Eelam Liberation Struggle : Sathiyaseelan Recalls: 07
Due to unavoidable circumstances, I am writing this episode after a long lapse and I apologize for the delay.
In the last episode, I described about Sivakumaran and myself placing a bomb in the car of Alfred Thuraiappah with an intention of assassinating him and my escape to Vadamaradchchi and staying with Kuddimany and Thangathurai, after Sivakumaran was arrested in his home.
Thangathurai and Kuttimani
Although, Police had an eye on Sivakumaran, ‘Thaady’ Thangarasa was the person who betrayed Sivakumaran. Following Sivakuamaran’s arrest, Ariyaratnam who was working with us was also arrested. I was also searched for by the police. Meanwhile, Sinnasothy Jeyapal and Mohan of Nadesuthasan group made a shooting attack on ‘Thaady’ Thangarasa at Sannithy temple. Thangarasa escaped with a slight injury. You could say that this is the first attack made with a gun by Tamil youths for political objectives.
Not wanting to give any trouble by staying continuously with Kuddimany and Thangathurai, I bid farewell to them and started for my Aunty’s house in Atchelu. As I did not have any money with me I walked all the way to Atchelu. I bathed there, changed my clothes and went to Dr. Tharmalingam’s Dispensary in Jaffna. He used to help me with money once in a while. Although, I used to go and meet him by the back door, on this particular day I went by the front door, like a patient going for treatment, to avoid suspicion. He met me there and after listening to what we done, he happily said ”you had done a good work”, then he went to his house by the back door, brought 300 rupees and gave it to me.
Akbar Hall
On April 3rd I went to Peradeniya from Jaffna and stayed with my friends there in the “Akbar Mil” Hall, near Engineering Faculty. At that time I was having a German made 0.22 pistol. I had taken it with me. My friends got afraid to keep me with them after seeing it. Because of this I decided to go to Colombo, the following day.
But, that night, (April 3rd), the People’s Liberation Front(JVP) had attacked the Kadugannawa Tunnel through which the Peradeniya – Colombo train ply. Because of the Che Guvera Revolution of the People’s Liberation Front (JVP), the Emergency laws were proclaimed. Kadugannawa train service was cancelled due to this. Hence I went From Kandy by bus to kurunegala and then went by train from Kurunegala to Colombo.
In Colombo I stayed in the house of a friend in Upathissa Road, Bambalapitiya. At the same time ,People’sLiberation front(JVP) had attacked a police station in Wellawaya on April 5th and the Jaffna police station on the next day. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Kuddimani and Thangathurai attempted to manufacture bombs to attack the patrolling Army vehicles, but their attempt was not successful but ended up in an accident. This happened on the 7th. On that day I was staying at Bambalapitiya in Colombo.
On April 9th I saw through the window of the room I was in, the police bringing 15 – 20 goons allegedly, who have come to attack the police station there and shooting them down in the yard behind the police station. In the few days I was staying in Colombo I became aware of how the JVP men under the leadership of Rohana Wijeweera had started attacking the Army without proper planning and met with a vast disaster. This gave me a vigilant awareness. I realized that it was not safe to stay Colombo and decided to go to Jaffna.
The curfew was in force throughout April 10th. Due to this I could not make any effort to travel to Jaffna. At that time only air transport was available to travel from Colombo to Jaffna.
A JVP suspect arrested by the armed forces in 1971.
On April 11, I sold my ring and went Ratmalana AirPort for travelling to Jaffna. I could not get a flight immediately. I got a flight early morning, next day. I went to Palaly and from there I went to Kalviyankadu and stayed for a few days at a friend’s house. When I was staying in Kalviyankadu, Thamby Prabaharan came with Thanabalasingam(Cheddi) and met me. Prabaharan suggested that while the Che Guvera revolution was happening, we should also attack Police Stations and capture weapons. He also said that at the Atchuvely and Kopay police stations were guarded by only a single policeman each, and hence these police stations should be attacked immediately. As a person who had witnessed JVP being subdued cruelly with my own eyes, I explained that we should not haste, because we have not prepared ourselves for such kind of attack, and requested Prabaharan to be patient for some more time, and he accepted my opinion.
Meanwhile, police had announced a reward of up to Rs.5,000/= for any information on me.
By this time I have left Kalviyankadu and was staying at the house of my friend Poorana Satkunalingam, in Mandaitheevu. From there I travelled to Jaffna and other places for clandestine meetings.
I think it was in the month of May that we held a meeting in the house of Sivarajah, in Kalviyankadu to discuss what should be done. We met there to discuss how to fight against such a strong Army and what activities we should undertake for this. I will write in my next episode about this meeting and what we did after that.
