Still more on the 1971 Insurgency

by Maj. Gen. (Rtd.) Lalin Fernando

Artillery Capt Bashoor Musafer states in the third part of his recall of his operational duties in 1971 that Hambantota had a large Malay population. They came here from Java with the Dutch. Thanks to a grateful British colonial government his valiant, disciplined and loyal ancestors who served in the First Ceylon Regiment in 1802, were allotted land there in addition to Cinnamon Gardens and Slave Island in Colombo. Their descendants continued to serve their adopted country with the very same staunch attributes.

Capt Musafer was trained in the third Intake of Ceylon cadets at the Pakistan Military Academy(PMA) Kakul which historian Arnold Toynbee in his book ‘Between Oxus and Jammu’ said was the most scenic and ideal location for such an Academy. He expected it to be one of the best. The first PMA Ceylon intake had Col PVJ (Jayantha) de Silva(late SL Light Infantry) who was appointed Under Officer and came tuird in the order of merit. This is a magnificent achievement as the Pakistanis have long and glorious history of war fighting. Their cadets came from world renowned martial races such as Punjabis, Pathans and Baluchis.

Capt Musafer and I played rugby for our regiments and the Army XV but at different times. He captained the Army team later. Gemunu Watch(GW) soldiers also played for the Artillery twice when the Gunners were short of players even though the GW team had just finished playing their own inter regiment match on both occasions!

The bestial tragedy at Kataragama brought shocking shame to the country and the Army. The conduct of volunteer force officer Alfred Wijesuriya who died in prison and Sgt Ratnayake who after serving his sentence was himself murdered by the JVP in 1988 was abominable. PM R Premadasa made political capital of the incident by constructing a monument to Ms Premawathie Manamperi at Kataragama. It included an inscription that shamed the Army.

Capt Musafer errs when he says the late Lt Gen (then Capt) Denzil Kobbekaduwa commanded the hurriedly established and named Field Security Detachment (FSD) in April 1971.It was not Division as given either. It was tasked to interrogate suspect JVP sympathizers among serving troops.

Actually it was recalled Volunteer Lieutenant in 1970 Anuruddha Ratwatte who commanded it. Having been commissioned into the Second(Volunteer) Battalion Sinha Regiment in Kandy. He had been declared ‘dead wood’ not long after as he had not reported to the unit for years.

However he was not ‘Struck off Strength’ which was an administration blunder. Thus he retained his commission and was proposed for a job in the Army when Mrs. Bandaranayke became PM in 1970. He had previously been administrator of the Central Ceylon Youth Council Kandy and its library.

He left the army again after the 1977 election but got back into aged 56 in 1994 as he was made deputy Defence Minister and was promoted four star General!

Sarath Amunugama in his memoires says he happened to be at Temple Trees on April 5, 1971 and saw a hilarious sight – his school friends Anuruddha and Denzil lying on the grass behind two Bren (British Enfield) machine guns facing the entrance to Temple Trees even though Armoured cars too were there.

However the FSD was not, as Capt Musafer says, tasked to provide security for the Prime Minister from 1970 when she became into power. That was done by the Composite Guard (CG) raised on the personal instructions of the PM. Its officers and troops, mainly from the infantry, were under a Sinha Regiment Officer, also from Trinity but not a relative. From 1966 until 1970 he had been on compulsory leave like then Lt Kobbekaduwa and a few others.

When the threat of a JVP attack on the Rosmead Place home of the PM was said to be suddenly imminent on April 5, Anurudha and the Army Commander Lt Gen Attygalle, a more disparate professional combination could not be imagined, persuaded the PM to move to Temple Trees. Anurudha manoeuvred deftly to take charge of the PM(his relative)’s security. Maybe the Bren gun story proved his loyal credentials. He swiftly consolidated his new power base by persuading Gen Attygalle to disband the CG.

This was done in real Attygalle overkill style. The CG camp at the 80 Club was surrounded by armoured cars. This was the first and last time this was ever done to an army camp. One must dread to know what orders the crews of the armoured vehicles with two pounder guns and machine guns had been given! The nonplussed and demoralized officers and troops of the PM’s Own Guard the day before returned to their units.

The Sinha Regt Officer Commanding was a short while later taken on trumped up charges of having planned to take over the government! He had just 120 troops but the FSD boss insisted it could have been done as though the extraordinary German Skorzeny (Hitler’s Commando) who rescued Mussolini from captivity in WW2 had been haunting the 80 Club. All this while the insurgency was raging and those in power were in a blue funk.

At the funeral of the Sinha Regt officer (of a heart attack age 52) in 1989 which the former PM with her brothers, Doctors Sivali and Mackie Ratwatte attended, Dr. Mackie apologized to the officer’s younger brother who had also been in the army, for their ill advised decision based on loaded advice. He said the former PM was very sad and that they had vowed that his elder brother would be given due recognition when they came back to power again. Lakshman Jayakody(former Minister in the 1995 Cabinet and also a Trinitian)when he spoke to the younger brother later made no bones about who was behind it all.

Capt Musafer refers to the Panagoda cantonment where hundreds of jittery soldiers imagining they were under attack at night, enacted a riotous, ill disciplined stunning live ammo fireworks display after a single soldier opened fire at a shadow. A huge amount of ammo was wasted. One soldier died. Later on that night Capt Sarath Wijesinghe, Engineers (National putt shot, Javelin etc champion) was dispatched in a jeep to the Sewage Treatment Plant at Habaragala along with a diminutive captain who was in the non combat Army General Service Corps (Pay and Records).

The troops at the Treatment Plant were not informed about this movement. When they saw the jeep coming unannounced, they went berserk and fired frenetically as the others before. The jeep skidded to a halt. The occupants jumped out and rolled down the ditch by the side of the road. Capt Wijesinghe heard someone moaning. Thinking the captain had been wounded Wijesinghe turned round to find out. The captain had cracked and offered his resignation with immediate effect! He later went on to reach the rank of Brigadier! He had been an artillery officer before too!

Capt Musafer mentions the Vavuniya ambush that led to the death of Capt Noel Weerakoon and Bombardier (Corporal in the Artillery) Munesinghe. I heard the news on the army radio at night at the GW detachment, Ella that I was visiting from Wellawaya. I asked to speak to Sergeant Weerakoon, Noel’s brother, who was in charge of the Signal’s Detachment at Diyatalawa. He broke down but confirmed the story. I offered my deepest sympathies. Noel had an exuberant personality with an extravagant imagination. He would be much missed by many.

This was a stunning blow to us all. We now realized we too, not only the police, were on the firing line. We left immediately for our base at Wellawaya driving without lights but were helped by a near full moon on those badly maintained winding mountain roads.

Noel had been at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst with me. We played in the same cricket team in two summers, spent a Spring holiday in Dublin with later Major Careem Zavahier (National and Sandhurst Fly Weight boxing champion – now in New Zealand).Noel and I toured the British Army on the Rhine (BAOR) Germany units with the Sandhurst cricket team to play cricket during the summer vacations in 1959 and 1960.

The famed Olympic Stadium was our venue in Berlin when we played the BAOR Combined Services team. Berlin then was divided into Russian and Allied (British, American Sectors) but we were allowed to visit East Berlin and even chatted with the Russian sentries at their memorial in the British sector. We went there through East Germany from Hanover by train with strict orders not to open the window blinds to view East Germany under grim Soviet rule. The orders were not strictly followed. Together with us were my fellow Trinitian Sena de Sylva, John Francis (Jaffna) and my brother Eshin (yes five from Ceylon, three from Trinity in that team).Noel, Sena and I then toured Scandinavia after the 1959 tour.

Major Denis Hapugalle later Brigadier was with GA Bradman Weerakoon (Royal Thomian cricketers combine) in charge of affairs at Vavuniya. Denis advised the impetuous Noel to postpone his move to Anuradhapura for the next morning but tragically failed. Noel’s mission was to transport ammo to Anuradhapura, hence his haste.

Flamboyant Volunteer Force Colonel Derrick Nugawela’s arrived as Coordinating Officer at Hambantota. The Kataragama incident happened under his watch. Alfred Wijesuriya vainly quoted orders from higher command as his defence at the murder trial.

The Colonel imagined he was a Theater Commander. (Theater Command is a unified command under a single commander for a force consisting of Army, Navy and Air Force troops – like Eisenhower in North Africa). He was a relative of the PM. He had about two platoons (72 men) under his command. He was a full time tea planter who reveled in military pomp and show.

The first thing the volunteer Colonel on arrival with escorts brandishing weapons did after having had a cup of tea, was to ask an utterly cowed Hambantota Rest House Keeper for ‘baked crabs’ for dinner. This was for effect in English. Waving a revolver for greater effect he added that if there weren’t any by 7.30 pm sharp he would ‘shoot karanawa’him.

Regular officers had to painfully humour such grandees. He then did a flag flying drive with escorts to Wellawaya and Monaragala which were not in his ‘Theater’ but he acted the part well.At Wellawaya he said that foreign envoys had seen the PM and wanted reports of excesses investigated. Apparently Kegalle had been bad.

However at Hanwella police station Lt (later Major General)Janaka Perera stood up to a major of his regiment, the Engineers, who had arrived from Army HQ and ordered him to ‘clear’ the cells of captured insurgents. Janaka refused point blank despite the Major venting his fury on what he called a disgrace to ‘Sandhurst’. The major then asked platoon sergeant Senanayake to do so. If the major was so anxious to pursue criminal orders to please his bosses he should have done it himself.

Sgt Senanayake reluctantly had the ‘prisoners’ lined up and prepared to fire. Many prisoners were crying but one man stood erect to face him. The next moment saw the sergeant vomiting. He could not and did not shoot. The major left, his mission failed. His was not called ‘Mad’ for nothing.

Like Capt Musafer I too, according to one of its prominent officers, was ‘investigated’ by the FSD after I returned to Diyatalawa. That officer added that I came off with ‘flying colours’ whatever that meant. It was for me degrading and humiliating to know it was done at all. Were there ‘Commissars’ at work? This did not auger well for the future of the army. It may well have set a trend that has now firmed in. The FSD was called very unkind (stinking) names by all.