People power to protect polls
By Chris Kamalendran and Nilika de Silva from Kandy
In the Kandy district, unlike in previous elections, the people fought
to protect their ballot, 10 of them even sacrificing their lives to safeguard
this democratic right on election day.
People power was clearly seen in villages where people took it upon
themselves to protect the polling booths from being attacked and their
votes plundered by armed thugs, even going to the extent of lying bodily
across the road to protect their polling booths.
In Murundeniya in the Galagedera electorate the people had cut down
trees and created road blocks on the mountain roads. They wanted to ensure
that unlike last year where armed gangs allegedly linked to Lohan Ratwatte
had driven to the polling booths and stuffed the ballot boxes, this time
no one could steal their votes.
In Mahaiyawa and other parts of the Kandy district too temporary road
blocks had been set up by the people to stop others coming and taking poll
cards by force.
The calm of the hill capital was shattered on election day by PA hooligans
roaming around in state owned Defender jeeps armed with automatics and
threatening the people to refrain from voting.
More than ten Defenders and many other double cabs and pick ups with
tinted glasses were noted by us.
However, despite the intimidation, people queued up in their hundreds
at every polling station around the district to exercise their democratic
right.
It was a clear indication of the peoples will to protect their franchise
even in the face of terror. Having queued up early in the morning they
stood patiently for hours to cast their votes. Especially the turnout of
women folk was remarkably high.
Before noon we saw most of the booths were deserted with the polling
completed and only the security and polling agents left.
The hooligans desperate at being thwarted then went on a rampage attacking
unarmed civilians.
In Andiyakadawatha violence erupted at one polling booth allegedly after
ex minister D.M. Jayaratne's supporters attempted to stuff the ballot boxes
and angry villagers surrounded his fleet of vehicles and set fire to a
state owned truck.
In another incident in an adjoining village Ihalawala, Gampola an armed
gang of PA supporters had attacked SLMC supporters shooting and injuring
a person named Ziyad (50).
The voting centre at Jayanthi Viharaya, Ihalawala, was being avoided
by voters following this violence. It had been closed for a short while
till the army was called in to bring the situation under control. However,
Polling agents said out of 1200 Registered voters only 472 had voted.
Inspite of attempted intimidation with gun fire being used to instill
fear in the people accompanied by the collection of polling cards the previous
night, the voter turn out recorded in the Kandy district was more than
80 percent.
On the night before elections about 15 bombs had been exploded and a
van burnt in Mahaiyawa.
In certain areas UNF supporters had allegedly prevented the PA supporters
from voting.
Fears voiced by SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem that the PA might spill a lake
of blood in the Kandy district on polling day, came horribly true when
eleven of his unarmed supporters from Madawala were shot dead at point
blank range by alleged PA thugs in Katugastota.
The trouble in Madawela began long before the carnage , as Defenders
were reported to have been roaming in the thick of night, and shots fired
to create fear.
However polling booths at Madawela were packed with voters by 7.30 a.m,
as Hakeem supporters had advised the people to come and vote early.
Horror of the Madawela massacre
By Faraza Farook
Madawela has been plunged into mourning and misery in the aftermath of
one of the most brutal massacres ever seen during an election campaign
in Sri Lanka.
According to SLMC media consultant A.R.A. Hafeez, 14 supporters of the
party were accompanying a bus carrying the area's ballot boxes to the counting
centre, when their van was waylaid by an armed gang in another vehicle.
During a chase the SLMC van had hit a lamppost near Udathalawinna and mayhem
began at that point.
Dr. Hafeez alleged that the armed gang had gone on a mad rampage shooting
wildly at the SLMC van, then flinging open the doors and massacring some
of the terrified victims who tried to take cover under the seats.
Dr. Hafeez said after the masscre, worse was to follow with the bodies
being allowed to lie at the scene of the carnage for almost 10 hours while
police wasted time over a legal question on whether the killing came under
the jurisdiction of Wattegama or Katugastota. Finally the bodies were cleared
only after a magisterial inquiry was held before dawn the next day.
The horror took place in Patha-Dumabara- the electorate of controversial
ex-minister Anuruddha Ratwatte. Dr. Hafeez said the 10 SLMC supporters
aged for 19 to 35 sacrificed their lives to save the ballot boxes which
they armed gang wanted to hijack or swap.
According to Dr. Hafeez the bloody hooliganism took place after the
SLMC supporters decided to follow the bus carrying the ballot boxes and
the election staff, followed by a police jeep after widespread incidents
of intimidation and violence were reported in many Muslim dominated areas.
He said SLMC supporters in Madawela had been on alert after they were
informed of incidents in other Muslim villages and having experienced similar
violence at the last Parliamentary election.
"They were prompted to take every possible step to save their votes
after they heard of an incident in Udathalawinna where armed men in masks
arrived in 'Defender vehicles', forced themselves to polling centres and
took away three ballot boxes," Dr. Hafeez said.
He said, despite resistance by the villagers, the armed men shot randomly
in all directions in an attempt to enter polling centres. "Logs were put
across the road to prevent them from entering, but cranes were brought
to put aside the huge logs.
Dr. Hafeez said most of those who died were sole bread winners or the
only children in the family.
He alleged that thugs deployed by a prominent PA ex minister were waiting
at Polgolla to target any supporters following the bus carrying the ballot
boxes. "When the van carrying the SLMC supporters reached Polgolla, the
armed men began chasing the van. Terrified at their sight, the van had
sped and at a point called Navayaalathenna, took a turn towards Udathalawinna
where it knocked a lamppost.
"At least 15 armed men then surrounded the vehicle and began firing
randomly into the vehicle while some forcibly opened the van and started
firing mercilessly. Some hid under the seats to save their lives, but to
no avail. The thugs pointed the gun down the seat and began shooting resulting
in severe head injuries to some," Dr. Hafeez said.
He said to divert investigations, grenades and weapons had been put
into the vehicle by the thugs to suggest that the men who died were armed.
Four of those in the van including the driver had survived to tell the
story of the Madawela massacre.
Dr. Hafeez said that adding to the misery, the bodies were left untouched
for more than 10 hours inside the van owing to a legal dispute in determining
under which Magistrate the Madawela area came. Though Mr. Hakeem intervened
and requested the Kandy magistrate to visit the site and dispatch the bodies
to the hospital morgue at the earliest, the Katugastota police insisted
that the area fell under the Wattegama magistrate.
The bodies remained inside the van till 3.30 a.m. on December 6 after
which the Wattegama Magistrate visited the site and released the bodies
to the Police mortuary, Dr. Hafeez said.
Bandaranaike bastion falls with a bang
By Chandani Kirinde and Dilrukshi Handunnetti
After a hard and bitterly fought campaign, the Bandaranaike
bastion of the Gampaha district fell to the UNP with the PA holding on
to just a few including the home base of Attanagalle but that too with
a smallest ever majority.
As traditional PA strongholds fell the UNP emerged with a massive total
of 437,289 votes and nine parliamentary seats from the district, with the
PA a close second with 428,780 and seven seats followed by the JVP which
got two seats.
Next to Kandy, Gampaha district was the worst affected by violence,
rigging and armed intimidation.
The hotbed of violence in the district was the Thihariya area where
the residence of a UNP supporter was attacked and several vehicles destroyed
by thugs allegedly linked to prominent PA members.
Houseowner Mohamed Basheer, who also runs a cigar-manufacturing factory
in his home, was in shock when we visited him. His brother Mohamed Bakeer
received serious cut injuries during the attack and was rushed to the Gampaha
hospital for emergency treatment.
A total of eight people were injured in the attack and some were taken
to the Watupitiwela hospital. The house is close to the polling booth in
the area and the incident had occurred around 1.00 p.m. resulting in many
voters opting not to vote in the afternoon fearing for their lives.
"Many of the voters started running when the attack started. They were
shooting into the air. Some women who had come to vote were running away
carrying children. It was a stampede," said a shaken onlooker.
Most of the 180 girls employed in the cigar factory had also been at
work when the trouble flared and they were forced to run for their lives.
The attackers had come with handkerchiefs across their faces, dressed in
black pants and shirts in three unnumbered vehicles.
The attack had lasted around 20 minutes and after they left, three prominent
PA candidates and a senior official of the President's secretariat who
is also a provincial council minister had driven by in their cars, eyewitnesses
said. Despite numerous calls to the Nittambuwa police, more than an hour
after the attack, they had not turned up to investigate.
In another incident in Polwatta , a prominent UNP candidate had come
to a polling booth at the Polwatta Maha Vidyalaya in Veyangoda and allegedly
fired into the air and attempted to stuff some ballot boxes. This had led
to a disruption in the polling.
Shooting was also reported in the Minuwangoda electorate, the pocket
borough of PA strongman Reggie Ranatunge. At the Nalanda Maha Vidyalaya,
Minuwangoda, a PA group had allegedly fired into the air and attempted
to stuff ballot boxes. But they were stopped by the police.
In the Madampella area, soon after polling began, supporters of PA candidate
Jeyaraj Fernandopulle had allegedly beaten up several supporters of UNP
candidate, Edward Gunasekera.
A disturbing incident that occurred in the vicinity of polling stations
was the presence of candidates and their supporters intimidating voters.
Most of these goons continued to be a menacing presence near the polling
booths till the ballot boxes were carried away. Small cards baring the
preferential numbers of some of the prominent candidates in the Katana
electorate were seen outside polling booths- a sign that voters were being
solicited for votes just as they were going into the booth.
UNP Deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya who got a thumping preference vote
said he abhorred violence and was shocked to see some PA politicians shedding
blood of their own constituents to gain high office. |
