Mahinda, the humanist

A solution to the ethnic conflict and ushering peace would be the greatest present he could give the country

By Hemantha Warnakulasuriya PC

I was born to a small time business family and my father at that time owned a few lorries and vans. From the time I came to know about politics and politicians I was an UNPer, not by conviction but almost by birthright. I was a Sinhala Buddhist because my parents were and I was an UNPer because my father was one.

The Atapattus and Edirisooriyas, who represented the UNP, were family friends. I also came to know of the Rajapaksas of Medamulana Waluawa in Walasmulla. D.A. Rajapaksa, George and Lakshman were representatives of the SLFP. What amazed me was that Atapattu, being a decent old man, was always defeated at the elections except on two occasions and Edirisooriya suffered the same fate, winning only once. I as a child could not understand why the people continuously voted for the Rajapaksas.

Thereafter, I came to know Mahinda, first as a law student and then as a lawyer at Thivanka Wickremasinghe's Chambers. Mahinda was a good friend of a friend of mine and we used to have our meals at Denzil Gunaratne's place. After some time I came to know that Mahinda was arrested in connection with an incident of election violence connected to the Mulkirigala by-election. He was remanded and charged with murder. We were all disturbed as we knew it was a fabrication by the government to stifle Mahinda's political future.

Tivanka and Denzil trekked to Matara to defend Mahinda, who at that time had won many friends, not only in the Private Bar, but also in the Official Bar. JRJ had wanted the best team of lawyers available in the Attorney General's Department, at that time, to prosecute. But, most of them refused the brief on personal grounds and Mahinda must thank his lucky stars that we at that time had a Judiciary which was independent of the Executive.

JRJ had absolute power then with a two third majority and often boasted that he could do anything except change a man to woman and vice versa. But there was another thing that he, with all his powers could not do even if he tried and that was to control the Judiciary as the Judges at that time were strongly independent.

Mahanama Tillekeratne heard thee case at the Magistrate's Court and after the Non-summary hearing, Mahinda was discharged. All efforts made thereafter to indict him failed as the Attorney General steadfastly refused to interfere with the order of the learned Magistrate. The fate of the entire country would definitely have been changed had the Judiciary of that time been politically biased.

In 1987, when the country was slowly slipping into the abyss, considered to be the worst period in the political history of Sri Lanka, I happened to be the Assistant Secretary of the Bar Association. The JVP insurgency had once again begun and it was a period where no one paid any attention or had any respect for life. On the pavements and roads, in rivers and fields one could see partly burnt bodies eaten by dogs and crows. People had completely lost their feeling of shock and dismay and accepted it all as a natural day-to-day happening.

During that time I met a lawyer from Walasmulla whose name was Wijedasa Liyanarachhchi. He was the only lawyer who could articulate any argument in fluent Sinhalese, and for the first time I was fortunate to hear the most difficult and complex legal arguments being presented in pure and refined Sinhalese.

One day we heard that Wijedasa had been abducted from his boarding in Nugegoda by unidentified persons. I immediately met Ranjith Abeysuriya PC, who was Wijedasa's senior and we together frantically phoned all authorities who denied any knowledge of the abduction.

Then Mahinda came to Ranjith's and told us that he had received confidential information that Wijedasa was taken by Udugampola and his gang to one of their safe houses in Tangalle. We immediately informed the IGP about our findings and wanted him to order that Wijedasa be brought back to Colombo. But this did not happen. Instead, we heard that he had been taken to Sapugaskanda.
The next day we received a call that Wijedasa had been murdered and his body dumped at the Colombo morgue. It was early in the morning and I rushed to the morgue after obtaining permission to see the body. Everyone was trembling in fear and even the man in charge of the morgue was shocked as they did not want anyone to know that the body was there. I phoned Mahinda but could not reach him.

Later, when I told him that Wijedasa was killed, I heard him break down on the phone. I do not know if he cried but his voice spoke volumes of the sorrow he felt. He asked me what I was going to do and I replied that we would move a resolution condemning the act. But he said, "Every month the Bar Association moves a resolution condemning killings but they continue." He said that we had to do something different to get the message across and I said that I would consult the rest to get their views.

The BASL decided to give Wijedasa the highest honour so far not afforded to any other. It was decided to keep his body at the BASL Headquarters, a plan approved by all. We informed Jayaratna Florists to take extra precautions to keep what we had planned secret. They took the body to Kalubowila near the Colombo South Teaching Hospital and the next we heard was that it had been forcibly removed from there and taken to Walasmulla. This caused agitation amongst the membership and though some had reservations about the government's hand in the affair and others believed he was killed due to his being a politburo member of the JVP, no one condoned what the Government had done. It was later found that the body was removed at the insistence of a great leader of the Bar Association to prevent, in his words, "Desecration of the Bar Association Headquarters."

The members revolted against it and decided to take an empty coffin to the BASL HQ so that people could protest against the action of the government. We inspired the lawyers to boycott Court and the members of all Bar Associations came out and protested.

The next day Mahinda came to the Bar Association and spoke to me. He was distraught but he was a fearless young man who was not ready to compromise for the sake of the profession. He asked me to accompany him to Walasmulla to bring Wijedasa's body back. I never stopped to think of the repercussions and the danger or even that we could be killed but agreed to take the risk. When we neared Kalutara, Mahinda phoned home and was informed that the army had surrounded the residence and was stopping all from going near the coffin. Someone from the Bar Association, who gave preference to the political party in power than to his profession, had leaked out our plans to the government. We returned to Colombo thoroughly disheartened. This angered the membership so much that they all turned up in their numbers to go to Walasmulla for the funeral.

A number of buses carrying lawyers from the entire country proceeded to Walasmulla. On the way Mahinda hosted us for lunch at the Tangalle Rest House. I never thought that he ever wanted to use that to gain political mileage. He was being a good Southerner and treated his guests with rice and curry and kiri peni as victuals.

Thereafter, Mahinda was re-elected to Parliament and he was a friend to all. He strongly detested the government's hand in the 1983 riots and when one talks to him about it he would pour out his heart and soul and tell you of his sorrow over the human rights abuses that occurred at that time.

The only other politician to come to the BASL at that time was Nimal Siripala de Silva, another who deplored human rights abuses. I do not think a human rights activist who strongly opposed dastardly acts against human beings could metaphase into a different person.

During the last Presidential Election I supported Mahinda Rajapaksa for many reasons but the main reason was that in 1994, we and several others advocated the joining of the two major parties to solve the national crisis.

But Chandrika and Ranil only paid lip service to this suggestion. We believed that even Prabhakaran could be accommodated as Prime Minister under the leadership of one of them but not the other from the southern divide. Such was the fate of southern people in the country. There could never be consensus, compromise and conciliation. JR tried to join the SLFP and was opposed, Premadasa tried and failed. Chandrika and Ranil both wanted absolute power and were not prepared to concede and share power with the other.

Mahinda always believed that there should not be any division. In fact, when he won Hamabantota convincingly and should have been the automatic choice for Premiership and when there were backroom manoeuvres to install Lakshman Kadiragamar as Prime Minister, the UNP was keen to support Mahinda.

Then I knew if there was any one who could make these parties to work together that man was Mahinda. He was sincere and meant what he said and never had Machiavellian political cutthroatism. Therefore I sincerely believed that he should become the President and both the UNP and the SLFP could join forces to iron out a formula acceptable to all, including the minority, to put an end to the unnecessary bloodletting that has been going on for well over two decades.

Within a year of being elected President Mahinda has fulfilled part of our dreams and brought together the two major political parties in the country to find a solution to the nagging problem and his move has been readily accepted by a majority in his own party.

I believe a solution to the ethnic conflict and the ushering in of peace would be the greatest present Mahinda could give to the South and for that matter the entire country. It would bring back the smile on millions of now-suffering faces.