Sunday Times 2

Three graduates from Peradeniya University applied for the posts of journalists at the Sunday Times in 1987. We wanted fresh blood and these three outclassed the others who responded to our advertisement. All three, Qadri Ismail, Romesh Fernando and J.F. Tissanayagam were recruited.

Qadri was an English Honours graduate and began to show his skills in word craft and presentation of facts early. But soon he was embroiled in controversy on English with his mentor, Professor Ashley Halpe of the Department of English, through the pages of Mervyn de Silva’s The Lanka Guardian. Mervyn asked Ashley to bring the argument to a halt and Ashley sent a two-liner to conclude the confrontation. He said ‘all this time we were taught English in the schools through W.H. Samaranayake’s English with a smile but now there is a modern version, English with an Ismail’.

The decision to give Lasantha Wickramatunga and Qadri space to write two weekly columns saw the birth of a controversial adventure. While Lasantha wrote the inside stories on politics and gave intricate details including the menus partaken at meals by politicians, Qadri was adept at writing on any subject under the sun. But unlike Lasantha, Qadri’s comments on politics meant he was immersed in controversy.

If there is one journalist who was responsible for the rise of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader M.H.M. Ashraff in the political scenario, it was Qadri. Ashraff’s decision to grow a beard “like the Prophet” led to heated arguments with some Muslims who asked whether the Quran had mentioned that the prophet had a beard.

With the controversy raging, some extremist Muslim elements decided to set fire to copies of the Sunday Times outside Zahira College and we felt the time had come to close the debate. Qadri, who retired to the lounge of the now defunct Park View Chinese hotel on Friday night after writing his weekly column with a Heineken beer, was annoyed but felt it was time to stop the debate.

As a journalist he maintained his links with those in Government and opposition and also with the LTTE. He revealed how an LTTE cadre in south India operated a radio which kept the LTTE leaders informed of what was happening during the Anuradhapura massacre of civilians. The startling information revealed was that during the operation, RAW agents were with him at the time of the massacre — and knew the events unfolding on that day.

The Sunday Times sent two people from Colombo to cover events in Jaffna before the IPKF landed their troops. My regular walks with my immediate neighbour on Stanmore Crescent, National Security Minister Lalith Athulathmudali, paid dividends as he told me 24 hours before the IPKF landed that the Indians were sending troops. It was a closely guarded secret and we responded within an hour and dispatched two journalists to Jaffna. Thus we had firsthand reports from our staffers Tyronne Devotta and photographer Pushpakumara Matugama. While other papers were quoting defence officials we had the scoop and our circulation soared.

When Prabhakaran had a news conference after the Indo-Lanka Accord was signed we sent Qadri to cover the event. The event was dominated by foreign journalists who had come to cover the event but Qadri was able to get a question in near the tail-end of the news conference. He asked Prabhakaran now that it looked as if the Tamils had made peace with the Sinhalese, whether he had any message for the Sinhala people. All the questions put to Prabhakaran in English had to be translated to Tamil but an annoyed Prabhakaran chose not to wait for the translation and looked at Qadri and replied in English: “No”.

Meanwhile, down south the conflict with the JVP was raging. In Colombo there was a dramatic event when Lalith Athulathmudali called a sudden news conference with one K.C. Senanayake who said he was from the JVP. Lalith then announced that the JVP will begin negotiations with the Government. No one knew anything about KC and the JVPer was not communicative either. Qadri spoke to him after the news conference and discovered where he lived and arranged to meet him that evening for a drink. They had not one drink but many. Next morning Qadri walked into my office and said the whole story was a hoax. We carried the story in the Sunday Times exposing who KC (who we called King Con) was and we were the only newspaper to reveal the truth about the fraudster. What amazed us how Lalith fell victim to this con artist who had nothing to do with the JVP.

Within a few weeks, the IPKF decided to take action against the LTTE for serious violations and we were keen for a firsthand report from Jaffna. Qadri agreed to go but after the first report there was silence. We were worried. Where was he? Was he taken into custody by the Army or the IPKF or the LTTE? We inquired from our Army and defence sources as well as contacts in the LTTE but no one had any news. Qadri’s father, lawyer Shakir Ismail, was very angry with us and stormed into the office asking for news of his son.

At last we had news that he was in a hospital in Jaffna. He had been travelling in an LTTE tractor when an IPKF helicopter spotted them and opened fire. Qadri had a bullet wound in his neck and was hospitalised. An operation to remove the bullet in his neck would have been fatal as it was a few centimetres from a nerve. We were told that a wrong move could paralyse him and with the help of the Sri Lanka Army he was flown down to Colombo but he had to live with the bullet for the rest of his life.

He went to Washington, USA, to be with his cousin and decided to stay on there. At the time of his death Qadri was Associate Professor of English at the University of Minnesota. He had told some friends he would visit them last Monday but never showed up. He did not respond to their phone calls. They found him dead when they visited his apartment that evening.

Goodbye Qadri. You lived a full and adventurous life and we will miss you. To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.

COVID-19 vaccines and the US national interest