29th, September 1996

By Shelani de Silva

A week has passed since the political shoot-out at Negombo, which killed three persons and injured several more. The dead are buried but family members are still threatened and live in fear of their lives.

Tension has risen in the surrounding areas since the incident with police protection for some of the family members.

The family of Sylvan J. Perera was the most affected. The family was compelled to have the funeral in Colombo due to warnings of another shoot-out if the burial was held in Negombo.

The threats did not stop here. The killers are hunting for his son.

The widow of Mr. Sylvan Perera, Anne told The Sunday Times that the killers had visited the hospital after the incident in search of her son.

"After the incident my son along with some relations, rushed to the hospital. Four people had come and asked where my son was. Since my son was there they knew that the gang did not know him, so my relatives had said he had gone home.

They had asked them who they were, and they had replied that they were related to us and they were looking for my son.

At first we wanted to bring the body home but some of the relations had been threatened on their way to our house. A group had to even turn back as they were stopped and asked to go home. Most of the relations were compelled to attend the funeral individually so that it would not arouse any suspicion", she said.

Two days after the funeral the killers had come to a relative's home in Amandaluwa in search of the boy. Fortunately, only a worker was at that house and she had managed to put them off.

"It was around 11.15 p.m. I heard some one banging on the door, recounted Jacintha.

I refused to open the door but they demanded I do so. When I opened the door there were four people. They wanted me to switch off the garden light. Once I did that they showed me a list of names and the boy's name was at the top. I refused to tell where the boy is. They said they want to meet him and asked me not to come to the house or else they will kill me", said Jacintha.

According to Mrs. Perera the boy is going through a traumatic experience. "Even my youngest daughter is refusing to go to school", she said.

Mrs. Perera said her husband was involved in politics but he was also a social worker and helped anyone from any party."

Richard Fernando another victim was not involved in politics. He had accompanied Sylvan Perera to court and unfortunately was among the victims. His family too had to go through the trauma of not being able to get the body immediately but still they had managed to bring the body home. Although the family did not receive any threats, the funeral parlor had been threatened and they were unable to remove the body.

"In fact it was an insult to him, but we did not let it bother us. We carried the body about two miles to the cemetery. Although we were not threatened we gathered that something would have gone wrong. The funeral parlor came to collect the stands on his seven day alms giving and they said their driver had been threatened", said Pushpakumari, Richard's widow.

For Leelaratne's wife and two children the loss is unbearable and protection for the family is a problem. "We did not receive any direct threat, but I have got to know that they are trying to get us. I still have not sent my two daughters, out of the house. My husband was threatened two days before the tragedy", she said.

It was not only the families who had received threats but also the undertakers. A funeral parlor which was asked to take over the bodies had at first refused to do the job sensing danger. However once Mr. Wijeyapala Mendis had requested they had obliged. But the trouble had commenced once the bodies were transferred to the Ragama hospital. The vehicles had been followed and the drivers were threatened.

According to the manager one of the drivers while going on some other job had been stopped and pulled out of the car and asked not to undertake work for the UNP

The Editors' Guild of Sri Lanka has expressed grave concern over the government's approach towards mediamen, following several threatening statements issued by government parliamentarians, and a daylight assault on a photo journalist within Court premises.

The Editors' Guild has issued the following statement:

"We regret to point out that there is opposition to mediamen gathering news. We like to quote three such instances. The first was on August 3, when minister Mangala Samaraweera made a derogatory statement in parliament. The words he used when referring to a 'Lakbima' news report on Sri Lanka Telecom, are insulting to mediamen. We do not question his right to reply in parliament or elsewhere on a news item. But he should be aware that anyone has the right to ask for a correction of any wrong reports or criticism published in the news media,

There are legal methods open to anyone to get rectificators too. But we parliamentary privilege being used to vilify mediamen which is another trace of repression of mediamen's freedom.

The second incident is the assault on a photo journalist who went to report a court case. This matter has been referred to the mediamen board and courts. But we are worried that it is a threat to mediamen, even happening as it did, in court premises. This is a threat to press freedom as well as freedom in the holy precints of law.

The Guild is conscious of the threats government members directed on TNL. M.Ps are free to challenge TNL if it aligns with a particular party or does not work as a democratic media. But the manner the issue was discussed, where the minister questioned if he were being asked to ban the TNL, show signs of threats to the common media.

The Guild takes note that through these happenings, a regrettable situation has risen that is threatening the very existence of a free media which spells danger to democracy.

Two Tamil political parties have rejected a call by the President to co-operate with the recently set up North-East Co-ordinating Committee.

EROS General Secretary K. Suthaharan told The Sunday Times the Tamil parties were seeking an Interim Administration and not a Co-ordinating Committee. He said EROS had doubts whether the government was serious about a political solution to the ethnic problem.

EPDP leader, Douglas Devananda said the committee should have been appointed in consultation with tamil parties.

By Chandimal Mendis

People around the Kolonnawa oil installation panicked yesterday after they observed a thick cloud of smoke coming from that area, but an official said it was only an 'operational' fire.

Kolonnawa installation security manager J.M. Karunaratne said, "We are removing the destroyed tanks by cutting them using electric equipment. When these tanks are cut sediments of certain oil particles that remain at the bottom of the tank catch fire. We had two such fires about two days ago."

He said there was no cause for concern.

There might be at least two more such operational fires but there would be no danger at all.

People of the area have been living in fear since the major attack on this installation by the LTTE last year.

This is in reference to the reply of Mr. Mahindapala on page 8 of The Sunday Times of September 8. H. L. P. Mahindapala one-time editor of the Observer has steeped so low to write this stuff for consumption of the public.

According to him there are no problems whatsoever for the Tamils and the problems if there are any, have been created by elitist Tamil politicians from 1914 onwards. Further he seems to think that the only problem we have got in Sri Lanka is the caste system that is prevalent in Jaffna and that there are no other problems for the Tamils.

He seems to have with one stroke swept under the carpet the various discriminatory measures directed against the Tamils from 1917 onwards. The refusal of the Ceylon National Congress to accommodate Mr. Arunasalam in a parliamentary seat in Colombo District and the other discriminatory measures adopted by the Sinhalese which made Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan to go to Jaffna and take interest in the welfare of the Tamils, the communal violences directed against the Tamils that erupted in 1956, 1958, 1977 and 1983, pan Sinhala Ministry of 1930's and the Sinhala only Act of 1956 have all been swept under the carpet with one stroke. Mr. Mahindapala finds fault with Mr. Sivasithamparam who has effectively replied his earlier letter and explained the reasons by G. G. Ponnambalam Senior wanted balanced representation.

The only way to stop a racial majority from trampling upon the rights of the other lingustic minorities is to have a balanced representation. This form of balanced representation is now, being followed in the selection of members to the Senate in the United States of America. Different states though they are not equal in sizes are all entitled only to a particular number of seats in the Sanate. The balanced representation can be the only alternative for the country getting divided.

Mr. Mahindapala had the audacity to state in this Article in his reply that the Jaffna Tamils led by G. G. Ponnambalam Senior voted for the disfranchisement of the Indian Tamils and in support of this argument he has quoted Vitachy like the devil quoting Scriptures.

G. G. Ponnambalam Senior and the All Ceylon Congress vehemently opposed the Ceylon Citizenship Act which disfranchised the Indians. Let Mr. Mahindapala get his facts correct before he starts criticizing leaders who are not alive. The Act which deprived the Indians of their citizenship rights is the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948 and the All Ceylon Congress vehemently opposed and voted against it. Later when Tamil Congress was invited by the UNP to give responsive co-operation and share power at the center it did so only after getting an undertaking from late D. S. Senanayake that he in consultation with the then Prime Minister Nehru should bring a Bill in Parliament to give citizenship rights to those who were deprived of their citizenship rights by the earlier Citizenship Act. The subsequent piece of legislation known as the Indian and Pakistani Residents Act which was passed in Parliament was the outcome of the undertaking given by the late D.S. Senanayake to late G. G. Ponnambalam and this Act gave citizenship rights to those whose Franchise was deprived by the earlier Citizenship Act.

Late G. G. Ponnambalam and the Tamil Congress were never a party to the disfranchisement of the Indian Tamils. Had it not been for the senseless and suicidal boycott campaign advocated by the Ceylon Workers' Congress, majority of the Indians would have got back their citizenship rights.

I think I will have to enlighten Mr. Mahindapala as to what happened immediately after 1947 General Election. Neither late Mr. Ponnambalam nor the Tamil Congress was anxious to join the UNP. The All Ceylon Tamil Congress fought the 1947 General Election before Ceylon got its independence and made it clear in the election manifesto that it would extend responsive co-operation to whatever Government that may be formed after the General Election was over that would support and accept the policies of A.C.T.C. The UNP did not get an absolute majority to form the Government after the 1947 General Election and there was every possibility of all the forces opposed to the UNP to get together and form the Government. A conference was held at the Colombo residence of late Mr. Nissanka to explore the possibilities of all the parties opposed to the United National Party getting together and forming the Government. This was known as the famous "Jamuna Conference" and it was presided over by late G. G. Ponnambalam. Nothing fruitful came out of this conference, as there was disunity among the leftist parties. In this connection Mr. Pieter Keuneman has said in the Saturday Review of 17th November, 1984 as follows:-

"If section of the left had displayed greater skill at the historical "Jamuna Conference" of the time, there might as proposed by the CPSL at the time formed an alternative Government and thus significantly changed the direction of Sri Lankan history".

From 1930 onwards it was G. G. Ponnambalam who fought for the rights of Indian Tamils and safeguarded their rights. When Sir Jackson Commission was appointed, when Govindan was shot dead in the famous Mooloya Estate incident and when Nefsumoir Estate was taken over it was late G. G. Ponnambalam who fought for the rights of Indian Tamils. Out of three days allotted to the Tamil Congress by the Soulbury Commission late G. G. Ponnambalam set apart one full day to represent matters affecting the rights of the Indian Tamils and as a result the Soulbury Commissioners recommended that 14% of the seats be reserved for Indian Tamils.

Tamils are no longer prepared to live in this country as second class citizens. They want to enjoy the same rights which the majority community is enjoying and if the Tamils are not allowed to live in this country as equals and equal partners of a common heritage then it is my humble opinion that the separation and not Federalism is the only solution.

When well meaning people are trying to build bridges to bring about communal harmony at this juncture, Mr. Mahindapala, one-time editor of the Observer is writing this trash.

A. Vinayagamoorthy