The coup D'etat of Jan. 27, 1962 - a response to Firoze Sameer

The article which appears to recount the 1962 coup D'etat also appears to defend the suspects by stating that theirs was a counter coup to prevent FD Bandaranaike from taking over the government.

It further conjectures that this same argument was also used by the 1966 coup suspects that included Maj Gen Udugama who had been the Army Commander at the time of his arrest that their alleged attempt was to stymie similar ambitions of JR Jayewardene.

Why the 1966 case was brought up is not explained and appears to be a very devious counter thrust to the very purpose of the article. The coup of 1962 was the only attempt in SL (Ceylon) to militarily overthrow an elected government.

While the article does not go beyond a few basic facts it ignores what would have happened if the coup was successful. There would have been civil war with the 3rd Field Regiment of the Ceylon Artillery specifically taking on the Ceylon Light Infantry (now SLLI) possibly at the Kirulapona bridge, as it was expected to come to Colombo from Panagoda to counter the coup's main military support.

The government forthwith disbanded the 3rd Regt of the Artillery and raised another infantry regiment - the Gemunu Watch that coincidentally will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year. Its founder Commander was Lt Col (later Brigadier) JF Halangode whose son Hiran later commanded it in battle and retired as a Brigadier.

The 1966 trial did not go beyond the prosecution's case.

It was declared that there was no prima facie case against the accused so this theory of the writer that the object of the alleged 1966 plotters was to stymie JR Jayewardene's ambitions to take over the reins from Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake was pure conjecture. Why then has he flown this particular kite? Most glaringly it was said that Col Udugama was Commanding Officer (CO) of the Sinha Regiment stationed in Diyatalawa.

This is false. He was CO of the Ceylon Light Infantry based in Panagoda Cantonment.

- Lalin Fernando