JVP – UNP Links ?
By Rajan Hoole -September 12, 2014
Rajan Hoole
Political Murders, the Commissions and the Unfinished Task – 14
We mentioned earlier that links between the Premadasa faction of the UNP and the JVP had very much been the subject of speculation. That such links existed and featured in the choice of UNP targets by the JVP was strongly believed by the Jayewardene faction of the UNP as journalists have testified. The belief was also shared by police officers who have testified before commissions and also privately to us. But it has never been proved. A particular suspicion has been that a link existed through former Minister Sirisena Cooray and his brother-in-law and senior JVP leader Somawanse Amerasinghe, a brother of the former’s wife.
Based on the following, a former JVP leader thought that the relationship between the two was cold. After the JVP leaders were released from prison in 1977, they launched a house-to- house collection and collected Rs. 100,000/-. This was left by Amerasinghe at Cooray’s house. Later, according to this leader, Amerasinghe collected the money and informed the group that it was about Rs 10,000/ – short. They discussed it and Amerasinghe said he would get it back if necessary by stealing from Cooray’s house. The JVP decided to forget the matter, as they did not want to antagonise the UNP at that stage.
The JVP had been crushed by early 1990 and nearly all the leading members including Wijeweera, Gamanayake and Saman Ferando had been killed. Amerasinghe was the only figure who had evaded the security forces. A case of considerable interest came up before the High Court subsequently and was heard by F.N.D. Jayasuriya. A woman naval officer or wren (in British naval parlance) had forwarded an identity card application for a man who was purported to be her husband. Military Intelligence, which scrutinised such applications, became suspicious and checked back with the village headman in Madampe who had signed the application. They then went to the wren, who confessed that the man concerned was not her husband.
Military Intelligence found that the wren was working with one Captain Nissanka of the Navy to obtain an identity card for Somawanse Amerasinghe – an identity card is needed to apply for a passport. Nissanka has been absconding from that time. The two were indicted in court and Nissanka was sentenced in absentia. Following the change of government in 1994, the surviving JVPers including Amerasinghe were pardoned, and consequently the case against the wren was dropped. According to lawyers familiar with the details of the case, the two naval personnel had worked on getting an identity card for Amerasinghe to oblige persons very high up in the government of the day who solicited a favour. Finally, Amerasinghe is believed to have escaped to India by boat.
