Handing Over Arms To The LTTE
Dr. Rajan Hoole
Formal talks between the Premadasa Government and the LTTE commenced in May 1989. Present at these sessions along with Premadasa, were Defence Secretary General Attygalle and cabinet ministers, among whom were, Ranjan Wijeratne, Wijayapala Mendis, Festus Perera, A.C.S. Hameed and Ranil Wickremesinghe. About July 1989 President Premadasa asked Attygalle to hand over to the LTTE a consignment of arms in accordance with a hand-written list, apparently given by the LTTE. Attygalle averred that this had not been discussed at the talks and that he had deleted heavy artillery and mortars from the list. He named Colonel T.M. Bohran and SSP Lionel Karunasena, Commandant STF, as among those who took part in arms deliveries and that Wanasinghe had got orders from his superior officers. The event also reveals Premadasa’s style of doing the important business secretively, through the back door.
Formal talks between the Premadasa Government and the LTTE commenced in May 1989
According to Colonel Bohran who was then the Army’s Civil Co-ordinating Officer at Weli Oya, Defence Secretary Attygalle had once called him and asked him to ‘turn a blind eye to the LTTE’s activities in Weli Oya and not to care about their attacks’. In effect, this meant, ignore attacks on Sinhalese settlers. Later, he was called by General Cyril Ranatunge, who was in charge of Operational Head Quarters, and sent to the Army Commander (Wanasinghe). Wanasinghe had asked him to hand over a consignment of arms to the LTTE and keep it a secret. The total consignment passed on through several points included a thousand or more rifles, several hundred thousand rounds of ammunition, hundreds of RPGs etc. The Defence Ministry also cleared imports for the LTTE, which included communication spares, along with handcuffs and finger cuffs for its famous detention camps.
