Embilipitiya Schoolboys’ Affair – The Thin End Of The Wedge
By Rajan Hoole -May 9, 2014
Rajan Hoole
The 1990s: The Culture of Untruth and a Perilous Vacuum – Part 7
The case of 32 schoolboys from Embilipitiya, which came at the tail end of mass disappearances in the late 1980s, brought poignantly to the outside world the shocking depths of brutality to which this country had descended. This publicity did help the parents, who were of very modest social position from the rural Deep South, in their 9- year saga for justice, in defiance of the obduracy of the State. The trial verdict salved the conscience of a nation darkened by the JVP episode, where everyone was touched by shades of guilt. The saga is now entombed in a history that few want to disinter.
Yet, that history is very much alive with us today and raises many issues relevant to the present. The chief accused in the case – school principal Loku Galappathy – played his part to perfection for a nation looking for something on which to hang its guilt. The Daily News produced a picture of the chief accused arriving in the Ratnapura High Court for the verdict on Wednesday, 10th February 1999, smiling at the cameras as though he had no sense of shame or remorse. If one were looking for a picture of a ghoul, this was it. The saga had an almost children’s story ending, where the wicked king was forever deposed from the throne to the dungeon. The writer in the Daily News made a point of similar import. The verdict, like the Krishanthy Kumarasamy verdict the year before, seemed to give the Kumaratunge government the aura of champions of justice.
Sadly, however, the spirit of Principal Galappathy, now doing 10 years RI, remains very much part of the nation that faked its expiation of guilt. This spirit looms large in public life, and behind persons who, unlike Galappathy, exude great charm in society. We will look at the issues as we sketch the developments.
About the first comprehensive account of the tragedy, based on the testimony of the parents, was presented by Justice J.F.A. Soza, chairman of the Human Rights Task Force (HRTF), in his first annual report of August 1992. The Sevana army camp in the locality passed under the command of Colonel R.P. (Parry) Liyanage in July 1989 when the earlier commander, Brigadier Lucky Algama, was moved to Colombo. This was the time the killing of alleged JVPers in the Southern Province picked up in intensity, peaking in October. Loku Galappathy, who was the principal of Embilipitiya Central College Read More
