KAMALIKA PIERIS

India did not stop there. India was determined to get a good hold on Sri Lanka . India  used the Tamil Separatist Movement for this.

A process of negotiations was begun between the Governments of India and Sri Lanka with India playing the role of an interlocutor bringing the Tamil parties and the Government of Sri Lanka to the negotiating table, in order to solve the ongoing insurgency by Tamil militants and the ethnic problem in the island through Constitutional proposals.

The outcomes of these negotiations were the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord in July 1987, and the drawing up of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of November 1987.

Secret talks started on signing an accord between the two countries, with the participation of ambassador  Dixit, N. Ram Editor, Hindu”, and Minister Gamini Dissanayake. The Indian Research and Analysis Wing, RAW was drawing up the necessary plans..

Indian High Commission’s Second Secretary H.S. Puri left for Jaffna and met LTTE Chief V. Prabhakaran and other Tamil militant leaders. High Commissioner Dixit went to Madras and met leaders of Sri Lankan Tamil organizations. TULF Leaders insisted on merging the Northern and Eastern Provinces and setting up a separate Provincial Council to administer the region. Dixit conveyed their proposals to Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi.

Two Indian military helicopters landed in Jaffna from Madurai on July 24, 1987  and took Prabhakaran to  Madras and then Delhi to meet PM Rajiv Gandhi. The purpose was  to get Prabhakaran to agree to an Indo-Lanka Accord to which TULF and other Tamil organizations had already agreed. The talks were held at Ashok Hotel, Delhi, where Gandhi promised give more powers to the LTTE in an interim administration. Rajiv Gandhi also agreed to pay LTTE Indian Rupees five million monthly until the new administration started functioning properly reported Dharman Wickremaratne.

In  July,1987  we were informed that the Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was to arrive in Sri Lanka to sign an agreement with us, recalled  Air Vice Marshal A.B.Sosa. That night I dropped in at  Katunayake International Airport. It was all agog with Indian Air Force aircraft. It looked as though  India had taken over the airport.

 Prime Minister  Rajiv Gandhi and wife Sonia Gandhi arrived in Sri Lanka on July 29, 1987 From Katunayake they travelled by helicopter to Galle Face. The Indo Lanka  Accord was signed on July 29, 1987 at 3.37 p.m  Thereafter, unofficial talks were begun between President Jayewardene and the Indian PM. Three discussions were held till midnight and the final talks were held on the morning of July 30^th. Even before the Indian PM‘s departure, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)  had established themselves in the north east of  Sri Lanka by the afternoon of July 29^th.

Trouble was expected in Colombo, when Rajiv came to sign. Posters, slogans and black flags appeared in Colombo and many other main cities expressing strong opposition to the UNP Government, the Indo-Lanka Accord and Tamil separatism.  A massive protest march was coming from Kolonnawa heading to President House and to deal with them was the General Service corp. that   dealt with pay and records and ran the army farms, recalled Kamal Gunaratne.

An anti-accord protest campaign  began near the Bo-Tree junction Pettah at 8.00 a.m. July 28, 1987 . JVP Politburo Members H.B. Herath and Gunaratne Wanasinghe, Central Committee Members Gamini Wijegunasekera, Thangaraja and hundreds of other high level JVP activists were taking active part.

Venerable Hedigalle Pannatissa, Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha, Ven. Muruttetuwe Ananda, Ven. Dr. Wilegoda Ariyadewa, MPs Dinesh Gunawardena and Prins Gunasekera were representing the Mawbima Surekeemay Vyaparaya at the protest rally. Also participating were SLFP Leader Sirima Bandaranaike, Jinadasa Niyathapala, Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka, Gamini Iriyagolla and Anura Bandaranaike and many other SLFP Parliamentarians. The unseen hand behind the country-wide protest campaign was the JVP .All activities were organized by the Inter-University Students’ Federation and the Bhikkhu Front, said Dharman Wickremaratne.

By 11.30 a.m.  all roads in and around Fort area were blocked since nearly 20,000 people had gathered near the Bo-Tree junction. Seth pirith chanting was heard. Ten processions, each comprising over a thousand people marched in four different directions. The protestors set fire to buses and other state property.

People panicked when the police baton charged after tear gassing the crowd. There was repeated gunfire. A total of 21 persons died   there.

The UNP Government declared an island-wide curfew on the night of July 28, 1987, Defying the curfew hundreds and thousands of people were demonstrating against the accord. The violence which started near the Bo-tree junction quickly spread all over the island. According to official Government estimates 132 protesters were killed and 712 persons including 56 bhikkus were taken into custody during five days from July 27 to August 2. The number of violent incidents was 2,527.

The US and UK were behind the indo Lanka accord, though it was presented as an India thing, stated Nalin  de Silva. At the time, it was thought that this was forced on Sri Lanka by India, thanks to JR’s poor diplomacy. It is now found that this was the work of the USA, not India. USA was behind the India-Sri Lanka accord of 1987, agreed analysts. 

Izzeth Hussain had told WT Jayasinghe,   Permanent Secretary, Foreign affairs, that almost certainly a third party was involved in the Indo-Lanka accord. Jayasinghe, who was present at the signing, ‘told me later that I was correct.’

Hussain recalls that US Ambassador James Spain had sought a meeting with  Sri Lanka ‘s Foreign Minister, on the day of the Indian parippu air drop over Jaffna in 1987. Ambassador Spain said he had to convey an urgent message from his government. India was going to suggest something and Sri Lanka should not over react, Spain said. That ‘something’ was the Accord.

Just after the signing of the  Indo-Lanka Accord, Ambassador Spain handed over an envelope to Rajeev Gandhi, obviously a congratulatory and goodwill message from Reagan. Clearly the contents of the agreement were already known to the US government, said Hussain.  In addition, visiting US senator Charles H.  Percy had carried a letter from US President Reagan to President Jayawardene offering to be of any assistance in conveying a message from J.R. to Rajiv Gandhi.

The  full text of the    Indo Lanka Accord was  known only after it was signed.   It is not popularly known that India wanted the Provincial Council and the devolution proposals  only for North East ,  as  an easy means of creating Eelam. The Jayewardene government extended the Provincial Council system to all the provinces of the country  said Nirmala Chandrahasan.

1987 Indo-Ceylon agreement had three  letters attached to the Accord. They said, firstly  that Sri Lanka  must agree that Trincomalee  or any other port in Sri Lanka will not be made available to any other country for  use against India.  Secondly, the Trincomalee oil farms    operation will be done as a joint venture between Sri Lanka and India. Thirdly foreign broadcasting facilities will not be used for intelligence or military purpose. JR  had sent a reply agreeing to this.

Before Rajiv Gandhi’s departure a Naval Guard of Honor was held opposite the President’s House, Fort.  JR’s son, Ravi had instructed  that the firing pins and  gun powder be removed from the  guns in the Guard of Honor. Ravi had  also told JR not to accompany Rajiv at the Guard of honor.

As the Indian PM was inspecting the Guard of Honor one its members Leading Rate Wijemuni Vijitha Rohana attacked Rajiv Gandhi with his rifle butt. Rajiv Gandhi ducked to avoid the blow .it struck his shoulder but with no serious injuries. As scheduled ,Rajiv Gandhi left for Delhi from Katunayake on the same day at 11.30 a.m.

Wijemuni Vijitha Rohana, born in Boossa, Ratgama, was 22-years-old at the time. He told the Court-Martial that he had no intention of killing the Indian PM but only did so to disgrace him internationally for intimidating Sri Lanka and using force on the country to impose the Accord. Attorneys including Stanley Tillekeratne, Donald Hewagama, and Susil Premajayantha appeared voluntarily for Wijemuni who was sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment by the Court- Martial for attempted culpable homicide not amounting to murder. He was pardoned and released on April 3, 1990. ( continued)