Tribute to Police Commandos who sacrificed their lives to defend country at darkest hour

STF Commemoration Day

by Nimal Lewke

The 1st of September 1984 was a very significant day for the STF for many reasons; it was the day when the unit was named the Special Task Force, which had earlier been known as the Special Striking Squad of the Police.

DIG Zerney Wijesuriya was appointed Commandant, and I, too, was invited to join this new unit by Zerney Wijesuriya, and Founder of the Unit, Ravi Jayawardena. This discussion took place at the Police Training School Firing Range as all of us were attending pistol shooting practices at the range.

Later in the night, we received a message that 55 squad members who were deployed at the Point Pedro Police Station had hit a landmine in the Thikkam area and four of them had died. Many things happened thereafter with a new Commandant taking over (Zerney Wijesuriya) and Deputy Lional Karunasena. I, too, was appointed.

Ravi Jayawardena, who was the Defence Advisor to the President at that time, secured the services of a British Security firm, KMS, to send instructors to train the newly-formed unit, which consisted of police officers who had undergone basic police training.

The Katukurunda Training Wing was set up under SSP Upali Sahabandu, and all the Instructors were British Ex-SAS Officers. After a very comprehensive, and strenuous 12 weeks training programme, the officers and men were posted to two camps, in the Batticaloa District.

The STF started with two camps in Batticaloa, Kallady (N. K lllangakoon, ASP Base Commander) and (Nimal Lewke IP) Base Commander, Kalawanchikudi. Later with the expertise training, over a period of time, many camps were established to cover Batticaloa and Ampara Districts.

Since all officers and men were young; they were very active and carried out search OPS patrols, ambushes, and raids, identified terror locations, hide outs and dominated the area, without putting unnecessary pressure on the general public.

With a very effective Communication (Secure) system, under the guidance of ASP Denver Wijesuriya “Com Expert,” all terrorist communication and movement were closely monitored and intercepted which gave a huge advantage to the troops. GIS systems and Direct Finders were used for the first time to locate terrorist locations.

These Technical Intelligence, coupled with human intelligence, was a huge asset to the STF operations. All terrorist bases were located and destroyed with well planned operations.

I happened to be involved in most OPS, and even led operations to locate LITE Bases.

1. Beirut, Kockadicholai

2. 46 Base lralukulam

3. 48 Base Kanjikudiaru

We captured all these bases and established STF camps in those locations. As our concept was to “Dominate the area between STF and the enemy.”

All those achievement were possible due to the very high Discipline and Commitment of all ranks, especially Troup Commanders, Sector Commanders, and Base Commanders, who were very much focussed on their task and gave their hundred percent.

With the Parliament bomb blast, in 1987, the President’s Security was entrusted to the STF. Selected personnel with a proven track record were trained by the special Israeli VIP Protection Experts. I was entrusted with the task of handling this very important task at a very crucial time, and the STF VIP unit achieved very high standards and a good reputation. Even the Indian and Maldivian Security Teams were trained at the STF Training wing in 2006.

These are hard earned achievements of the STF during the period under review, and basically, as a Para Military Police Unit, they have displayed immense courage and team spirit to protect the innocent people and youth from terrorism.

Furthermore, their ability and efficiency to plan out security for key installations such as the Parliament, the airport, the oil refinery, Kelanitissa power plant, and many other important places at crucial times, are highly commendable. Winning the confidence of the masses was a huge achievement under tremendous pressure, and it gave hope for the people and the younger generation, that they have a future.

It was not an easy journey as terrorists used explosives as their main weapon to curtail troop movements and targeted VIPP with IED (Improvised Explosion Devices).

The STF expertise was far more advanced in this field and managed to neutralise same with efficiency and identified the threat in advance as we believed that “if you have the will there is a way”

Even with absolute commitment/training and the expertise, 464 of our beloved members sacrificed their lives to defend their motherland, and 764 were injured/disabled due the war. Dear departed heroes “at the going down of the sun and in the mornings, you’ll will be in our thoughts forever.”

Finally, one of the main reasons for this conflict is the distrust among the two leading communities and it is important that the majority community gives confidence to the minority communities and strengthen the bond between the two communities as it will be the answer to the unfortunate situation and build that most wanted bridge for all – to live in harmony