By
Janaka Perera
The 42nd anniversary of the April 1971 insurgency fell on Friday. This is an account of little-known facts of the attempt to free JVP Leader Rohana Wijeweera from the Jaffna Prison during the uprising.
In 1969-1970 the JVP – then popularly called the Che Guevarists – was supporting the Opposition United Front’s election campaign against the UNP Government. Simultaneously they were preparing for an armed insurrection if things did not turn out in their favor after the polls. Hence their covert operations continued even though the UF won the Parliamentary Election of May 27, 1970. Less than four months later on August 10 the JVP held its maiden pubic rally at Hyde Park, Colombo.
The following year on March 10 five JVP members were killed in an accidental explosion in Kegalle while manufacturing hand bombs. Three days later the police arrested Rohana Wijeweera and over 400 JVP members in the jungles of Ampara. On March 16, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike declared a country-wide State of Emergency. Following a high level security conference in Colombo a decision was taken to detain Wijeweera in Jaffna so that he would have no contact with his party members. Since there was no JVP activity in the North, the authorities considered Jaffna to be safe area to hold him in custody.
Political detainee
Accordingly, the then Superintendent of police, Jaffna, Ramachandra Sundaralingam took the necessary security measures inside the Jaffna Fort and the prison in consultation with the Prisons Superintendent. This was done before Wijeweera was brought by plane from Ampara to Jaffna.
The instructions to the Prisons Superintendent from Colombo were very specific – (1) Wijeweera to be kept in a single cell in one ward with no other inmates in the remaining cells and (2) have Tamil speaking prison guards there, although there were a few Sinhala guards too were on duty in the prison. SP Sunderalingam deployed extra armed Police at the main gate and all visitors were scrutinized before entry.
“I visited the prison cell on the first day Rohana Wijeweera walked in along with the prisons superintendent and two senior prison officials,” says Sunderalingam. “The prison cell was fairly large and had an elevated bed made of cement with a mat and pillow.”
When the SP visited Wijeweera during the week he had made a special request regarding the quality of food served and the facilities provided. Sunderalingam spoke to the Prison Superintendent and said that it was necessary to meet Wijeweera’s minimum request since he was not an ordinary prisoner, but a political, detainee. Since he liked kiribath (milk rice) a change of menu was suggested and an extra pillow was given.
On the night of April 5 there was a passion play, with a large crowd in attendance at the Duraiappah stadium, adjoining the Jaffna Police Station and the Fort. Around midnight there was a noise similar to that of firecrackers. At first it sounded like part of the event at the stadium.
Plot to attack prison
Says Sundaralingam: “Then I got a call from the Police reserve sergeant shouting in Sinhala that terrorists were attacking the police stations with bombs, and urging me to be careful (thrasthavadi policiyata bomba gahanawa, sir prevesamwaenna). I called all senior police officers to report for immediate duty since it was a plot to attack the Jaffna prison and free Wijeweera. Police jeeps entering the main gate were pelted with crude hand-bombs.”
It was during this insurgency that the term ‘terrorist’ (thrasthavaadi) came into vogue in Sri Lanka.
The operation to free the JVP leader was undertaken by 150 youths who came all the way from Colombo to Jaffna by train. But these young men had no sophisticated firearms such as T-56 automatic weapons and hand-grenades. Instead they had only shot guns and improvised weapons including Molotov cocktails, crude hand bombs and home-made pistols (known as gal katas). Sundaralingam rang the Palaly Army Camp and got a military unit to rush to the spot along with a police riot squad to do a search operation. They arrested nearly 90 youths running around the ramparts.
Message to Prime Minister
“We were receiving regular messages via radio from Colombo”, he says. “The Defence Ministry’s orders were: ‘No inquests, no postmortem. Take tough measures.’ My telephone link was completely cut off. I made it very clear to Headquarters Inspector Jaffna Police that all arrested insurgents be kept in safe custody. Police officers were getting agitated following the news of JVP attacks on police stations island-wide and policemen killed. I immediately moved the 90 youths to a separate ward in Jaffna prison after obtaining written orders from the then Jaffna Magistrate to cover my direction.”
Within 48 hours of the JVP uprising an island-wide curfew was declared.
When SP Sunderalingam visited Wijeweera in prison the week following the aborted rescue attempt the latter had blurted out: “Your government has killed 10,000 of my comrades. They are traitors to your government, but they will always be heroes in history. Give this message to your Prime Minister.”
The SP conveyed this message of Wijeweera to PM Sirima Bandaranaike in a meeting at Temple Trees. Her response: “Let him say it in the Supreme Court!”
Created Prabhakaran
According to Sunderalingam, an Army officer who visited the JVP leader in the Jaffna prison had asked him what he had planned to do in the event he succeeded in capturing power. The reply he gave had made the officer furious. Wijeweera had said: “You should have attended my five lectures to know our plan of action.”
In the words of Sunderalingam: “The consequences of the JVP attacks in Jaffna made history. The disgruntled Tamil youth in Jaffna considered the actions of the Sinhala insurgents who came all the way from Colombo to the unfamiliar territory of Jaffna a heroic experience – an inspiration for Tamil youth to follow their footsteps. In a way Wijeweera created Prabhakaran.”
COURTESY:THE NATION