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Colombo
started burning on Sunday
Last
week, I gave the details of the Thirunelveli ambush. Munasinghe
and other army and police officers who heard the explosion
rushed to the scene:
Sarath Munasinghe who drove along Palaly Road found an army
jeep lying on its side on the middle of the road neared the
Thirunelveli junction. “I jumped out and ran to the scene.
What I saw was shocking,” he told me when we discussed
his book A Soldier’s Version.
Twelve bodies of soldiers were scattered around the jeep and
the truck. Three of them were around the jeep. A fourth was
a few metres away, on a side of the road. That was the body
of Vaas Gunawardene. His packet of Bristol cigarettes and
the blue lighter were found inside the jeep. The truck stood
about 25 metres behind the jeep. Eight bodies were scattered
around it.
Munasinghe and others heard a soldier screaming under the
truck. They pulled him out. One of his legs and an arm were
broken. He was sergeant Thilakaratne. He was sent to the Jaffna
hospital. He died on the way. A while later, Lance Corporal
Sumathipala came limping from the adjoining compound. He told
the officers that he had jumped from the truck with the others
and run into the compound, climbed the roof of the house,
and fired at the attackers. His story was not believed. Corporal
Perera also survived the Tiger attack. With an injured leg
he ran to the Kondavil Depot of the Sri Lanka Transport Board
and used its telephone to inform the Palaly Army Camp about
the explosion. But Balthazaar, Munasinghe, and others were
at the scene of the blast before Perera’s telephone message
reached Palaly.
The army and police officers dispatched the bodies of the
12 victims -- one officer and 11 soldiers -- to the Jaffna
hospital. They removed the jeep and the truck to the Gurunagar
Army Camp. They placed a cordon around the scene of the attack
and left for the camp.
The radio room informed Colombo about the blast and the death
of 13 soldiers; 12 who died on the spot and the one who died
on his way to the hospital. Balthazaar got a call from Colombo
headquarters. It connected Balthazaar to Army Commander Tissa
Weeratunga. “I’ve to inform the president. It’s
too serious,” Weeratunga said. His voice showed that
he was badly shaken. Weeratunga woke up President Jayewardene.
Weeratunga later told his officers that Jayewardene was angry
when he broke the news. “We must put an end to this,”
Jayewardene shouted. He asked Weeratunga to meet him in the
morning.
In the morning, Jayewardene presided over a top-level security
conference at his private residence, ‘Braemar,’
in Ward Place, Colombo. “What happened?” was the
first question he asked. It was directed at Weeratunga. He
had no reply. “This should end. We cannot allow this
to go on,” the President shouted.
The conference decided to send Weeratunga to Jaffna and to
give the soldiers a full military funeral at Kanatte. The
decision to accord a military funeral at Kanatte was taken
by President Jayewardene. Army and police officers had advised
him against it.
Weeratunga flew to Palaly in the afternoon of July 24 in an
air force plane, and from there to Gurunagar Camp in a helicopter.
While he was on his way, things were taking an ugly turn in
Jaffna. Upsetting radio messages started pouring in from Palaly
Army Base. One of them said, “Soldiers from Mathagal
and V V T (Valvettithurai) are going on the rampage. They
are killing innocent people.” The other said, “A
truckload of soldiers just left Palaly Base towards Jaffna
town, smashing through the main barriers on their way out.”
The rampage was on when Weeratunga landed at Gurunagar. He
enquired from the officers about the arrangements to send
the bodies to Colombo. When told that was being done he took
off from Gurunagar around 5:00 p.m. He told the officers that
President Jayewardene had decided to accord the fallen soldiers
full military honors. He wanted to bury them at Kanatte and
build a memorial structure. Weeratunga told the officers that
he wanted to follow the bodies to Colombo. But he returned
30 minutes later as he was ordered by the president to stay
in Jaffna.
I was at home at that time, but was asked to rush back to
the Daily News where I worked. Our reporters and photographers
had gone to Kanatte for coverage. Around 5:00 p.m. our reporter
rang from A.F. Raymond’s and said, “The bodies have
not left Palaly. The relatives of the dead have come. A crowd
is collecting.” He added that funeral arrangements had
been completed.
Half an hour later, our photographer W. Piyadasa, telephoned
and said all sorts of elements were gathering at Kanatte and
there was utter disorder. As dusk descended, confusion was
confounded. Our reporters noticed a variety of agent provocateurs
entering the cemetery. They noticed a group of short-cropped
young men wearing white T-shirts pushing their way to the
graves.
The men pushed the soil into the pits, shouting, “Give
the bodies to the relations,” and “Don’t bury
them here like dogs.” The wailing relatives joined the
crowd and chorused, “Give the bodies to the relatives.”
The crowd went berserk. It smashed up the brassware brought
by A.F. Raymond’s for the funeral ceremony. The crowd
trampled the graves. The mob uprooted tombstones. Around 7:30
p.m. Piyadasa returned to Lake House. He said, “Dangerous
situation is developing.”
Piyadasa’s warning upset me. On July 21, two days before
the Thirunelveli ambush, I heard from a friend that the “final
solution is coming.”
Around 10:00 p.m., we in the Daily News editorial saw smoke
rising from the direction of Borella. I contacted the fire
brigade. The officer on duty said the mob was setting fire
to Tamil owned shops at Borella Junction. Then we saw flames
leaping up. We realised that Colombo had begun to burn. Next-
the events of July 25.
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