Leader of FSP behind student protestsKumar remanded

By Saman Indrajith-November 4, 2015, 9:24 pm 

Leader of the JVP-splinter group Frontline Socialist Party Premakumar Gunaratnam alias Kumar Mahattaya was arrested at his ancestral house in Kegalle by police yesterday.

The arrest had been made around 1.45 pm at Gunaratnam’s house at No 211/26, Anguruwella, Kegalle by a team of policemen from the Kegalle police on charges of violating immigration regulations, police said. Gunaratnam has been remanded till Nov. 18 by the Kegalle Magistrate.

Gunaratnam was an Australian citizen and he would be handed over to the Controller of Immigration and Emigration to be deported to Australia, police said.

He was being questioned at the Kegalle Police Station at the time this edition went to press.

Gunaratnam arrived in Sri Lanka on Jan. 01, this year using an Australian Passport (N 1016123) bearing the name, Noel Mudalige.  He had been granted a visa till Jan. 30, 2015 but did not leave the country. He did not make public appearances. His name has been included in the FSP’s national list accepted by the Elections Commissioner for the August 17 general election. Gunaratnam’s name has been listed along with his real NIC No 653231890 V.

Born in Kegalle on 18.11.1965 to a Sinhalese mother and a Tamil father, Gunaratnam played a major role behind the scene in JVP revival in the aftermath of its top leaders being wiped out during anti-insurgent crackdown by the then UNP government in the 1987-90 period.

He was educated at St. Mary’s College, Kegalle, and Pinnawala Central College, Rambukkana. He entered the University of Peradeniya Faculty of Engineering and became a student leader. He did not complete his degree and married a doctor, Champa Somaratna. His family is currently resident in Australia.

Gunaratnam arrived in Sri Lanka on Sept. 4, 2011 using his Australian passport and engaged in clandestine JVP operations until the party faced a split paving the way for the creation of FSP.

He claimed he had been abducted by a group who came in a white van from a house at No: 291, Gemunu Mawatha, Kiribathgoda on April 06, 2012 and dumped near the Colombo Crime Division head office at Dematagoda in the early hours of April 09, 2012. The Australian High Commission intervened to secure his release. Then Australian High Commissioner, Robyn Mudie, met top defence officials after Gunaratnam’s wife Champa had requested the Australian government to intervene on behalf of her husband. The following day, he was deported to Australia, where Gunaratnam alleged that he had been abducted, interrogated and tortured by men attached to the state intelligence agencies.

UPFA Galle District MP Manusha Nanayakkara participating in an adjournment debate in Parliament yesterday asked the government to reveal all the details pertaining to the arrest of Gunaratnam. "Gunaratnam was born in this country. He engaged in active politics though his politics was not digestible to some sections. Gunaratnam has a birth right. We demand to know whether the government does not recognise his rights?"

FSP Propaganda Secretary Pubudu Jayagoda said that his party would do everything in its power to secure the release of their leader and his right to engage in politics here. "According to our legal consultants, Gunaratnam has not done anything illegal. He is engaged in politics fulltime. He is being harassed for political reasons."

Gunaratnam was one of the first to reveal to the country that Presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena and the JVP had a deal prior to the Jan. 8 polls. He made the revelation in an exclusive interview with The Island, though none confirmed Gunaratnam’s statement then.

The Inter University Students’ Federation now under the control of FSP led by Gunaratnam was behind recent student agitations. The IUSF organised protest last Thursday ended with police using force to disperse them, which resulted in over 70 students and several policemen receiving injuries.