By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

Britain’s Channel 4 TV aired the documentary “Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings” in its “Dispathes” program on Tuesday 5 September 2023 at 11:05pm. Prior to the telecast, Channel 4 Dispatches stated that the documentary has “exclusive interviews with high placed whistleblowers who allege that some Sri Lankan government officials were complicit in the bombings.

Who or what is a whisleblower?

The Oxford dictionary defines a Whistleblower as a “source who makes public information about alleged wrongdoing, typically by or within the organization in which they are employed. A person blowing the whistle to journalists”

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says a whistleblower is “one who reveals something covert or who informs against another”.

The Cambridge dictionary describes a whistleblower as “a person who tells someone in authority about something illegal that is happening, especially in a government department or a company.”

According to Collins dictionary a whistle-blower “ is someone who finds out that the organization they are working for is doing something immoral or illegal and tells the authorities or the public about it.”

In this context the Channel 4 documentary featured three “whistleblowers”. One was Hanzeer Azad Maulana the former aide of Tamil Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal (TMVP) leader and Batticaloa district MP Sivanesathurai Santhirakanthan alias “Pillaiyaan” who is currently the state minister. for Rural Road Transport.

The second was Ex-police officer Nishantha Silva the Police sleuth who probed the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge and who in the process of doing so interrogated Gotabaya Rajapaksa intensively.

The third was another top Sri Lankan Govt official who remained anonymous without his image being shown. Both Azad Maulana and Nishantha Silva are reportedly living in Europe now.

Star Whistleblower

Although three whistleblowers were featured in the documentary, the star among them was Hanzeer Azad Maulana. The allegations levelled by him against persons such as Ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, State Intelligence Service chief Suresh Salley and State minister Pillayan helped the documentary film makers to make out a strong case. The importance of Maulana’s role in the documentary was acknowledged by Gotabaya himself.

Gota Breaks Silence

The Former President who had been maintaining a public silence since his ouster last year, responded to Channel 4 by issuing a public statement. The first two paragraphs of Gota’s statement are excerpted here –

“The central allegation made in the latest film on Sri Lanka broadcast by Channel 4 is that the Easter Sunday suicide bombings of 21 April 2019 carried out by Islamic extremists had been deliberately facilitated in order to create the conditions to get me elected to power in November 2019.”

“This charge hinges on claims made by one Hanzeer Azad Maulana, an applicant for political asylum in Europe, that he had introduced Maj General Suresh Sallay (who is best known for his past role as the Director of Military Intelligence) to the principal suicide bomber Zaharan and his brother Zainee Moulavi in February 2018.”

It is against this backdrop that this column focuses on the key whisleblower Hanzeer Azad Moulana. Who is this former aide to TMVP leader and State minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakantha alias Pillayan and why has he dared to take this bold step of blowing the whistle at great risk to himself?

Maruthamunai

The man known as Hanzeer Azad Maulana hails from Maruthamunai in the Eastern province. Maruthamunai is a predominantly Muslim coastal about 360 km from Colombo. It is part of the Kalmunai electoral division within the Amparai district. Hanzeer’s father was Mohammed Aliyar Mohammed Mihilar. Hanzeer’s given name is Mohammed Milhilar Mohammed Hanzeer. Azad Maulana is not his real name. It was a nom de guerre he adopted after joining the Thamil Makkal Viduthalap Puligal(TMVP).

Hanzeer’s father Mihilar was left-oriented in his political thinking. He also got along well with members of the Tamil community especially those from the adjacent Tamil village Paandiruppu. The Tamil militant organization Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation front(EPRLF) had a strong presence in Paandiruppu. This led to Mihilar becoming a member of the EPRLF even before the 1983 July anti-Tamil pogrom.

Mihilar/Kamalan

After “Black July” Mihilar received arms training at the EPRLF camp in Kumbakoanam,Tamil Nadu. Mihilar was given the nom de guerre “Kamalan” by the EPRLF> Thereafter he worked for the EPRLF in the Amparai district and was appointed to the Central Committee. The Indo-Lanka accord of 1987 brought about the Provincial Councils scheme through the 13th Constitutional Amendment. Unlike the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) the EPRLF backed the Indo – Lanka accord and cooperated fully with India to hold Provincial elections in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

The EPRLF contested the first elections to the North -Eastern Provincial council comprising both the Northern and Eastern provinces. Mihilar himself was a candidate. He also campaigned actively for the EPRLF. The EPRLF along with the newly created Eelam National Democratic Liberation front(ENDLF) formed the first administration of the merged North – East provincial council. Mihilar however was not elected to the first and only N-E PC.

Annamalai Varatharajapperumal became the first chief minister of the North -eastern provincial council. Mihilar went to Trincomalee and worked as an official at the Provincial Council office. Things changed after the Indian army was withdrawn in 1990 March.Fearing a massacre at the hands of the LTTE, most of the EPRLF frontliners fled to India. Mihilar was one of them

Padmanabha

Kanthasamy Padmanabha the amiable Secretary-General of the EPRLF along with many cadres moved to the Orissa (now Odisha)state. Mihilar too went to Odisha and served as one of Padmanabha’s bodyguards. The EPRLF continued to maintain its main office at Choolaimedu in Kodambakkam, Chennai.

On June 19th 1990, Padmanabha came to Chennai(then Madras).Mihilar too accompanied him. Padmanabha was at a flat in Zacharaiah Colonu near the EPRLF office in Choolaimedu with some visiting EPRLF stalwarts from Sri Lanka when the LTTE struck. A tiger squad led by Kiruban and one-eyed Sivarasan burst in and fired away. Padmanabha and 12 others were killed. Among those killed were North -Eastern Province Finance Minister Kirubaharan, Parliamentarian Yogasangary and Padmanabha’s bodyguard Mohammed Mihilar alias “Kamalan”

Mihilar had four children , two girls and two boys. Eldest son Hanzeer born in 1983 was only seven when he lost his father. The family was in dire straits. The EPRLF in those days had a trust fund from which it helped the families of members killed by the armed forces or other militant groups like the LTTE. This financial aid was of great help to the family then. Subsequently Hanzeer’s mother married again.

Douglas Devananda

Mohammed Hanzeer studied at the Maruthamunai Shams Madhya Maha Vidyalaya.He was a bright student who entered the Peradeniya University in 2003 to do a Bachelor’s degree course in agriculture. Having financial difficulties in pursuing higher studies, Hanzeer turned to Douglas Devananda for help. Douglas who had broken away from the EPRLF , was the leader of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party(EPDP).

However Devananda had been the commander of the EPRLF’s military wing known as the Peoples Liberation Army when he was in the EPRLF. Hanzeer’s fathe Mihilar/Kamalan was closely associated with Douglas. So when Mihilar’s son sought his help, the EPDP Leader felt he had to help the son of his erstwhile comrade at arms.

Thinamurasu

The EPDP was then running a weekly paper called the “Thinamurasu”. Douglas gave Hanzeer a job at “Thinamurasu”.

Hanzeer Mohammed was fluent in Tamil and English. He was well-read and was a very good writer in Tamil. He was also capable of translating from English to Tamil. So Mohammed Hanzeer began to work at Thinamurasu while pursuing his higher education at Peradeniya. Since he had lectures for only four days a week, Hanzeer would spend three days in Colombo working for Thinamurasu. He wrote political articles under pseudonyms and also translated news and articles from English into Tamil.

About two years later, Hanzeer dropped out of Varsity and requested Douglas for a job. Devananda was then a cabinet minister. The Sri Lanka Cashew Corporation came under his purview. Former Amparai district MP Markandu Gunasekaran alias Shankar was the chairman of Cashew Corporation. Hanzeer was appointed as the chairman’s secretary. After some months Hanzeer resumed his studies again and eventually graduated. He had also studied Sinhala and was now trilingual.

LTTE Split

Meanwhile the LTTE underwent a major split in 2004 when its Eastern regional commander Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias “Col”Karuna revolted against tiger supremo Veluppillai Prabhakaran’s leadership. The breakaway group known for a long time as the LTTE Karuna faction, aligned itself with the Sri Lankan Govt and its armed forces and intelligence services.

The Karuna faction with State backing took on the LTTE in the East. Karuna’s deputy Pillayan (Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan ) based himself in Batticaloa as field commander. A political party known as the Thamil Eelam Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal(TEMVP)was also formed. Later the name was changed to Thamil Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal(TMVP)

After Mahinda Rajapaksa became President in 2005 November, he appointed his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa as Defence Secretary. The new Defence secretary utilised the TMVP in a big way in the war against the LTTE. The TMVP was given the green light to function openly as a politico-military outfit.

TMVP

It was at this point that Mohammed Hanzeer’s life got completely transformed . He was summoned by Douglas Devananda for a meeting in April 2006. Douglas told Hanzeer about the TMVP going to function independently as a political party. According to Douglas , Karuna’s group had come out of the LTTE and was now trying to proceed on the democratic path. The EPDP leader told Hanzeer that they must encourage them and said that the TMVP required the support and help of people like Hanzeer because the TMVP leadership lacked proficiency in English and Sinhala.Hanzeer was asked whether he would help the TMVP.

Hanzeer hated the LTTE which murdered his father in Madras. He also regarded the LTTE which massacred Muslims in cold blood at various places in the east and chased away the Northern Muslims at gun point as a fascist entity. Since the TMVP had split from the LTTE and was combatting it, Hanzeer agreed to work with the TMVP. This was his way of seeking vengeance for his father

Thereafter a meeting was arranged by Devananda where Hanzeer met TMVP leader Karuna and deputy leader Pillayan. The meeting went off well. Both Karuna and Pillayan took an instant liking to Hanzeer. It was arranged that a monthly stipend would be paid for services rendered. The amount agreed upon was in five figures. This was how Mohammed Hanzeer teamed up with the TMVP

Nom de Guerre.

Initially Hanzeer had to adopt a nom de guerre. He was asked to choose a name for himself Hanzeer chose the name Azad Maulana. The name Maulana (some spell it as Moulana or Mowlana) means ‘our master’ and also refers to those regarded as descendants of the Prophet. In practice however those who are not descendants of the prophet also tend to use the name . Many add the name Seyyed or Zeyyed to it as a prefix.

In Sri Lanka there have been quite a few Muslim politicians with the name Maulana like former minister Alavi Moulana, former B/caloa MP Ali Zaheer Moulana and ex -Senator Mashoor Moulana who like Hanzeer is also from Maruthamunai.

In Hanzeer’s case his choice of Azad Maulana was inspired by the great Indian educationist and freedom fighter Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who was generally known as Maulana Azad or Azad Maulana. Azad opposed the creation of Pakistan and was a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity. Since the TMVP membership was basically Hindu and Hanzeer a Muslim was going to work closely with Hindu comrades, the Muslim Hanzeer meaningfully chose the name Azad Maulana for himself.

Spokesperson

Mohammed Hanzeer now known as Azad Maulana’s duties in the TMVP were three-fold. He had to work as a journalist on the Tamil fortnightly “Thamil Alai”. He had to teach young members of the TMVP the political history of Sri Lanka with particular emphasis on the ethnic crisis. Most importantly he was appointed the accredited spokesperson of the TMVP. Hanzeer was proficient in Tamil and English and reasonably fluent in Sinhala also.

Soon Azad Maulana became a public figure giving media interviews and conducting press conferences. He was also the public face of the TMVP. As time went on TMVP leader Karuna began to use Azad Maulana as an interpreter in dealings with the Government, Govt officials, members of the armed forces and intelligence service personnel Azad Maulana’s influence and importance grew and he became an integral part of the TMVP.

The TMVP asked him to move from his residence in Panadura to the two storeyed TMVP office premises in Narahenpita. Apart from an increase in his monthy stipend, Azad Maulana was given two cell phones and a motor cycle for his use by the TMVP. Also he was absorbed into the TMVP party hierarchy and made a Central Committee member. In addition to being the official spokesman,he was also appointed TMVP Media secretary.

Coordinating Secretary

In 2007 there was an internal coup in the TMVP resulting in Karuna being ousted. Pillayan became the new leader. Azad Maulana latched on to Pillayan who also needed Azad’s services.

. In 2008 , elections were held to the Eastern Provincial Council, The TMVP contested as part of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance(UPFA). In an unexpected move Pillayan became the first chief minister of the Eastern province. Pillayan appointed Azad Maulana as his coordinating secretary in addition to being the TMVP spokesperson cum media secretary.

Mary’s Lamb

Since Pillayan needed Azad Maulana to aid him in communicating with non – Tamils, the young Muslim lad from Maruthamunai became indispensable to Pillayan. Maulana was the “lamb “ to Pillayan’s “Mary”. As in the words of the nursery rhyme “Everywhere that Mary (Pillayan) went, the lamb (Azad Maulana) was sure to go. Azad Maulana became Pillayan’s right hand man and all-powerful. Everything seemed hunky -dory for Mohammed Hanzeer alias Azad Maulana. What happened thereafter will be related in the second part of this article next week.

D.B.S. Jeyaraj can be reached at dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com

This is an Updated version of the “DBS Jeyaraj Column” Article appearing in the “Daily Mirror” of 16 September 2023. It can be accessed here –

https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Who-is-Hanzeer-Azad-Maulana-the-Whistleblower-on-Channel-4/172-267398