Page 1
Tamil
TIME
W| XWI No.2 SSN 0266-4488 15 FEE
Rajiv Gandhi or campaign trail before being killed
ΑΤΙΑΟΚ. Οι ΕΑΠ ΑΕΙΑ ΜΑ
Protest (Over Attack on tournalist
A COS ΙΟΝΙΑ ΑΙ ΜΙΑ ΜΟΕ
Indian Election Scene
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Book Review
 
 
 

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15 FEBRUARY 1998
"I do not agree with a won of what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.”
-Voltaire .
|ISSN 0266 - 44 88 Wol. XVII No. 2 15 FEBRUARY 1998
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Attack on Dalada Malgawa 03 Proscription of LTTE 06 First Woman Jaffna Mayor O7 Attack on Journalist 08 Jaffna library Opened 09
Death Sentence for Rajiv Assassins 10 Kled to Prevent Gandhi from Power 11
The Jaffna Elections 12 Failure of Nation Building 15 Sonia to Spoil BJP Bid for Power? 18 The Hyper-realism of History 20 Exacting Terrible Revenge 2 Hi-tech Temple for Sri Lanka 23
Bernard Soysa-The Last Champion 24 Book Review - Assignment Colombo 26 Film Review 28 Excommunication of Priest Revoked 29
NI
"KANDY will s jewel in the crown c from today when it bilee Independence ruary 4th. Distinguis and thousands of pro converge on the capi the British in 1815, glittering jewels in th ... Government and the city of Kandy white, reflecting the ating the effect of heightening the gr Kandy on particular. "The palladium Dalada Maligawa, p in gold and bron Mulachari's historic its famous octagona the city onto Kand lake, also Mulachcha freshly white-painte mental wall.'
This is what K weera wrote in the January 1998. On t manned by three su rammed their way roadblock shooting detonated their exp right in front of the Sri Lanka’s holiest Buddhist place of wo ing sacred tooth re attack put paid to th ment’s plans for th ebrations in Kandy, The blast that ol am left the historic ing, and the people ple's newly painte coated by black soc that also brought dov century temple kno ligawa, Windows wi st every building in had been spruced u the 50th anniversary pendence from Brit Streets near the with glass and leav
 
 
 
 

TAL TIMES 3
EWS REVIEW
hine like the central f Sri Lanka ten days hosts the Golden Jucelebrations on Febhed foreign invitees pud Sri Lankans will tal that was ceded to adding Ceylon to the le Crown of England. private buildings in have been painted sunlight thereby cregreater space and enery that relieves ly congested days.
of Kandy, the Sri innacled and roofed ze, and Devendra paththirippuwa with roof, will look over y's other jewel, the ari’s creation, with its ed, protective, orna
arel Roberts RatnaSunday Times on 25 nat very day a truck licide bombers who through the security
at the sentries and losive-laden vehicle Temple of the Tooth, and most venerated Irship said to be houslic the Buddha. The e Sri Lankan governe independence cel
curred at about 6.30 city no longer shindevastated. The temd white walls were t from the explosion yn the roof of the 16th Vin as the Dalada Maare shattered in almohis historic town that ) at great cost to host ' of Sri Lanka’s indein on February 4. temple were strewn es and tree branches.
Several houses, including the official residence of the chief lay custodian of the temple Niranjan Wijeratne, had their roofs blown in. According to a temple spokesman, the inner sanctum had miraculously escaped damage and the shrine where Buddha's left canine tooth is supposedly enshrined was unharmed,
Only the rear axle of the truck bomb was left. The rest of the vehicle had been turned into tangle web of metal by the massive and deafening explosion that was heard and felt two kilometres (miles) away.
Sixteen civilians were killed in the blast while more than 25 were wounded. The police also reportedly found at the scene of the blast remains of four men believed to be the suicide bombers allegedly belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) together with a disposable Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher (RPG), two assault rifles, ten rounds of 40mm ammunition, two Icom radio sets and remnants of three suicide jackets. These are usually denim waistcoats filled with explosives, known to be used by LTTE suicide squads known as Black Tigers.
It was generally anticipated that the LTTE, which is engaged in a bitter war with government forces, would attempt to launch attacks with a view to disrupting the independence celebrations, and therefore Colombo, Kandy and other major centres in the south of the island were placed under tight security. But no one thought that that the LTTE would target such an intensely venerated place of worship as the Dalada Maligawa.
It is part the island's recorded history that, in the l6th century, the tooth relic of the Buddha was taken to Kandy, where in 1590 AD a two-storey temple was built by King Wimaladharma Suriya I and later enlarged by King Narendra Sinha. The Pattirippuva, the distinctive gold and copper-roofed octagonal structure from which the kings addressed their subjects, was added in the 19th century by Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe.
Some 30,000 visitors were expected

Page 4
4 TAL TIMES
for an independence day cultural show at the main public park. Prince Charles was to attend a religious service at the Temple of The Tooth on February 3 and the main celebrations a day later.
The Deputy Minister of Defence, Anuruddha Ratwatte, who was in charge of security arrangements for the independence celebrations in Kandy visited the scene of devastation soon after the attack declared, "We will begin repairs immediately. The terrorists cannot force us to change our plans. We will have the independence day celebrations in Kandy as scheduled.'
Despite Ratwatte's assertion, three days later the government decided to shift the centre of its independence celebrations to the island's capital, Colombo. A press release from the President's office said, "In view of the national and international significance of the anniversary, the government decided to hold the celebrations in the same manner in Colombo.”
Following the attack on Dalada Maligawa, the privately-owned print media and the main opposition party, the United National Party(UNP), called for the resignation of the Deputy Defence Minister who was accused of having failed in his duty to prevent the attack on the temple. Amidst mounting criticism, Ratwatte tendered his resignation, but was not accepted by the President.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Prof. G. L. Peiris, who was in London a day after the blast told pressmen that the attack by the LTTE on the Dalada Maligawa temple which is regarded as "place of intense veneration by Buddhists was a deliberately calculated and cynical ploy intended to provoke a communal backlash against the Tamil people living in the south. They wanted to provoke a repeat performance of the July 1983 communal disturbances in which the Tamil people became victims of death and destruction. That the LTTE should intentionally invite death and destruction upon the Tamil people merely for propaganda purposes shows the callous disregard it has for the lives and property of the people it pretends to serve. But the majority of the Sinhalese people are more mature and will not fall into the trap set by the LTTE."
President Kumaratunga in a statement said, “The Sri Dalada Maligawa is the most sacred site of all Sri Lankan Buddhists. It is also a treasure that is held in the highest esteem by all the people of Sri Lanka and the world community. We condemn this shameful attack. I know that this is a moment of great sorrow for all Sri Lankans. However, we must resolve
not to let sorrow and hatred. I earnestly req respond to this trage peaceful manner. Impi moment can only ful LTTE to create anothe are making every att lence in order to weak which is waging a
against the LTTE terro that our people posse defeat the provocation calm and intelligence act. We must respond people."
Hindu Centre Attac In act of instant ré about a thousand peo Selva Vinayagar Hinc tural centre at Katuke ing the bomb attack o gawa. The police who fired tear gas and di: ently unruly crowd. T the temple estimated to the temple at about "All Hindus conc the Maligawa. It's sac ated by attacking a pl ship that has had r Maligawa for the last time of King Kirthi this day, the day pere this temple," Chief T moorthy said.
Statues of 22 deiti years old had been weighing over a ton ha tills and the priests” looted and light fittin The kovil re-open days later with a po (priya chittam abish undamaged deities. T and rituals re-comm said that this was only ure. Statues of the de for the restoration will from India. It will tak store the temple to its 'We as Hindus r nation of the attack or also deplore and cond that followed. Even t hera begins here and randoli perehera, Hii procession to the D perform Hindu religi he said. "This sad eve hooligans should not c dhist relations.'
A delegation con Tamil citizens in Kan Tamil Community liv on the Most Ven. Ma

15 FEBRUARY 1998
contempt turn into lest that all citizens dy in a calm and ulsive action at this il the plans of the 'r Black July. They :mpt to incite vioen the Government successful battle ... I have confidence :ss the maturity to is of terrorists with ... This is a savage to it as a civilised
ked taliation, a mob of ble attacked the Sri lu Temple and cullle, Kandy, follown the Dalada Malirushed to the scene spersed the apparhe chief trustee of the damage caused
Rs. 20 million. lemn the attack on that a mob retaliace of Hindu worelations with the 300 years from the Sri Rajasinghe. To hera commences at rustee G. Krishna
es that are over 300 damaged. Some d been toppled. The quarters had been gs smashed. 2d for worship three oja of forgiveness ekham) using the he next day poojas enced. The trustee a temporary measities and craftsmen have to be brought e a long time to reprevious condition. epeat our condemthe Maligawa. We emn the vandalism oday the day pereon the day of the ldu devotees go in alada Maligawa to ous poojas there,” :nt caused by a few isturb Hindu-Bud
prising of reputed dy representing the ing in Kandy called nanayaka Theras of
the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters and the Diyawadana Nilame of the Dalada Maligawa and expressed their deep sorrow and grief over the recent bomb blast opposite the main entrance to the Dalada Maligawa Kandy and lodged their vehement protests against that inhuman attack. The delegation which called on the prelates comprised of Messrs. T. R. R. Rajan, S. Velayudar, S. P. Nandakumar, A. C. Vadewel and V. Surendran. They told the Most Ven. Mahanayaka Theras that not only Buddhists but also the people of the Hindu faith venerated and revered the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and the recent inhuman, cruel and uncivilised attack on the Dalada Maligawa would never be condoned by the ordinary Tamil people. On the contrary, they condemn and protest against that dastardly act.
They said that the Tamil people living in Kandy had enjoyed the most harmonious brotherhood with all people irrespective of religion and ethnic differences in general and with the Buddhists in particular, with whom Tamil people had peacefully co-existed for many years, sharing a religious and cultural heritage as proud citizens of a united Sri Lanka.
They told Diyawadana Nilame Neranjan Wijeyeratne that they had already credited to the Dalada Maligawa Restoration Fund a sum of Rs. 500,000 as an initial donation from the Tamil people in Kandy.
The Most Ven. Palipane Sri Chandananda Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiriya Maha Vihara Chapter told the delegation that he highly appreciated the sentiments expressed by them on that sorrowful occasion. The people of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities had been living in this country in unity and harmony from time immemorial and Tamil people had never been subjected to discrimination against by the Sinhala people. The unfortunate incidents of July 1983 were due to inciting by some interesting politicians and similar situations should not be repeated under any circumstances.
Most Ven. Rambukwelle Sri Vipassi Mahanayaka Thera of the Malwatte Chapter said that the delegation and their words gave him a new life and strength at a time when he had not recovered from the shock and grief over the inhuman and un civilised attack on the Dalada Maligawa.
Both the prelates highly appreciated the generous donation made by them to the Maligawa restoration fund and also for their pledge to carry on their struggle for everlasting peace and harmony between the peoples of all communities living in Kandy.

Page 5
15 FEBRUARY 1998
Attack Condemned
There have been widespread condemnation of the attack on the Dalada Maligawa. A statement issued on behalf the Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, said, "The Secretary General has learnt with outrage of the news of a bomb attack on a major Buddhist shrine in Kandy on January 25 and the resulting loss of life and destruction. As he has done on many occasions, the Secretary General strongly condemns the use of terrorist tactics in all circumstances. He deplores attempts to divide human beings on religious and ethnic grounds. He extends his sympathies to the families of the victims and appeals for calm and restraint amidst reports of reprisals by the bombing of the shrine."
The International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC) strongly condemned 'this deliberate attack on civilians and a place of worship. This constitutes a serious violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, which forbid indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population. Humanitarian law also specifically prohibits the targeting of cultural monuments and places of worship. The ICRC urges respect for these rules so that civilians will no longer be targeted by such acts,'
The Amnesty International in a statement dated 26 January stated condemned the killing of 10 civilians in the attack on the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, "The deliberate killings of civilians by armed opposition groups are human rights abuses which cannot be tolerated under any circumstances," the statement said,
"Three members of the LTTE drove a truck loaded with explosives through roadblocks and detonated it in front of the temple just after 6am on Sunday, The victims are reportedly all pilgrims who were on their way to worship at the temple, containing a relic of a tooth of Buddha, Among them are five members of one family from Embilipitiya, Ratnapura district, including a two-year-old and a seven-year-old child.
"Amnesty International is concerned that the attack flouts the principle of distinction set out in international humanitarian standards which govern the conduct of hostilities. According to this principle, armed forces of all sides to a conflict must at all times distinguish between civilian and military targets and must not target civilians.'
Amnesty International reiterated its call to the LTTE to ensure that its forces abide by basic principles of international humanitarian law, in particular, common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II.
Mr James PRul United States Dep: that the United State the attack and call cease acts of terror tes continues to su litical settlement Lanka, We believe ernment's wide-ran stitutional reform c for a peaceful solut flict," Mr Rubin Sa The London-ba stated that it was bomb attack om tl which had also res many innocent civ cally condemned which targeted reli symbols or innocen On behalf of t Conference, the Ar expressed dismay demned the attack In a statement the
"It is with great we heard over the l of the bomb blast Maligawa in Kandy would have though a crime which is not dhists but against country whateverh be. The Dalada M. religious treasure c ren, but a religious of which every Sr about. We categoric sponsible for this ( duty of all peace-l country to join han senseless violence delay."
A statement is Hindu Council of dent Yogendra Dur General P Param Hindu Council of condemned attacks worship. It is thus the cowardly attack Dalada Maligawa, the Buddhists in Sl this act unreservec pathies go out to t nous act. The Hin Sri Lanka have so Hindus venerate th dhists worship at should continue to lationship for the people of Sri Lank The All Ceylo Federation of Hin tions of Sri Lanka the attack on relig

TAL TIMESS
in, spokesman for the rtment of State, said S strongly condemned d upon the LTTE to sm. "The United Staport a negotiated poO the conflict in Sri the Sri Lankan Goving proposals for cononstitute a solid basis on to this tragic conid.
ed International Alert profoundly saddened e Dalada Maligawa ulted in the death of lians, and unequivoany act of violence gious shrines, cultural t civilians in this way. he Catholic Bishops' chbishop of Colombo and shock and conon Dalada Maligawa. Archbishop said: dismay and shock that news media yesterday close to the Dalada 7, No one in his senses t of perpetrating such only against the Budevery citizen of this is religion or race may aligawa is not only a four Buddhist brethand cultural heritage i Lankan feels proud ally condemn those relastardly act. It is the oving citizens of this is in stamping out this without any further
sued on behalf of the Sri Lanka by its Presiiswamy and Secretary anathan said, "The Sri Lanka has always on places of religious deeply concerned at perpetrated on the Sri the holiest temple of i Lanka. We condemn ly, Our heartfelt symne victims of this heidus and Buddhists of much in common. The Buddha and the BudHindu temples. We maintain this good regeneral welfare of the a.'
Hindu Congress (the lu Religious Associastrongly condemned |ous institutions. “We
the Hindus always respect the places of worship of all the other religions as well, No doubt all those who truly practise their religions, whether Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims or Christians, venerate each and every place of worship.
"The incidents which occurred in Kandy on Sunday 25 - we strongly condemn those. There had been a number of Kovils and other religious places of worship also destroyed or damaged during military actions in the northeast which we had condemned. We appeal to all not to resort to any act of harm or insult to religious institutions and to uphold the noble teachings of the four great religions practised by the people of this country."
A statement issued on behalf of the Church of Ceylon by Bishop of Colombo Rt Rev Kenneth Fernando and Bishop of Kurunegala Rt Rev Andrew Kumarage said, "We in the Church of Ceylon are deeply distressed by the dastardly act committed on January 25 causing severe damage to the Dalada Maligawa which is a National Shrine. This temple is held in high regard by all the people in our country and by Buddhists throughout the world.
"The Tigers can have only one objective in perpetrating this cruel deed, namely to anger the peace loving people of Sri Lanka of all communities. Our best response will be to act patiently and allow those foul deed to condemn those who perpetrated it, Our St, Paul's Church, which is in close proximity to the Dalada Maligawa, has also been severely damaged, "Let us at this time of great national sorrow be united with one another and seek to work with renewed vigour for an end to violence and the dawn of peace in our country."
"On behalf of the Sri Lanka Muslim community, the SLMC expresses its deep concern over the bomb blast. We strongly
condemn this blasphemous and dastardly
act. Such actions will only worsen the ethnic relations that have already deteriorated. We Muslims believe in peace among all ethnic groups. We should develop the culture of respecting the religious sentiments of all groups,' the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, M H
M Ashraff said in a statement.
The United National Party (UNP) leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said, "The UNP and I personally join the Mahanayake Theras of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters, the Diyawadana Nilame and the Buddhist public of Sri Lanka in expressing our profound grief on the terrorist attack on the Sri Dalada Maligawa, the repository of the Sacred tooth relic which is a source of blessing to the peo(continued on next page)

Page 6
6 TAMUL ES
In a political act of instant retaliation against the attack on the Dalada Maligawa on 25 January, the Government of Sri Lanka outlawed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 27 January.
Some considered that the government's action in banning the LTTE would have little practical impact on the protracted ethnic conflict because the Security forces are already engaged in fighting the LTTE and there are no signs at present for any talks between the government and the LTTE. According to military sources, proscribing the LTTE would make little or no difference to the government's ongoing war against the LTTE in the north and east of the country. "It may have a psychological effect on the people. But in the battle field, there is not going to be any immediate change," a military spokesman is quoted as saying.
Some others see it as a symbolic move taken on impulse perhaps to calm the angered feelings generated following the attack on the temple venerated universally by the island's majority population.
However, those engaged in campaigns of reconciliation and peace between the Sinhalese and Tamil communities feel that the proscription of the LTTE would in the medium term close the door for any prospect of negotiations between the government and the LTTE which they regard as essential to bring an end to the long drawn out war which had plagued the
PrOSCription of the
country and its pec teen years.
Until its recent had resisted calls LTTE in the expect day had to talk to ment spokesman sa to proscribe the L cerely hoped, in sp LTTE withdrew fro and resumed hosti lution to the proble adding that the pa ment ended with th temple.
Some influenti ing the extremist S ion in the south of jority of the private have for a long tim the government for before. The recent ment has been we tions.
As far as the l
SCECIS LICOCCITIC government. The said that the LTTE scription in the pa versely affected its its struggle.
Non-LTTE T pressed views. EP Suresh Premachan on the LTTE woul because already th
(continued from page 5) ple of Sri Lanka in their times of adversity and moments of joy and happiness. The UNP vehemently condemns this terrorist attack launched on Sri Lanka's Independence 50th anniversary. It is the most tragic and barbaric act committed in Sri Lanka's history.'
Tamil political parties, including the EPRLF, TULF, EPDP, TELO and PLOTE condemned the bomb attack on the Dalada Maligawa and urged the government to step up security measures to prevent any further similar atrocities including any possible retaliatory action against innocent Tamils and their places of worship.
The National Christian Council in a statement said, "It is with great shock and dismay that we heard over the news on Sunday 25the January 1998 the bomb blast in the precincts of Dalada Maligawa in Kandy.
- "The National Christian Council unreservedly condemns the bomb attack on
this place of religi not only a religio historic and herita Lanka. In this prot already caused th we have urged that ants should not b who are engaged deeply concerned which is so sacre( should be a target
"Acts of this i immediate need to this problem ar tions of our comm should urge those such terrorism to S tion to precious erty. We strongly the Government with the Opposit positively to the c litical settlement lay.'
 
 

15 FEBRUARY 1998
ple for more than fif
move, the government or the banning of the ation that it might one he LTTE. A governid, "We did not want TE because ve sin| te of the fact that the m peace negotiations ities, to discuss a som with the LTTE too,' ience of the governe attack on the Kandy
al sections representinhala-Buddhist opinche island and the maly-owned print media e been very critical of not banning the LTTE action of the governlcomed by these sec
TTE is concerned, it d by the action of the Voice of Tigers radio had seen many a proast, but none had adability to carry on with
amil politicians exRLF general secretary dran said that the ban d not change anything ere has been an unof
ous worship, which is us treasure but also a ge of all people of Sri acted conflict that has deaths of thousands innocent non-combattargeted by all those n this conflict. We are hat a place of worship
to millions of people
ature remind us of the or a political solution d we appeal to all secinity to work for it. We who are responsible for op this kind of destrucuman lives and proprequest the LTTE and f Sri Lanka together on parties to respond ull for a negotiated po/ithout any further de
who :
ficial ban for a long time. TULF MP for
"Batticaloa Joseph Pararajasingham considered the LTTE ban inadvisable add
ing, “At this juncture, when several foreign countries as well as government and opposition leaders are trying to bring the LTTE to the negotiating table, ban could be counter-productive.”
Tamil Congress leader Kumar. Ponnambalam said that he condemned the bombing of the Maligawa, but religion and politics should be kept separate. The attack, according to him, was a retaliation to the destruction caused by the security forces to Kovils and Churches in the Tamil areas. However, attacks on places of worship had to be condemned. "By banning the LTTE, the government has closed the door on a political solution. It has shown its true face and is not interested in talks,' Ponnambalam said.
Scope of Ban
The Extraordinary Gazette notification No. 1012/16 of 27 January 1998 that proscribed the LTTE under regulations promulgated under the Public Security Ordinance states that its provisions "also apply to every other organisation and to everybody or group of persons engaged in activities substantially similar to those carried on by the organisation styled as the LTTE.”
The regulations apply to any person
(a) wears any uniform, dress, symbol, or other emblem which signifies or indicates any association with or membership of or adherence to the proscribed organi - sation; or - -
(b) summons or attends a meeting of such proscribed organisation or participates orengages in any activity ofor connected with or related to such proscribed organisation; or
(c) supports such proscribed organisation by inviting or exhorting persons to be enrolled as members, contributing or collecting funds, or furnishing information or securing other assistance to such proscribed organisation; or
(d) harbours, conceals or in any other manner assists any members of such proscribed organisation with intent thereby to prevent, hinder or interfere with the apprehension on trial or punishment of such member; or
(e) makes, prints, distributes or publishes or is in any way concerned in the making, printing, distribution or publication of any writing or printed matter which is or purports to be published by or on behalf of such proscribed organisation or by any member thereof; or
(f) communicates or attempts to com(continued on next page)

Page 7
*{'' ''.. ' .. 1st EBRUARY 1998
The First Wol Jaffna May
of the Jaffna elections as a turning
point in the politics of Jaffna. They also see much political significance in the fact that the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), captured two local bodies, the Jaffna Municipal Council and the Valigamam North Pradeshiya Sabha, the only two Councils to which the TULF fielded candidates. Among the Tamil political parties which participated in these elections, the TULF was the only unarmed political party. The TULF's nomination papers were rejected on a technicality by the officials of the Election Commission. The party had to go to the Courts to get its nominations reinstated which happened only a few days before the election took place by which time the other parties were well ahead with their campaigning. The victory of the TULF, in spite of these odds, is seen as a reflection of the desire on the part of the people of Jaffna to bring about an "unarmed democracy' back into their day to life. Some observed that the outcome of the elections marked the return of the TULF back to its base in Jaffna after 14 long years.
Pot observers see the outcome
Following the a election result, the M Sivasithamparam tion of the Tamil pe of a return to peace a large they had den Tamil community w framework in the no
The gun-culture an end and the city areas desperately ne istration, Mrs. Saroj first elected woman Municipal Council t ing the local authori 29 January in the no sula.
"If we want to r to the glory it once e of non-violence mus Mrs Yogeswaran sai Mrs Yogeswar former TULF Mem Vettivel Yogeswara nated along with th General Mr A Amirth by the Tamil Tigers possibility of a dialo
(continued from page 5) municate to any other person in any manner, any order, decision, declaration or exhortation made or purported to have been made by such proscribed organisation or by any member thereof or any information relating thereto for the purpose of advancing the objectives of such proscribed organisation.
Any person found guilty of an offence under the regulations on conviction is liable to imprisonment for a period of not less than seven years and not exceeding fifteen years.
The regulations also empowers the Minister of Defence to forfeit to the State any moneys, securities or credits intended to or are being used by the LTTE. The regulations however exclude international organisations rendering humanitarian assistance from the strict application of the provisions.
The LTTE was banned by the Indian government following its involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and it was only on 28 January 1998 that a special court which
was presiding over til sentenced to death 2 indicted on various with the assassinati
The United State tober last year, incl list of 32 “foreign ter Canadian courts alsc as a "terrorist organ Following its a LTTE, the governme appear to have eng persuade western g action against LTTE organisations operat Meanwhile, on a the Attorney Gener. Court Judge, N Ran 27 January a warrar LTTE leader V Pir gence Chief Pottu A ers in connection w on the Central Bank They have been c counts including th ians and damage c Bank and other adj(

TAM TIMES
nouncement of the TULF President Mr said that a large secople were in favour ld normalcy. By and monstrated that the anted a democratic rth.
should be brought to and its surrounding 2d a civilian adminini Yogeswaran, the Mayor of the Jaffna old the press followty elections held on rthern Jaffna penin
estore this city back njoyed, the principle t be the foundation,' d.
an, widow of the hber of Parliament, n who was assassie TULF's Secretary halingam in Colombo in 1989, held out the gue with the LTTE,
he trial convicted and 6 persons who were charges connected ), s government, in Ocuded the LTTE in a roristorganisations”. have held the LTTE isation". :tion in banning the nt of Sri Lanka would aged a campaign to overnments to take branches and its front ng in their countries. n indictment filed by l, the Colombo High achandran issued on t for the arrest of the abakaran, its Intellimman and eight othith the bomb attack on 31 January 1996. harged with fifteen murder of 72 civilused to the Central ining buildings. O
as a step toward achieving real peace in Jaffna. She felt that effective peace could be achieved only when an agreement was reached between the government and the LTTE. She would remain in Jaffna and would do everything possible to initiate talks with the LTTE with a view to consolidating the peace in the northern capital, Mrs. Yogeswaran said.
Stating that the armed forces had conducted themselves in an exemplary manner during the elections, Mrs Yogeswaran
said that it was important that the Tamil
people should no longer be intimidated or threatened. The people of Jaffna do not want to be harassed by armed groups. During the elections, many of the TULF candidates withdrew because they felt threatened by the gun-culture the armed groups had introduced, she added. '
Speaking to a Colombo journalist who saw her at her home in Jaffna following the election, Mrs Yogeswaran said she too received many a threat to refrain from contesting the election adding that the fear among the people was so great that she had difficulty in getting people onto the nominations list.
Sarojini had to spend hours convinc, ing her supporters to go out on the streets and campaign for her. She had to appeal to others to come forth as polling agents to monitor the election booths. The generalised reluctance even among those who wanted her to win was fear primarily from the LTTE and then from other armed groups which had entered the election fray.
"I have no wish to be surrounded by armed guards. I want to be close to the people and not be shielded by a armed human wall." Sarojini said.
"This war-torn city and its suburbs desperately need a civilian administration. "The military checkpoints virtually (continued on next page)

Page 8
TAL TIMEs
Protes and Probe
Attack Onn Journa
cores of journalists demonstrated on the streets of Colombo on 19 January in protest against intimidatory attack on the home of a senior journalist. The protesters shouted slogans and waved placards reading "Hands off the Press" during the demonstration organised by the Free Media Movement (FMM).
The protests followed the intimidatory and threatening invasion by men armed with firearms of the home of one of Sri Lanka's senior journalist, Iqbal Athas who writes a weekly column on defence and military related matters for
(continued from page 7)
at every hundred metres do not provide a climate for freedom and peace," Mrs Yogeswaran said.
Mrs Yogeswaran said that she wanted see that facilities such as roads, sewage, drainage and other municipal facilities were restored and improved. Maternity and child clinics have to be setup. Lots of funds were needed, and already some foreign governments had promised help, She wanted to meet the President whom she had never met and discuss some of her priority projects she had in mind for the people of Jaffna.
"The people of Jaffna are disillusioned and desperate for peace. They have had enough of suffering and loss of life. They are really pining for peace. The army at present is good and is keeping the peace, but as I said earlier, we don't want the gun culture any more. We daily pray for peace and hope the major parties will come up with proposals which the Tamil people can accept," Mrs Yogeswaran told the press.
Frederica Jansz, who visited Jaffna during the election, in her column in the Sunday Times wrote, "While many in Jaffna have no idea (of) what the government proposed devolution package entails, they did however perceive that the local polls were an initial step towards establishing normalcy in the area. Further that this would in the long term relieve civilians from a constant military presence. Strangely many said they preferred the presence of the military to any other political party.
the privately-owl Times'.
At about 9 pm Athas later recalled, his home, while he relaxing in front of bedroom. The gunn ian attire - light yell shirt - went up to automatic pistol poi temple and then his death, Athas screa who Athas suspects was not alone. Fou constituted the team
o
"It is interesting dominates conversat the elections, but the ing “Operation Rivir has clearly not only c tween the Sinhalese has caused fragment: even among the Ta Jaffna. Many of thos to government heldt concern for those left Instead it is the dama erty and the loss of dominates conversati were driven out of LTTE and underwen returning to find m occupied by the arm bitter memories that will seemingly not f
"The humiliatio points is yet another people of Jaffna. W seem to make a gen mane, it does not co miliation the civiliar vilian to travel from it takes 6 hours. Th checked 19 times in : distance is 25 miles
"Many expresse ernment will provid on to restoring peac that 43% of an esti ble voters have call framework is a clear that the people in Jaf nce and seek only to a conflict that has
 

ed “The Sunday
on 12 January, as a gunman burst into
and his wife were a television in their lan, who was civil)w trousers and a TAthas and aimed an nt-blank at his right shest. Facing instant med. The gunman, o be a military man, r other armed men that broke into the
to note that what ion in Jaffna is not exodus in 1995 duresa”, The ethnic var 'reated divisions beand the Tamils but tion to occur within „mil community in e who have returned erritory do not share behind in the Wanni. ge to personal propmaterial goods that on. The fact that they their homes by the immense suffering, any of their homes ed forces, are (with) the people of Jaffna )rget,
suffered at checkhorn endured by the hile the military do line effort to be humpensate for the hus undergo. For a ciPallai to Jaffna city, y would need to be nd out of Jaffna. The
i hope that the gova long term solutie in Jaffna. The fact nated 250,000 eligied for a democratic message to the LTTE na are tired of violepeaceful resolution one on for too long.'
15 FEBRUARY 1998
journalist's home, while 10 to 15 others also armed with automatics were waiting outside Athas's home in Nugegoda, just a few miles from the centre of the capital, Colombo. After 25 minutes of intimidation and menacing threats, the gang left and disappeared into the dark when the journalist's daughter continued screaming and sobbing uncontrollably,
The gang of five mysterious men broke in at about 8.45 pm, after they assaulted the journalist's domestic aide, Subramaniam, and forced opened the main gate. Subramaniam had spotted three men standing by the side entrance who said they wanted to see Athas immediately because they wanted some news item published in his newspaper. When Subramaniam asked for their identity, the men flashed what appeared to be security services ID cards. And when Subramaniam replied that Athas was not in, one of men assaulted him with an automatic and forced him to lead them inside the home. One inside they burst into the bedroom.
The seasoned journalist said that the men carried themselves like soldiers each brandishing SLAF standard-issue Browning 9mms. "These were people from a service. Their build and demeanour leave me firmly convinced that they were servicemen,
Mr Athas expressed his thanks to the Defence Secretary Chandrananda De Silva and Director of Information Ariya Rupesinghe for promptly organising a round-the-clock security watch at his residence after the he had complained to them about the failure of the police to respond to his request for protection,
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for an immediate investigation into the attack by armed men on the home of Iqbal Athas. "The CPJ is gravely concerned over an attack on Thursday by armed men on the home of Iqbal Athas, an internationally respected Sri Lankan journalist. The CPC urges your excellency to undertake animmediate and thorough investigation into this latest incident,' CPJ said in a letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
For its part, the Sri Lankan government on 13 January condemned the attack by armed men on the home of Iqbal Athas and said it had ordered an investigation into the incident. "President (Chandrika Kumaratunga) has already issued strict instructions to the relevant authorities to ensure that the offenders are dealt with in terms of the law irrespective of the position they hold or influence they wield,' Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said in a statement. O

Page 9
is rebRUARY 1998
aiaia
fter 17 years of its destruction, the Aih Public Library was re
opened on Thai Pongal day, 14 January, in a refurbished building in the presence of a large gathering attended by three cabinet ministers and Members of Parliament.
The original Jaffna Public Library, a storehouse of rare Tamil literature and old manuscripts, was set on fire and destroyed by a rampaging group of policemen in May 1981. Many had described the destruction of the Library as an act of cultural incineration aimed at destroying the heritage of the Tamil people. Many attributed the development of Tamil politics into armed militancy, particularly among the then youth to the callous and senseless destruction of the Library.
The new library is housed in a temporary building, and will eventually move to a new building on its original site, which is being rebuilt at a cost of 11 million US dollars. Britain, India and private collectors have donated money and books to the resurrection of the Library.
Government spokesmen say that the Library's re-opening is an important step towards correcting historic injustices committed against Tamil people.
The following is the text of the recorded speech delivered by Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar: "For many decades before 1981, Jaffna had a library of rare excellence - a library that was one of the finest in the whole of Asia. That library contained not only a comprehensive collection of English and Tamil books on all intellectual disciplines; it also contained a priceless collection of manuscripts and old literature in the Tamil language.
It was a library from which generations of students, scholars, teachers, researchers and townsfolk of Jaffna derived much pleasure and profit. It was one of he centre of cultural life in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The library was roused in a handsome building.
In 1981, in one fell swoop, the library as as destroyed. Every book and manuscript in it was burnt. That handsome building was gutted. It stands today as a ghostly relic of what it once was. The
crime that was com day 17 years ago w chief. It was a calcul of the Tamil peopl was intended to del ate the Tamil people that act have gone u has been made over to restore or re-buil an act of atonemen that library has lef psyche of the Tami that is well rememt world wherever bot found and scholars
When Presiden ranaike Kumaratun, fice in 1994, she de it became practically Government of Sri and re-build the Pub That opportunity has the Jaffna Peninsula Government of Sri ) During the last notice of the Gover through visiting jo social and humanita zens of Jaffna, and t Army, that the peo very much to have dent decided that thi oured immediately. While plans hav for re-building and ary, she felt it was I of urgency to provo Jaffna a temporary was made, I remem 2nd of Septemberl A Presidential pointed to oversee the Jaffna Public Lib ening of the Library This Committee of cluded the late Ver Pagnasara, Mahana Nikaya. On his de able members of t pointed to the Comr hiyawela Vijitha Mahanayake of the the Venerable Dr M Nayaka Thera, Pri
 

TAL TES9
mitted in Jaffna that as not an act of misated blow to the pride 2. It was an act that moralise and humili
!. The perpetrators of npunished. No effort all those many years i that library even as C. The destruction of a deep scar on the | people. It is an act bered throughout the oks and libraries are congregate. t Chandrika Bandaga was elected to ofcided that as soon as | possible to do so the Lanka would restore lic Library of Jaffna. arisen. It arose when was re-taken by the Lanka.
year it came to the nment in many ways, urnalists, diplomats, rian workers, the citihrough the Sri Lanka ple of Jaffna wished a library. The presis wish should be hon
re already been made restoring the old librnecessary, as a matter de for the people of library. That decision ber very well, on the ast year.
Committee was apthe Establishment of rary and the StrengthSystem in Sri Lanka. eminent persons inerable Pottewala Sri yake of the Ramanna ath two other Venerhe Sangha were apmittee - the Ven Maditena Thera, Acting Ramanna Nikaya, and edagoda Sumanatissa ncipal, Sunethradevi
Maha Pirivena. The other members of the Committee are: The Rt. Rev Bishop Oswald Gomis of the Catholic Church, The Rt Rev Bishop Kenneth Fernando of the Anglican Church, Mr. K. Balapatabendi, PC, Secretary to the President, Dr K D Arulpragasam, Prof Savithri Goonasekera, Mr Yogendra Duraiswamy, Mr K Kanag-Isvaran, PC, Mr Mano Chanmugam and Mr Sinha Basnayake.
The Hon Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Media and I are the Co-Chairmen of the Committee.
In four months our goal of establishing a new Public Library in Jaffna has been accomplished. At last a Government of Sri Lanka seeks to repair a terrible wrong that was inflicted on the Tamil people.
On the shelves of the library, as it opens today, there are some 8,000 books. Many thousands more will come. I wish to take this opportunity of conveying our sincere appreciation and gratitude, on behalf of Her Excellency the President, the Government of Sri Lanka, and the Presidential Committee, to the governments, institutions, organisations and individuals who have donated the books which will form the initial nucleus of the new Jaffna Library and provided other services for the establishment of the library.
The Government of India headed by Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral has made a generous initial donation of almost two thousand English books; The Government of the State of Tamil Nadu headed by Chief Minister Karunanidhi has made a generous initial donation of almost 1500 Tamil books. Both Governments have pledged continuing support for the Jaffna Library.
The British Council headed by Sir John Hanson and by Mr. Peter Ellwood in Sri Lanka, the British Library headed by Dr. Gordon Lang, and Book Aid International, a charitable organisation which sends books to libraries in developing countries, headed by Ms. Sarah Harrity, have already extended enthusiastic and dedicated support, and have pledged continuing support for the Jaffna Library project.
Our thanks also go to the Asia Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Asia Society, three prestigious institutions with headquarters in the United States of America, for the pledges of support which they have given for the development of the Jaffna Library.
I thank the Chairman and management of Air Lanka for the assistance rendered in transporting consignments of books from the United Kingdom and India. (continued on page 19)

Page 10
10 TAM TIMES
ll 26 accused who stood trial in the
Rajiv Gandhi assassination case
have been sentenced to death. The Designated Judge, TADA Court-1 who pronounced the judgement in the high security Poonamallee special prison-cumcourt complex in Chennai in Tamil Nadu, held that all the accused were guilty of conspiring to assassinate the former Prime Minister, with the help of the LTTE. The
DEAFOR A72
legraphy Act and als tted under various IPO,
Rajiv Gandhi Sriperumbudur, abc on 21 May 1991 by : ber, Dhanu, who se as he was approac venue of a campaign general elections,
s. Kanagasabapathy Athirai
B. Robert Payas
death sentence was subject to confirmation by the Supreme Court.
"In this case Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister was assassinated in pursuance of a diabolical plot, carefully conceived and executed by a highly organised foreign terrorist organisation, the LTTE. Sixteen innocent lives were lost and many sustained grievous/simple injuries. Considering the above circumstances, I hold this the rarest of rare cases and I award the death sentence for the accused." The judge, Mr VNavaneetham, said. The judge also said that from the evidence, oral and documentary, it was established by the prosecution that the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi and others was hatched by the LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran,
Besides the charge of conspiracy, the Judge also held that the accused were guilty of offences under the provisions of the TADA Act, the Explosive Substances Act, the Arms Act, the Passport Act, the Foreigners Act and the Wireless and Te
The chargeshe Investigation Team 1992, exactly a ye tion, sought to piece of events from Jul assassination. It list sed. Twelve of ther 10 were Sri Lanka clared proclaimed the 26 accused in they were lodged Poonamallee prisc
The LTTE sup its intelligence wir and the deputy chi lligence wing, Akh claimed abscondel ckiachandran, Dh. Nehru alias Gokhu Santhan, Suresh Kishore, Amma1 Anna alias Kirtl Jamila are all dea into nearly 2,000p out only the opera
 
 
 
 
 
 

for offences commither sections of the
was assassinated at ut 50 km from here, woman suicide-bomoff a belt bomb just hing the dais at the meeting for the 1991
15 FEBRUARY 1998
self took almost the entire day. The trial started on 19 January 1994 and concluded on 5 November 1997. The Judge held that the charge of conspiracy had been proved against all the accused. In respect of Nalini (Accused 1) and Perarivalan (A 18), the Judge held that the charges against them under IPC section 302 had also been proved. The Judge held that Nalini shared the common intention to assassinate Rajiv Ghandi and convicted her under 16 counts,
He also found her guilty under Section 3(2) of the TADA Act as the assassination was a terrorist act committed on Indian soil. She was also found guilty under Section 326 of the IPC (causing griev
D. Vijayanandan
, S. jayakumar
豹*魔
, Shanti
S. Wijayan
it filed by the Special of the CBI on 20 May ar after the assassinatogether the sequence y 1987 leading to the ed 41 persons as accuwere dead, of whom ls and three were deabsconders. None of custody got bail and in the high security l. remo V Prabhakaran, g chief, Pottu Amman if of its women's intela, were declared pro1. Sivarasan alias Bhanu, Subha, Haribabu, , Shanmugam, Gundu Master, Dixon alias alias Gaigaikumar, and Kamuna alias l. The judgement ran ges and the Judge read ive portions which it
ous injuries to 13 persons) and under Section 324 (causing simple injuries to 6 persons). Nalini, who married another accused, Murugan, while they were in custody was found guilty ofharbouring, conspiring, abetment and preparatory to the commissioning of a terrorist act and also that she had indulged in a disruptive act under Section 4(3) of TADA Act.
Perarivalan, who prepared the belt bomb was found guilty under Section 3(3) of TADA Act, Section 302 of the IPC read with Section 109 of the IPC (abatement), Sections 326 and 324 of the IPC. Section 6(1)A of the Wireless and Telegraphy Act, Section 12 of the Passport Act and Section 4(3) read with Section 4(1) of the TADA Act. The charge against Perarivalan was that he purchased two 9 volt cells to detonate the bomb,
While Santhan (A2) was found guilty under Section 3(3) of the TADA Act and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. Murugan (A3) was found guilty under Section (continued on next page)

Page 11
15 FEBRUARY 1998
he signing of the lindo-Sri Lanka Accord on 29 July 1987, which put an end to the LTTE's sole aim and objective to form a separate Tamil Eelam, was the main motive behind the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister, according to the finding given by the Designated Court-I which on 28 January sentenced to death all the 26 accused in the case.
The Judge culled out the evidence to show how the hatred, sown in the mind of the LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran, developed into a motive to kill Rajiv Gandhi. Prabhakaran was disappointed because the LTTE was not recognised by Rajiv Gandhi as the sole representative
RAJ\
HS
of the Sri Lankan T. during his visit to D ing of the accord) th Tamil groups, viz TELO, PLOTE, ER part in the discussio at the behest of Raj
The Judge not was not satisfied w LTTE was not made
In this context, t
W. Seiyauxtni S. Baskaran
drumiborai
s. Bhagyanathan . ܝ ܢ
|XXXXXX22
s. Padma
(Continued from page 10) 3(3) of the TADA Act, Section 14 of the Foreigners Act and Section 6(1)A of the Wireless and Telegraphy Act. Sankaralias Koneswaran (A4), T Vijayanandan (A5) and Ruban alias Sureshkumar (A6) were found guilty under Section 3(3) of the TADA Act and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. Kanagasabapathy (A7) was found guilty under Sections 3(3) and 3(4) of the DADA Act, IPC Section 212 and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, Athiral alias Chandralekha (A8) under Section 3(4) of the TADA Act IPC Section 212 and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act.
The others convicted are: Robert Pyas. Jayakumar, J Shanthi, P Vijayan, Selvalakshmi, Bhaskaran, Shanmugavadivelo alias Thambi Anna, Ravichandran alias Ravi alias Prakasam, Mahesh alias Surendran, Irumborai, S Bhagyanathan, S Padma, Sundaram alias Subha Sundaram, K Dhanasekharan, Rangan, Vickey alias Vigneswaran and J. Rynganath. O
. Vigneswaran
of prosecution w Gopalasamy, forme who was then in the retary, MDMK, to forest, clandestinely ruary 1989 and his m aran was relevant a
The Judge saidt Jaffna and his meet and others were vi ing his deposition, h cassette (marked as ing his trip to Jaff
 
 
 
 
 
 

TAL TMIES 11
/ KILLED TO PREVENT
RETURN TO POWER
mils as he could find elhi (before the signat the leaders of other EPRLF, ENDLE, OS, TULF also took h (at the meeting held iv Gandhi). 2d that Prabhakaran ith the accord as the
a party to it. he Judge said the visit
prosecution, PW 250, while addressing the International Tamil Conference in London in 1988, had stated that Prabhakaran told him on the phone that "he was betrayed by the Government of India by Rajiv Gandhi and he was stabbed in the back.'
But during cross-examination, PW 250 denied having said that. The Judge said from the evidence the only conclusion that could be arrived at was that he
P. Rawichartiar
Subfå Sundaram
炎
G. Perarivalan
------------ଽ
Sukseendran
K, Dhartasekarari
j, Ranganath
itness 250, (Mr V r Rajya Sabha MP), DMK), General SecJaffna and Vavunia by a boat on 6 Febeeting with Prabhaknd significant. he visit of PW 250 to ng with Prabhakaran leographed and dure identified the video an exhibit) containna. According to the
did speak at the conference (as above) and his denial in this regard had been proved to be false in his cross examination.
The Judge was of the view that though PW 250 turned hostile his evidence in the light of a Supreme Court decision had to be accepted. He deposed to the court that the movements of the undisputed leader of the LTTE were curtailed in Delhi. No one was allowed to meet him. On 29 July 1987, when the accord was signed in Colombo by Rajiv Gandhi and J R Jayawardene, Prabhakaran was in Delhi. It was at that point of time the seed of hatred against Rajiv Gandhi was sown in the mind of Prabhakaran.'
The Judge noted that this hatred which developed in the mind of Prabhakaran in Delhi developed in the mind of Prabhakaran in Delhi developed into animosity against Rajiv Gandhi in view of the events that took place after the IPKF was inducted in Sri Lanka.
The Judge also referred to the depo(continued on next page)

Page 12
12 TAM TIMES
THE JAFFNAELEC
DBS Jeyaraj
Jaffna peninsula were held on 29 January. When polls were announced first a great outcry arose against it from Tamil political and newspaper circles based in Colombo. This opposition was based on the premise that "normalcy' was not prevailing in Jaffna. With the army in sole authority all local bodies would only play an insignificant subservient role it was pointed out. The priority of the people was not polls but rehabilitation and reconstruction it was said. In view of LTTE opposition the elections were going to be a recipe for disaster was another opinion. Some accused the government of trying to hoodwink International opinion through the staging of "cosmetic' elections it was stated.
Tamil political parties like the Tamil United Liberation Front, Eelam People's Democratic Party, People's Liberation organisation of Thamil Eelam, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation and Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front appealed to the government against the scheduled polls. They asked for an indefinite postponement of the elections. Elections had been announced twice before and postponed in deference to Tamil party requests. Their opposition was that the ground situation was not conducive and that they did not have enough time for political work. This time their appeals did not work.
President Kumaratunga seemed determined this time that elections to the Jaffna local authorities should definitely
E lections to 17 local authorities in the
be held. Other gove seemed to be of the S appointed Jaffna D mander General Li confident that despi by the Liberation Tig it would be possibl tively successful ele With the govern in its resolve to go the only alternative litical parties was tc their opposition to t it. If they possessed could have also issu the government thre their support if Jaf held. But that did n ernment seemed to rhetoric the Tamil p position to even th support at the prese ver these parties bes valries were unable t course of action.
The lack of uni ties was demonstral unfolded. When Ta pay lip service to th the government si People's Alliance w who would then be The Tamil parties wi bluff. So very sheep contest. The next ste these parties could approach and prese didates. Again mee
(Continued from page ll) sition made by Vazhapadi, Mr K Ramamurthy (PW 258, former TNCC-1 President) that the Congress Party was committed to the accord of July 1987. The Judge said the Congress-I election manifesto showed Rajiv Ghandi's commitment to the accord and to protect the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka.
If Rajiv Gandhi were to return to power, the avowed objective of achieving an independent “Tamil Eelam” would remain a dream for the LTTE and Prabhakaran.
Therefore, the one and only way such an event could be prevented was by preempting the possibility of Rajiv Gandhi coming back to power by eliminating him
and this was the ir designing the consp Referring to the fence counsel, that groups like ULFA Punjab militants we dhi, the Judge said Gandhi had threats groups in India.
There was not dence available in t contention of the c On the other hand stances proved in nesses and docume beyond any doubt the LTTE alone ha to kill Rajiv Ghanc

15FEBRUARY 1998
nment ministers too me view. The newly istrict Army Comonel Balagalle was e a perceived threat ers of Thamil Eelam to conduct a relaction. ment remaining firm head with the polls left to the Tamil poremain steadfast in he polls and boycott he political will they led an ultimatum to atening to withdraw na local polls were ot happen. The govknow that for all the arties were not in a reaten withdrawing ent moment. Moreoet with their own rio adopt any common
y among Tamil pared clearly as events mil parties began to e boycott possibility mply stated that the ould field candidates elected uncontested. 're unable to call their ishly they decided to p was to see whether formulate a common ht a joint list of cantings held to discuss
mediate motive for iracy. arguments of the demany other militant J&K militants and e against Rajiv Gant was true that Rajiv from some militant
even an iota of eviis case to support the unsel in this regard. he facts and circumis case through witts clearly established hat Prabhakaran and a very strong motive
unity proved fruitless.
The failure among the Tamil parties to adopt a common approach towards the elections as well as the government could be attributed to three things. It is no secret that all non-LTTE Tamil political parties have, obtained political space to operate only because of the protection given by the security forces. They are able to be physically present only in those areas cleared and controlled by the army. They face total destruction at the hands of the LTTE if they even dare venture into Tiger territory. Even local polls in Jaffna had been made possible only because the army was in control of Jaffna.
In that context no Tamil Political Party can afford to effectively challenge any government in power and withdraw support because they would then lose their only form of protection against the LTTE, compounding this situation further is the fact that all these parties are involved with the government effort to seek greater devolution, a task that is yet to conclude satisfactorily. To break off support to the government would be premature at this point.
Secondly the mistrust and oneupmanship among the Tamil parties was great. If one party withdrew support, it feared that the other party would then ingratiate itself with the government by continuing support and obtain benefits. Likewise each party suspected that if one boycotted the polls the other would rush ahead with a nomination list and try to get elected unopposed. This stood in the way of meaningful unity.
Thirdly notwithstanding their professed antipathy to the polls these parties also had sneaky desires of proving their electoral prowess at some kind of polls. It was very necessary therefore to contest and demonstrate their strength in Jaffna still considered the premier enclave of the Sri Lankan Tamils. Apart from trying to gauge their support those parties enjoying a working relationship with the armed forces may have also entertained fond hopes of engineering an enhanced victory through military machinations as was the case during the IPKF period. The local authority representatives were also entitled to remuneration. Besides there was a strong possibility that future rehabilitation projects would be implemented through these councils.
All these reasons contributed to the Tamil parties entering the electoral fray. That the government had shrewdly played its cards was visible from the last day of the nominations. It appeared that apart from the TULF all other parties namely the EPDP, PLOTE, EPRLF and TELO had entered candidates for all seventeen

Page 13
15 FEBRUARY 1998
local authorities. Obviously these parties while calling for a postponement publicly had been preparing for polls privately,
On the last day of nominations two upsets took place. An overzealous Elections Department official sent from Colombo misdirected himself when interpreting electoral provisions. Without taking the differences in group nominations and individual nominations into account, he disqualified entire lists for technical errors concerning individual candidates. As a result the TULF which fielded only two lists found itself rejected and ejected out of elections because two candidates had fallen foul of the age qualifications. The EPRLF found five Of their nomination papers rejected because formalities concerning attestations by Commissioners of Oaths had not been followed,
Both the TULF and EPRLF went to courts challenging the Elections Commissioner's decision. The Election Commissioner and Attorney-General's departments decided not to contest these challenges. So the EPRLF found itself eligible to contest in the rejected five councils again. In the case of the TULF an unexpected problem arose. The PLOTE went to courts independently contesting the TULF right to have its nominations accepted. The PLOTE refused to compromise on this. It was surmised that PLOTE intransigence was because it feared the TULF would eat into votes that may have been cast for the PLOTE in the absence of the former at the hustings. The TULF went to the appeal courts and got clearance to contest in the teeth of legal opposition by the PLOTE. The TULF entered the arena just a week ahead of elections. Elections were held to the Jaffna Municipal Council; Chavakachcheri, PointPedro and Valvettithurai Urban Councils; and the thirteen Pradeshiya Sabhas (AGA divisions) of Velanai, Delft, Kayta, Chavakachcheri, Nallur, Pachilaippalli, Point Pedro, Valigamam North, Valigamam West, Valigamam East, Valigamam South, Valigamam South West and Vadamaratchi South West. The EPDP, PLOTE, TELO and EPRLF contested all 17 local authorities. The TULF contested the Jaffna Municipal and Valigamam North Pradeshiya Councils. A breakaway group from the EPDP contested the Velanai and Kayts Councils as Independent groups,
The results in a nutshell were as folllows. The TULF came first in the Jaffna Municipality with Mrs Sarojini Yogeswaran, widow of former Jaffna MPV Yogeswaran being elected as Mayor. This is the first time that a woman has been elected first citizen of Jaffna. The TULF also won Valigamam North Pradeshiya Sabha. The TELO won the Valvettithurai
Urban Council. The registered Political p People's Liberation F councils of Point Ped and the Pradeshiya hilaippalli and Cha EPDP won the rem Pradeshiya Sabhas. '' EPDP - Ten Pradesh - two Urban Councils Sabhas. TULF - One and one Pradeshiya S Urban Council,
The total number isters for all 7 loc 57 1486; The total nu was 106,464; The spc were 14,868, The tot votes counted were number of candidate enteen councils were Of these the EPD all by getting 38,719. 25,576 and got 62 sea 13,141 was entitlec TELO got 7,036 vote tally is for the four p. all 17 councils,
In the case of the tested only two coun votes and got 20 seats ent groups that conti got 919 votes and thi At face value the all Political parties that are fairly well one group came firs whitewash thanks to representation system also able to wrest co Given the EPDP tot the total valid votes share of 10 councils ( the 234 council seats have done best.
The EPDP got ni mentary seats alloca 1994 elections. The fil ess prevalent then er do so by polling just The local polls seems party to assert that it mass based party in t moot point however would have been di had contested everyw structed while camp: Apart from these of course the covert yed by the LTTE. TE were not in favour of had warned election operate in the proces up posters and issued ple not to support or Expecting an LTTE b

TAM L TIMES
PLOTE through its rty, the Democratic ront won the Urban ro, Chavakachcheri Sabhas of Pachcvakachcheri. The inder, all of them the final tally was ya Sabhas; PLOTE and two Pradeshiya Municipal Council |abha; TELO - One
of voters on the regal Authorities was mber of votes polled ilt or rejected votes cal number of valid 91596. The total elected to the sev234, P won 105 seats in The PLOTE Polled ts. The EPRLF with to 26 seats. The s and 18 seats. This arties that contested
TULF which concils it polled 6,361 . The two independested two Councils
"ee S6eatᏚ.
results indicate that have support bases spread out. Even if t it was not a total the proportionate . Other parties were ntrol of some seats. all of about 43% of polled With its lion but of 17 and 105 of that party seems to
ne out of ten Parliated to Jaffna in the awed electoral procabled the EPDP to about 10,000 votes. to have helped that is the single largest he Peninsula. It is a whether the results ferent if the TULF here and was not obigning. overt roles there is or invisible role plale Tigers apparently the elections. They officials not to cos. They had also put leaflets asking peovote for candidates, acklash security was
tightened for some of the known candi
dates. A unique feature of this poll was
the non-revelation of the names of candidates other than the first two on lists due to security reasons. There were no prearranged mass meetings or processions, Only limited house to house canvassing and unannounced pocket meetings were held. All because of fear that the LTTE would target the candidates. As the day of election drew near it looked as if the LTTE was not going to gun down candidates after all. Whether this was a deliberate decision or a virtue made of necessity is not clear, But some analysts predicted that the LTTE would like to test its psychological grip on the Tamil people by encouraging voter abstinence,
In order to perhaps instil insecurity and trepidation among the people it executed two major attacks during election week, The LTTE in a swift move overran and demolished an EPDP camp at Punkudutheevu killing eleven. On election eve the LTTE launched an attack on Army positions on the Gurunagar coast by sea. This resulted in heavy exchanges of gunfire unnerving Jaffna citizenry. This also resulted in voting itself beginning two hours late as the armed forces had to perform extra duties and maintain greater vigilance in the interests of elections security because of the LTTE attack.
Thus it was clear that the LTTE wanted the people to refrain from voting in the polls. Viewed against that backdrop, the phenomenon of only 106,464 persons out of an electoral roll of 571,486 casting their votes seems to be an indirect victory for the “unseen contestants” the LTTE. From that perspective only about 18% have voted and if you take the total valid votes after discarding the spoilt votes then only 16% have voted. This perspective however would not be entirely correct in view of another dimension namely the actual extent of voters present in the peninsula.
Although the voting registers state the figure as 571,000 that is not correct in actual terms. The registers have not been updated or revised for several years and therefore do not reflect the current situation. Thanks to continuous migration from the peninsula exacerbated in 1995 by the great "exodus" to the Vanni, the population of Jaffna is quite depleted. The actual number is said to be only 440,000 at present. Of this about 235,000 to 250,000 only are eligible voters.
In that context, the voter turnout in Jaffna is certainly much higher in percentage terms. It suggests a 40% plus voter turnout in Jaffna, The turnout in the Municipality is much higher reaching nearly to 50%. Again it could be argued that even

Page 14
14 TAMIL TIMES
a 40% to 45% voter turnout is nothing great when compared to pre-1983 elections in Jaffna where it has been usually about 50%. Also comparative elections in the South have seen about a 65% to 70% turnout. But then the situation in Jaffna today cannot be compared to the Jaffna of yesteryear. Nor can it be equated to the Southern Sri Lankan situation.
The cards were really stacked against a high voter turnout in the elections due to a number of reasons. In the first place there had been right from the start a feeling of resentment against the holding of elections described by the Colombo Tamil media as an imposed one from above. Even after the Tamil political parties had decided to enter the hustings, the Colombo based Tamil media with the exception of State Controlled newspapers kept up a sustained campaign against it. It was a virtual tirade admonishing all and sundry for imposing an election that amounted to a "betrayal of the Tamil people”.
Apart from this even some responsi. ble sections of Jaffna society including the Catholic Bishop Rt Rev Thomas Soundranayagam and some prominent educationists expressed misgivings about the timing of the elections. There was also expressed a viewpoint that the priority of the people was relief and rehabilitation. It was also felt that no kind of active and free democracy was possible in a war situation, a climate in which it was the army that laid down the law. Even the times for garbage collection or lighting of street lamps had to be determined by the soldiers it was felt.
In such a context all elected local authority councillors would become powerless puppets of the military, it was pointed out. Moreover increased hostile activity by the LTTE against these bodies and their members would result in them becoming virtually defunct. The example of the Eastern Province councils were cited. The only sensible solution was for elections to take place in a climate of peace. For that to happen a dialogue had to commence between the government and the LTTE was the feeling.
It is interesting to note that when criticism against the holding of elections was expressed by Tamil opinion makers and distinguished citizens, the behavioural pattern of the LTTE was taken for granted as being against the elections. The proponents of elections were faulted but not the LTTE in any way for impeding the process. Again that is the current Tamil reality where only one Side is constantly criticised and those daring to question the other are eliminated physically or branded as traitors and stooges of the enemy un
fairly. It has still not sponsible sections o recent times Tamil p been overwhelmed that is neither accoul cratically visible. N and all intra-Tamil p turned into an authc
Adding further misgivings about el dia campaign that if was registered, all West as refugees v Since Jaffna, describ economy by Pieter foreign exchange ren naturally upset a lot more there was also projection that the ( cosmetic exercise b gloss over the recer arising out of the A Report about disappe Show the World tha the people of Jaffna. Another depress spective was the qua on display. In fairne many of them genuin groups that have turr now. Also when the some of their cadres further resented. The sual necessity” of names of the candid sons. Normally vo elections by the per she or he goes to vo ticular candidate. T This left the vic restricted 'hobsons the lesser of the fou
an accident that the
the TULF recorded out than others. It c the TULF had col councils, the voter been higher and th ent. The bitter inf groups and their in also put off most p Finally there w though the LTTE c ous annihilation c elections candidate hostility known. I Savagely against t voter turnout woul But again it was n either. So there wa voters. Incidently in the peninsula h; 114 only because disruption.
In the backdro an "abnormal norm

15 FEBRUARY 1998
been realised by re
the Society that in litical discourse has y a dominant entity able or even demodissent is tolerated litical dialogue has itarian monologue. ) the Jaffna voters' ctions was the mea high voter turnout amils living in the ould be sent back. 2d as a money order (euneman, is now a ittance economy this of people. Furtherthe media inspired ntire election was a 7 the government to t negative publicity mnesty International arances in Jaffna and t all was right with
ant from a voter perlity of the candidates ss to the Jaffna voter ely despise all armed led "half-democrats' ese groups proposed as candidates it was In there was the “ununot disclosing the ates for security reaers are enthused in sonality factor where te for his or her parhis was absent here. ters with virtually a choice of selecting revils. It may not be councils contested by a higher voter turnould be argued that if tested in all the 17 turnout would have : results quite differghting between the ernecine propaganda ople.
the LTTE factor. Ald not unleash a furiimpaign against the they did make their the LTTE had been e elections then the have been really low. it viciously intensive a reasonable flow of e 422 polling booths i to be clustered into f fears about LTTE
of this scenario where lcy"prevailsinJaffna
the 40% turnout is quite creditable. The
various Independent Election monitoring teams have recorded some incidents of violence but nothing serious like deaths. Also these were pre-election day incidents. Polling day itself was comparatively peaceful. Unlike the Indian Army period where the IPKF took an active role in electioneering and compelling people to vote,the Sri Lankan army seems to have played a non-partisan role. Although largescale voter rigging was feared because of the unrevised voters lists actual malpractices were minimal mainly because of the vigil maintained by each party against the other. Some impersonation and transporting voters to polling booths has been done. There are also charges of bribery in the form of gifts, money, clothes and liqour. But then these charges have been stated even in other "healthy" elections too.
Thus when one takes into account all the odds heaped against the Jaffna polls the final performance can be deemed satisfactory though not requiring complacency. It remains to be seen as to what beneficial results this poll is going to bring about in the future. The primary objective of this government in staging these elections were to relieve at least a part of the civil administration burden from the armed forces in Jaffna.
Secondly it wanted some form of elected representatives to identify priorities in rehabilitation and formulate development schemes. Foreign governments and donor agencies had indicated very clearly that money for developing Jaffna would be forthcoming only if these requirements were met.
Thirdly the government also wanted to creak into life the long dormant election machinery in Jaffna. The local polls were a rehearsal for other scheduled polls like Parliament, Presidency, Provincial Councils or even a referendum.
Fourthly it was also an opportunity for other Tamil parties to demonstrate to the world that they too enjoyed some political support. It was also a measure to gauge their respective weaknesses. For the armed forces it was an acid test to display their control of Jaffna. Arguably a case can be made out now that the LTTE is in no position at present to totally disrupt the polls and that it could no longer lay claim to being the sole authentic voice of the Sri Lankan Tamils,
Tamil critics in Colombo have been confounded by their Jaffna counterparts' electoral performance. To adapt Neil Armstrong, the Jaffna polls verdict was only a "small step for a local poll exercise but a giant leap for the future of de(continued on next page)

Page 15
is FEBRUARY 1998
FAILURE OF NATION-BU
AND THE COSTS OFW
By Dr. S. Narapalasingam"
ri Lanka has failed in the task of
nation-building since independ
ence. Assets worth billions of rupees which could have been deployed to improve the lives of the people have been diverted into a war effort in which the flower of the country's youth has been decimated. That in substance was the sad confession made by President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the occasion of celebrating 50 years of the island’s independence from colonial rule,
Direct Cost of the War
According to the preliminary findings of a study commissioned by the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka and undertaken by the “Marga Institute”, the direct expenditure incurred both by the government and the LTTE during the period 1983-1996 amounted to Rs. 228 billion. Government's expenditure is estimated to be Rs.190 billion and the balance Rs.38 billion is the amount incurred by the LTTE. Of course, the total direct expenditure incurred would be much higher now, as the process of destruction has continued unabatedly since 1996.
Attention should be drawn to the way the LTTE's direct expenditure has been
(Continued from page 4) mocracy in Jaffna'. Representative democracy which went comatose in 1983 is yet to revive though many optical illusions have been performed. It is important to ensure that the gains of the local polls are consolidated and used to lay the groundwork for a far more strong and endurable democratic structure.
There are negative countervailing factors too. They are the extent to which the LTTE will escalate the conflict in the Peninsula and the State response, the extent to which the armed forces will really hand over power to the councils in practice, the calibre of the elected representatives in maximising their posts for the benefit of the people and the speed and efficiency of the government in providing finance and facilities for development. In spite of these probable difficulties, the collective will of the people can ultimately triumph. If the prudent and pragmatic Jaffna people utilise this first ray of democratic sunlight well they may in the fu...re usher in sunbeams of happiness for
ter future.
estimated in the stus nificantly from that ernments' expenditu tion in the publishe avoid any argument
''Substantial res the LTTE on their fi purchases of arms, a goods and services war. Part of this wol the gross domestic p North and East and the resources mobili try. There is eviden ing been raised thro other means in are: LTTE. The compell exorably drives both ties to an 'arms race case has been no ex
The LTTE has d. ity to engage the g large scale military ( that on their side the used substantial resol Even if it is estimatec are in the region of 20 by the government, conservative estima incurred by the LTTV be regarded as cor prices this would ar lion.
Other Economic C The other econo during the period 19. the aforementioned: 1. The expendi placed persons and lion. (The number ( in December 19 1,017,000).
2. Loss of humal gration (which inclu doctors, engineers, at sionals of various ca lion.
3. The cost of da tion of physical cap (This estimate repr penditure incurred o habilitation and reli
* Former Additional The Treasury, Sri L worked in some other c Adviser in Developme

TAL TIMES 15
LDING AR
ly as this differs sigised to estimate govre. The relevant por| study is quoted to over this estimate. ources are spent by ghting forces and on mmunition and other directly used for the ld be obtained from roduct (GDP) of the bart would consist of sed outside the counce of resources havgh levies, taxes and is controlled by the ing logic of war in| the combating par” and the Sri Lankan ception. isplayed the capabilbvernment forces in operations indicating y have mobilised and urces to fight the war. i that these resources )% of those deployed which is a relatively te, the expenditure WE on the war would siderable. In 1996 mount to Rs. 38 bil
Osts
mic costs of the war 33-1996 indicated in study are as follows: ure incurred on disrefugees: Rs 35 bilif displaced persons 96 increased to
capital through mides large number of cademics and profesegories) : Rs 56 bil
Image to and destrucital : RS 23 billion. esents the total exin reconstruction, ref during the period
Deputy Secretary To
anka who has also puntries as UN/CFTC nt Planning.
1987-1994. Considering the subsequent destructive actions of both sides, this total would also be much higher).
4. Cost of the reconstruction programme required in 1995: Rs 49 billion. This estimate includes the cost of repairs and reconstruction in the border villages but not the cost of reconstructing the houses and resettling the displaced persons. By May 1996, 17,000 housing units in the Jaffna district were fully damaged and another 64,000 were heavily damaged out of a total housing stock of 176,000. If the costs of replacement and repairs resulting from acts of violence elsewhere are also considered the total would be in the region of Rs.75 billion as at 1995. It must be pointed out that the military operations that recommenced after the 1995 estimate was prepared had caused further damage and destruction.
5. The value of output lost in the North and East during the period 19831996 at 1996 prices, assuming that the North and East would have grown at the same average rate as the rest of the economy, implying that the GDP of the region would have increased by 85% at the end of 1996 : Rs 240 billion
6. Loss of potential earnings from tourism in 1996 prices attributed to the unfavourable conditions arising out of the war : Rs 174 billion. Had normal conditions prevailed and the government policy to promote tourism continued, it is estimated that the number of tourist arrivals could have reached more than a million by 1996. lnstead the actual figure in 1997 was only 305,000.
7. Reduction in foreign investment: Rs 60 billion.
It has been estimated that the loss of gross domestic product over the 14-year period is about Rs.2340 billion in 1996 prices. This amount would have been available for consumption and investment if not for the war. The study notes that 50% of the 740,000 households below the poverty line would have moved above it and additional jobs created would have been close to the number of unemployed in 1996, which was 800,000 had there been peace in the country.
Human Cost of the War
The study quite rightly has emphasised that the human loss cannot be priced. The total number of deaths in the war has been estimated at approximately 35,000 until 1996. The total number of civilian deaths in the North and East attributed to the war according to official Sources is 17,529 until 1992; the number injured was 7786. Of the 35,000 deaths, about 20,000 is estimated to be that of civilians. There are no independent esti

Page 16
16 TAMIL TIMES
mates of the casualties in the war and certainly war-related fatalities and illnesses would put the actual figures much higher, Many missing persons too are yet to be accounted for. It should be noted the government's figure of more than 50,000 deaths in the 14-year ethnic war has often been quoted by various international news agencies. They have also been mentioning in their reports that the LTTE have put the toll much higher.
Homelessness
According to the study, the total number of families who had to be resettled in 1995 was approximately 130,000, of whom 40,000 were in welfare centres and 90,000 living with friends and relatives. About 650,000 people were deprived of the essential security, comfort and privacy of their homes. Those who are still in welfare centres have the minimum provision for survival and endure intolerable conditions. Significantly, many had to repeat their experience of seeking refuge in welfare centres and with friends and relations more than once, They have been driven to a state of hopelessness as the war continues. The number of people displaced as a result of the war in December 1996 is over one million.
Fear and Insecurity
A pervasive sense of insecurity has become a part of life for the vast majority of the population in the country. For about 130,000 households, who have their members as combatants in the war on either side, the fear of death is ever present. The greatest fear and insecurity has been suffered by the civilian population in the North and East due to bombing, shelling etc. Both sides seem to have shown little consideration to the safety of civilians.
The study has failed to differentiate between the fear and insecurity that prevail among the Sinhalese and the Tamils living in areas with mixed populations like Colombo. Because of the ever present fear of LTTE attacks in the south of the country, particularly in the capital, Colombo, the vastmajority of the Tamil people in Colombo and its suburbs have the constant fear that they could be taken into custody on suspicion of being" LTTEterrorists' or as "informants' of the LTTE or as harbouring "LTTE terrorists". Those having National Identity Cards which indicate their permanent addresses at the time of registration as some places in the North or East are likely to come under greater suspicion. Young persons living in lodges and hostels also come under Suspicion.
There have also been cases where in
nocent Tamils have bly for questioning t under the Preventior some alleged tip-offs sonal grudges again! lice officer told this arrested for not hav police stations or r identification papers ter interrogation mar But the tiny cells me: too many suspects animals have been d unbearable to watc. Sinhalese language, the only language al possible with junior a disadvantage. It in fault lies in the syste being as a result of dividual senior polic held responsible for ditions. The dilemn actions do not help t minds of Tamil peop ple who have experi hardship and unjus albeit generally for c bound to hold lastin tility towards the sy Since the prese sumed office in Aug tial space has been expression of views are opposed to thos psychosis that preva ished. Many of the ing the Tamil langua cles and views high ernment and its po These newspapers ( erable space for mar sonalities, some of v and freely defend t tions of the LTTE.
Despite this pos regard to free expre the island, the Tamil and East have yet to Even many ordinar too are afraid to e. views on the preva by the war. Howeve are emerging now, e From conversat civilians who have r Jaffna to Colombo, people in the North the security forces : ful of security servi before. Some said that people no long assment from the gold and money. T ing in Jaffna is rep« cantly higher than il

15 FEBRUARY 1998
been taken in forciy the security forces of Terrorism Act on by those having perE them. A senior powriter that many are ng registered at the ot possessing valid He assured that af. y would be released, nt for a few in which were locked up like escribed by many as 1. Not knowing the which happens to be ly communication is police officers is also ust be said that the m that has come into past policies and ine officers cannot be hese deplorable conna here is that such O win the hearts and le, The innocentpeoenced the ordeals of tified incarceration, Inly a day or two, are g bitterness and hosSten. ent government asgust 1994, a substancreated for the free even by those who e in power. The fear illed before has vannewspapers, includge papers, carry artiy critical of the govlicies and practices. ven provide considy Tamil political perwhom seem to openly ne positions and ac
itive development in ssion in the south of civilians in the North obtain this freedom. | Tamils in Colombo press publicly their ling situation caused r some positive signs pecially in the North. ons with some Tamil :cently travelled from t would seem that the under the control of ppear to be less feare personnel now than with a sense of relief ir experience the harmilitants demanding e overall cost of livrted to be not signifiplaces like Colombo.
There are shortages of selected items but the essential goods are available though at slightly higher prices because of the continuing transport difficulties. Paradoxically, vegetables grown in Jaffna are now cheaper because of the difficulties in transporting and marketing them outside, for instance in Colombo. They seem to be content with the several checkpoints that people have to go through within the areas under the control of the army as they view this as inevitable inconveniences they have to put up with as a result of the war, The general mood appears to be that the majority of the people do not want to see any armed groups back in the areas under the control of the security forces. Some go even further and would seem to justify the presence of the security forces as a precaution against the return of armed groups of whatever name or description. They seem to want to be left to lead their own life without intimidation or harassment from whatever quarterit may come. Ideally, they would prefer to see all armed personnel including the security forces out of their way with only the local (independent) police around for law enforcement.
Lack of Accountability
The study is very weak in denouncing the violations of human rights of citizens by both the government security forces and the Tamil militants, and the lack of transparency and accountability, In fact it considers them as something inevitable in a war. It says: "The war also weakens transparency and accountability in society. This clearly applies in the field of human rights. But by the very nature of its operations and the exigencies that govern them, it becomes difficult to apply the normal regimes of transparency and accountability to many other areas which affect the war. In such a situation there is an in-built tendency for laxity in financial accountability and the possibility of irregularity and corruption becomes greater. As might be expected, some transactions for procurement of arms and other goods and services for the military have been the subject of criticism."
What should have been highlighted here is that it is the general public that has been paying directly and indirectly for the misappropriation of the resources by unscrupulous persons. The scope of the study did not cover the method used to mobilise the resources by the Tamil militants of whatever description and importantly that portion of the resources that were exacted from the people to finance rehabilitation and relief work, but was not used for this purpose. The truth is that the people of all communities have been paying not only for continuing the proc

Page 17
15 FEBRUARY 1998
ess of destruction but also for enhancing the finances of the few, who have been in suitable positions to exploit the situation related to the war. Investigative journalists have from time to time revealed that the misappropriation of resources has occurred on both sides. Significantly, the beneficiaries are not among those in the front line and indeed some have no direct involvement in the military operations. In the case of the LTTE, its name has been used by some deceptive expatriates even to intimidate fellow Tamils for personal gains. There is no doubt that some Tamils are continuing to benefit financially and economically (especially some in the expatriate community) as a result of the war.
Gold and money have been extracted even from the very poor Tamil people. They had to part with their meagre savings or borrow to pay the fund "collectors'. At least on the government side there was some degree of control as the "war tax' was linked to income of the taxpayer. Details of cases of poor Tamil persons being "punished' for not able to raise the money to pay the "collectors' working for the militants have now emerged. In the absence of proper accounting and financial control bogus "collectors' seem to have been functioning at various levels.
Political and Civic Rights
The people of Jaffna were denied their political and civic rights after the Eelam war started in earnest in the 1980s. In the areas in the North captured by the government forces, local government elections were held for the first time in more than a decade on January 29, 1998. These were for 16 local bodies in Jaffna district and Pachilaipali Pradeshiya Sabha in the Kilinochchi district. The voter turn-out of 105,413 represents 18.4% of the registered voters of 571,486 based on the last revised voters list prepared in 1986. Since then, particularly after June 1990 and specially after October 1995, tens of thousands had left the Jaffna peninsula to go abroad or live in the south of the country. Given the actual resident voters at present which may be more closer to 250,000, and taking account of the security situation, the voter turn-out of 105,413 must be regarded as significant.
The fact that the Tamil rebels who are opposed to any democratic elections attempted to infiltrate 15 to 25 of their cadres around mid-night of the previous day in the vicinity of the Gurunagar Jetty leading to a sustained firing between them and the security forces until the area was cordoned and
search operations began around 6.30
am should also be other attempts to di on January 23, only 6 tion day the EPDP (t secured the largest in elections) camp in P tacked by the LTTE reported by indeper groups of LTTE cad uting pamphlets an threatening civilians ercising their voting Chavakachcheri, wh forward defence lir. come to cast their v( cards torn and aske homes. Despite these shown determinati democratic rights a 14,838 who chose to message that is clear many Tamils in the institutions created themselves can man live in peace without military or from arm own community.
Collapse of Moral
As the study po high moral cost. The nic, political and soc nessed a breakdown said that "society as cultivate a moral ca to survive amidst t who have been to , noted the striking c of the people broug cumstances they ha Those days when th coconut that has fa from the tree in the have vanished. In t ing a coconut that h lic road from some considered as an an ing act. Today peo tilles and other esse where these have c(
It is now public people in Jaffna as asbestos roofing frames, including c{ pecially television, non-portable house of various kinds fr occupants were for to leave their hom exodus from Jaffna were sold later an purchase their own Others were taken to a selected few a sands who walked food and drink in th

TAMHL TIMES 17
considered, among rupt the poll. It was days before the eleche political party that umber of seats in the unguduthivu was atFurthermore, it was dent journalists that es were seen distribin some instances to prevent them exrights. At Mirusivil, ich isjustoutside the es, people who had otes had their polling i to go back to their : obstacles, many had bn to exercise their nd they include the spoil their votes. The from all these is that North want civilian through which they age their affairs and any threats from the led groups from their
Values ints out the war has a ; terrifying era of ethial violence has witin moral values. It is a whole has had to illousness of its own his brutality". Those Jaffna recently have hange in the attitude ght about by the cirlve been thrust into. e neighbour returns a len into his grounds adjoining compound hose days, even takas fallen on the pubone's tree would be ti-social and degradble are buying stolen ntials knowing well me from. (nowledge among the to who removed the heets, doors, door onsumer durables, esiets and portable and hold electrical items om the houses whose ed at the end of 1995 es and join the mass Some of these items the owners had to belongings at a price. to Vanni to be given nong the many thouseveral days without e pouring North-East
monsoon rain to reach Vanni. Having gone through this tragic and traumatic experience, the average thinking among the people seems to be that taking away belongings of others without permission or simply stealing is no longer considered immoral. It is considered a necessity for survival.
The observation made in the study that "it is the generation born in the 1970s and thereafter that is most exposed to the moral breakdown and the culture of violence", is therefore not totally correct. It is true that Tamil boys and girls have been mobilised for combat by appealing to their emotion and lack of options. On the other hand, tens of thousands of Tamil young men and women have over the years found their way, by hook or by crook, to foreign lands to avoid becoming victims. On the other side, it is mostly the young Sinhalese men and women from the rural areas who through the lack of opportunities to earn similar incomes have joined the fighting forces. The high number of desertions suggests that they do not want to be the "sacrificial lambs." They too cannot be blamed for the breakdown in the moral values of the society. Those responsible for all the immoral practices that have dehumanised the society are among the many who have seized the opportunities to capitalise on the war as well as those who provide all the encouragement to continue the war. In the latter category are the political and religious leaders, who have nothing to lose but expect to thrive in the ensuing chaos.
There is no such thing as clean war. It may be recalled there were some who made enormous profits immorally at the expense of the poor people during the time of the second world war, when rationing system was introduced. Butthere is a difference in that the present war is not between two foreign powers but an internal war where the warring sides are citizens of one country. It is not unusual for the antagonists to propagate all sorts of lies to hoodwink and demoralise the enemy and boost the morale of their own forces and the people. But when these are done in internal wars such as the one in Sri Lanka, the long-term consequences to morality of different ethnic groups in a multi-ethnic society are very damaging and the hatred and suspicions cannot be easily removed. This is precisely why reconciliation between the peoples of different countries that fought wars, as in the case of the second world War is much easier than between the peoples of dif. ferent groups living in the same country, whose leaders have been fighting for long periods. A Tamil businessman in Colombo told the writer in very simple lan

Page 18
18 TAML TIMES
guage - "we cannot flourish without coming to Sinhalese areas and they cannot prosper without us'. Although he is not an expertin political science or economics, he has the wisdom to know this reality. The rich and the power seekers as well as those who have vested interests in prolonging the war indefinitely want to ignore this fact.
Conclusion
President Chandrika Kumaratunga in her message to mark the 50th year of independence (4 February 1998) has urged the people of Sri Lanka to accept the reality of a diverse society and make serious efforts to end the war by accepting the past failures and making compromises. She is the only leader as head of State, who has shown courage to say openly; "We have faltered (along the path of nation building) for 50 years, permitting the differences to emerge and dominate our social fabric, rather than nurture the commonalties." With regard to what the war has cost the country, she said: "The flower of our youth is being decimated in a fratricidal war. National assets worth billions of rupees are being destroyed. We are compelled to divert to the war effort vast sums of money which would otherwise gone to improve our children's lives.” If those political leaders who were entrusted with the task of nation-building in the post colonial period had acted with wisdom and foresight, the incumbent would not have had to endure the humiliation of confessing in public to the abject failure of nationbuilding at the time of the Golden Jubilee celebration of its independence.
She also stressed that it was time to attain political maturity and implement systems to unite all the people. The big question is whether the other political leaders, whether they be in power or in opposition, who have for far too long ignored the imperative to reach an early political solution, hoping that by non-cooperation they can swing the political fortunes in their favour, will see the need for statesmanship and courage in the quest for lasting peace? The uncompromising stand-offbetween the major political parties on devolving powers to the regions and power sharing at the centre cannot go on for too long. Sooner than later, there has to be in place a common set of proposals for a political settlement of power sharing, both at the centre and regional level that recognises the legitimate rights of all the people.
Co BJP
y March, first lition could be pect is disturb able.
The party which building a temple at 1 site where a mosq Babar’s times had st ished during a comm cember 1992, buildi nal and doing away v ally guaranteed auto Kashmir, does seem Only Mrs Sonia if anything of it is a shore up the other m tion around, the Co stop the communal B old of power.
If the BJP is abl of 250 seats along w it would not be diff other 25-odd seats to ity in the 545-memb the Cong-I could mus to that extent the would be affected.
In the recently Sabha, the BJP had Sena 15 and other n thus giving it 193 se alliance 80 seats s majority,
On the other hal 138 seats for itself fell short of a whopp the government. A perate regional for Janata Dal came t united front, the C dent to extend supp outside and foresta The latter could could, attract 80 mo and so the 13-dayment had to bow ( able to successfully of untouchability, with a variety of Jayalalitha’s AI Sivaparvathi’s Telu Pradesh to Ramal Shakti to Mamata Congress in West Punjab and the Sa Fernandez In Biha 1996. It is this bro

15 FEBRUARY 1998
ld. Sonia Spoil Bid for Power
TNGopalan
eek a BJP-led coan power. The prosg, but looks prob
gives top priority to yodhya, on the very le dating back to iod and was demolinal frenzy on 1 Deg up a nuclear arseith the constitutionomy to the troubled set to assume office. Gandhi's mystique, ctually there, could ajor political formang-I, and hopefully JP right at the thresh
e to secure upwards ith its present allies icult to mop up an) command a majorer Lok Sabha. But if terup 180-odd seats, BJP's performance
dissolved 11th Lok
162 seats, the Shiv inor allies 11 in all, ats, leaving the loose nort of an absolute
ld the Congress with and 6 from its allies ing 129 seats to form Id so when the deses, the left and the gether to form the ng-I thought it prurt to the UF from the
the BJP. not, try as best as it emembers to its side ld Vajpayee governut. It has since been get rid of the stigma by forging alliances 'gional forces, from DMK to Laks hmi u Desam in Andhra ishna Hegde's Lok Banerjee's Trinamul engal - Akali Dal in lata Party of George were with it even in coalition which has
given it enormous hopes and a winning image.
At whose cost the BJP is going to increase its tally now is the question. Many believe that the UF which commanded 175 seats in the last Lok Sabha, the Janata Dalespecially, could be the worst sufferer. The UF tally could be down to less than 100, it is feared.
In the circumstances if the Cong-I is able to notch up more than 180 seats thanks to Sonia, a coalition between it and the UF could become conceivable, and the BJP might have to cool its heels once again outside the corridors of power.
At the moment as this article is being written, however, the predominant feeling is that the BJP and its allies would be able to bag 250 seats plus. A hung parliament with no-one commanding a clear majority could result at which time some of those who are with the UF right now could switch sides and help the BJP form a government.
And when one learns that the DMK itself is toying with such an idea, it is not difficult to imagine what is in store for the nation after March.
Sonia kicked off her campaign from Sriperumbudur where her husband had been assassinated seven years earlier, not far from the site where he fell to the human bomb. She never joined issue with any critic, any party but only stressed time and again that she was very much the citizen of "this great country' and as an inheritor of the Nehru legacy, as the daughter-in-law of Mrs Gandhi and widow of Rajiv she was genuinely concerned with the state of the nation. And it was her bounden duty to pull it back from the brink, launch it on the path of progress once again and realise Rajiv's dreams.
Though the Cong-I in the state is virtually defunct she was able to attract a moderate crowd and she and her daughter Priyanka stole the hearts of their audience. And the Press too gave her unprecedented coverage. From then on she has been criss-crossing the country in the company of her daughter, and son too sometimes, apologising for the storming of the Sikh Golden Temple during her mother-in-law's days and for the demolition of the Babri Masjid, denouncing the BJP for its divisive policies and demanding that the Jain Commission probe be

Page 19
15 FEBRUARY 1998
expedited. She has been attracting huge crowds wherever she goes and has most certainly infused new life into a dying party, Thus far the martyrdom of her mother-in-law and of her husband and the mystique of the Nehru clan has stood her in good stead. She is getting the benefit of a feudal and patriarchal Society in that she is seen as the daughter-in-law of the Nehru family and her Italian origins are ignored completely. The leader-starved people seem to adore her. How much this will all translate into votes of course remains to be seen. But already the BJP is getting unnerved. Its manifesto says that the election offered the people a choice "between nationalism and a foreign hand". Though in the beginning the BJP had sought to make light of Sonia's impact and would not even care to comment on her foreign origins, it has since been forced to revise its strategy. It has realised that Sonia will be the person who could frustrate all their grand dreams.
Its allies are going all out to attack Sonia in no uncertain terms. The Samata Party is threatening to resurrect the Bofors issue and charges that one of her own relatives could have been a beneficiary of the multi-crore gun deal. Come clean on that first before talking of cleansing the nation, Fernandez thunders,
Jayalalitha, realising perhaps that she could not talk of corruption with any credibility, has chosen to attack Sonia on her foreignness. "We'll oppose her tooth and nail she promised the other day, "Why
should a foreigne there is no-one els take up the job. In 1 such an aberration Surely the pros back into the hands is nothing pleasant she herself operat through her mini through statements avoiding the Pressl ing to promote herc not inspire much h If and when sh ship of her party open to face an ag hostile opposition, seen for whatever mentator puts it.
But the non-Co tions which despair the one-family rule their hands in sheer remorseless forwa have to blame only current plight.
Through sheer Dal has become te is close to extinctio) following in states Karnataka. Last tin was drawn from th In Bihar Lalbo Pra away. In Orissa am over to the BJP. An too it could be swe BJP or the Congr
(Continued from page9)
Already many individual donors have sent books in English, Tamil and Sinhala for the new library. I thank them all. There are a very large number of Sinhala citizens who have expressed a wish to give books for the new Jaffna Library, as a gesture of goodwill for, and a desire for reconciliation with, the Tamil people,
The vast majority of the Sinhala people were aghast at the destruction of the Jaffna Library in 1981. Those who await a signal that their donations of books will find a welcome home may now rest assured that their donations will be accommodated in the new library building.
I must make special mention of the bequest of his entire library made to the people of Jaffna by the late Pieter Keuneman. The Pieter Keuneman collection of some 4000 books will form an important part of the new Jaffna Library. I convey my thanks to the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Library Services for all their willing help in getting the library project launched as quickly as possible,
I wish to commend highly the role
played by the offic Lanka Army, lec Balagalla, Comma Jaffna, in repairing impressive three-st will accommodate They completed them in barely six
Their enthusia one of the most h tations of what II b that moves the Sr. in their task of bu ship with the peop
Today we mak library will becon tween the people people of the Sou The books in this hope, the building
Finally, I say time to bring the just and durable p Lanka? Give the They have suffere of war. All our pl Peace can be foul

TAL TMIES 19
become a PM as if more competent to ) other country could e even thought of. ect of power slipping if the Nehru Dynasty o contemplate. And g as she does only ns, communicating reading out speeches ke the plague and tryaughter and son, does pe.
assumes the leadernd comes out in the gressive media and a er true mettle will be t is worth, as a com
ngress secular formaof the resurrection of even while wringing helplessness over the "d march of the BJP themselves for their
in-fighting the Janata ribly fragmented and h. It used to have some like Bihar, Orissa and he its tally of 45 MP's ese states essentially. sad Yadav has broken ajor chunk has crossed d finally in Karnataka pt aside either by the ess, notwithstanding
ers and men of the Sri
by Major General nder, Security Forces, and refurbishing the preyed building which he new Jaffna Library. he work assigned to weeks.
sm for this project is art-warming manifeslieve is the new spirit Lanka Armed Forces ding trust and friende of Jaffna. a new beginning. This 2, I hope, a bridge beof the North and the h in our island home. library will become, I blocks of peace. o the LTTE is it not ar to a close to seek a ace within a united Sri Tamil people peace. most from the ravages ple are weary of war. ... Let us try to find it.'
Deve Gowdas arrogant postures.
A crafty Mulayam Singh Yadav (of the Samajwadi Party) would not enter into any arrangement with anyone in the UP whether it is the Congress or the Janata Dal or the Bahujan Samaj Party. He knows quite well that only the BJP would stand to gain in a multi-cornered contest, but is still unyielding. His major concern seems to be to emerge as the largest single constituent of the UF and thus stake a claim for prime ministership never mind the BJP could gain more seats in the process. By the same token the BSP, the party of the Dalits, would like to frustrate Mulayam's designs and position itself as a crucial deciding factor in a hung parliament whatever might be the BJP's gains. Ashort-sighted CPM, stubbornly unwilling to learn lessons from the past, is still equating the Cong-I with the BJP and could be said to be behind all the confusion in UP which sends 85 MP's to the Lok Sabha, first preventing any understanding between Mulayam and Kanshi Ram (of the BSP) on the ground that the latter is undependable and could defect to the BJP any time and then forestalling an agreement between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in the name of UF solidarity. Ironically it failed to persuade Yadav to enter into a pact with the Janata Dal. And it is still trying to crucify Lalbo Prasad Yadav on the fodder scam though his secular credentials cannot be questioned and he does enjoy immense following among the backward castes.
Whether it is its strident calls for an or all out fight against the "sponsored terrorism in Kashmir' or a uniform civil code - though this last has some positive features the BJP's ill-thought-out offensive is certain to arouse the suspicions of the Muslims - or its reactionary views on the position of the women in the society, the BJP certainly bodes ill for a multiethnic, multi-cultural mosaic like India, Some tend to argue that in its bid to become widely acceptable it is diluting its positions across the board and could emerge as nothing more than an innocuous right-of-centre conservative party after the elections, putting behind it its trident-wielding, fanatical past for ever. It is fast becoming Congressised, claim some of its apologists,
Even while releasing his party's manifesto, BJP president and seen an aggressive Hindutva proponent, L. K. Advani vowed that it would seek to realise its goals through consensus and that some of its priorities could even be put on the back-burner by way of respecting its allies in the case of a coalition government. Firmer indications should be available in March. O

Page 20
20 TAMIL TIMES
hambapillai Mahes The Hyper-realism of
Ramesh Gopalakrishnan
ell, there it was, happening on W the night of February 4. Thambapillai Maheswaran alias Kathiresan alias Rajkumar, the one time leader of the shadowy Tamil Eelam Army (TEA), was arrested on the railway track at suburban Pazhavanthangal in Chennai after a hot chase. A .9 mm pistol was seized from him and he was promptly handcu ffed.
Thirteen-and-a-half years ago, the same man's hands were busy making frantic phone calls to the nearby Meenambakkam international airport to alert the authorities about a suitcase which was to explode minutes later killing 30 persons and injuring 24 others.
Maheswaran's history is surreal or even hyper-real. The 42-year-old leader was once a student of civil engineering at the University of London. Imprisoned by the Sri Lankan government for his militant activities, he managed the escape of seven persons including himself from the dreaded Panagoda prison, and soon came to be known as "Panagoda Maheswaran' in Tamil militant circles. He started operating from India in early 1984. A hi-tech wizard, he was an expert in several fields including setting off time bombs. His TEA group once went to the extent of threatening to poison all tea exports of Lanka. Not many know that Maheswaran's life forms part of a Tamil novel written by the sensitive writer, Asokamitran, in the aftermath of the Meenambakkam blast.
Asokamitran took a few years to reflect on the gory event and write the novel, named Paavam Dalpathado, which was first published in the well-known One Rupee-junk-paperback-format devoured by bus-travelling-crazy Tamils before the full-scale advent of television. The novel was since re-published as part of the writer's now-immense repertoire.
The novel is set in an imaginary island, not unlike Salman Rushdie's dystopian lands, near India. A legendary filmmaker, not unlike Peiris, travels to India, the land of his mentor Satyajit Ray, to show, in a film festival, his sensitive realist film about a river, Paranimaaru, which only bores the masses. As the director arrives for the festival in what was then Madras, and not Chennai as of now, he is accompanied by Dalpathado, his
deputy, and Sylvia, t novel has a first-per ceives the three on The film bags the t charms of the actre tures a secret liki shares her secret fee with the narrator. A stint in the film in handy in narrating t Years roll on an daughter is killed i at Bombay. Even as ering from the gha chance meeting wit airport and he calls the years in betwe drifted to a militan! for the rights of the land who do not spe: is the nature of Dalp tice, having been Dalpathado holds th two days in a shad Pazhavanthangal w. tants like Maheswa the militants use th the bomb-cum-Su bound for the neig flight is delayed. Re is set to go off imm tries to make a few the airport police, bu down the airport.
Dalpathado and scene, and among til an unidentifiable W Even as the na remorse over his de ter from Sylvia info be arriving soon in waits for her, check her distant relatives was once a Portugl north Madras.
Finally, he real fied woman killed deed Sylvial Yes, the bomb went off. up killing his love cilitated the murde the loss of a dear O
Asokamitran's work like the film hyper-realist. The Meenambakkam b indicates the link t
 
 
 
 
 

15 FEBRUARY 1998
he sultry actress. The son narrator who rebehalf of the festival. op award, given the ss. Dalpathado nurng for Sylvia, who, lings for Dalpathado Asokamitran's earlier dustry has come in hese sequences.
ld the narrator's only h an aircrash mishap the narrator is recovstly event, he has a h Dalpathado in the out his name. During 'en, Dalpathado has t movement founded ; minorities in his isak his language. Such athado’s sense of jusrejected by Sylvia. e narrator captive for y house at suburban hich consists of miliran. Dalpathado and e narrator to off-load itcase onto a plane hbouring island. The :alising that the bomb ediately, the narrator phone calls to alert it the explosion brings
his comrades flee the he dead passengers is
Oa. rator feels guilt and ed, he receives a letrming him that she'd Madras. The narrator s for her in a house of in Royapuram, what lese-Indian suburb in
ses that the unidentiby the bomb was inhe had arrived when Dalpathado has ended and the narrator fa. He cannot get over he this time. novel is not a realist , Paranimaaru. It is novel re-frames the ast in a new way: it etween Dalpathado's
failed art of realism and the very stuff of revolutionary rhetoric which is raring to go for a massacre. The novel implies that every mass murder is played out in the theatre of history as though willed by destiny. This way, the novel foresees similar disasters for which everyone is to be held ethically responsible. It anticipates history, and hence, renders contemporary history in a new hyper-real tragic mode which governs everyday life.
Also, the novel is not only about one's responsibility for any murder which takes place around oneself; it points to the directionlessness of the lives of Maheswaran, Dalpathado and the narrator. They end up killing, or facilitating the murder of, their beloved, be it a woman or a homeland. They are condemned men, having lost, in the sea of justice, the possibility of love.
The condemnation is an inner spiritual disease which can perhaps hit all human beings, men and women, militants and liberals, revolutionaries and cowards. Like Dalpathado, Maheswaran and his associates prepared the bomb in a shady, rented house at suburban Neelankarai. (The policemen who searched the house after Maheswaran's arrest found another bomb in a suitcase). On the fateful evening of August 2, 1984, Maheswaran entered the airport with the baggage and booked it in the name of Kathiresan in the Air Lanka flight bound for Colombo. The bomb was timed to explode in Colombo after an hour's journey from Madras. As two unclaimed baggages were found in the departure lounge, they were taken near the aeroplane for identification by passengers. As no one claimed them, they were taken back to the departure lounge, the customs checkpoint and the arrival hall where the bomb went off.
In the meantime, came two voices ot destiny: one over the public address system calling for Kathiresan who had not emplaned; another, over the phone, obviously from Maheswaran who had slipped to Guindy by then, alerting the airport authorities. The impact of the explosion drowned the voices, making the entire concrete roof of the hall crumble. The explosion devastated the airport and temporary arrangements had to be made for a year for maintaining normal domestic and international flight operations.
A number of theories made the rounds during those heady days: the Israel's Mossad and the US’ intelligence were blamed for the dreadful act for a while, before the city police arrested eleven persons including Maheswaran. Maheswaran and two others, Thambiraja and Vignes(continued on next page)

Page 21
15 FEBRUARY 1998
RAJIV EXACTS TERRIBLE
T N Gopalan
All the 26 persons accused and tried
in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case have been sentenced to death by hanging by a special court in Chennai, subject of course to confirmation by the Supreme Court, Three other accused, LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, his intelligence chief Pottu Amman and deputy chief of the women's wing Akila, declared proclaimed offenders since they could not be apprehended, are not covered by the judgement as under the Indian law a sentence can be pronounced only in the case of a person subjected to the "due processes of law."
Sathyameva Jayathe (Truth alone triumphs), Mr D R Karthikeyan, Joint Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (OBI), had crowed on the morning of 28 January, beaming, when he met the presspersons anxiously waiting under a pandal set up for the occasion, halfa kilometre from the Poonamallee maximum security prison. He disclosed, around 11 am, barely half an hour after the court had commenced its sitting inside the prison complex, "All the accused have been found guilty. The OBI feels vindicated. All its sweat and toil of years have borne fruit." Though it was a bit of a shock that all the accused, including those who
t was a judgement like never before,
seem to have figur ery, should have b ing prepared the p) tives of some of the
(Continued from page 20) wara Rajah, were released on bail and the three promptly jumped bail, escaping possibly to London. In the meantime, the charge sheet was filed on March 8, 1985, and the judgement in the case was delivered at Chengalpattu on July 31, 1989, well after the novel was published. Five of the accused - Saravanabhavan, a medical college student, Chandrakumar, Loganathan, Vijayakumar and Balasubramanian - were awarded life sentences. Their bails were revoked. Two others - Ramu and Dhandayuthapani - who turned approvers (prosecution witnesses) were acquitted.
The future was to turn more hyperreal. A Tamil film starring Saravanabhavan was made. And politician TS Killivalavan, who had signed Vigneswara Rajah's bail bond, had to appearin courts. He switched sides from P Nedumaran, a diehard supporter of the Sri Lankan militant groups, to Vazhapadi K Ramamurthy, who was at the other end of the political
spectrum being an groups, especially
More shocking aged to reach Madr a cool life. Now ki got trapped as a Su: der which took pla Pallikkaranai, not bakkam airport. H had fled Nallur in lent Rs 1,60 lakh t both Sri Lankans. repaid, Anton and and their faces bur city police have no now Maheswaran ing their trial on ch swaran is likely to volvement in the of 1984 and for ju
Stranger is the Uma who has beer the Meenambakka aits a new novel, p
 
 
 

TAMIL TIMES 21
side the barricades, for the blow that was tO COrne,
The entire trial spread over 700 working days since 1993 had been conducted in camera under the provisions of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act and when the judgement was
ed only in the peripheen held guilty, noth'ess corps or the relaaccused waiting out
acerbic critic of the he LTTE. ly, Maheswaran manas once again and lead own as Rajkumar, he pect in a double mure in 1996 at suburban ar from the Meenam
and one Simon, who saffna, had reportedly o Anton and Kannan, As the amount was not cannan were murdered it and disfigured. The wnabbed Simon, And and Simon are awaitrges of murder, Mahebe charged for his inTeenam-pakkam blast nping bail.
case of one Sri alias absconding ever since blast. It certainly awrhaps more hyperreal,
delivered by Mr V Navaneetham, the press was shut out completely and it had to content itself with periodical briefings by the prosecution and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) chief Karthikeyan. Even around 3 pm when the public prosecutor told the presspersons that all the 26 had been found guilty of having had a hand in the conspiracy - which ultimately led to the assassination - no one could sense the gravity of the situation. For the correspondents were told only Nalini, the Chennai-based girl and Perarivalan, an electronics engineer, were linked to the 21 May 1991 explosion though they and the others had been held guilty of conspiracy and abetment besides destroying evidence and helping the killer squad escape the law after the event,
It was a bolt from the blue when at around 6 pm Special Public Prosecutor, Jacob Daniel, told the presspersons, "the judge has awarded the death sentence to all the 26 accused.'
Though for most of them, from national and international media organisations, it was yet another bit of sensational news, a few felt genuinely sorry that such a cruel fate should visit upon the pawns while the actual culprits should get away

Page 22
22 TA' TIMES
scot free.
A lady correspondent, who knows the mother of Perarivalan, almost broke down. Her plight became even more acute when, on her way out, she was accosted by Perarivalan's family who wanted to know the fate of their boy.
Mr S Duraisamy, one of the defence counsels, utterly devastated, later told this correspondent, "I just don't know how to react. Not even during the Nuremberg trials have so many been sent to the slaughter-house at one go. We'll surely appeal to the Supreme Court."
The very next day the convicts were taken out of the Poonamallee prison, split into groups and shifted to different central jails. And there they will languish, dying a thousand deaths, before the Supreme Court decides on their appeal.
The Designated Judge TADA Coourt - l, Mr W. Navaneetham held that the brutalkilling of Rajiv Gandhi "is a gruesome, inhuman, uncivilised and merciless bomb blast by an LTTE woman bomb, which was successfully executed with active help, assistance and participation of the accused who were LTTE militants or its staunch Supporters.'
Mercifully he was not as effusive as Justice Milap Chand Jain about the great leader who was felled at the prime of his life. who had won the hearts of millions
of his countryme Navaneetham wax termath of the assa the impact and aft that it brought the II ess to a grinding general elections h
And how does such a drastic sente rent punishmental potential offenders our people from as rorist organisation and heinous crimes as 16 persons havi 43 persons having Nine police of perintendent of po Servants, lost theirl 43 persons sustain injuries in this "m some crime perpetu and premeditated (
The court has that the conspiracy 'From the evidenc tary it has been ad But what is the pro the 26 accused to it to a dictum of the effect that conspir ture is generally ha "It is therefort
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2n, ad nauseum. But es eloquent on the afssination "...Such was er effect of the killing ndian democratic prochalt inasmuch as the ad to be postponed.” he justify the award of ence? “... Giving deterone could deter other and in future dissuade sociating with any terto do such diabolical .' A rarest of rare cases ng lost their lives and
sustained injuries. ficers including a sulice, who were public ives while on duty and ed grievous or simple ost heinous and gruelated by a pre-planned conspiracy.' no doubt whatsoever was hatched in Jaffna. e, oral and documenequately established." of available to link all The Judge harks back Supreme Court to the acy from its very naatched in secret. e extremely rare that
direct evidence in proof of conspiracy could be forthcoming from wholly disinterested quarters or from utter strangers." All the same the court has been only too willing to accept all that was proffered by the CBI as enough of an evidence to nail the accused.
The way it tries to show that the LTTE had enough of a motive to assassinate Rajiv is a case in point. It quotes ironically, Vai Ko (incidentally for reasons not clear the once fire-brand Prabhakran enthusiast V Gopalsamy has changed his name to Vai Ko) as having observed at a conference in London in 1988 that Prabhakaran had felt stabbed in the back by Rajiv Gandhi over the lindo-Sri Lanka accord. A person who was the uncrowned king of the northern and eastern parts of Lanka had to remain cooped up in a hotel room in New Delhi for a week and from that point onwards the LTTE supremo had started nurturing ill-feeling towards Rajiv which was to turn into animosity and worse thanks to the subsequent developNetS.
The judge goes on to quote extensively from the LTTE's own literature the Satanic Forces especially, to try and show how it was all inevitably leading to 21 May 1991. Whether it is news photographer Subha Sundaram's alleged involvement or of Nalini's -where all there.
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15 FEBRUARY 1998
could be some extenuating circumstance or other - the court chooses to accept the prosecution's contention that they were all part of a terrible conspiracy.
The very presence of Nalini at the Sriperumbudur meeting is enough to make her part of the murder mission. The attempt of Subha Sundaram to retrieve the camera left behind at the site or Bangalore-based Industrialist Ranganath's providing shelter to the Sivarasan gang after the event or the Lankan Tamil girl Athirai's seeking to make some travel arrangements for some in the gang or the poor nurse Padma's playing host to the LTTE cadres, everything, everything becomes part of the conspiracy to eliminate Rajiv. No distinction between those who could have masterminded it all and those who could have played no more than a peripheral role. w
Of the 26 now facing the gallows, 16 are Lankan Tamils and the rest Indians. Nalini emerges the most devastated. She has been made the most important accused, guilty of murder, conspiracy and a host of other charges. She, her mother Padma, her elder brother Packiyanathan and the LTTE cadre Murugan with whom she had developed intimacy are all in death row. And her daughter, born a few months after her arrest, is now being brought up by some relatives in Chenna itself. The tragic story of these and others needs a separate detailed recounting. At the moment it is suffice to note that the judge has taken upon himself the mission of producing a most effective deterrent "against the anti-national interests' with a most devastating effect.
When pressed whether he thought that the hanging of all the 26 was justified, Mr Karthikeyan evaded the issue saying that what the court in its wisdom had decided on could not be questioned. But off the records the CBI sources admitted that they themselves had not expected such a stiff sentence and sincerely hoped it would be commuted by the Supreme Court in a few cases at least.
But Karthikeyan gloated, "Perhaps it should be taken as a strong message to those who seek to play with the destiny of the nation. We're not a soft state and none can afford to harm our interests and get away with it...”
A small band of volunteers of the Periyaar Dravidar Kazhagam were spotted outside the barricades near the Poonamallee prison on the judgement day, anxiously inquiring with the press what was happening and dispersed shellshocked after the deadly ruling came to light. They would not dare even raise slogans denouncing the judgement, and they profess to be among the most ardent ad
ESC
H-TEC
n line with head
end of the mill
only for desp; amidst the chaos of island government Colombo, an exact Sri Ranganatha tem Tiruchirapalli in T. said Xeroxes cannc The reason for ere ward off the ill-effe due to the Tamil gopuram, or the m
mirers of Prabhaka
equivocal stateme seeking to find fau. but in relatively sa PDK volunteers wi when they sought cising the judgeme reports funds are be the case of the ac preme Court.
The original also supposedly a fringe nationalistg a discreet silence, d pressing solidarity accused. Not to spe mdas, the PMK le company of Jayala to derive the maxi tage from the sente and selfish way,
She of course ment heartily, sayi stiff, it could serve rent against others interests lie elsew indicted in the Jain report too to be bro nothing to imagin mention Karunani and implied that t been among those all, going by Some mission. Newspap uncritically accept dication of the CB the Jain Commissi exercise now that cluded that it was accomplices who
Even eminent malani welcomed man rights organis

TAL TIMES 23
HATOLOGY BRINGS CHI TEMPLE TO LANKA
Ramesh Gopalakrishnan
long rush towards the ennium, there's time air and es chatology war in Sri Lanka: the is now building, near hi-tech replica of the ple at Srirangam near amil Nadu. Now, who t be made of temples cting the temple is to cts to the island-nation Nadu temple's Rajaain tower, which was
ran, There was an odd
nt from Nedumaran, tt with the judgement, fe terms. A couple of are taken into custody to paste posters critint. According to some eing mobilised to fight cused before the Su
Dravidar Kazhagam, Tiger votary and other roups have maintained esisting from even exwith the families of the ak ofVai Koor Dr Raader. They are in the litha who has sought mum political advannce, in a most callous
welcomed the judgeng that though it was
as an effective deterinister forces. But her here. She wants those Commission's interim
ught to book. Leaving .
ation she went on to ihi and Chidambaram he former could have who had instigated it findings of the comer editorials of course 2d the verdict as a winI and sought to deride on's efforts as a futile the courts have con the LTTE and the 26 lad done it all. lawyers like Ramjethhe judgement and huations too are silent. O
consecrated in the late eighties.
As a boy living in Thanjavur in the late sixties, I remember having heard from many elders that the main tower was kept out of construction to ward off the evil consequences which would descend on Sri Lanka. Their words had a finality of tone, which used to amuse and terrorise me as a kid. I learnt from them the legend that Sri Ranganatha icon, or Lord Vishnu in the ever-reclining posture, had been given to Vibeeshana by Lord Ram for installation in Lanka, but the idol got rooted to the ground when Vibeeshanaput it down in a beautiful island to bath in the river Cauvery which surrounds the island. Interestingly, there are two such places in south India, the other one being Srirangapatnam near Mysore, which also houses an ancient Sri Ranganatha temple.
Wars in the subcontinent never seemed to have been out of sight of temples and other places of worship, as we learn with trepidation in our modern era, from the horrifying demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya and the attempted bombing of the Holy Tooth temple at Kandy. History has it that Tippu Sultan was shot dead by the British while fighting near the Srirangapatnam temple. And according to the legend heard by me as a kid, the mediaeval rulers of south India yearned, in vain, to complete the construction of the Rajagopuram, as they wanted the decimation of the Sinhala rulers, whom they considered their traditional rivals. Sri Ranganatha has had a benevolent gaze on Lanka and they wanted to obstruct it by erecting the tower, the legend said.
In the meantime, growing up as a leftist intellectual, I ignored the legend, but would have a fleeting glimpse of it not when I visited the Srirangam temple but when my trains or buses crossed the two bridges across the Cauvery within which Srirangam is located amidst lush green fields.
Srirangam, as I went on to find later, was an ancient place celebrated by Tamils and other cultures since the days of the Tamil epic, Silappadhikaram. With an elaborate architectural history down the eras, Srirangam, I felt, would be a unique entry in Italian novelist Italo Calvino's In(continued on next page 25)

Page 24
24 TAM TIMES
Bernard Soysa The Last Cham
By Ajith Samaranayake
BEING a renaissance man, Bernard Soysa would have agreed with T. S. Eliot that there was a curious appropriateness to his death on the last but one day of "the burnt out year'. This then, is how life ends; not with a whimper but a bang, whimper but a bang,
In other senses, too, Bernard Soysa's death at the end of the old year appears to have been an appropriate curtain fall. For he is the last of the oldguard leaders of the Left, both of the LSSP and the CP, to go. He was the last link with the heroic LSSP of the war days, and what is more, by dying in office as a Minister of the People's Alliance Government he has offered testimony to the LSSP's association in coalition with the SLFP, an association begun in 1963 which was irrevocably to fear asunder the original Lanka Samasamaja Party, and continues to haunt left politics even today,
Bernard Soysa offers a classic example of the young bourgeois intellectual who is attracted to Marxism not merely through intellectual conviction but larger
idealistic impulses. class family in colol educated at Ananda the then principal en among schools. Othe Anandian Leftists wi and Robert Gunaw Perera.
At the Universit under the influence C his quick wit and ag. full convert.
Unlike the Gunav NM, however, Berna Colombo man. True Thotalanga although ment from Ruvanwel his entire life in Col. nicipal councillor an ment for Colombo S integral link with th and the urban worki eminently at home think of Bernard is to and Thimbirigasyay with the sleazy unde
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Born to a middlelial Ceylon, he was College, Colombo, clave of nationalism r distinguished Old bre to include Philip ardene and N. M.
y College he came f Marxism and with le mind was soon a
yardene brothers and rd was essentially a , NM was born in he entered parliala, but Bernard spent ombo both as a mud member of parliaouth. He formed an e urban bourgeoisie ng class, for he was in both milieux. To think of Kollupitiya ra and Narahenpita rworld of which he
was as familiar as bourgeois drawing TOOIS.
It brings a whiff of days irrevocably gone when socialism stirred the young and Sidney Wanasinghe edited the "Young Socialist' from his fastness at Arethusa Lane in Wellawatte, and Osmund Jayaratne was nominated the General of the 1953 Hartal in Colombo city,
When the LSSP was proscribed by the colonial government during the Second World War, Bernard fled to India with the other leaders and spent some time in jail there. In fact Hector Abhayawardhana (perhaps the last surviving figure from that time) recently attributed Bernard's terminal illness to that period in prison saying that it was the same kind of ailment which had finally stricken NM and Colvin,
In the historic divide between the Samasanajists and the Bolshevik Leninists which characterised the post-war period, Bernard belonged to the latterfaction. This was true of most urban intellectuals such as Colvin, Leslie, Edmund Samarakkody and Doric de Souza. In fact, Bernard first contested a seat in parliament on the ticket of the Bolshevik Leninist Party at the first General Election of 1947.
Unsuccessful in his parliamentary bids both in 1947 and 1953, he made a
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Page 25
15 FEBRUARY 1998
memorable name for himself as a Colombo Municipal Councillor. His best remembered contribution to the politics of the Town Hall was the massive filibuster speech he made on the occasion of the vote of No Confidence brought against Dr. N. M. Perera who was the then Mayor of Colombo. This was recalled recently by Prof. Osmund Jayaratne who followed Bernard in an article written on the occasion of the centenary birth anniversary of former President William Gopallawa who was then the municipal commissioner and presided over that historic session.
Bernard entered parliament for the first time in 1956 as MP for Colombo South and held that seat till 1977 sharing it with J. R. Jayewardene later when the latter took refuge there after his defeat at Kelaniya in 1956. At the General Election of 1965 the two MPs were elected uncontested.
Bernard never held ministerial office until 1994 but he was unique in that he acted for a minister without holding the position of deputy minister. This was whenever Finance Minister N. M. Perera went abroad on official duties. Bernard would unobtrusively go to Queen's House by taxi, dressed in his white suit and red tie, take oaths in front of President Gopallawa and equally quietly would slip into the Treasury. For many years the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee,
(Continued from page 23)
visible Cities, since it is at once a temple within a city and a city within a temple. The modern gopuram, with its plastic paint, I would think, has a new story to tell. Never did I imagine that the gopuram would produce its Xerox antidote in Sri Lanka whose violent convulsions were due to the ideologies I was examining
The news is that Chandrika Kumaratunga has set apart Rs 10 million from the president's fund to construct the Rs 300 million temple and a Rs 100 million Buddhist Vihara to be built side-by-side in a 20 acre plot at Muthura-jawala, 15 km north of Colombo. I am sure the Sri Lankan rulers would have consulted south Indian astrologers before launching the project, as they have done during all these years of war! The foundation stones for the temple-Vihara complex were laid on February 9 by two ministers, Lakshman Jayakody and Anuru-ddha Ratwatte, who sought to de-link the legend and the ethnic turmoil in Lanka. Top Lankan businessmen and India's premier business group, the Tatas, are associated with the project, it is learnt.
Soon, this latest religious reconciliation project in Lanka would soon have a church and a mosque as well. So it goes...
he was a pillar inp regulation of finar In 1970 he he go into the activit and also played a mulation of legis Institute of Charter Post-Graduate Ins
As a speaker of his own. Never pyrotechnics, he ha His speeches were jorative sense of packed with infor ered. Like NM an was a cool speak member as a sch stumbling upon a ( taining Bernard's get of the Dudley S delivered by Mr. was a masterly ana had yet not been bust entrepreneuri Later when he from 1977, his ana Mel's long spell c some public place gerly looked forwa far superior to the liament during the Bernard excel in English and Sin he honed as sub-e Ceylon.'
His backgrou and as a teacher a ara went to enric some years ago th majaya' was reviv speaking on the or how its first Edit virtually coin new maintained his in the last. Sometim night shift would from him giving Once I remembe News Editor Carlt that Bernard had
 

TAMILTIMES 25
arliament's control and
CC. aded a Commission to ies of Agency Houses eading role in the foration to establish the ed Accountants and the itute of Medicine. Bernard was in a class given to histrionics or ad a fine turn of phrase. not didactic in the pethat word but were mation tellingly delivd Pieter Keuneman he er in parliament. I reoolboy in the 1960's copy ofa Hansard conpeech on the first budenanayake government U. B. Wanninayake. It lysis of why Sri Lanka able to throw up a roal capitalist class.
was out of parliament lysis of Mr. Ronnie de f budgets delivered in in Colombo were eard to and were certainly speeches made in par
budget debate. led as a speaker both hala. His English skills ditor on the “Times of
nd at Ananda College
Rahula College, Math his Sinhala. When e party organ 'Samasaed Iremember Bernard gins of that journal and or Henry Pieris had to Sinhala words. Bernard terest in the Press till es reporters doing the receive telephone calls ome tit-bit or another. r the then "Observer' on Senevi-ratne saying
Rio cinema was showing a film 'Percy's Progress." It dealt with a sensitive organ of the male body. Bernard was drawing attention to the fact that at the end of the show the management was showing a slide saying "Please ensure that you have not left anything behind.' The News Editor, though no prude, thought that it was too risque to carry as a Talking Point."
Bernard himself was no prude and enjoyed the good things of life as well as bourgeois culture such as classical music. However, there was also a streak of frugality and self-sacrifice in him. For example, he lived with his brother Winmen in a house at the Thimbirigasyaya junction but he told me that he decided against staying there because the children were growing up and needed the space. Being a bachelor he moved to a hotel close to the LSSP headquarters at Union Place and was quite comfortable there. When he was given an official resident he baulked because as a bachelor he did not know how to run such a household.
It was a much enfeebled LSSP to whose leadership Bernard succeeded after the death of Dr. Colvin R. de Silva but yet he piloted his party back into an alliance with the SLFP and a much broader United Front at that. For the LSSP, then, the cycle was complete.
In his last days Bernard was no doubt troubled by the LSSP's relationship with the SLFP as the major party of the People's Alliance, but failing health may not have permitted him to give his mind fully to the problem. r
There are times when even cliches ring true and this is one such. The death of Bernard Soysa at the age of 83 on December 30 does decisively close a phase in Sri Lanka's Left politics.
He was the last of the towering leaders of the LSSP and perhaps with the exception of Hector Abhayawardhana the only link with the wartime LSSP underground round which so many legends have gathered. Of those Bernard himself was
called. At that time the
one of the finest legends. O
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Page 26
26 TAMIL TIMES
ASSIGNMENT COL(
by J N Dixit Vijitha Yapa Bookshop, Unity Plaza, 2 Galle Road, Colombo 4, Sri L
Review by Prof. AJ Wilson
Having been myself a privileged member of President JRJ's Byzantine Court during 1977-1984, I can well understand Jyotrindanath (AK A. Mani) Dixit’s wounded feelings in his De Profundus entitled "Assignment Colombo" (Colombo Yapa, 1998).
This is a fascinating book written very carefully and leaving the reader asking for more when the last page (386) is turned, an Insider's account of the men who played like toy soldiers for the delectation of a master factician (JRJ) who won out in the end.
JRJ always said he was governed by the planet Jupiter and could therefore never be defeated. Dixit’s book is an important contribution written truthfully and honestly by one of India’s ace diplomats. If one wants to know the inside story, the years 1985-89, then read on. It surely is a valuable companion volume to my own modest outpourings in my book. The Breakup of Sri Lanka, 1977-84. At the centre of all these passing years, a relatively long time span for a septuagenarian head of state, J R Jayewa-rdene stands pre-eminently like a coloss-us if for no other reason than because of the flatness of the plains (the cabinet of ministers) around him.
Dixit makes no bones about the fact that he is India's man and all he did was to preserve and advance the interests of his principals at Delhi, Mrs Indira and Mr Rajiv Gandhi. The reader should bear this in mind when peering through the pages of this singular eye-witness to history.
Dixit places under the magnifying glass some of the men who shaped history during these fateful years, the dramatic personae as he refers to them. The penultimate chapter eighteen, (pages 304-350) presents candid portraits of the main actors and it is worth a read to understand some of history's men.
Dixit’s view of til cutive President is had assumed powe very presence sumn and that he had diff he had to operate th
This was indeed The President lacke
ter intriguers in his He always referred Prime Minister'. Ar and I discussed cast Sinhalese and he st belonged to “the lo that his schooling life, "picking up a way'.
Some months a Indian academic vi that JRJ often deride He knew better,
I had I sneaking was in cahoots with
 

15 FEBRUARY 1998
OMBO
anka
he tragedy-prone Exesympathetic - that he late in life, that his honed a majestic trail icult men with whom e ship of state.
my own impression. d elan to put the mas
own court in place. to Premadasa as "the ld only once when he divisions among the ated that Premadasa west of the low' and was in the school of
great deal along the
fter JRJ's demise, an siting me mentioned d"the laundry man".
doubt that Premadasa he leaders of the JVP
insurrection and that he orchestrated the brutal violence against the state and the assassination of some key figures in the political firmament. On the first day of the insurgency when the Sinhala reaction to the LTTE's killing of 13 Sinhala soldiers in Jaffna enveloped the island, to my question to the President on the phone, "are you sure that there is no attempt at a coup by the Prime Minister", he parried my question, neither admitting nor denying it and advised me "to stay indoors, don't go out'.
President Jayewardene was clearly a captive of his ministers, a conclusion that can be arrived at from Dixit's findings. President JRJ in fact told this reviewer just a day before Black Monday (23 July) that he was "surrounded by anti-Tamil ministers' and if he could be assisted "to jump out of this circle, he would go ahead with implementing the DDC scheme.
Dixit’s conclusion is that President JRJ lived on the edge and took too many risks with the LTTE to whom he served the TULF on a platter.
Premadasa was obviously a bad guy, for, Rajiv Gandhi and the Indian establishment looked on him as churlish and curmudgeonly. Premadasa believed in himself and thought that his gunboat diplomacy with the Indians would pay off. In the end, he proved to be too clever by half and fell a victim allegedly to an LTTE suicide bomber,
Lalith Athulathmudali and Prema-dasa were thorns in the side of JRJ. They tried their level best to sabotage the Gandhi-Jayewardene agreement of 27 July, 1987. At first Lalith seemed to have his way.
Together with the Prime Minister, hemet with success in forcing JRJ to stand firm on the original order to bring Pulendran and sixteen of the LTTE's commanders to Colombo for questioning despite all the efforts of Dixit to delay this fatal step.
Dixit even failed to pressure the commander of the IPKF, General Harkirat Singh, to hold Pulendran and his men in military custody. In the end, LTTE visitors who were permitted to visit their comrades in gaol to provide them with meals provided them with the deadly cyanide pill.
Pulendran and his men made the right decision when they bit the pill and died before the bestial torturers of the Sri Lanka security forces could get at them.

Page 27
15 FEBRUARY 1998
It is this one single act, a fatal one at that, which sparked off the second Eelam War and egged on Pirabhakaran to launch on a do or die course causing so much death and destruction.
The problem with Lalith was that he was bent on winning a Duttu Gemunu style victory over the Tigers and thereby strengthening his hand to win the presidency,
One thing Dixit fails to fully discern, notwithstanding his cerebral mind, is the intriguing that went on in the Byzantine Court as between the three main actors - Premadasa, Lalith and Gamini Dissanayake. It was pretty certain that JRJ had decided to bequeath the Presidency to Gamini who as Thondaman once said is "the President's pet'.
In my conversations with JRJ I concluded that he had a warm heart for Gamini and in fact after his victory at the 1982 presidential election, it was quite clear to me that he was planning to make Gamini Prime Minister getting rid of the incubus that was Premadasa. Had Dixit but known of the intriguing courtiers in the court of a Sinhala Rajuruwa, he would indeed have been Prometheus unbound in his mission to Colombo.
Lalith knew very well or had clearly intuited that he would not be the anointed successor. As he once told me in an interview he was looked on as a newcomer to the ranks of the UNP. So, as he said, he planned to reach his goal, step, by step, just as he had done in Oxford, first the secretaryship of the Union and then its Presidency.
The man was proving his worth as Minister for National Security that his rival Gamini tried to cut him to size. Gamini achieved this by a master stroke, the Rajiv-Jayewardene agreement of 27 July, 1987. With that Agreement, despite Lalith's expression of open opposition to it Lalith realised he had been outmanoeuvred by Gamini only to be dismissed out of court by Premadasa. So Dixit’s ipse Dixit on Lalith; a “suave politician, personally ambitious who to further his ambitions took a strong anti-Tamil stance'.
Premadasa had a strong anti-Tamil and anti-Indian orientation in his political thinking and was deeply suspicious of Tamil demands because he was convinced that accepting them would be the first step towards Sri Lankan Tamils successfully engineering the break-up of the country' (p. 16).
For Mrs Bandaranaike, Dixit's views border on adulation of a lady he thinks is slightly less than majestic. Surprisingly Mrs Bandaranaike was not condemnatory of Tamil demands. Her observations were
that JRJ and Prem trusted.
Her considere should have avoide said that India and been asked to nego it's account of M. tempts to exculpate reaction, which Di) of his being mislec She convenient JRJ and his minist hold her responsibl people to desperati to arms. The notori marks and restrict Tamils to the unive 77 government are context, unforgivab are short,
To get back to ms to this reviewe ise the power he almost fell a vici machinations of L JRJ himself. The Rajiv and his advis of patience in han trio in the Sri Lank One gets the in steadfast in his su of his colleagues a mahasanghaforan with India at ever overreaching hims any case JRJ's pos he had Rajiv's assu mandos would Sn overthrow him.
In his accoun Mel, marginally, a surprisingly the l emerge as importa cling crisis. For a much experience were small potato precaution and wa with the utmost ci Poor Gamini, , and this was over ten years, he was a He was undoubte foul of Premadasa, have been the pe the two peoples to of the Portuguese
This review without an assess Hedidalways giv a much wrecked cano of his own vited the sympat business with hir
Dema Judith ing to his cabine "the dear old m

TAL TES 27
dasa were not to be
view was that India getting involved. She le Tamilleaders have ate a settlement. DixBandaranaike’s atherself from the Tamil it accepts, is evidence
y put all the blame on
ers when history will for driving the Tamil on and to their taking bus standardisation of ng the admission of 'sity, during her 1970in the contemporary le,although memories
Dixit’s odyssey, it seethat he did not realad. Consequently he im to the nefarious alith, Premadasa and surprising fact is that ors showed mountains illing the troublesome (a cabinet.
pression that JRJ was ccessful manipulation nd in orchestrating the d against an agreement y critical step, almost elf in the process. In ition was at stake but rance that Indian comuff out any moves to
t Gamini, Ronnie de nd Premadasa and not President’s son, Ravi nt figures in the encirman like JRJ with so ind elan, these figures es. But he took every ked on eggs as it were, re, As much as I knew him a long period of some gentle and decent man, ly ambitious and fell Had he lived, he would cemaker who brought gether since the arrival In 1505. vill not be complete ment of President JRJ, the feeling that he was gure sitting on a volreation. This pose iny of persons who did
Hart, stated after talkthat she was sorry for ”; Jeane Kirkpatrick
mistakenly told him that Lalith was one of his "brainiest ministers" and as for my own views of the President. I counted JRJ as my most brilliant student in 43 odd years of university teaching.
JRJ had risen to the top of the greasy pole after some forty years of waiting. He had escaped from the machinations of the Senanayake's pere and fils. If not for his thoughtful brother Harry who insisted that he should leave his power of attorney with him when he left Ceylon on a tour, he would have been expelled from the UNP by the Kaleel Committee which investigated him especially for disloyalty to his party.
JRJ was very very widely read. He told me that he had read my "The Gaullist System in Asia" twice over. His Sunday reading was devoted to The Times (London). He read biographies of leading statesmen perhaps deriving vicarious pleasure.
Despite all that has been said and written about JRJ, in my mind, he remains a brilliant politician who was sadly captive to his cabinet and who could have performed the miracle of bringing the Sinhalese and Tamils together. But he fell victim to the false stories told him by political sycophants and senior police of ficers about Amirthalingam and the TULF leaders.
Even the telephone tappers were fabricating conversations between Mrs B and Amirthalingam. I told him once when he showed me the text of a dialogue between Mrs B and Amirthalingam that it was not the way in which the latter addressed the former, the greetings reportedly starting with "Hi Madam', Amir was much more respectful than that.
Dixit had mellowed in his assessment of Pirabhakaran. The latter becomes a sort of anti-hero in the book. Dixit is guarded in his praise of the latter. Only some years ago he had referred in an address to the Indian Institute of Strategic Studies New Delhi as "Fascist monitor full of his own self importance.
I enjoyed my six years working with JRJ. He was very quick to grasp the essentials but of course gave nothing away in that he compartmentalised his friendships. In demeanour he was as cool as a cucumber. I think he would have liked a few others with whom he could tune in.
I liked our discussions and regret not having given him more of my time. He will I think remain etched in the memory of history in whatever way that discipline evolves. My guess is that he would be reckoned one of the greats. Dixit’s book is good for its rich insights. It could best be compared to Sir Neville Henderson's "The Failure of a Mission'. O

Page 28
28 AML TIMES
M - MAR): ANA
Kamal Haasan’s Trys with History?
T.N.Gopalan
Where and when does the Indian freedom struggle start? With the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857? Or sixty years earlier with Veerapandia Kattabomman? Or with Veluthambi Thalavai still earlier? Or with Marudhanayakam alias Mohammed Yousuf Khan in 1760 or so as that cerebral actor Kamal Haasan would have it? Marudhanayakam, the great hero, the great soldier, the great rebel and what have you as Kamal's historian-consultant Mr.S.Muthiah claims, has suddenly come into limelight and there is a raging controversy in the media and concerned circles what the Marudhanayakam phenomenon means to Tamil identity, to Tamil nationalism. From where did Kamal dredge up Marudhanayakam, the eponymous hero of his next Tamil film and is all the hype generated in the process really justified?
Incidentally with this film, Kamal, generally hailed as the actor's actor, will be making his directorial debut and also it will be the first historical he is going to star in. Possibly for purely commercial reasons he has decided to go back in history, come up with a little known name and make him out to be the pioneer freedom fighter. Still for a change even film journalists are wrestling with such weightier issues as the history of the freedom movement in India, in Tamil Nadu, the role of the local chieftains who collaborated with or fought against the British colonialists, when does a rebellion of a military commander become identified with the aspirations of the community at large and so on.
A refreshing breather that from obsessive concerns with bust-lines or sentimental mush. And of course only Kamal could provide such a break. He is a complex character. Though less popular than the other superstar Rajnikanth - whose entry into politics is the most-awaited event in the state - and suffering from quite a few disabilities including not a very impressive physical stature, some of his movements looking almost feminine, Kamala has still managed to catch the imagination of the audience by his sheer thespian genius and his restless quest for
variety and perfecti He is complex ir ing his eyes firmly office, he has also b the constraints inev entation with some aesthetics and been : dience to a higher p is a Brahmin by bi able to make himse caste-conscious, an too by professing ad (E V Ramasamy Peri der of the Dravidian split into factions) ar. ciples in general. He to Chief Minister F launch of his film, N 17 October, he point ditional poojas, and yaar EVR adorned t The irony did n min's spurning of a | performed at the ina this country, whoeve wherein the Brahm manent fixture. Qu monarch of the er: against whom Marl valiantly fought was the film's launch. Th ken by Kamal on the the English arrogan That apart, by l dhanayakam, born ir Vellalar community converted into Islam to be a peerless free is perhaps extending Whatever his motiv Marudhanayakam, h that he dares takeing a restless spirit.
Unlike many oth roes, he has sought performs. Whether or a dancer in Salan, Aboorva Sakodhara aged woman in Avv has brought to bear ent roles a very rare c ancy and understa range is less awe-il
 

O.
that even while havtrained on the boxeen able to transcend itable in such an origenuine concern for able to elevate his aulane too. Though he rth, Kamal has been clf acceptable to the ti-Brahmin sections miration for Periyaar yaar, the original leamovement before it ld the Dravidian prin: is particularly close Karunanidhi. On the Marudhanayakam, on edly spurned the traa big portrait of Perihe stage. ot stop with a Brahpooja still religiously ugural of any film in r be the producer, and in priests are a perJeen Elizabeth, the stwhile colonialists idhanayakam had so the star attraction at e first few lines spooccasion lampooned ce, though mildly. atching on to Maruthe high-caste Saiva put who subsequently , and making him out dom figh-ter, Kamal his constituency too. 'es in pitching upon he has clearly shown risks and that his is
er run-of-the-mill hetariety in the roles he as a don in Nayakan gai Oli, or a dwarfin rkal or as a middleai Shanmugi, Kamal on such vastly differombination of poignement. Though his spiring than that of
15 FEBRUARY 1998
the one and only Sivaji Ganesan, the realism he imparts makes the characters he essays far more credible than Sivaji has ever been able to do.
Sivaji, the famed elder actor was on hand at the launch of Marudhanayakam. And in 1959 he had immortalised Veerapandia Kattabomman, a Telugu-speaking chieftain from down south but who is very much a Tamil folk-hero. Ironically Kattabomman's grandfather was a contemporary of Marudhanayakam and had collaborated with him when he was a British stooge. Even more interesting both the better-known and the rebellious KattaboImman and Marudhanayakam were hanged to death by the British on 16 October, the day Kamal's film was launched. It was made out by circles close to Kamal that the date was purely coincidental and that the launch date had been fixed to suit the convenience of Queen Elizabeth. And the very first shot of the film, for all the excitement occasioned by the Queen's presence, Tamil Maanila Congress(TMC) leader G.K.Moopanar's clapping and Karunanidhi's conferring of another title on him, Kalai Gnani (one deeply schooled in arts), still raised serious questions about the success of Rs.20 crore mega venture. For when Kamal uttered words to the effect that he had sprouted from the Tamil soil and that it was the British who were the aliens, the audience were not exactly electrified as they would have if, say, a Sivaji Ganesan had delivered the dialogue. The delivery by Kamal was almost dead-pan and his eyes were not flashing even though Yusuf Khan was at the time supposed to be raging against the British. And here exactly is the rub.
Kamal, unlike Sivaji, is not used to stentorian utterances or fierce theatrical gestures. But then the Tamil audience is conditioned to seeing in the historicals, plays or films, larger-than-life characters who roar and tear the air constantly and who use a very stilted language, traits so alien to Kamal. Besides, as mentioned earlier, he lacks the physical stature expected of battle-scarred heroes. How does he then expect to carry conviction is indeed a moot point. But then when he could take such a risk in the choice of the Subject himself, he could also dare essay a more realistic, credible historical character too, sans all the conventional sound and fury.
Available records suggest that Marudhanayakam was born in Panaiyur in Ramanathapuram, not far from Kamal's own native village, and sheer poverty forces him to leave for Pondicherry where he serves a French official in some me
(continued on next page)

Page 29
15 FEBRUARY 1998
The excommunication order Served on the Roman Catholic priest Tissa Balasuriya OMI by the Church has been revoked and he has been re-admitted to the Church officially in what is described as a historic act of reconciliation.
Church sources said that Fr. Balasuriya was re-admitted to the Church after a reconciliation service held at the Chapel at the Colombo Archbishop's House in the presence of Apostolic Nuncio Rt.Rev. Oswald Padilla, Church authorities said.
Fr. Balasuriya 73, attended the reconciliation service conducted by Colombo Archbishop Rt.Rev. Nicholas Marcus Fernando who announced the lifting of the ban imposed on Fr:Balasuriya.
The move to restore the 74-year-old Fr. Balasuriya to the full priesthood came after six days of intense negotiations, Playing a vital role in the corporate dialogue for conflict resolution was Fr.
须
Marcello Zago, i General of the m Mary Immaculate and supported Fr. of grave spiritual
Fr. Zago told til ciliation and lifting tion orderon Fr. Ba for the new spirit c logue and accomn lic Church. He sa the crisis was reso sincere dialogue O a mediator or facil for conflict resolut Church but in Soc hierarchy was rep the Papal Ambass Padilla, Archbish Fernando and Kal Fernando in his c President of the B Sri Lanka. Beside
(Continued from page 28)
nial capacity. Then he goes on enlist himself in the East India Company's army, through his exploits in the battle-field, he becomes a commander and is commended to the service of Nawab Muhammad Ali of Arcot. He plays a stellar role in the second war of Carnatic which Muhammad Ali, an ally of the East India Company, wins, crushing the French- supported Sandha Sahib, the war setting the stage for the consolidation of the British hold on India and the ultimate decline of the French power. At this point of time he converts to Islam, becomes known as Mohammed Yusuf Khan and is referred to as such in all historical works. His exploits continue and is made Governor of the Madurai province while the British empire spreads and so does his fame as he dedicates himself to the task of improving the life of the people under his charge through a number of developmental works,
It was at this stage either as a result of sheer hubris or because of a jealous Muhammad Ali’s conspiracies, Yusuf Khan finds himself constrained to take on his masters. He fights bravely, defying the odds, though in vain. Though Kamal claims that he stumbled upon the
Khan Sahib as Yi known as among til folk song, history a able records, do n great freedom figh with the British ti conflict occurs onl the heat on him an It is not clear wh make him out to would be.
Still it would turn such appare and chisel the pe: rebel. More impo Muslim convert a freedom fighter place of pride in dominated discou) have even questic the film Marudha Khan, implying th just to the Muslim Possibly he is scal as the title could box-office in an e. Still he will have when he complet and make the Tam strand of their m
 

須
nternational Superior issionary Oblates of (OMI) who stood by Balasuriya at the time
risis. he press that the reconof the excommunicalasuriya was a triumph f person to person dianodation in the Cathoid the spirit in which ved through open and fall parties along with itator was an example ion not only within the iety also. The Church esented at the talks by ador Bishop Oswaldo op Nicholas Marcus ndy's Bishop Vianney apacity as the current ishop's Conference of s Fr. Zago, Fr, Balasu
usuf Khan came to be he people through some sknown from the availbt mark him out to be a er. He had collaborated ll the very end and the y when his masters turn i seek to humiliate him. it the script is going to be or how historical it
be a great challenge to itly unheroic material sonality into a valiant rtant by focusing on a hd calling him the first :ould give Muslims a
an otherwise Hinduse. Precisely why some ned Kamal christening layakam and not Yusuf at he is being less than background of his hero. ed, and a Muslim name prove damaging at the sentially Hindu milieu. done a signal service s his ambitious project ils aware of yet another lti-faceted history. O
AL TES 29
riya was accompanied by several brother Oblates including the local Superior Fr. Bernard Quintus and social justice crusaders Fr, Dalston Forbes and Fr. Oswald Firth.
After a four-year controversy over alleged heresies in his book "Mary and Human Liberation,’ Fr. Balasuriya was excommunicated more than one year ago on a recommendation of the Vatican's Congregation of the Faith headed by the powerful hardliner Cardinal Ratzinger. Fr. Balasuriya pleaded he had not been given a fair and full hearing before the drastic punishment was imposed on him. The Oblate community in Sri Lanka and thousands of individuals and groups here and all over the world stood by and spoke out for Fr. Balasuriya's case to be reviewed. Bernadine Silva, Assistant Director at the Centre for Society and Religion summed up the drama as a triumph for the Church of the People. The lifting of the excommunication order is significant in that it shows that the Church responds to the voice of the people. This controversy has been going on since 1993 and people all over the world reacted to it. The Church finally listened to the voice of the people while the Oblate community, to which Fr. Balasuriya belongs took up the role of reconciliation.
"The Church has also shown that it has responded to the pain that Fr. Balasuriya suffered. The removing of the excommunication order also signals the triumph of the people, Catholics now know that the Church listens to them,
“Finally it is a triumph for Fr. Balasuriya, for the suffering and pain he has undergone for the last few years has not been in vain - for through his suffering the humanity of the Church and of the people have triumphed," said Bernardine who has worked closely with Fr. Balasuriya for some 25 years. The formal Church announcement regarding the lifting of the excommunication order along with other details of the dialogue and the agreement will be published in the "Catholic Messenger' next week. Af. ter the reconciliation agreement was signed at the Chapel in the Archbishop's house, Fr. Balasuriya along with Fr. Zago concelebrated Holy Mass at the OMI communities De Mezenod House to mark a new chapter of dialogue and accommodation in the Catholic Church.
Father Balasuriya, a tireless crusader for social justice, told the press that he was glad and thankful that the problem had been settled amicably through a spirit of co-operation and accommodation. He expressed his gratitude to all in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world who had stood by him in his time of crisis. O

Page 30
30 TAMIL TIMES
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WEDDING BELLS
We congratulate the following couples on their recent wedding.
Umasuthan son of late Mr. A. Thiagarajah & Mrs. Rajeswary Thiagarajah of "Anpaham', Thammallai, Alaveddy, Jaffna and Geethanjali daughter of the late Mr. & Mrs M. Sivagnanaratnam of Alvai North Or í 2.98 at the Highgate Hill Murugan Temple, 200A Archway Road, London N65BA.
Selvaranjan son of Mr. & Mrs. Selvapaskarathurainayagam of 'Sakthi Vasa', Chunnakam South, Chunnakann, Jaffna and presently of Bahrain and Kalaivani daughter of Mr. & Mrs. S. Muruguppillai of 39 St. Martins Close, Erith Kent DA 18 4 DZ on 7.298 at Ravensbourne School Hall, Bromley Kent.
essential The Advertisement Manage Lami Times Ltd. PO Box 12
Sutton, Surrey SM13 TD PHONE: 0181-644 0972 FAX: 0181-241 4.557
Sashimohan (Sashi) son of Mr. & MrS. V. Pararp?eSMVafar? of 25 Beach Road, Mt. Lavinia, Sri Lanka and Chrishanthi (Chrisha) daughter Of Mr. & MrS. M. Rajaratnam of 115-25 Mabelle Ave., Etobicoke, Ontario M9A 4Y1, Canada on 9.2.98 at Saraswathy Hall, St. Lawrence Road, Colombo 4.
OBITUARIES
Gemma Ranee Sittampalam, relict of late V. Sittampalam, Advocate, Jaffna, loving mother of late Nirmala, Vasantha and Leela, mother-in-law of S. Balaratnam - Colombo, Justice Satchi Ponnampalam - Belize and Dan Muthu Veloe - UK; grandmother Of Sivakumaran, Sivaganeshan, Sumathi Courtney, Jamuna Vasquez, Menaka, Manjula, Sam and David great grandmother of Patrick, Alex and
Priya, sister of late Jai Singam, late Amita Perinbanayagam, late Kulasingham and Of
Gurusingham - Colombo and Lucky Saravanamuthu - Australia, Sister-in-law of late V. Satchithanantham, late V. Nagaratnam, late Dr. V. Cumaraswamy and of V. Suntharalingam - Canada, Muthamma Gurusingham - USA and Logambihai Balasubramanian - Canada passed away peасеfully от 12th January 1998 after a brief illness. Cremation took place according to Hindu rites in Belize, Central America on 13th January 1998 - 24 New Town Barracks, Belize City, Belize, Central America.
 
 
 
 
 
 

15 FEBRUARY 1998
IN MEMORAM
First Death Anniversary
Mr. Ponniah Pathmanathan D.I.C., C.Eng., F.I.C.E., Civil Engineer passed away on 1O.O2, 1997.
Our kind, spiritual and knowledgeable APPA. Thank you APPA for all you have done. Your Soul Now ReStS lin Peace.
Fondly remembered by AMMA, CHALDIREN and SONIN-LAW- 67 Bouverie Road, West Harrow, Middlesex HA 1 4HD, U.K.
In loving memory of Mr. Vallipuram Sellathamby (formerly Attorney-at-Law, Point Pedro) on the second anniversary of his passing away on 21st February 1996 in Surrey, UK.
Sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his wife Saraswathy, children, grandchildren, son-in-law, daughterin-law, relatives and friends. - 50 Wiltshire Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR77QN.
IN MEMORAM
Mohandas K. Samuel 18, 1.35 - 4.2.97
A life well-lived is a precious gift of hope
and strength and grace
From someone who has made our world
a brighter, better place.
It's filled with moments sweet and sad,
and laughter through the years.
A life well-lived is a legacy, of joy and pride
and pleasure, a loving, lasting memory
Our grateful hearts will treasure.
Lovingly remembered and sadly missed by his loving wife Utaiwan, children Monti, Manee and Mike, mother Rasamanie; sister Chandra, brothers Indran and Peter and their families. Buckingham Drive, Chislehurst, Kent
BR7 6TB.

Page 31
15 FEBRUARY 1998
31st Day Remembrance of
Mrs. Kathirasipilai Sangarapilai
"We did not see you close your eyes,
We did not see you die, All that we knew was that your were gone, Without a last goodbye even though, You were our living embodiment of God' I
Beloved wife of Mr. K. Sangarapillai (Malayan Pensioner) of Linga Vasa, Karaveddy Center, Karaveddy; loving sister of late: Mr. V.K. Kathiravelu (Retd. V.H.), Mr. V.K. Murugasu (Planter, Kilinochchi), Mr. V.K. Veeravagu (Retd. T.O.), Mr. V. K. Arumugam (Retd S.P.), Mr. V.K. Thamotharampillai (Retd., O.A.), Mrs. Parvathipillai Murugasu and Mr. V.K. Subramaniam (Retd. S.R.D.).
Loving mother of late Dr. Sivalingam (Australia), Mr. Rajalingam (former Regional Manager, Sri Lanka Petroleum Corporation). Mr. Gunalingam (Engineer, Australia), Mrs. Sivapakiavathy Thavathuray (London), Mrs. Sarasvathy Ganeshamoorthy and Mrs. Lingavathy Somasundaram (London).
Kind hearted mother-in-law of late: Mr. G.A. Thavathurai (Legal Draftsman), Mr. S. Ganeshamoorthy (Principal) and Dr. P. Somasundaram (London), Mrs. Santhirothayam (Australia), Mrs. Bammathy and Mrs. Pragaspathy (Australia). She is survived by twenty one grand children and great grand children.
Funeral took place at 2pm on Friday 9th January 1998. the 31st day religious obsequies were performed on Sunday, 8th February 1998 at Linga Vasa, Karaveddy. In London a lunch was given in her memory.
May her soul rest in peace! Information provided by Mr. R. Raveendralingam - Eldest Grandson.
ANCHORAGE
Residential Care Home for Elderly Regd with LONDON BOROUGH OF CROYDON Member of NATIONAL CARE HOME ASSOCATION
30 Woodstock Road, Croydon CR01JR Situated in an elite residential area close to Whitgift Shopping Centre, BR Station and Bus Routes Providing long or short term care in a homely atmosphere Double and Single Rooms with different views, some with en-suites
for further details please Tel: O181 667 0093.
 
 

TAMHL TIMES 31
&:
In loving memory of Mr. Chittampalam Subramaniam
(Orator) on the fourth annniversary of his passing away on 18th February 1994.
Sadly missed and fondly remembered by his wife Annaratnam, Children Kandasamy, Gnanaranjini, Pathmasany, Chitsabesan and Dr. Vasanthan, Son-in-law Dr. Puvanarajan, daughters-in-law Malini, Kumuthini and Dr. Prennila, sister Sinnamma Somasegaram, nephews Dr. Sothinathan and Kanagasabai; grandchildren Janani, Vaani, Senthuran, Yamini, Lohita, Praneeta, Thayalan, Anjali, Mahen, LakShnman and Rishi.
In loving memory of Mr. Chelliah Sivasampu on the sixth anniversary of his passing away 9th March 1992.
Sadly missed and fondly remembered by his two sons.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
March 1 First Sunday of Lent; 6.00pm Institute of Tamil Culture, Fine Arts presents Inspiration of Indian Music & Dance, "Krishna Leela' Dance Drama, Bharatha Natyam and Thiri Veni MuSic OrChestra at Ashcroft Theatre, The Fairfields, Park Lane, Croydon.
Tel: 0 181 24 1 1684/949 6888/224 2501.
6.00pm Tamil Orphans Trust presents Violin & Vocal duets by Ganesh & Kumaresh of Tamil Nadu at Acton Town Hall, High Street, London W3. Tel 0181 908 110 1/4827745.
Mar. 2 Sathurihi.
Mar. 3 Sasti.
Mar. 4 Karthigai.
Mar. 7 SLTWG Drop in. Tes: 0181 545 3313.
Mar. 8 Eekathasi; Second Sunday of Lent.
Mar. 9 Feast of St. Francis.
Mar. 10 Pirathosam, 8.00pm. Sristi presents independence - Bharata Natyam & Kathak by Nina Rajarani & Prashant Shah at The Purcell Room on the South Bank. Box Office
Tel 0171 96O 4242
Mar. 11 Masi Maham.
Mar. 12 Full Moon.
Mar. 15 Third Sunday of Lent.
Mar. 16 Chathuirthi.
Mar. 17 Feast of St. Francis.
Mar. 18 Feast of St. Cyril. Mar. 19 Feast of St. Joseph,
Mar. 21 SLTWG Drop in. Tel: 0181 545 3313.
Mar. 22 Fourth Sunday of lent. Mar. 24 Eekathasi.
Mar. 25 Pirathosarm, Feasť of Solemnity of Annunciation of the Lord.
Mar. 27 Anawasai.
Mar. 28 SLTWG meeting of Women's Front. Tel: 0181 545 3313.
Mar. 29 Fifth Sunday7 of Lent. Mar. 31 Sathurthi; Karthilgai.
Sankadahara
April 6 77.00arn Colombuthurai Sri Yoga Swamigal Abhishekam and Guru Poojah at Shree
Ganapathy Temple, 123 Effra Road, London SW19
At Bhawan Centre, 4A Castletown Road, London W 14 9 HQ. Tel: 0171 381 3086,4608.
Mar. 7 5.30pm Talk on "The Concept of Leadership in Agni Sukta Rigvedaʼ by Prof. Usha Choudhuri. All Welcone,
Mar. 15 6.00pm Karnatic Vocal, Violin & Mridangam Benefit Concert for Bhawan by Bhawan's students.

Page 32
32 TAML MES
The King of Hearts - A Golden Jubilee Tribute
Gemini Ganesh, the archetype romantic hero of South Indian Cinema is the first Tamil actor to complete fifty years as a celluloid trouper. In a long and distinguished career from Miss Malini (1947) to Kalamelam Kaathal Valkka (1997) - Gemini, as he is affectionately called has enchanted millions of Tamil cinema fans all over the world for the past five decades,
The strong good looks, the unhurried ellegance, the exquisite timing, cultured mannerisms and an inherent fair for humour made him a natural choice for a movie star, During the early fifties when Tamil cinema was dominated by political propaganda, overlong rhetorical oratory, theatrical type histrionics and over-the-top performances he brought some semblance of normality to his acting roles.
Early in his career it was the critics who spotted him as a natural. Author and critic R. Krishnamoorthy (Kalki) in his review of the movie Missiamma (1955) commented on his natural and effortless playing of the lead role. The famous K.V.S. Vass, editor of Virakesari stated in his forthright manner "R. Ganesh is a rare actor who brings a sense of down-to-earth realism to the madness We Call Tamil Cinema'. The Cinema critic of the popular magazine Kumudam observed the "very naturalness' of Gemini's performance in Yar Paiyan (1957). For many years it was the critic, the intelligentsia and the student of the cinema who appreciated the life-like realism Gemini brought to his roles. The average cinemagoer only appreciated his handsome looks and the elegance of his romantic playing, so much so the popular Tamil press named him “Kaathal Mannan', which described only one facet of his screen persona failing to do justice to his overall abilities. Over the years he has established himself as a formidable per
former in so many v ly accepted not onl the World where Tar view his films,
in a film career ey Gemini's output of reflects the history Indian independenc Conceivable role T. with - college studer husband, playboy, school teacher, pro peasant, vagrant, v Outlaw, thief, bank r. priest, freedom figh officer, king, com crackpot, beggar, r artiste, art lover, G many more. He al Gods - Krishna, Sh mythology - A Lakshmana and oth A Screen actor's lif professional survey ground knowledge il the man himself, of rationS and life valu his personality an Ganesh was born in family in Puthukodc lost his father early, enough to provide at the elite Madri (MCC), where he wa middle class breedi rigid discipline anc developed his pers cricket and sports, e ent ability to make fr popular student. He well, graduated Chemistry as his ma a lecturer at MCC, emic Career. The lur and in 1946, he res and joined S.S. V. with the dream of b or Cary Grant. He the lead role in Mis not get the role he Small role in the Si loWed by seconda that followed. Deje Contract With Gemi an independent act stuck to him partic from namesake entered films in 19 Having left Gemin as a villain in Th one of the major Ganesh got some noticed. From ther turning back. Gen with a string of t Pol Mangalyam Missiamma (19 Kan kanda Deiva remade in Hindi as in Telugu, Mala Sinhalese was att al over India, Cey and the Middle-Ea Gemini's Kalyani
 
 

15 FEBRUARY 1998
led roles to be widein India, but all over is lived and Cared to
inding five decades, Over 200 films also Tamil cinema since He has played every nil cinema came up brother, father, lover, awyer, doctor, clerk, ssor, farmer, pauper, lage bumpkin, rebel, bber, forger, prisoner, er, adventurer, army mander, hunchback, entally handicapped, andhian disciple and io played the Hindu va, Skanda and from rjuna, Abhimanyu,
S. is in his films and a needs Some backto what has gone into his experiences, aspies that have moulded d character. Gemini
1920 into a well-to-do .
ai in South India. He but the family was rich nim with an education as Christian College is a boarder student. A ng, English education, i leadership qualities onality, His interest in asy manner and inheriends made him a very exCelled in studies as With distinction With in subject and became the settled for an acade of cinema was strong igned his teaching job san's Geminl studios bcoming a Clark Gable had the screen test for Malinl (1947), but did wanted; he settled for a me film. This was fol| roles in several films cted he terminated his ni Studios and became }r, but the prefix Gemini larly to distinguish him Sivaji Ganesan who 2. studios, he played next | Ullam. This became hits of 1952. Gemini good reviews and was Onwards there was no ni Ganesh hit big-time pckbuster hits Manam 1953), Penn (1954), 5) and Kanavane (1955). Missiamma Miss Mary and dubbed alam, Kannada, and mendously popular film n, Singapore, Malaysia . Parisu (1959), became
a hit satisfying the masses as well as the intelligentsia. The cinema critic of Kumudam who was always cynical of Tamil films called it "an eternal beaCOn that Will light the heart of every filmgoer for ever'. In Summal Thangi (1962), a famous novel in Tamil which had touched the hearts of millions, as the Central character Babu, he gave a sincere, deep and heart-rending performance. Kaviya Thalaivi (1970) a film adapted from the Hindi film Mamta is another in which the most outstanding performance came from Gemini Ganesh. In every scene and frame he appeared, he left an indelible mark giving greater depth, intensity and sincerity to a character role already played to perfection by veteran Ashok Kumar, which many felt could not be bettered. He won a state award as best actor and during the year was also bestowed with a Padma Shri by the Government of India. Punnagai (1971) is the greatest triumph of the Balachandar - Gemini Ganesh Combination. The aesthetic design and the neo-realistic approach leads the spectator to a thoughtful, inward, insightful participation of this film; which is what a high class cinema is all about. In a measured, restrained, low key performance - enduring all the suffering without anger or indignation - and with great compassion and understanding Gemini Ganesh gives one of the most sublime performances of his career.
A friend who recently saw Gemini in
“Avvai Shanmugi' (1996) asked me why is this man still acting, after he has slowed down, lost his looks, age has caught up with him, he has even lost his old voice, he is a pale shadow of his past, why can't he have retired with the "romantic image' of his past still intact, I told him, perhaps, Gemini is a realist; one who gave us flesh and blood characters On the Screen with down to earth realism. Ageing is a fact of life; and this is how he is going to be in real life at this time and age. He is lucky at being able to do well what he enjoys most; and have found an audience who also enjoy what he does,
This is a tribute to Geminion behalf of the millions of Tamil filmgoers all over the world who have enjoyed his movies over the past fifty years. Thank you Ganesh for all those enchanting hours of sheer delight you have given us in the darkened cinema halls all over the world. We laughed with you; we cried with you; we sang with you; we romanced along with you and we shared your experiences on the screen. Our life is well worth the time spent in your Company.
May God Bless You!
Dr. S. Thiagarajah.
House in Colombo 8 To Let (short or long) Four bedroom house in private road with security, spacious rooms, attached toilet/shower, two garages and balcony.
Write to E 86 C/o familTimes.

Page 33
15 FEBRUARY 1998
Hats off to HATCC
The Hindu American Temple and Cultural Centre (HATCC) arranged a scintilating Bharata Natyam programme by Lakshmi Knight (daughter of the legendary dancer Balasaraswathi) and her son Aniruddha on 24th January 1998 at New Brunswick High School Auditorium. The accompanying musical support was provided by Dr. T. Viswanathan - Balasaraswathi's brother -
(Flute & Vocal), Douglas Knight (Mridangam) and S. Vidya (Nattuvangam and VOCal).
Lakshmi was in her best in what is her forte - Abhinaya (expressive facial mime and hand gestures) - which was tellingly brought out in the two padams she rendered: the first one in Ragan Kambhoti set to Talam was as effective in portraying the Nayika's desperate desire to unite with Lord Subramanya as the second One in Ragam Punnagawarali set to Tisra-Triputa Talam was the maidens pining for Lord Krishna. Lakshmi's handling of the following sloka and the Devarnama Jagadoddharana both in Ragam Kapi, produced subtle expressive nuances, nostalgically reminiscent of her mother Balasaraswat's legendary Abhinaya. The piece de resistance of the programme was the Warnam in Ragan Kalyani set to Rupaka Talam, which represented a comprehensive weave of complex Jatis and expression.
Aniruddha's role was confined to the initial pieces of Khanda Alarippu and Vasantha Jatiswaram portraying pure dance sequences and the final Tillana in Ragam Mandari which involved alluringly sculpAuresque poses. This left the audience wondering why no Abinaya item was slated
of hir). Dr. Viswanathan's lilting flute rendering, his and Vidya's vocal contribution and Douglas's Mridangam play lent appropriate support to the dance recital.
The occasion for the programme was to raise funds for the proposed Sri Guruvaayoorappan Sannidhi (Sri Krishnaji Aandir). It was indeed a meeting point of phanthropy and art, for the artistes donated their fees back to the temple. May there ce nore such programmes and more such Yountary donations.
P.P. Kanthan.
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Dr. K. Indrakumar of tigious literary award of Tamil Nadu, India. "Vinnveliyij Veera h Space), a book in Ta. published in Tamil N. first prize in the field books published in T. a glittering function f Arangam in Chenn award from the Chief Karunanidhi. Dr. Indrakumar is t books in Tamil and E 'Mannil lirunthu Vinn Space), received Government's Sahiti) had been a prolif Research and Pa Lanka in the sevent and had regularly CC ing English and Tam, Dr. Indrakumar was Caster in Tamil O National Radio prod magazine programr Medicine. He partici tant doctor in thepi programmes product When the American ships docked for the the Voice of America tary in English, Dr. those magic momen OuS Tamil COmment Radio Tamil listeners details of the joint page lead stories "Thinakaran' for thre benefit of Tamil reac President of the "G: Sri Lanka launchea research with even a ipating in its activitie club to orbiting astro the spacecraft via Russia and replies r He also acted as he Tamil movie made it the Film Festival aw, best Tamil movie 1975, he toured th capacity as a Writer: Soviet Government. Dr. Indrakumar was
 

TAM TIMES 33
ir Wins Tamil ary Award
徽 UK has won the presfrom the Government
aviyangal" (Epics in mill written by him and adu was awarded the of Science among the arni! Nadu in 1996. Af held at the Kalaivanar ai, he received the Minister Kalaignar M.
he author of several nglish, one of which - ukku" (From Earth to the Sri Lankan /a Award in 1975. He ic Writer on Space rapsychology in Sri es and early eighties ntributed to the leadil newspapers. also a versatile broad/er the Sri Lankan ucing popular weekly nes in Science and pated as the consulppular weekly health 2d by the UNESCO.
and Russian spacefirst time in space and gave a live commenIndrakumar captured ts with his sinnultanetry for the Sri Lankan . He also Covered the flights, through front in the Tamil daily days running for the ers. He was Founder garin Space Club' in to popularise space rthur C. Clarke particS. Messages from the nauts were relayed to Mission Control in ceived in Colombo. O in "Vaadai Kaatru, a Sri Lanka which won rd in Sri Lanka as the rOCdCed ir 1976. lr
Soviet Union in his nd as an invitee of the
Lecturer in forensic
Medicine at the Medical Faculty of the University of Ceylon, Colombo and now practises as a Psychiatrist in UK. His wife Vijayambigai is the famous Bharata Natya and Kuchipudi dancer.
indumathi Delights Chennai Rasikas
Classicism and innovative creative ability came to the fore when Kapali Fine Arts society presented indumathi Srikumar of UK, a dedicated pupil of the late Guru Veenkatachalapathi to provide a spectacular dance performance at Kalapeedam, Chennai 18 On 19. 12.97. The Chosen items, had been choreographed by the artiste herself with a difference from the conventional numbers and capturing the spiritual themes in the various compositions,
indumathi commenced the programme with the conventional 'Mallari' in Nattai with an impeccable balance in every pose of gestures, she rendered the selected numbers in an imaginative and competent manner. Nattuvangam coupled with melodious singing was in the able hands of C.K. Rajasekharan, a Kalakshetra mould like Sri Venkatachalapati, which enriched the quality of the evening's winsome performance. The Varnam that followed 'Swamy Nee Manamirangi" in a pleasing raga 'Sriranjani'set to Adi was simply expounded with verve, vivacity and elegance by Indunnathi and she took the audience to a refined level of perception, awe and wonder.
Similarly, the rendering of Devi's Kirtanam 'Aigirinandhini' had an emotional and informative aspect justified by the complexity of the pure ancient classical forms Saturated with a tradition, freshness, efficiency and elegance which marked the quality of the presentation. She performed these numbers with confidence, understanding themeanings of the songs and her face became sensitive and facial expressions glittered with bhakthi bhavas.
The rendering of Lalgudi Sri Jayaraman's Tillana in Tilang set to Adi, the concluding item, exposed indumathi's artistic capacity, charm, grave and quality, the result of which, there was spontaneous applause as the curtain rolled down.

Page 34
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