De Kretzer & Sansoni On The IATR Conference Incident
By Rajan Hoole –May 27, 2016
Dr. Rajan Hoole
It was the main part of Sansoni’s brief to identify the causes of the August 1977 violence and those responsible. This he avoided. In a one page chapter (Chapter IV), he merely observes that he had made his comments in the course of relating incidents. However he provides much valuable information in the course of recording events in Jaffna, while steering away from the obvious conclusions with evident discomfort. We shall go through the facts presented by him (Chapter III, pp. 83-120 of this report) and examine his conclusions.
13th August 1977 (Saturday):
Four police constables, including PC Basnayake, went to the carnival at St. Patrick’s College on the previous night, the night of the 12th. They assaulted and threatened Mr. Kulanayagam who asked for the entrance fee. (We have been told that inside they misbehaved, helping themselves free at food stalls run by women.) Dr. J.P. Philips, one of the carnival organisers, complained to Mr. Gunasekera, HQI Jaffna, on the 13th morning. However, policemen again went to the carnival on the 13th night, and about midnight, there was a clash between the policemen and some visitors. According to Sansoni, two policemen were hospitalised with injuries.
Sansoni rejected the claims of HQI Gunasekera and PC Basnayake that the policemen had gone to the carnival on the 12th night to arrest two men wanted for robbery. He pointed out that no entry had been made in the information book.
Former Chief Justice Milliani Claude Sansoni
14th August 1977:
Mr. Amirthalingam, MP, KKS, and Mr. Yogeswaran, MP, Jaffna, told the Commission that members of the public had complained to them that on this day the Police had been assaulting people on the streets in Jaffna. Sansoni rejected this on the grounds that no witnesses had been produced. Amirthalingam had said in Parliament (18 Aug.1977) that several lorries were stopped by the Police in the morning and the occupants, including the drivers, were assaulted.
On the evening of the same day PC Bandara was shot and injured in the thigh by unknown persons, in the Kopay area. According to Amirthalingam, a police patrol had challenged 3 men, all of whom left their bicycles and ran away after one of them fired at the Police.
