Sunday Times 2
Missing 600 policemen: Year 1990
View(s):By B.Anton Jeyanathan
In the recent past the topic of “missing persons” has been the choice of subject of the print media where the public was informed of the number of missing persons and the findings of the Commission which inquired into the cases of missing persons.
The Maxwell Paranagama Commission which was tasked with the gathering of information on the missing persons through witnesses, has declared that this Commission was winding up as they have completed their task in assessing the number of persons who were reported to be missing. Sadly, the communiqué does not give details as to what action was taken by the Commission in respect of any persons who were responsible for the missing persons, if they had elicited any information about the abductions and killings etc.
In the year 1990, police officers attached to a few police stations in the Eastern Province were given directions by the persons in authority to surrender to the LTTE cadre who had assured freedom after they surrendered to them. Some of the officers refused to carry out the instructions as they were prepared to die with their boots on rather than surrender. After they surrendered they were reported to have been whisked away in buses and were never released, but up to now they are categorized as “missing policemen”.
Though many representations were made about the missing 600 policemen in June 1990, in Kalmunai and in the Eastern Province, no positive action has been taken so far by the authorities concerned to ascertain as to what happened to these policemen. Though it has been forgotten and swept under the carpet, one of the survivors of the massacre has re-kindled our concern by his going on a “death fast” with his family, demanding his re-instatement in the service. His reinstatement in service is a secondary matter where I am certain the National Police Commission will look into his grievance by calling for a report from the Inspector General of Police and taking appropriate action if the claim made by the police officer Manoj Priyantha Siriwardene, as stated by him, that he was dismissed from the service unjustly, is found to be true.
In respect of the massacre of the 600 odd policemen, I, as a retired police officer, appeared before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) headed by the late Attorney General Mr.C.R.de Silva, and took up the case of the 600 odd policemen, one of whom was a batch mate of mine, an all Ceylon athlete the late ASP Ivan Botejue. My former colleague Mr. Tassie Seneviratne too appeared before this Commission and took up the case of these slain policemen, but nothing seems to have happened to either question or apprehend the perpetrators. About one and a half years back a delegation from the Retired Senior Police Officers’ Association (RSPOA) went before the Maxwell Paranagama Commission which was inquiring into missing persons and lodged our complaint in respect of this massacre and to bring the perpetrators before a court of law. Sadly, no action has been taken so far to apprehend the culprits.
With one of the survivors coming before the public demanding justice for his
reinstatement, the core incident of the massacre of the 600 odd policemen has resurfaced. It is hoped that even at this belated stage the incumbent government would initiate investigations and I am certain all the details about the surrender of the policemen, whisking them away in vehicles and subsequently their whereabouts which are not known, are available with the CID. It was unfortunate that the alleged perpetrators joined the then government and were given ministerial posts and thereby escaped the law enforcement authorities, and they are still scot-free. We urge that a comprehensive investigation be conducted by the CID into the disappearance of the 600 policemen.
It is the bounden duty of the incumbent government to bring redress and compensation to the widows and the dependents of the slain police officers without any further delay, and apprehend and bring before a court of law the perpetrators who were leading cadres of the LTTE.
(B. Anton Jeyanathan was a DIG of the Sri Lanka Police.)