Fitness for Role Inspections and Exercises

Late Major Nizam Jaimon had his ‘exercised’ fighting patrol on its way back struggling to carry the patrol’s heaviest man nominated as ‘injured’ some considerable distance in the Vavuniya jungles. Major Angammana had to relocate his wife from EPS detachment when it was discovered that his cordon and search ‘exercised’ troops were avoiding the search of one room and the reason why was found.

Capt Niranjan Ranasinghe (now Maj Gen) it would appear organized a Recce Regiment exercise ending short of EPS to ensure that from 5pm to midnight OC Troops Jaffna joined in to dig out a 10 ton Saladin armoured car which has got stuck up to its belly in the soft sand. He told me that when he as Military Assistant used to fly over the area with Lt Gen Waidyaratne, the Army Commander in the early 1990s, he could see the indentations yet.

25th Anniversary SLN Karainagar

The CO of SLNS Karainagar was my friend from Sandhurst days, Commander (later Rear Admiral and SLN Chief of Staff)) Frank Wickramaratne, commissioned from BRNC Dartmouth and a US Naval War College graduate. We used to meet almost every Sunday. SLNS Karainagar celebrated its 25th anniversary that year with a grand evening of music and a dinner/dance in their ward room. Everyone noticed the SSP Jaffna arriving both late and in plain clothes although mess dress had been specified in the invitation which his DIG ‘Brute’ Mahendran deciphered correctly. In his cups he was full of sorrow that he had not been selected for the armed forces. He made up for it by being adventurous on the dance floor and found himself being escorted out of the base by an armed sailor. The main gate sentry had been told to shoot at his vehicle if the SSP attempted to come back! Such were the alarums then.

Kachchativu

Annually there was a church festival on the tiny uninhabited island of Kachchetivu famed for its tiger prawns in the contested seas. Traders from South India and Jaffna went there ostensibly as devotees to conduct a barter trade for the few days before the festival proper. The latter was attended only by a handful. SL provided a magistrate and police to discourage thievery during the festival and maintained basic health services. Flt. Lt. Sajith Jayasekera flew DIG Mahendran and me over Kachchativu.

There were many small boats scattered around the island. It so impressed the DIG that he went into raptures saying it was like WW2 D Day! Sajith tried hard to make the DIG air sick. The next day I went in a navy patrol boat to the island and saw at first hand what a performance this was. It was a government sponsored smuggling carnival despite the army being on the island and the navy surrounding it.

There was also the looming presence of the SLN’s flag ship under Commander (later Admiral) Clancy Fernando who was assassinated by a suicide motor cyclist bomber on the Galle Face Center road in the 1990s. The navy was highly suspicious of the army delegation even more than I was and arrested one or two including an officer when they were on their way back with smuggled items. I wrote a scathing repot on this sham and it was stopped thereafter much to the chagrin of scheming and budding ‘smugglers’ on both sides.

SLAF Pallaly

The SLAF provided the army with flight facilities which we took advantage of to attend conferences in Colombo and for indulgence flights for family members. I used it occasionally to fly to Vavuniya for inspections too. The pilots such as Flt. Lts. Sujith Jayasekera and Ana Jayasinghe were highly skilled. Many later joined Sri Lankan and other airlines as well as became the nucleus that fought the on coming war.

The ground crews were also superb and there was a Sergeant Rajaratnam from KKS who was a brilliant mechanic. One of the pilots who flew the indulgence flights was Flt. Lt. Shan Vadivel from Batticaloa. He later emigrated to Canada

We used the tarmac for fitness running as doing so outside the camp was not recommended. When my family came during the holidays we bicycled along it as my daughters who had ‘accidents’ on it recall.

Other visits

The only visits I welcomed were those made by the Army Commander and the Inspector General Field Forces and Support Forces Commander respectively - Sandhurst trained Brigadiers Henry Athukorale and late George Thevanayagam (later Maj Gens). The Chief of Staff least concerned that Jaffna was an operational command and probably preening himself on his ‘victory’ over the terrorists, used to inform Capt. Parame Kulatunge to arrange four wheel drive vehicles for him and his civilian friends to go duck shooting.

Parame obliged without my permission or knowledge as he was fond of the Brigadier’s daughter. I got to know of these nuisance visits only when the arrangements got screwed up. Weeratunge used to come with a Colombo businessman who owned one or two airplanes including a sea plane. We were all suspicious of this man. His sea plane was destroyed by the ‘terras’ around 1986 when it made an unscheduled landing on the beach near KKS.

Army Commander’s Inspection

Army Commander’s inspections were mainly admin oriented and his very efficient Military Assistant, Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul trained and Wellington Staff College graduate Major (retired as a Lt Col taking early retirement on professional grounds) Jayantha de Silva. I had known him from Pakistan days in 1964 when I was there on a Regimental Signals course. I think he was the most brilliant officer we had. He used to hand over the inspection report before dinner giving in detail what corrective action was needed so that when the Commander’s party left by air the next morning, we were already on the job.

KKS Railway Station incident

The railways went on strike in the latter part of the year and all trains were escorted by troops. One day I received a garbled message that an incident had occurred at the KKS railway station. Having got there I realized that a soldier from the Gemunu Watch had assaulted another soldier of the train escort. When the station master who happened to be the only Sinhalese station master in the peninsula had also been assaulted, he tried to phone me. The soldier was arrested by the police.

I went to the station and apologized to the five foot nothing station master who had been frightened out of his wits. There was a fear that army - police relations could be affected and tensions would rise. Major (later Maj Gen and Chief of Staff) Neil Dias Grade 2 staff officer at Task Force HQs came to me and insisted that I should get the soldier released.

I told him that the soldier had committed a criminal offence and that it was beyond our jurisdiction. He told me how when his Gunners (Artillery men) shot and killed a civilian who apparently tried to grab a weapon from a gunner in the train at Killinochchi, the gunners prevented the police from arresting the soldier. I told him that was wrong but he would not agree.

I asked Maj Dias to join me to go the police station to meet the soldier concerned who I knew too well. At the police station the soldier came up to me and smiled ingratiatingly and reminded me that he served with my elder brother Eshin, a major and the officer commanding former Prime Minister Mrs. Bandaranaike’s Guard detachment. I told him I knew exactly who he was, being from my regiment, and reminded him of a felony when he had tried to get into the married quarters of another soldier in Diyatalawa and had been caught (but apparently not punished). His mouth opened and closed as he realized that his trump card had failed. Major Dias too did not comment after that.

Meanwhile Army HQ in their wisdom without any request sent a 51 year old ranker recently promoted Lieutenant Colonel to defuse ‘tension’ amongst the GW troops in EPS. Instead he virtually worked up the troops. When he came to Pallaly I questioned him on his remarks to the men and advised him it was best if he left Jaffna ASAP. These were the harbingers of the 30 year curse that followed.

In the shadows - CID/NIB

The CID /NIB officers like SPs Patikirikorale, (Patti), Zernie Wijesuriya (brother of Percy the SP Vavuniya) and Jurampathy worked hard to get at the leadership of the LTTE, most of who had fled to Madras. These CID officers were super professionals and thorough gentlemen. The CID had collected an enormous amount of material on the ‘terras’ the previous year, working in the shadows. Patti used to ask me to come with him to search hiding places of ‘terras’ on the A35 road to Mullativu. It was exciting but we were not successful.

Men of religion

I came into contact with two good religious men one was Rev Mahinda of the KKS temple and the other the late Rev Stanislaus, a controversial Catholic priest who gave me the background to many an intrigue in the fabric of Jaffna society, especially the RC church. Rev Mahinda told me of how he felt neglected by the KKS Urban Council with regard to essential services despite constant appeals and decided the best way out was to pray for the councilors.

The next day the UC chairman himself came over and asked to be forgiven for being remiss by not visiting him. He then produced a personal cheque for Rs. 10,000 for the roof of the preaching hall. Rev Mahinda tried to return the unexpended balance of Rs. 3,500 which was refused by the chairman who asked Rev Mahinda to use it for any other purpose. During the height of the ‘troubles’, the KKS temple was never even touched by the ‘terras’.

Yal Devi

This was the magnificent train we all used to travel to and from Jaffna. It used to be packed and when late to get into Colombo I recall the Northerners giving three cheers (or was it hoots?) for the Minister of Transport, Mr. Mohamed. But it connected the south with the north in many ways. It must now be resurrected before the end of 2010 to reap the benefit of the end of the conflict.

Memory Lane - KIA

Major Parami Kulatunge GW

Major Kulatunge (later Lt General and Deputy Chief of Staff).He made an excellent contribution to win the hearts and minds of the citizens of Jaffna. He was sadly killed by a suicide bomber on 26th June 2006

Capt Malik Deen SR

I used to be accompanied on my visits by Captain Malik Deen (also a Trinitian) who died tragically a few years later in Vavuniya when he mishandled an unfamiliar type of grenade that the police had found. He was the liaison officer for the Pakistan army hockey team and was greatly embarrassed when after the match, in order that they could offer Magreb prayers, the very pious Pakistanis asked him in which direction Mecca was.

Captain Hamangoda SLA

Capt (later Maj. Gen. who was killed by a suicide bomber in Jaffna town) Ananda Hamangoda, the detachment commander, organized a splendid moonlit dinner for the Pallaly HQ staff on the dry bed of the EPS lagoon, later the site of two epic battles.

Lieutenant Chitra Punchihewa SLLI

Lieutenant (later Lt. Col. who was killed in a land mine explosion in Pooneryn in the 1990s) Chitra Punchihewa was in Pallaly with the SLLI in mid 1980. I met his parents and other members of his family when they came over to Pallaly for a short holiday.

Envoi

Before I left Jaffna for my posting to Ampara, I spoke to the officers and soldiers and separately to the senior non commissioned officers in the presence of my successor, Major GH de Silva, also from the Gemunu Watch. I told them that to defeat the ‘terras’ the difference would not be in methods of fighting but in conduct and behaviour.

In 1981 the police in retaliation for the killing of two policemen by the terras, burned down the priceless Jaffna Public Library even while cabinet ministers were in Jaffna mucking up the District Council elections.