The Sepala Ekanayake saga
I refer to the contribution of Mr. Lalin Fernando (LF), who does not reveal what office he held or the part he played.
The several brief episodes of the story of the hijacker, Sepala Ekanayake, written by Edither Perera, Manel Abeysekera, Daya Gamage and the writer, were of course, based on first-hand experience. They are undoubtedly of immense value to future researchers and historians.
LF has virtually hijacked the Saturday Magazine of 7th June to break into the picture, ostensibly because of its publicity value, to embark on a wayward voyage of heaping praise on some, and in a crude and uncouth manner, unleashing a tirade of invective, particularly on the police, the writer, and the government of the day. Any discerning reader is bound to form the impression that he is a man with a deep seated grievance giving vent to some pent up anger.
I am mature enough not to be provoked by barbs thrown at me, particularly by ignorant mediocrities who sometimes breathe venom out of some sheer frustration. The existence of such men and women provide the grist for the humour that society longs for, particularly in turbulent times.
I have never written in anger. My writings have always been factual, well considered and above all, dignified. In this response to LF I shall endeavour to maintain that tempo. To me, this is by no means difficult as I bear no malice to anyone.
Presumably being a loyal officer and gentleman of the Sri Lanka Army, an organization which at any given time possessed a galaxy of truly eminent and cultured gentleman, it is natural for LF to be all praise for the elite commandos who had been trained and drilled by the KMS to go into instant action without orders from above.
But what was the urgency for commando presence at the KIA when it was known, at least ten hours earlier, that the ‘miserable’ skyjacker was coming to Colombo as a free man on a plane with other passengers, security checked and cleared by the Thai Police and Air Lanka Security. Perhaps a lacuna in the Standing Orders framed by "the best in the world, the British S.A.S." would have led to this fiasco.
If it was a genuine hijack situation, the DIG Metro, under whose purview the police at the Airport, Katunayake & Negombo functioned, would have been the first at the scene to direct operations and even take over command. This was well within his powers and responsibilities as he himself had undergone high level, intensive training in hostage rescue and negotiation procedures - not under the KMS mercenaries - but in the training centres of the prestigious M16, the CIA and the United States Secret Service.
Frankly, I did not know, until I read LF’s article, that the commandos had taken up positions at the Airport that particularly day. A question that comes to my mind is, how is it that these commandos, trained to instantly propel themselves into action, were unable to ‘freefall’ and storm the air bases of Katunayake and Anuradhapura when the enemy held sway over them for hours and succeeded in causing the maximum damage ?
As for the praise lavished on Mrs. Manel Abeysekera and the Foreign Service, I agree with LF without reservation. Having been the co-ordinating superintendent for police operations, with a special secretariat set up in the Times Building, I was fortunate to play a modest role in the Non-Alligned Summit operations.
The task of the Chief of Protocol, Mrs. Abeysekera, was indeed a most onerous one. The admirable manner in which she discharged her responsibilities, looking into the minutest detail, enabled Sri Lanka to win the hearts of all the visiting Heads of State. I still remember how she was personally directing the selection and packing of choice rambuttans, mangosteens and durians (which were plentiful at the time} , to be sent home by Anwar Sadat and Col. Gaddafi. Even today I salute her for this superlative achievement.
All in all it was the wonderful co-ordination of all the related activities by the Foreign Ministry, under the able leadership of the diplomat par excellent and inspiring administrator, Dr. Vernon Mendis, that made the Non-Alligned Summit of 1976 the huge success it was ... easily the high point of the relatively corruption-free regime of Mrs. Bandaranaike.
The Brickbats
I shall now attempt, as briefly as possible, and in a sober and cultured manner, deal with the brickbats hurled venomously at random at different people and institutions by LF. In dealing with his frenzied invective, for the convenience of the reader, I propose to adhere to the same sub-headings used by LF.
Height of Lunacy, etc.
The Police had nothing to do with Sepala Ekanayake’s arrival in Sri Lanka to a hero’s welcome. The successful manner in which he bluffed his way to freedom, and of course the media hungry for sensational news, were perhaps the reasons. The presence of heavily armed commandos, in their imposing uniforms, and the screaming and wailing fire engines and ambulances, would have further boosted his ego and self importance.
EG’s Character Certificate, etc.
True, Sepala Ekanayake held the passengers hostage by merely pretending that he was a human bomb. The demands of this miserable hijacker, who did not identify himself with any terrorist group or organization, were not for the release of any terrorists in custody, the diversion of the aircraft to an airport of his choice or the rescinding of his deportation order. He merely asked for his wife and child and $ 300,000, not for any organization, but for his personal use. Under no stretch of imagination could these be interpreted as the demands of a terrorist.
These demands had been readily given. Having successfully bluffed all concerned at the Bangkok Airport, he would have been laughing all the way to Sri Lanka.
As for the ‘canard’ about Ekanayake’s role in the prison massacre, what I wrote is what I knew. If Col. Sunil Peiris knew the real truth, he should have informed the police investigators. But it would have been embarrassing for him because it was the Army and not the police that was responsible for the security of the prisons at the time of the brutal massacre. The officers detailed for security had been passive onlookers saying that they had orders only to prevent an ‘invasion’ of the prison from outside! Had these elite soldiers, presumably commanded by Co. Sunil Peiris, acted under the law of private defence enjoyed by every citizen, the prison massacre, which brought so much discredit to the country, could have been averted.
The "well documented" police record of violence and drug dealings of Sepala Ekanayake, prior to the skyjacking, was never intimated to the Sri Lanka Police by Mrs. Abeysekera - not even by Interpol with which the Police are constantly linked. Interestingly, Mrs. Abeysekera makes no mention of this document in her article. Nor has LF indicated what role he played to be privy to such a document.
DIG Awaits Complaint to act
What is wrong with the Foreign Minister summoning the DIG Metro and not the IGP? It merely shows the confidence that the Foreign Minister, as well as the IGP, had in the DIGs. Even the Minister and his officials present were agreed that it was unwise to act on hearsay and press reports. Neither the Thai Police nor Mrs. Abeysekera had informed the Sri Lanka authorities that the money that Ekanayake was bringing had been obtained under duress. If so, the money could have been treated as ‘stolen property’ and Ekanayake booked immediately for retention of stolen property, a cognizable offence.
I still maintain that I did the correct thing by getting a written complaint from the Italian Ambassador, the representative of the Italian government that owned Alitalia from whom the money had been obtained, as it turned out to be. The police are trained to act with caution and with due regard for the law and to anticipate likely consequences of their actions. Very much unlike commandos, the police are answerable to courts of law.
LF in his references to the assaults on Trade Unionists, Mrs. Vivienne Gunawardena, stoning of the houses of Supreme Court judges, etc., whilst blaming the President of the time, indirectly blames the police. It must be said that by no means did the police condone with such acts. I even went to the extent of apologizing to Mr. Bernard Zoysa and Supreme Court judges, Percy Colin Thorne and Barnes Ratwatte, who were personally known to me, for the ‘unavoidable’ police inaction. L.F. must be living in a world of his own, remote from reality, if he thinks that the police could survive on a collision course with the all powerful President of the country.
LF’s hatred for the Jayawardena regime is justifiable. There were assaults, atrocities and HR violations. But are not such blatant violations of the law taking place today, inspite of the law enforcement machinery being augmented with military assistance? Disappearances, killing of journalists, Ministers storming media institutions, burning of newspaper presses and attacking and destroying houses/business premises even, within-high security zones guarded by the armed services, attacking political protesters and even obstructing parliamentarians from approaching the House, are becoming commonplace violations of the law. I will not rush to blame the President or the police or the armed services for these violations, nor do I want to guess who the culprits are. The fact is that there is little difference between the regimes as regards violations of HR and the rule of law.
To strike a personal note, I would like to refer LF to my novel ‘Blood & Cyanide’ which was launched by no less a person than Dr. Vernon Mendis, if he wishes to know how much love and admiration I had for the J. R. regime.
Chance in a Million
LF goes on to say that the police could have called upon Ekanayake to account for the money and also for holding the passengers hostage in Thailand. At the same time he says that the police failed to do these, probably because the government had made ill advised promises to the hijacker to gain popularity. Unwittingly, he appears to have got closer to the truth!
Maybe the ill advised promises included immunity from arrest, thereby giving him the courage and confidence to strut about like a hero. Without a word of criticism of those who gave the hijacker encouraging promises, LF still chooses to vilify the DIG.
I will not hesitate to repeat that the stature of the rank of DIG was such that they were the envy of the public service. More envious were some of the commissioned ranks of the Army, trained in British Royal Military academies, who continued to treasure colonial values and attitudes. These moustache-twirling ‘Whacko old Boy’ types who, back in their native countries, continued even to heroworship visiting retired British army mercenaries, were visibly jealous of and craving for the powers and status recognition enjoyed by the police, among the civilian population, particularly in a war-free environment.
********************************************
The Sepala Ekanayake saga
Edward Gunawardena responds to Lalin Fernando
A narrative of facts cannot distort history but wild, baseless insinuations can
Chance in a Million
LF goes on to say that the police could have called upon Ekanayake to account for the money and also for holding the passengers hostage in Thailand. At the same time he says that the police failed to do these, probably because the government had made ill advised promises to the hijacker to gain popularity. Unwittingly, he appears to have got closer to the truth!
Maybe the ill advised promises included immunity from arrest, thereby giving him the courage and confidence to strut about like a hero. Without a word of criticism of those who gave the hijacker encouraging promises, LF still chooses to vilify the DIG.
I will not hesitate to repeat that the stature of the rank of DIG was such that they were the envy of the public service. More envious were some of the commissioned ranks of the Army, trained in British Royal Military academies, who continued to treasure colonial values and attitudes. These moustache-twirling ‘Whacko old Boy’ types who, back in their native countries, continued even to heroworship visiting retired British army mercenaries, were visibly jealous of and craving for the powers and status recognition enjoyed by the police, among the civilian population, particularly in a war-free environment.
‘Pressure on the
hijacker
LF asks the question, ‘who booked the psychiatric’ terrorist zombie into the Inter-Continental Hotel - implying that the police or the government did so. The hotel records provide the answer. He had come on his own, disclosed his identity, occupied a room and checked out paying the bill out of his pocket.
There had been no complaints against him by foreign guests or airline crews. Of course the lobbies, filing up with journalists and curious visitors, proved to be a nuisance to the hotel.
LF’s condemnation of the Inspector of the Fort Police is puerile and unwarranted. He was merely performing his duty. LF must realize that it is legally incumbent on the Police to provide protection to all citizens, including criminals depending on the circumstances. If Sepala Ekanayake had been lynched, the Police and the government would have had a real problem in their hands.
To say that the man left the hotel ‘despite Police surveillance’ is to display ignorance of the meaning of surveillance. The police were interested in knowing only where he was going and the vehicle transporting him. With this information the arrest was effected without any problem in a lawful manner. LF chooses to call this the ‘government’s initial but brief reign of criminal lunacy’. A statement that could be best interpreted by a lunatic!
Paradox
With no anti-hijacking laws in place in Sri Lanka, which lacuna Mrs. Abeysekera had intimated to the government with commendable foresight, there was no way in which the police could have rushed to arrest. The offence of ‘retention of stolen property’ was the only option left for the police to act lawfully and the offence emerged clearly only with the Ambassador’s complaint, albeit belated.
It is still a mystery why the Thai Police refrained from taking Ekanayake into custody to be dealt with under their law. After all, the offences were all committed within the jurisdiction of Thailand.
Preface to 1983
The venom in the mind of LF surfaces clearly when he refers to the riots of July ‘83. I will be failing in my duty if I do not even mildly counter the most damning and malicious indictment LF has made on those wonderful high caliber officers of the Metropolitan Range that I had mentioned, when he asks the question, "Was it a wonder that almost all the police players that EG mentions were in the saddle when all hell broke out in 1983? What he is attempting to imply is obvious.
Yes, they were the players, They were all rewarded. They were all promoted to higher rank. The President, the IGP, the Addl. Defence Secretary Gen. Attygalle and the Army Commander all know under what trying conditions, with limited resources, they battled a surge of violence against the innocent Tamils - a veritable killing spree by rampaging mobs who had the backing and protection of some powerful unseen hands.
If not for the admirable restraint exercised by officers of the police in leadership positions even under grave provocation, confrontations with these unseen and unmentionable elements would have compounded the disaster and even led to the fall of the government, giving way to complete anarchy. It was a mutiny of sorts that presented the government with the greatest concern. In the national interest and in the interests of inter services harmony, I do not want to spell out the details of my own experiences of this ugly aspect of July, 1983.
However, for the edification of LF, I would like to quote two passages from Sinha Ratnatunga’s well researched treatise, ‘Politics of Terrorism’ - the Sri Lanka Experience., published in 1988 by the International Fellowship for Social and Economic Development Inc. and let the readers decide who should really be blamed for the mob violence of an unprecedented nature. Upto 1983, every time that communal riots broke out in the country eg. 1956, 1958, 1977 & 1981. The police had no difficulty in quelling them.
Quote 1 ( Sequel to the Tinnavelly massacre of soldiers) "Tension was running high in the northern capital. The men of the Army could not hold back their emotions after seeing and hearing of the carnage. The soldiers turned into mad dogs and discipline took a holiday. Due to political pressures they had been required not to react to circumstances in recent times. But now the angry soldiers boarded their trucks, broke barracks and went on a vile spree of cold blooded murder and mayhem. Thirty nine civilians of different ages were gunned down while many others were injured" (Page 7 - Politics of Terrorism).
The Army Chief himself Maj. Gen. Weeratunga had to bring the situation under control and 29 soldiers of the CLI moved out of Jaffna to Anuradhapura. Significantly, there were no Sinhala mobs to continue the start given by the indisciplined soldiers.
The scenario in Colombo was different in that the city population was predominantly Sinhalese with more than adequate criminal elements bent on violence and looting. Mobs cold easily be incited to act with a vengeance. The commander of the Army was in Jaffna, personally keeping his men subdued. In Colombo there was not a single senior officer to be seen after the funeral arrangements at Kanatte were called off.
Quote 2
"The picture that emerged throughout the city by noon, Monday 25th July, 1983, was that the Police, although heavily outnumbered, were trying, even in a limited way, to control the rioting, while the Navy and Army (on the streets) were giving thumbs-up signals to the mob. The Air Force performed no ground operations in Colombo. As a result, the Police faced the brunt of the unruly mob, abused in Sinhalese billingsgate, while the uniformed men of the services became the heroes of he mob. There were areas in which there was fiction between the Armed Forces and the Police. The Police always withdrew in order to avoid a confrontation with the better armed and equipped Forces. Later the IGP was to order all his men to act with caution…" (Page 22 - Politics of Terrorism).
These observations of Singhe Ratnatunga have stood the test of time. For over 20 years, no officer of the Armed Services has had the spunk to contest even a single word. LF in his wisdom may venture to say that this is also a distortion of history! It is little wonder that the image of the police remained shining and undented.
--- The Island
Concluded
Sharmini was a much involved and active student at school. Music was her forte though she excelled in the Maths and Economic stream. Following her mother’s footsteps, Sharmini entered Smith College, Massachusetts, USA and graduated in Magna Cum Laude degree. 
“In school, teach him it is far more honourable to fail than to cheat..... Teach to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him he is wrong. Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with the tough. Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone getting on the bandwagon...
