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The
Prison Massacres- 2
The second prison massacre took place on July 27, 1983. The
attack took place on the ground and first floors of the YOB.
The prisoners who escaped the massacre on Monday had been
moved from the Chapel Section to the ground floor of the YOB.
The professionals were already in the first floor.
Both groups expected the attack and had made preparations
to resist. Lake House publication Amuthu published the details
of the events that took place on the ground floor in its July
1999 issue. This following is the story one survivor gave
it:
We were prepared to resist. We made weapons out
of plates and tin cups. We also stored gravy and curries.
Our plan was to throw the curries on the faces of the attackers.
In the evening we saw a crowd running towards our building.
They shouted that they wanted to drink the blood of the Tigers.
Our cells were locked with padlocks, and the man with
the bunch of keys tried to open it. Behind him were people
with axes, long jungle knives, pounding poles, rice ladles,
and pointed iron rods. Thurairajah, who was in our cell,
threw the entire lot of curries in one fling. The man
who got the curry in his face retreated. Another man
came forward and hit the padlock with the back of an axe.
It broke.
The door opens into the passage, and the attackers pulled
it to make it open. We pulled it towards us to keep it
shut. They started hitting at our fingers holding the
iron bars.
Then we used the bed sheets to pull the door. They cut
them too. Then they pulled the door open and two attackers
entered our cell. They rained blows on Thurairajah. They
cut him with the jungle knife, and he fell dead. I hit them
with my hands and legs. One of them swung the axe at
me. I dodged, but I received a cut on my head.
I caught him tight and retreated to a corner, using him as
my shield. The other attacker tried to advance to catch
me.
I tried to hit him with my leg, but someone behind him gave
a thundering blow to my leg. It was so painful I could
not stand any longer, and I slumped. I feigned death.
They gave me some more blows.
Then something happened. They started running away.
I saw soldiers wearing gas masks coming in, and I heard
someone talking in Tamil. I shouted, “I am alive.
Save me.” Douglas Devananda came to me. With
him were Manikkathasan, Alagiri, Subramaniam and Farook.
They carried me into the visitors lobby. There I saw
the bodies of Dr. Rajasundaram and Mariampillai. The
head of Mariampillai was crushed. They brought Thevakumar
and kept him beside me.
Upstairs, I reconstructed the events that took place when
the survivors were interviewed:
From the moment we realised we were going to be attacked we
decided to resist. Dr. Rajasundaram opposed it. ‘’We
are Gandhians,” he said and added, “We should tackle
the problem the Gandhian way.” He gave another reason
also. “How can we resist such a large crowd?” he
asked. Others disagreed.
Dr. Tharmalingam disagreed with him violently. He forcefully
retorted, “They are killers. They are coming to kill
us. If you go and talk Gandhism to them they will kill you.
We are not going to sacrifice our lives like that. We
would rather fight and die.” Dr. Tharmalingam was
then over 70 years old.
Dr. Rajasundaram fell silent. He was
planning his strategy while the other eight made preparations
to resist. They broke the tables and chairs and took
the legs in their hands. They got ready to hit back.
The violent crowd of about 40 prisoners, armed with
axes, crowbars, iron rods, and logs of wood, broke the padlock
by hitting it with the axe, and opened the door to the
passage. Seeing that we were prepared to hit back, they hesitated
and stood outside the entrance. We stood a few meters away.
Our strategy was to hit the attackers when they advanced towards us.
Dr Rajasundaram made use of this pause. He went forward
and stretched out his right hand, signifying that he wanted
to shake hands with them. They did not respond. “My
friends,” Dr. Rajasundaram addressed them in Sinhalese,
“There is no need for us to fight each other. There
is no need to kill each other. I am a follower of Mahatma
Gandhi. I believe in non-violence. I have not
harmed any living being. We are not involved in any robberies
or murders. Please spare us.”
He appealed to their human feeling. Noticing their reluctance
to advance, he appealed to their religious feeling.
He told them that he was a Hindu and did not believe in violence,
and that they, as Buddhists, should not kill. One of
the attackers stepped forward, pulled him out, and hit him
on the head with an iron rod. He fell dead among the
attackers.
We immediately advanced to the entrance and put our
defense plan into action. The young men, Nithiyanathan,
Kovai Mahesan, and Dr. Jayakularajah stood in the forward
line. Rev. Jayathilakarajah David and Rev. Fr. Sinnarasa
formed the second line of defense. The oldest of the
group, Dr. V. Tharmalingam, took up the back position.
Then where was the eighth man, Fr. Singarayar?
He got to a side and started praying.
The attackers were taken aback when they saw our hostile pose.
They retreated a few steps and tried to hit us with the wooden
poles and iron bars. We warded off the blows with the
legs of tables and chairs we had. The hitting match
went on for a few minutes. Then a blow fell on the shoulder
of Kovai Mahesan. He lost balance, trembled, and fell.
Fr. Sinnarasa went from the second line to the front.
Then Kovai got up. Then another fell out of exhaustion.
The breach was filled.
When Major Peiris and his commandos entered, the
attackers ran away. Eighteen of the 37 prisoners were killed
that day.
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