{"id":203897,"date":"2019-08-09T12:57:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T07:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=203897"},"modified":"2019-08-14T23:44:17","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T18:14:17","slug":"welikada-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/welikada-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Welikada\u00a0Massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Karikalan S. Navaratnam<\/a> \u2013<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Karikalan S. Navaratnam<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cGovernments need to have both shepherds and butchers<\/i>\u201d ~ Voltaire<\/p>\n

36th<\/sup> anniversary has just passed by. The prison carnage was a\u00a0 <\/span>bloody chapter necessarily complementing\u00a0<\/span>the horrors of \u2018Black July<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u2019<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>narrative. Sadly, \u20181983\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/a>Welikada\u00a0 <\/span>Massacre<\/span><\/strong>\u2019 <\/i>featuring\u00a0<\/span>the butchery of\u00a0<\/span>Tamil prisoners has sunk into oblivion. In\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>ethno-political discourses, the prison riots of\u00a0 <\/span>2012\u00a0 <\/span>have supplanted\u00a0 <\/span>the\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>1983\u00a0 <\/span>massacre.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was associated as a Junior, with Senior\u00a0<\/span>lawyer\u00a0<\/span>Mr.M. Sivasithamparam\u00a0<\/span>(Siva), representing a number of these prisoners in Colombo High Court\u00a0<\/span>cases,\u00a0<\/span>filed under the Prevention of\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Terrorism\u00a0 <\/span>Act<\/i>\u00a0(PTA).\u00a0<\/span>Of course, their dreams and sacrifices merit more than just sharing mournful\u00a0<\/span>memories.\u00a0<\/span>I have, per force<\/i>, revisited herein some of my experiences as I\u00a0<\/span>had recounted previously in the Colombo Telegraph columns, touching on Welikada killings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

25<\/b>th<\/sup><\/b> & 27<\/b>th<\/sup><\/b> July 1983<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

In all,\u00a0 <\/span>53 Tamil prisoners were massacred, back to back,\u00a0<\/span>on both days. Out of the 73 Tamil political prisoners held at Welikade, only 20 survived. It\u00a0<\/span>was a joint venture planned and executed by Sinhala prison officers and\u00a0<\/span>hardcore criminals\/convicts with the support of security forces.\u00a0<\/span>Before being shifted to Welikada jail, all of them were detained at\u00a0<\/span>Panagoda\u00a0 <\/span>Army Camp under the PTA.\u00a0<\/span>Armed with the pernicious\u00a0<\/span>provisions of the PTA, army\/police officers had routinely subjected Tamil\u00a0<\/span>detainees to severe torture and degrading treatment, for two reasons: – to\u00a0<\/span>extract self-incriminating\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cconfessions\u201d and to derive sadistic pleasure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Survivor David<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. S.A. David was one of the survivors of the Welikada Massacre. He and\u00a0Dr. Rajasunderam were leading figures in Gandhiyam movement. David\u00a0<\/span>was an Architect by profession, qualified from Melbourne University and\u00a0<\/span>had served in Sri Lanka, Australia, UK, Nigeria and Kenya. ( He died in\u00a0<\/span>Oct. 2015, at 91 years). Dr. Rajasunderam was killed in the Welikada\u00a0<\/span>massacre.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. David\u2019s\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cDetention, Torture and Murder<\/i><\/b>\u201d, published in Nov. 1983,\u00a0<\/span>(reproduced in JDS \u2013Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka Report,<\/i><\/b>\u00a0 <\/span>25\u00a0<\/span>July 2013) would give glimpses of the maltreatment he and other detainees\u00a0<\/span>at Panagoda camp had endured. ( A few excerpts, for illustration<\/i>) :\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maltreatment<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Dr. Rajasunderam was brought to the Panagoda camp, the attack on\u00a0<\/i>the Tamil detainees became very frequent and more vicious. Almost every\u00a0<\/i>other day and whenever he was in the mood, Commander Udugampola\u00a0<\/i>would come drunk with a glass of arrack in his hand and open the cells,\u00a0<\/i>strip the detenus\u00a0<\/span>and assault and kick and curse them. I could hear cries\u00a0<\/i>of pain and groans throughout the nights and early mornings and see<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>naked colleagues hanging head down from high window bars. I saw naked<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>detenus being chased around the courtyard and being assaulted and<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>kicked by six to eight soldiers with PVC pipes and iron rods in their hands.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cOne day Commander Udugampola came drunk and opened my cell,\u00a0<\/i>ordered me to strip and lie face down on a concrete bench. He ordered\u00a0<\/i>three soldiers to trample my back and legs and hit me on my buttocks.\u00a0<\/i>They left me exhausted on the bench<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn comparison to the torture meted out to the other detenus I must admit I<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>was mildly treated. Dr. Rajasunderam was severely attacked, his left arm<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>dislocated, his ear drums broken and left on several occasions\u00a0<\/i>unconscious on the floor\u2026\u2026..One day Dr. Rajasunderam was ordered to\u00a0<\/span><\/i>walk on all fours hands and legs and bark like a dog\u2026\u2026.\u201d.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Datainees beaten to death<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI heard from other colleagues, later at Welikade where I got a chance<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>to talk to others, the detenus had been beaten to death at Kurunagar\u00a0<\/span><\/i>and Elephant Pass camps. Bottles, iron rods and\u00a0 <\/span>sticks have been\u00a0<\/i>driven into rectums, chilli powder smeared and smoke forced through\u00a0<\/span><\/i>nostrils and mouth, beaten with iron bars and iron pipes till bleeding,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>cut with broken bottles,\u00a0 <\/span>beaten and kicked unconscious, starved for\u00a0<\/span><\/i>days, forced to eat food with excess salt and kept chained to wall with\u00a0<\/span><\/i>hands\u00a0 <\/span>raised for months continuously. Some were in detention for\u00a0<\/span><\/i>over two hand a half years and undergone torture all these years.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Devanandan<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

During the months leading to July 1983, I had appeared for Kathiravelu\u00a0<\/i>Devanandan<\/i>\u00a0 <\/span>and his\u00a0 <\/span>two brothers in the Fort-Joint Magistrate Court.\u00a0<\/span>Devanandan was none other than the EPDP leader Douglas Devananda\u00a0<\/span>M.P.\u00a0 <\/span>He was later detained at Panagoda camp.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u00a0<\/span> <\/i>learnt\u00a0 <\/span>from other clients\u00a0<\/span>how he was treated at Panagoda: Stripped naked, he was surrounded by\u00a0<\/span>a dozen army men and was brutally beaten up with rifle butts and clubs \u2013\u00a0<\/span>kicked about, trampled under their boots and was left\u00a0 <\/span>battered and\u00a0<\/span>bleeding. In army parlance, they called\u00a0 <\/span>it \u201csoftening up\u201d a new arrival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was incongruous that Douglas later became a partner of the racist\u00a0<\/span>regimes.\u00a0<\/span>Verily,\u00a0<\/span>he had valid reasons to be hostile towards LTTE . In\u00a0their\u00a0<\/span>abortive\u00a0<\/span>attempts to eliminate Douglas, LTTE had even killed his\u00a0brother. But then, I just could not come to terms with Douglas\u2019 politics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last visit to Welikada<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

On Saturday, 16 July 1983\u00a0 <\/span>morning I visited prisoners\u00a0<\/span>Thangathurai, Kuttimany and Jegan at\u00a0<\/span>Welikada prison.\u00a0 <\/span>While leaving them, I promised\u00a0<\/span>to see them again the week after next. But, that was not to be.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, 23 July 1983, I was in Mannar to attend the TULF party\u00a0Annual Convention. I was a Politburo member. The 1st<\/sup> day sessions\u00a0were over and 2nd<\/sup> day sessions were scheduled for Sunday 24th<\/sup>.\u00a0MPs \u00a0<\/span>A.Amirthalingam,\u00a0<\/span>M.Sivasithamparam (Siva), V.Yogeswaran,\u00a0<\/span>R. Sampanthan, Neelan Tiruchelvam and\u00a0 <\/span>I were staying at Mannar Rest\u00a0House. In the early hours of 24th<\/sup>, Jaffna MP\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Yogeswaran\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>wife called to convey a grim message – that a barrage of\u00a0 <\/span>explosions were heard the\u00a0<\/span>previous night and that army was running amok on a shooting\u00a0 <\/span>spree, killing\u00a0<\/span>civilians at sight. Follow-up calls from different sources, informed us that\u00a0<\/span>attacks on Tamil targets were spreading out. Due to menacing military\u00a0<\/span>movements we were compelled to cancel the Sunday sessions.\u00a0<\/span>(By the way,\u00a0 <\/span>on 25 July 1983 Siva\u2019s house at Colombo-Norris Canal Road\u00a0<\/span>was looted and razed to the ground , and my house at Cotta Road, Borella\u00a0<\/span>was attacked by a mob led by a saffron-robed monk.).<\/p>\n

Lawyer Manouri calls<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On 26 July morning some of us met at Mannar MP\u00a0<\/span>P. Soosaithasan\u2019s\u00a0residence. There was a call to Siva from lawyer Manouri\u00a0<\/span>Muttetuwegama (Communist M.P. Sarath\u2019s wife and Dr.Colvin\u2019s daughter). She informed\u00a0<\/span>Siva that some of his clients in Welikada jail had been killed, the previous\u00a0<\/span>day. She could not give details. Siva telephoned Acting Commissioner of\u00a0<\/span>Prisons Mr. Jansz who confirmed that there was \u201csome bad news\u201d, but\u00a0<\/span>politely declined to give details. Mr. Amirthalingam, who arrived there a bit\u00a0<\/span>later, telephoned President Jayawardene. JR confirmed that some Tamil\u00a0<\/span>prisoners were killed and added\u00a0 <\/span>that the names would be broadcast over\u00a0<\/span>the radio that night.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prisoners\u00a0 <\/span>butchered<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As menacing army movements intensified, we moved out to the house\u00a0of a party stalwart,\u00a0<\/span>V. Kayilayapillai in Iluppakadavai village. It was a\u00a0spartan house. There was no electricity.\u00a0 <\/span>In the evening we all gathered\u00a0in the frontyard,\u00a0<\/span>with a battery-operated\u00a0<\/span>radio, anxiously awaiting the\u00a0<\/span>broadcast. At 9.00 pm, names of 35 victims, including Kuttimany,\u00a0<\/span>Thangathurai and Jegan were announced. Government tried to make out it\u00a0<\/span>was a prison riot. Slaughter of further 18 prisoners on 27 July 1983\u00a0 <\/span>said it\u00a0<\/span>loud and clear that it was a pre-planned\u00a0 <\/span>operation, orchestrated by Sinhala\u00a0<\/span>officers with official blessings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Official complicity<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

They had served alcohol to hardcore criminals in the jail, armed them with\u00a0<\/span>machetes, kitchen knives, clubs etc, opened the cells for them and set\u00a0<\/span>them upon the Tamil prisoners.\u00a0 <\/span>In the two days of gory attacks, 53 Tamil\u00a0<\/span>prisoners were butchered to death and their bodies were piled up in front of\u00a0<\/span>a Buddha statue within the prison complex, maybe, as an offering to Lord\u00a0<\/span>Buddha. Army personnel on guard outside the jail had rushed to the spot;\u00a0but continued to watch the \u201cfun\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>Evidence revealed that some of the\u00a0<\/span>critically-injured victims were still alive, moaning and groaning, while being\u00a0<\/span>thrown into a truck, but were hacked down and killed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMassacre upon massacre<\/b>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Coumnist Firoze Sameer\u2019s<\/i> write-up on Welikada carnage\u00a0 <\/span>(\u201cThat\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>Massacre Upon Massacre<\/i>\u201d,\u00a0 <\/span>Sunday Times -27 July 2008<\/b> ), had\u00a0<\/span>laid bare the odious role of some officials in the massacre. (Excerpts)<\/i>: \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJailor Rogers Jayasekere, President JR Jayewardene\u2019s supporter in\u00a0<\/span>Kelaniya, allegedly played from behind the scenes while the killings were in\u00a0progress, while jailor Samitharatne alias Samitha Rathgama and location\u00a0officer Palitha\u2019s roles were apparently tenuous on that fateful day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLieut. Hathurusinghe would not allow the truck containing 35 bodies to\u00a0<\/span>leave the prison precincts for the Accident Service until he received\u00a0<\/span>approval from the top. Over the telephone, the major in charge of the unit\u00a0<\/span>told him that\u00a0<\/span>\u201cpermission for such removal would have to be granted by the\u00a0<\/i>secretary to the Ministry of Defence<\/i>\u201d, who was Col. C. A. Dharmapala, who\u00a0was present at the Security Council meeting at Army Headquarters,\u00a0<\/span>chaired by President JR Jayewardene.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/i>Suriya Wickremasinghe,<\/b> civil rights activist\u00a0 <\/span>( CP Leader\u00a0 <\/span>Dr. S. A.\u00a0Wickremasinghe\u2019s daughter), notes:\u00a0 <\/span>\u201c\u2026 We know from eyewitnesses\u2026\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/i>that the bodies were attacked again on the floor of the lobby to make sure\u00a0<\/span><\/i>they were dead. They were dragged into the compound and attacked there.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>They were thrown into the truck, and according to some eyewitness\u00a0<\/span><\/i>accounts, the sound of bodies being attacked even inside the truck could\u00a0<\/span><\/i>be heard. Indeed, according to one of our witnesses, one young prisoner\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(Kanapathipillai Mylvaganam, 19 years) who had succeeded in hiding, was\u00a0<\/span><\/i>actually killed in the compound by a jailor.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSuriya Wickremasinghe noted that not a single prison officer was\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>able to identify a single rioter, and that an identification parade was\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>never held following both prison massacres<\/i><\/b>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Call from \u2018India House\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

At Iluppakadavai, a messenger\u00a0 <\/span>from the local sub-post office showed up\u00a0late in the night with an urgent\u00a0 <\/span>message for Mr. Amirthalingam: There was\u00a0<\/span>an important\u00a0 <\/span>telephone call waiting for him.Taking care not to alert the\u00a0<\/span>restive army, we avoided using the vehicle headlights and instead using a\u00a0<\/span>torch light, gingerly proceeded to the post office. The call was from \u2018India\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>House\u2019(High Commissioner\u2019s residence) in Colombo. The caller at the\u00a0<\/span>other end was Indian Foreign Minister Mr. Narasimha\u00a0 <\/span>Rao.\u00a0<\/span>Mr. Rao\u00a0<\/span>wanted Amirthalingam to\u00a0 <\/span>travel\u00a0 <\/span>to India early for \u201cconsultation\u201d. Evidently,\u00a0<\/span>feelings were running high\u00a0 <\/span>in Tamil Nadu and Prime Minister Indira \u00a0<\/span>Gandhi had responded.\u00a0 <\/span>It was a watershed moment\u00a0 <\/span>–\u00a0 <\/span>that presaged the\u00a0<\/span>30-year war.<\/p>\n

Mr. Amirthalingam arrived in India in the 1st<\/sup> week of August\u00a0 <\/span>1983.\u00a0<\/span>As\u00a0<\/span>arranged, I left for India\u00a0 <\/span>before he did.\u00a0 <\/span>In Colombo, my good friend\u00a0<\/span>Vasantha\u00a0 <\/span>Obeyesekere (the film director, who is no more)\u00a0 <\/span>helped me at a\u00a0<\/span>moment of adversity and despair.\u00a0<\/span>On my way to Katunayake airport,\u00a0<\/span>I\u00a0<\/span>passed by the skeletal remains of burnt out houses, business places and\u00a0<\/span>charred remains of\u00a0 <\/span>hundreds of vehicles\u00a0 <\/span>strewn all over. Mercifully, I did\u00a0<\/span>not come across any human remains. Probably, they were already\u00a0<\/span>removed. Nonetheless, the cruel scenes, conjured up images of brutal attacks on hundreds of Tamils who were hacked to death or burnt alive.<\/p>\n

Amnesty\u00a0 <\/span>International<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

During a visit to London in July 1984, I called at Amnesty\u00a0 <\/span>International<\/i>\u00a0(AI) Office and requested\u00a0 <\/span>them to press for an independent\u00a0 <\/span>inquiry into\u00a0<\/span>the Welikada Massacre. AI\u00a0 <\/span>officials\u00a0 <\/span>showed me a file with repeated\u00a0<\/span>requests addressed to President J.R. urging\u00a0 <\/span>for a probe.\u00a0 <\/span>AI did not \u00a0<\/span>receive\u00a0 <\/span>even an acknowledgment\u00a0 <\/span>from the President\u2019s\u00a0 <\/span>Office.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As regards 2012 Welikada prison riots, which erupted following a STF\u00a0<\/span>search for illegal arms, drugs, cellphones etc., there was an organized\u00a0<\/span>campaign and media outcry demanding\u00a0 <\/span>justice\u00a0 <\/span>for the victims – 27\u00a0<\/span>prisoners killed and others injured on either side.\u00a0 <\/span>Pursuant\u00a0 <\/span>thereto,\u00a0<\/span>big\u00a0<\/span>guns were arrested and, lately, indictments have been filed against (Ex)\u00a0<\/span>Prison Commissioner\u00a0 <\/span>Lamahewage and\u00a0 <\/span>IP\u00a0 <\/span>Rangajeeva (per, Sunday\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>Observer<\/i>, <\/b>21 July 2019).\u00a0 <\/span>So far so good.\u00a0Apropos 1983 \u201cWelikada Massacre<\/i>\u201d,\u00a0 <\/span>53 Tamil prisoners were butchered .\u00a0<\/span>Media played\u00a0 <\/span>muffled drums. In Sri Lanka Tamil\u00a0 <\/span>lives are\u00a0 <\/span>dirt\u00a0 <\/span>cheap \u2013\u00a0<\/span>and expendable !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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