"OPENING GAMBIT"

General Gerry de Silva

On the pretext of discussing Military Strategy, the Army Commander, Lieut. General Cecil Waidyaratne entailed the wrath of Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Vijaya Wimalaratne by drastically reducing their respective Tactical Areas of Responsibility (TAOR). Denzil and Vijaya were predictably shocked, furious, frustrated, and pushed to the limits of mental endurance. To them and to those present it was insulting and degrading. Those present included the Service Commanders, Air Marshal Terrence Goonewardena and Vice Admiral Clancy Fernando and a cross section of senior field commanders of the Army and officers of the Navy and Air Force.

Firm comradeship

At the end of the discussion of Day 1, I walked into the office of the Army Commander to express my opinion on the subject as I was mentally disturbed too. Denzil, Vijaya and I had been together on most combat operations taken on by the Army, and built up a firm comradeship that was a high point in our military careers.

The urgency was necessitated by the fact that we would be finalizing combat plans and confirming decisions taken on the following morning. I made it known to the Commander that I vehemently disagreed with the decision taken and treatment meted out to Denzil and Viyaya.

I reminded him that they were the best field commanders he could ever hope to have and would not be able to do without if he hoped to implement the combat strategies that were being planned. I convinced him to give further thought to the decisions he would take the following morning especially the one he made in regard to Denzil and Vijaya.

On leaving the Commanders office I saw Vijaya in the adjoining office of the Military Secretary waiting to meet the Army Commander. I had never seen Vijaya in the mood he was. His eyes were blood red and swelling in tears of anger. When I spoke to him he pulled out his resignation letter from his pocket, which he was planning to hand over to Waidyaratne. I spoke to Vijaya at length and informed him that I had convinced the Commander to reconsider his decision and impressed upon Vijaya not to be hasty. He promised me that he would wait until I had seen the Commander the following morning and discussed the matter with him once more.

On reaching my residence I was informed by my Wife that Denzil had called and would be calling once more shortly after.

A letter of resignation

Denzil was furious and stated that he did not want to serve in the Army one day more under Cecil's command. He too had prepared a letter of resignation and had requested for an interview with the Commander the next morning. I advised Denzil to give his decision to resign, more thought and informed Denzil that had met the Commander on this matter and he had promised to reconsider the measures he intended taking. I pleaded with Denzil to wait at least until I had seen the Commander the following morning and in any case, to reconsider the decision he proposed to take as the Army he loved so much would be in crisis if he and Vijaya resigned at this juncture. He called me on three more occasions that evening. Ample evidence of the trauma he was experiencing. By the time I walked into Cecil's office the next morning Denzil had been there earlier and thrown his resignation letter in Cecil's face and stormed out. Cecil finally agreed to drop the matter and subsequently summoned Denzil and Vijaya to his office and informed them that he had retracted from his previous decision.

A startling revelation

We met once more and the discussion on military strategy to be pursued continued until late evening. Cecil invited all those who had attended the conference to Cocktails at his Chalet in the Officers Mess. Tensions and Tempers had subsided by then,. Denzil then made a startling revelation.

He had visited a clairvoyant in Kataragama who had predicted that he would be killed on or before 31st July, and that he would be visiting Kataragama the next morning to pay off a vow. He was killed eight days later on 8th August 1992 in a land mine explosion together with Vijaya Wimalaratne, Commodore Mohan Jayamaha and seven others at Araly Point in the Jaffna Peninsula, whilst on a reconnaissance mission to plan the capture of Jaffna.