From Ceylon Today
ELMO GOONERATNE Former Editor in Chief Lankadeepa, Sunday
Times and Daily Mirror
When the JVP was on the top after so many brutal killings
Somawansa Amarasinghe was on the top. When the JVP was going downhill Somawansa
vanished abroad. How he went God only knows. Then he comes back with garlands
and flowers. He becomes the leader again. He comes to Sri Lanka during
Chandraika's reign and forms an alliance with the SLFP which didn't last long;
it broke. Now Somawansa has left the JVP and wants a new political party. The
best man next to him Lalkantha like Rohana Wijeweera is organizing a
revolution.
Somawansa Amarasinghe alias Franco alias David was forty-seven-years old when he was appointed as the new Chairman of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). He is a native of Induruwa in the Galle District. He was married to a trained science teacher from Payagala. His sister was married to the Minister of Local Government Housing and Construction, Sirisena Cooray. .
Somawansa Amarasinghe was entrusted with the task to kill or abduct the then Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike. Amarasinghe's vocation was that he was a Technical Assistant in the Irrigation Department. Saman Piyasiri Fernando just 32 years was appointed as the General Secretary of the JVP. In his position as General Secretary, he is believed to have been much stronger than Wijeweera or Gamanayake.
He took control of the political and the military wings of the JVP. Amarasinghe himself had become stronger in the JVP. JVP's present leaders like Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Herath or Lalkantha were only toddlers, then. The plot to kill or abduct Bandaranaike failed. Although many claim the plan failed as by the evening security was intensified at No. 65 Rosemead Place. Bandaranaikes security at the private residence was made bigger. Curfew was also imposed on that evening of 5 April, 1971.
The activists led by Somawansa Amarasinghe fully armed went to the Lido and Ritz Cinemas and on intimations the activists had to leave the places they occupied to kill Bandaranaike. The three who led the action to kill Bandaranaike were Somawansa Amarasinghe who was in the politburo, Nimal a leading activist who was in-charge of 50 activists was a university student.
As I mentioned earlier Amarasinghe was an Irrigation Technical Assistant and so was Shanthi Kumar who was a hardcore activist. They were the three Nimal, Somawansa Amarasinghe and Shanthi Kumar who were to lead the attack. All three of them were fully armed and the plans failed further as Bandaranaike had left for Kataragama without giving any notice. This was also followed that day with security raiding the houses of prominent JVP activists.
Sirima Bandaranaike
All those armed to kill or abduct Bandaranaike vanished. They, including Somawansa Amarasinghe were all fully armed. There were stories going rounds in the city that Somawansa and his fellow activists went after a tip coming from the government side. Terrorism was at its highest during the regime of Premadasa. During the time of Premadasa there were two terrorist groups in the country, the Sinhalese oriented JVP killed only Sinhalese by the hundreds. Prabhakaran's terrorists killed both Sinhalese and Tamils. He succeeded in removing the JVP by a well organized campaign to do away with the JVP implemented by Ranjan Wijeratne the Deputy Minister of Defence. Premadasa could have done the same thing to the Tigers if not for the killing of Ranjan, Lalith, Gamini and Premadasa himself.
In a pamphlet produced by me after a discussion with President Premadasa and later on with Ranjan Wijeratne I stated some facts. I am producing the content of the discussions. I quote what Ranasinghe Premadasa said first.
"The JVP terror though it claimed the lives of individuals it was really armed at the edifice of our democratic and civilized society. They wanted to smash the entire social structure that provided a refuge to law abiding and peaceful people committed to a democratic of life".
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or the Peoples Liberation Front was a totalitarian organization which spared no one who opposed their plans and policies. It ruthlessly killed people. it was an era of barbarism and brutality. This was perpetrated on the innocent people of this country.
The JVP violence shook Sri Lanka from 1987 up to January 1990. The sadistic killings of the JVP were not only directing against individuals but against the civilized society.
They sought to destroy human freedom and independence of the people through the barrel of a gun; those who resisted their ideology were brutally killed.
The JVP, in fact, was a blood thirsty sadistic terrorist organization greedy to grab power, who wanted to take control of the country not with the consent of the people but with ruthless power, terror and violence. Families were wiped out; valuable equipment worth millions was burnt; buildings worth millions were also burnt. This was done to grab power violently.
From 1987 till the death of their leader Rohana Wijeweera, the JVP was a seen as an unseen government that ran the country; people were threatened with death and they kept away from work those who defied their decisions were all killed. The stoppage of work in the oil refinery created panic all over. Shops were closed on the orders of the JVP.
Acute shortage of food
There was an acute shortage of food. Banks, post offices, telecommunication, railways and buses stopped work and several other places were closed on the orders of the JVP. Trees were cut and put on the road. Everything in the country came to a standstill on the orders of the JVP.
The biggest tragedy was the killing of the servicemen's families. They ordered the killing of the families. Superintendents of tea, rubber and coconut plantations were brutally killed. 28 senior superintendents in the plantations were killed. Doctors and engineers were killed.
Some professionals were brutally killed. Of the political murders, 102 of the United National Party, 35 of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, 14 of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party and 10 of other political parties were killed. The damage to private and CTB buses was Rs 1,600 lakhs and Rs 2,800 lakhs, respectively. Damages to the railways had exceeded Rs 2,420 lakhs and to government vehicles Rs 2,000 lakhs, government buildings Rs 9,600 lakhs, 10 factories Rs 400 lakhs, agricultural equipment Rs 2,000 lakhs, administrative machinery Rs 1,600 lakhs. Three Vice Chancellors were killed; several Lawyers were killed.When all this happened Somawansa Amarasinghe became the leader of the JVP and vanished from the country. Brilliant people were killed. Well known journalists were killed. Innocent professionals without any affiliation to political parties were killed. When all this happened, Somawansa Amarasinghe was in the hierarchy of the JVP. He was even the chairman of the JVP after the death of Rohana Wijeweera and Gamanayake.
It was the glamour of the JVP that attracted the university students. They attended 5 lectures by the leaders like Somawansa Amarasinghe. How did Somawansa Amarasinghe vanish to Europe? How did it happen? How did he come back to Sri Lanka, well received by the young leadership? He became the leader of the JVP, for a time he even joined hands with Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. He had four JVP leaders in the Cabinet and went on an Asian tour with Chandraika. Then Somawansa gave up his chairmanship of the JVP and handled International Affairs. Now he has left the party and wants to form a political party of his own.
After being a master planner in the JVP he was in the front during Wijeweera's time. So, can he forget the disaster that befell during the time of Wijeweera destroying millions and millions of lakhs worth of properties during the time Wijeweera, Somawansa, Gamanayake and, Saman Tilakasiri Jayaweera.
Many were killed, almost all the top leaders except the mysterious Somawansa Amarasinghe. Wijeweera philosophy led hundreds of university students to death. Lalkantha is trying to do the same thing. Disaster is coming again with Lalkantha and Amarasinghe following Wijeweera philosophy.
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