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We don’t want anyone harmed in the name of Kumarasinghe, we only want justice for his death
View(s):M.G. Kumarasinghe (41), the lorry driver whose death triggered a spate of attacks on members of the Muslim community in areas around Kandy, was a mild mannered man who divided his time between work, family and religious activities.
M.G. Kumarasinghe
In the far flung village of Posgohuwa in Meda Mahanuwara, the closely knit extended family of Kumarasinghe is trying to come to terms with the death of the man who was the bread winner of his family. Kumarasinghe, they said had no enemies but was a friend to all irrespective of which community they belonged to.
Sunil Karunaratne, his cousin was the last person in the family that Kumarasinghe had spoken to. Kumarasinghe was a lorry driver attached to a private company.
Sunil gave a detailed account of what he believed caused the altercation that led to his cousin’s demise.
“On the night he was attacked, Kumarasinghe had been returning from Colombo with a stock of milk powder packets. He was accompanied by the lorry cleaner.
The lorry had neared Teldeniya area around 2 a.m. What we learned is that there was a three wheeler behind the lorry and it had attempted to overtake the vehicle and had manoeuvered dangerously close to the lorry, overtaken it and gone ahead. “
Kumarasinghe had driven the lorry to the petrol station owned by the company he worked for and parked it as was the practice after which he takes his motor bicycle parked there and heads home. On that day as soon as he parked the lorry, the three wheeler that had gone ahead had returned to where he was. As soon as Kumarasinghe got off the lorry, one of the men had struck him on the head with a bottle of beer and the other men who had got off the three wheeler had assaulted him. The lorry cleaner and the security guard at the petrol station had been too slow to react as the men got away after brutally attacking Kumarasinghe.
However he remained conscious and had called his cousin Karunaratne who rushed there.“When I got there, I saw a little blood trickling down the side of his head. I asked him to come with me to the hospital but he said he felt alright and asked me to take him to the Police Station. He waited there a little and then told me he will take his motorbike and head home. About an hour later when I called his phone there as no answer so I went back to the petrol station and found his bike still parked there. When I looked around he was lying unconscious under the lorry.”
Kumarasinghe was taken to the Teldeniya Hospital first and was transferred to the Kandy Teaching Hospital but died on March 2 without gaining consciousness.
While he lay unconscious, rumors of the attack had spread around the surrounding villages and the arrest of four Muslim youth in connection with the incident had heightened tensions between the two communities in the area. The family is still in a daze unable to fathom what is taking place in the name of their much loved relative.
Afraid of the future: Thilaka Padmakumari and son
“I am thankful that all those who are mourning for my son’s death did not harm anyone and we don’t want anyone to be harmed in his name. He is dead now and we have to think of how we are going to survive without him,” said H.G.Gunasena, his 70-year- old father.
The inciters behind the attacks had exerted pressure on family members to join in the attacks but they had held their ground refusing to get involved. “The Chief Incumbent of our temple Ven. Upali Gnanissra Thera gave us proper guidance and made us focus only on the funeral arrangements and made sure that no one in our village was involved in any trouble making. There are Muslim families in our village but no one was harmed,” he said.
Those who incited violence in the name of Kumarasinghe have only taken the focus away from the plight of a poor family that has been left destitute by the death of a loved one. His wife Thilaka Padmakumari said that her husband provided not only for her and the two children but his parents as well. “My son is mentally challenged while my husband‘s parents who live with us are old and ailing. He worked hard and provided for all of us. I don’t know how we are going to survive now,” she said.
His family members are visibly angry with those who attacked Kumarasinghe and want justice. ”We want his killers to be punished by law,” said his mother A.G.Leelawathie.
Ven. Thorapitiye Chandraratne Thera who resides in the village temple said that Kumarasinghe had no hatred towards Muslims or anyone else. “He led an exemplary life. He was hardworking, and provided for his family. He looked after his parents and was deeply devoted to Buddhism. We have to get together and fulfil his wish by looking after his family,” he said.
Ven. Thorapitiye Chandraratne Thera
