The unsung STF heroes of Pottuvil

There are members of the security forces and the police who dare to venture beyond the call of duty in the performance of national and humanitarian services. While they too are heroes of our nation, who should be recognized and rewarded, they are either killed while performing such services or are victimized for performing such services that may be argued to be beyond the scope of their responsibility. These are the unsung heroes whose actions often go unnoticed. In paying tribute to all such heroes, let me focus attention on three of their kind, to illustrate their plight.

The tsunami of December 26, 2004 brought unprecedented death and destruction to our country. The Pottuvil Divisional Secretariat Area was badly affected, with Arugam Bay that is considered to be one of the best tourist resorts in the island being completely cut off. The tourists who survived the ordeal had to be immediately evacuated and the villagers who survived amidst all the death and destruction had to be provided with food and shelter sans any delay. I visited this area on or about December 31, 2004 and the survivors, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims were full of praise for the humanitarian services performed by the Police Special Task Force, which was beyond the call of duty. The stranded foreign and local tourists were evacuated as soon as possible and relief was organized for the local population with the resources available, with much responsibility and dedication, by Chief Inspector S.N.Gunaratne, the Officer Commanding the Srastrawela STF camp.

During my visit I saw the arrangements this Chief Inspector had initiated to provide food and shelter to the affected population, who were predominantly Muslim. Among the STF personnel working under this Chief Inspector was Sergeant Vitharana. He was the driver of the amphibious vehicle that brought the much needed relief items across the lagoon to feed and clothe the people in affected villages. There was also Police Constable Nalaka Siriminda Moremada attached to a volunteer team led by Javana Fernando that was distributing relief items to affected villages. They were operating in the area with two four wheel drive Toyota pickup vehicles.

The then Chairman of the Lahugala Pradeshiya Sabha complained to me that Chief Inspector S.N. Gunaratne was distributing relief items to the Muslims and that the Sinhalese in Panama had only received a pittance. When I questioned the Chief Inspector in this regard his reply was that the village of Panama was not as badly affected as Arugambay, Ulla, Kudakalli and Pasarachcheni to warrant any special treatment.

Let us now consider what happened to Sergeant Vitharana and Police Constable Nalaka Siriminda Moremada subsequently.

Sergeant Vitharana had served in the STF for nearly seventeen years and was to retire soon. However his passion to undertake humanitarian services beyond the call of duty made him volunteer to provide drinking water to Pada Yatra pilgrims at the Okanda Devale. He had delivered sixteen bowser loads of drinking water from July 24, 2006 to August 7, 2006, which amounted to 48000 liters to the pilgrims, who were predominantly Tamils. To him as well as to all other STF personnel race and religion were of no relevance for they had been trained to treat all human beings with much love and compassion.

He left for the Okanda Devale with another such bowser load of drinking water on August 8 together with Police Constable Nalaka Siriminda Moremada. Around 11.20 a.m. when they were passing Panakala Kalapuwa, LTTE terrorists activated a claymore mine that was fixed on to a tree. The explosion killed both Sergeant Vitharana and Constable Moremada who were in the front compartment of the bowser. The LTTE terrorists removed all the weapons and other military items that were in their possession. Sergeant Vitharana's wife is now a widow with two children, while Constable Moremada's newly married wife is also a widow today. The international humanitarian organizations that leave no stone unturned, to give maximum publicity to the so-called atrocities by the security forces, sans any evidence, observed a noticeable silence with regard to the above incident, where an abundance of evidence was available to identify the LTTE as the perpetrators of this despicable act.

Chief Inspector S.N.Gunaratne, the Officer Commanding the Sastrawela STF camp, who was the saviour of the Muslims, in the Arugum Bay and adjacent villages, soon after the tsunami, was relieved of his command on or about September 20 and transferred out of the area, heeding to a request made by the Muslims whom he had helped so much. What was the cause for this?

Chief Inspector Gunaratne was a lover of the environment. He is an officer who will not hesitate to implement the law of the land to protect the environment. There were some who were felling timber and encroaching into forest and coastal reservations in his area of responsibility. He found it difficult if not impossible to tolerate this mass-scale destruction. About a month before his transfer, he arrested some people who were transporting timber in twenty two carts and handed over to the local police. More people were arrested in a second raid on September 16.

The Chief Inspector's action provided the LTTE with a golden opportunity to incite some Muslims against the STF. On September 17, the LTTE hacked to death ten Muslims workers who were repairing the sluice gate and irrigation canal of the Raddela tank. Before the sole survivor could speak out the truth, a hartal was surreptitiously instigated by timber racketeers. Five STF personnel returning from leave to the Sastrawela STF camp were attacked and injured by a Muslim mob on the morning of of September 20 and the STF was compelled to fire in self defence. As a result, 14 Muslims were injured. Some attacked the village of Ulla and set fire to a small hotel. About seventy five Sinhalese families living in the village of Ulla subsequently fled to Panama in boats, fearing further attacks. In an effort to calm down the tension, the authorities decided to make Chief Inspector S.N.Gunaratne the scapegoat.

However, the Defence Ministry website published the following information on September 22.

"Potuvil Massacre, clearly an LTTE act- Muslim community leaders in the East

"Several community organizations in the Eastern province have expressed their conviction over the LTTE's involvement in the massacre of eleven innocent Muslim civilians in Pottuvil on 16th of September. Secretary to the Minister of Defence Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse has been informed in writing by many such community organizations that the heinous crime was undoubtedly perpetrated by the LTTE terrorists, denying the speculations on Security forces involvement."

The Akkaraipattu fish vendor's society while condemning the crime stated that this massacre was aimed to ignite tension between the Muslim and the Sinhalese in the Eastern area and to destabilize the ground situation in favour for the LTTE. They said that this was opted to weaken the development in the Eastern province.

The Akkaraipattuwa Grand Mosque priests while condemning the massacre said "we vehemently deny LTTE's accusation levelled against the SL security forces as it is clear that no organization other than the LTTE could commit such atrocities.

It is now revealed that the LTTE is backed by a group of racketeers engaged in large scale illegal timber business in the area to commit the crime. The Special Task Force (STF) has taken stern action to prevent this illegal business which had been continuing for a longtime.

The letters sent by the Muslim community in the Eastern area addressed to the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa are also available on the MoD website.

Any community should not be allowed to break the law of the land with impunity. In practically all villages in and around the Pottuvil area and also in Panama, I have noticed that electricity is tapped from the national grid with impunity. Majority of the consumers of electricity in these villages throw a hook on to the power line at nightfall and obtain their electricity free of charge. I have seen Chief Inspector Gunaratne ordering the removal of such illegal connections on many occasions.

To get a clear understanding of the ground situation one needs to clearly understand the historical background behind the village of Raddela where this massacre of ten Muslims took place. Raddela was a Sinhalese village established on or about 1818 soon after the Uva Wellassa rebellion. There were about thirty Sinhalese families cultivating some 450 acres of paddy land until 1990. They left the village due to the deterioration of the security situation.

Muslims paid ransom money to the LTTE to cultivate these lands. A few years later the Raddela tank breached and the security situation also deteriorated further, making it difficult if not impossible for even the Muslims to cultivate this track of land.

After the ceasefire agreement the security situation was conducive to resume cultivation in this area and therefore the Raddela tank was restored. The Muslims moved in once more to cultivate the paddy lands. This resulted in a certain amount of animosity among those who had lost their paddy lands and were now living in Panama. With a further improvement in the security situation, more Muslim families began to move into this area and they began to encroach the forest reservation and over 1500 acres of land in the reservation were cleared by these new settlers. They also started encroaching the coastal reservation in and around Kudakalli and Sastrawela area.
In the December 26, 2004 the houses built on coastal reservations were washed off. However the encroachment of forest reserves is still continuing with impunity and Chief Inspector S.N Gunaratne who was the only person who had the guts to implement the law of the land to prevent this colossal environmental destruction has been transferred out of the area.

It is hoped that the present President who is more positive in his approach to solve national problems such as this, will take necessary action to halt the large scale environmental destruction in the Pottuvil area.