to make the insurrection successful.

Towards that end, the JVP leadership had decided to stage a series of raids on police stations in the new few days, he said.

‘Cabraal’ then pulled out a detailed sketch of Bambalapitiya Police Station, with the entry points, the OIC’s office, the old converted World War II air raid shelter which was now the CDB office, the charge room, the reserve desk, singleman’s barracks, the mess and armoury marked in it.

‘Gamini’ had been given instructions to go to the Meegoda meeting by none other than Politburo member ‘Ananda’, who functioned as liaison officer between the JVP leadership and the DJV.

It is interesting the note that Saman Piyasiri Fernando, whose terrorist pseudonym was ‘Keerthi Wijebahu’ and whose signature on closure and extortion chits to shopkeepers and businessmen and death threat posters and letters to intended victims, struck terror into the hearts and minds of the public.

But, really the university dropout was more a paper tiger than a JVP killer. The killings were in fact planned and executed to a large extent by ‘Samare’ and ‘Pathi’, Colombo’s district secretaries of the political and military wings on the instructions of ‘Ananda’, Politburo member, with ‘Gamini’ as their No. 1 hit man.

‘Paper tigers’

To digress, but for a moment, this reminds me of an incident at the old Parliamentary Complex by the sea at Galle Face, when a Government MP talked of northern Tiger terrorists.

TULF leader A. Amirthalingam shot up from his seat and said, “Tigers? There are no tigers in Jaffna, only paper tigers.”

Well, it did not take long for the Tigers from Jaffna to bring to a tragic end the life of the northern leader. That is all history now.

‘Cabraal’ went onto say that although they had not collected many weapons during previous raids; the experience they gained would stand them in good stead during the new wave of attacks on military establishments and police stations, the first of which was planned for January 28 - three days from now.

‘Gamini’ was instructed to go on his own and carry out a reconnaissance of the left and rear perimeters of the Bambalapitiya Police Station.

The next morning, the JVP’s leading gunman travelled from the Fort Railway Station by train to Bambalapitiya and went up to St. Alban’s Lane, which borders the police station. It is the lane where the famous cricketer Mahadevan Sathasivam lived and died.

Walking slowly up the gravel lane, ‘Gamini’ closely inspected the wall bordering the police station. Suddenly, he came upon a gaping hole in the wall. Peeping through it, he found there was no sentry.

He then got onto Galle Road, walked past the police station down Station Road and returned by train to Fort and from there made his way to Punchi Borella.

On the evening of January 25, ‘Gamini’ met the rest of the DJV hit squad near the Liberty Plaza. Their leader ‘Pathi’ asked them to gather near the Majestic Cinema at 6.30 pm.

‘Pathi’ came there and took the others near the petrol shed at Bambalapitiya junction, where a white Hi-Ace van arrived. A suitcase on castors was unloaded by ‘Cami’, one of the terrorists. It contained the weapons to be used for the attack.

‘Pathi’, ‘Gamini’ and the others with ‘Cami’ wheeling the suitcase along the pavement nonchalantly walked along the busy Bambalapitiya pavement and reached St. Alban’s Place. At the bottom of the lane, the weapons were taken out and ‘Gamini’ and others handed T-56 rifles and two magazines each and grenades.

Attack begins

‘Gamini’ then slipped through the hole in the wall, and through an unguarded door, followed by others in his group.

Meanwhile, a second group was attacking the police station from up front.

‘Gamini’ then heard someone, whom he took to be a policeman, shouting, “Yakko (you devil), put up your hands. Where do you think you are going?,” out of the darkness.

A terrorist came running and fell near ‘Gamini.’ He was wounded. There was sound of gunfire from both the front and the rear. A group of policemen came running in ‘Gamini’s direction from the front. The JVP serial killer fired a burst at the policemen and halted them in their track.

‘Gamini’ then shouted, “Is there anything wrong?”, to which another terrorist answered, “No. No. Nothing is wrong.”

‘Gamini’ who was leaning against a wall, covering the rear, then saw someone put out his head from a mess window. He fired another burst from his automatic weapon. It was later found that it was the mess boy, who, on hearing a commotion, had put his head out to see what it was all about.

‘Cami’ and others came running up to ‘Gamini.’ They had with them five T-85 semiautomatic rifles and one self-loading rifle which they had taken from the policemen.

The five hit men in “Gamini’s group then walked along the railway track, towards the Bambalapitiya Railway Station.

The police, who were by now stationed on the passenger bridge of the Railway Station, fired a burst of automatic fire at the subversives. ‘Gamini’, followed by the others, scaled a wall and got onto Station Road, where they found a parked police jeep with the engine running.

It had brought the policemen who were now positioned on the railway station bridge and still firing at where they believed ‘Gamini’ and his men were.

‘Gamini’ came from behind and placed the raw cold steel of his T-56 against the nape of the police driver’s neck, sending an equally cold chill down his spine. The JVP’s No: 01 serial killer then said almost in a whisper, “Put your hands up. I won’t harm you if you carry out my instructions.”

The hit man later told police investigators that the police driver had no alternative, but to agree.

After attacking the Bambalapitiya Police Station, ‘Gamini’ and the other four thugs got into the police jeep, and were driven by none other than a uniformed police driver to safety. On the way, ‘Gamini’ chatted to the policeman and asked him not to worry. All would end well for him. He would not be harmed as long as he did not try any ‘pranks.’

The terrorist gunmen rode with well nigh perfect immunity in the police jeep, for it would be quite some time before the police marksmen came down from the railway station bridge.

At the Eye Hospital junction, they instructed the driver to take the road behind the National Hospital, past Carey College onto Punchi Borella and Baseline Road, where ‘Gamini’ saw a white van approaching. He ordered the policeman to block the oncoming vehicle by placing the jeep across its path.

As the van stopped, ‘Gamini’ jumped out of the jeep and held the van driver at gunpoint. He then asked everyone, including the police driver, into the van. The JVP’s leading gunman who seemed to have nerves of ice, took the wheel.

Approaching Grandpass, ‘Gamini’ gave the police driver Rs 20 as bus fare and asked him to go straight home and not to the police station, or else they would track him down.

‘Gamini’ and ‘Cami’ then dropped the others and after two more encounters with police jeeps, finally ended their mission at the tea chest factory at Sedawatte, from where they launched their raid on the People’s Bank branch at Wellawatte.

(The writer is a former editor of Daily News and The Sunday Observer)

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