Jackboots terrorise slain Minister's family

By M. Ismeth & Chris Kamalendran

A bus load of heavily armed soldiers and a lone Policemen arrived outside a house, a stone's throw away from the Kohuwala junction, as midnight struck signalling the dawn of Wednesday, May 20.

It was a quiet night. Barring the traffic that trickled past, households in the neighbourhood were closed and residents seemed to be in deep slumber. After the men alighted, the bus moved to park a little distance away. As the armed men took cover around the house, one of them clutching an automatic rifle on one hand banged on the gate. He shouted loud asking the householders to come out, immediately unlock and open the gate.

The chief occupant Indiwara Wijeratne and her husband, Senthil Murugan, were upstairs asleep. Their 85 year old cook, Suppiah Peter, walked to the gate to see the presence of soldiers.

Thangavelu


He asked the second domestic help, 65 year old Palaniyandi Thangavelu to open the gate. The soldiers began checking the identities of the foursome. This is what it revealed: Chief Householder: Senthil Murugan, Indian born and now a citizen of Sri Lanka holding a valid National Identity Card. He is a professional pilot and held official identification to enter the Ratmalana Airport. His wife, is Indiwara Wijeratne, daughter of well known businessman and company director, Lofty Wijeratne. Lofty is the younger brother of Ranjan Wijeratne, who laid down his own life in a political career where he fought both subversion and terrorism. Suppiah Peter, 85 years old has been a loyal family cook of the Wijeratne's for many decades. Earlier, he worked as Chef at the Prime Minister's Lodge in Nuwara Eliya. There, the meals he cooked were enjoyed by at least three Prime Ministers - Sir John Kotelawala, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Dudley Senanayake. He had been chef for the late Ranjan Wijeratne when he was Superintendent of High Forest Estate, Nuwara Eliya. Palaniyandi Thangavelu, 65 years old had joined the household only a few weeks earlier.

The policeman and the soldiers wanted all four members of the household to go with them to the Kohuwala Police Station. And that too in the bus in which they had arrived. Mrs. Indiwara Murugan had by then telephoned several relatives. With a torn ligament, it was with difficulty that she had come downstairs. Responding to her call, her sisters had arrived. They explained their own identities but the soldiers insisted that they should come to the Police Station. The domestic aides were to be detained overnight until they obtained registration. A close relative, Kegalle district MP, Mano Wijeratne, who arrived at the scene introduced himself.

He produced his Parliament Identity Card. It was of no avail but the MP succeeded in getting the soldiers to agree to bring the foursome in his own vehicle. There, a Sub Inspector recorded a statement but a dispute arose over the placement of signatures. Later the foursome were released. Ms. Bharati Wijeratne, a sister of Mrs. Indiwara Murugan took issue with the Army and Police top brass over the incident. She said it was reminiscent of an era that is now forgotten. "I told the men that we were neices of the late Ranjan Wijeratne and not terrorists. But they would not take our word for it.

They were rude and impolite," she lamented. She added "I can imagine the fate of poor, helpless residents when they are confronted with midnight visits. They have to go through the humiliation and indignity." Ms. Wijeratne said she complained to senior Army and Police officials and they acted promptly. Declared Mr. Sentil Murugan "The OIC of Kohuwala Police Station visited me the morning after the incident. He had not been at the station that night.

He apologised to me and my wife over the unfortunate incident." Added his wife, Indiwara "He asked whether we wished to proceed with an inquiry. We said it is better the matter is now forgotten. We did not wish to proceed with it." The Sunday Times found that the team of soldiers did not have an officer.

Only a lone policemen's help had been sought from the Kohuwala Police before the midnight search operation had been launched. Mr. P. Kaviratne, Officer in charge of Kohuwala Police told The Sunday Times "I have personally expressed my regrets to Mr and Mrs Murugan over the unfortunate incident. Since they do not wish to proceed any further, the matter ends there."

Interpol warns Sri Lankans on Aussie lottery hoax

By Anton Gunasekera

A large number of Sri Lankan recipients of a bogus letter from a non-existing Australian based Lottery organisation, have been warned by Interpol. They have been told not to remit US Dollars 40 which is purportedly the fee for "validating and processing" the competition form of the winners.

A spokesman for Interpol in Colombo, told the "Sunday Times" that though gullible Sri Lankan competitors for the bogus lottery draw had been informed to remit US Dollars 40,to an address in Sweden, they should instead hand over their letters to Interpol.

The so-called "Australian Lottery Winners Service" which claimed through advertisements in the Sri Lanka press that a cash award of "Dollars 2.3 Million" is about to be distributed among 100 selectees worldwide, is a hoax - the work of clandestine organisation, operating from Australia, with two postal addresses in Germany and Sweden.

Interpol, Canberra, in a fax message of warning "to its Sri Lanka Interpol counterpart at Police headquarters, has stated that its search for an Australian citizen by the name of "David Broker" - signatory to the bogus letter sent to Sri Lankan competitors - had drawn a blank. Interpol's affiliates in Germany and Sweden are tryng to track down the owners or occupants of two addresses - one in Cologne, Germany, C/o the reputed IPS (International Press Service), Headquartered in Rome and the other in the city of Malmo, Sweden.

On a tip-off from a family member a young Sri Lankan competitor, Lasantha Janaka Warakaulla of Arrawwala, Pannipitiya, was tracked down by "The Sunday Times" at his home and the latest letter sent to him by "David Broker" was recovered. Warakaulla had become wiser to the hoax when he discovered that though the prize award was in "Dollars", no mention had been made whether the winning cheque was to be written out in Australian, U.S. Canadian, Malaysian or Singapore Dollars.

However, a 2-pt. type illegible footnote has stated that "all prizes (are) paid in Australian Dollars and converted to the currency of your request'.

Furthermore, his suspicions were aroused when, in this worldwide competition, "David Broker" wrote to him that "40 sets of pre-selected numbers for eight occurrences were limited to 100 specially selected residents from around the world" and that Warakaulla "has been selected as one of those 100 worldwide residents".

The young Sri Lankan states that his confusion was worse confounded when he found that "Broker's" letter was undated, but that all Sri Lankan recipients were told that if a cheque for "US Dollars 40" was not received within 14 days (deadlined for June 5), he or she would not be entitled to the prize money and the free ticket to Australia - to collect the cash.

Protests over move to hand out land

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti

A move to distribute 700 acres of forest land in Puwakkote in the Bibile electorate, which is part of the recognised Nilgala elephant corridor, has triggered off a wave of protests from environmentalists and people of the area, sources said.

The selected area frequented by wild elephants and other animals has been declared an elephant corridor under the Mahaweli Development Project in a bid to protect their habitat and minimize possibilities to trigger off conflicts between man and beast.

However, the programme has been initiated by a member of parliament from the area in a bid to create new settlements. According to provisions of the State Land Ordinance, a Divisional Secretary is empowered to initiate such land alienations, and the land belonging to the elephant corridor is to be alienated by the Divisional Secretary of Bibile in two stages, as 400 acres initially and 300 acres subsequently. The other elephant corridor, Lahugala, is already causing grave threats to the survival of elephants as an electric fence is maintained to keep the animals at bay.

Rival claims over school show

Teachers in the Piliyandala region claim they are being virtually forced to attend a school opening ceremony involving some VIPs on Tuesday - but an education official says no one is being forced.

The centre of dispute is the opening of a new building at Piliyandala Madya Maha Vidyalaya, with President Kumaratunga and Education Minister Richard Pathirana due to attend.

Teachers say they have been told by the area's education office that they must attend the ceremony and even sign a register at the entrance. Teachers fear that if they do not go they will be victimized.

But Deputy Director Piyadasa Liyanage said some thousand teachers had only been requested to take part and no one was being forced. He said the fears of the teachers were unfounded.

But some teachers were not convinced. They said that in view of recent failures at crowd pulling events including May Day, PA political elements were going all out to put up a big show at Piliyandala.

Plans to put the north back on track

By Arshad M. Hadjirin

Six kilometres of northern rail track destroyed in the war beyond Vavuniya, will be laid in two months' time, Transport Minister A. H. M. Fowzie said.

The Railway, which laid two kilometres from Vavuniya to Thandikulam recently, will spend six million rupees to extend the track up to Omanthai, which is now under military control.

Mr. Fowzie told "The Sunday Times' that by the end of August, trains would run up to Omanthai on the northern line. At presently train service runs up to Thandikulam only.

"We hope to restore the Jaffna train service as soon as possible," he said.

On Friday the railway launched another multi-million rupee project for a third line from Ragama to Negombo.

Sarojini's kitchen friend became her killer

By Roshan Peiris

Sarojini Yogeswaran had first met a young Velupillai Prabhakaran in her kitchen while he was talking to her husband, Vettivel yogeswaran in their Point Pedro home.

"He just walked in to speak to my husband and he was a handsome young man, slim then, with bell bottoms and a bright shirt. His wife was a pupil of mine and very beautiful, as I recall," she told The Sunday Times in her last interview about three months ago.

She never thought the young man in adulthood would one day order her death in cold blood.

In her last interview with The Sunday Times just after her election as first woman Mayor of Jaffna, Sarojini, in tears said the people of Jaffna desperately need peace.

Ms. Yogeswaran so suddenly and cruelly assassinated by LTTE gunmen last Sunday was a simple woman. She studied at Vembadi Girls High School, one of the more prestigious schools in Jaffna.

Her family was comfortably well off and she after graduation could have married well, and settled down to a comfortable domestic life.

When talking to the late Sarojini it was clear she never sought after a fast track political career, despite being a London graduate in Tamil Economics and Ethics.

She met and married the handsome Vettivelu Yogeswaran and so she was drawn into politics while being a teacher. He was elected as MP for Jaffna by a massive majority on July 1989.

Sarojini suffered a terrible trauma when her trusting heart and exceptional serenity allowed the assassin Visu and another to visit her husband who was at a meeting with TULF leaders, A. Amirthalingam and M. Sivasithamparam in their flat off Bullers Road one morning. There were no security checks. She trustingly served tea and biscuits to her husband's assassin but when she went in, the man brought out a gun and shot him. Amirthalingam was also killed, while Sivasithamparam escaped with injuries to tell the story.

It is not surprising therefore that Sarojini was totally opposed to gun culture. I want an end to gun culture. It goes against the traditions, mores and culture of the people of Jaffna," she told me - it is ironical that finally she was caught up in the cross- fire between gun culture and her intense desire for peace.

After the death of her husband Sarojini though demoralised still had the courage of her convictions to contest the 1994 Parliamentary elections in Colombo on the Independent list headed by ACTC leader Kumar Ponnambalam. Sarojini did creditably well at the elections.

In Colombo Sarojini owned a small flat off School Lane, Kollupitiya where she used to stay with a lady friend on her visits to Colombo. It was at this flat that I met her twice. Prominently displayed and garlandad was the portrait of her smiling husband and very often I noted her eyes involuntary going to it as if she sought inspiration and solace from it.

Sarojini was soft spoken, but one could see that beneath it was a strong character. "I am disturbed by the gun culture where Tamil parties especially the EPDP and PLOTE have their own private armies.

"This is bad, so much so that many of our candidates withdrew because they felt threatened by them. We in the TULF don't have an army of our own and don't intend to," she said.

What about your own security I asked her. "The people of my husband's electorate, Jaffna, loved him and they will protect me. So will these pupils I had taught", she said. So, as Mayoress she lived in the official residence without security guards not known that her own life would be on the firing line one day.

Sarojini Yogeswaran was a woman with a clear vision and a positive plan of action to upgrade the living conditions of the people of Jaffna.

"I have grown up in Jaffna and lived there for 40 years. I love the place and the people."

She wanted to rebuild Jaffna with better houses, roads, water, electricity and other facilities. She wanted to improve hospitals, build maternity homes and had plans to tackle even problems like garbage and the mosquito menace.

These were the hopeful ideas of a woman, but finally and tragically it all ended when cowardly assassins killed the defenceless widow.

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