Eminent lawyer, anti-terror activist and author S. L. Gunasekara at the launch of his book Abomination’ at the BMICH on Monday called upon the government to compensate the family of the key military intelligence operative, Kandiah Yogaraja, also known as PLOTE Mohan, who was gunned down by the LTTE recently in Colombo.
He paid a glowing tribute to Mohan calling him an unsung hero.
Mr. Gunasekara said Mohan’s widow and a brother had told him that they had been ‘abandoned’ by the government.
Mohan had been instrumental in a large number of daring commando operations launched by the deep penetration units of the Sri Lanka army against key LTTE figures.
Intelligence furnished by Mohan and his men had helped the army hold the LTTE at bay in the North and the East.
Mr. Gunasekara said Mohan had laid down his life for the sake of the country and the wellbeing of democracy.
He accused the government of washing its hands off the responsibility for looking after Mohan’s family and others of his calibre.
He said the family of SLMC Leader M. H. M. Ashraff, who died in a helicopter crash while on a private visit, had been paid five million rupees and demanded to know why the families a person like Mohan and other intelligence operatives could not be compensated in the same manner.
Mr. Gunasekera complimented the Leader of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and Minister Douglas Devananda for his courage to stand up to the LTTE though he did not agree with Devananda on his policies.
He praised JVP MP Jayantha Weerasekera, who, he said, had displayed his courage and conviction by hoisting the national flat and playing the national anthem at the recent opening of a court complex at Trincomalee, in defiance of LTTE orders.
Mr. Gunasekara said he was proud of TULF Leader V. Anandasangaree, who had demonstrated tremendous courage and fortitude in his defiance of the LTTE and its allies.
He said Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam, Mr. and Mrs. Yogeswaran, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Tham-bimuttu and many others who refused to give in to LTTE terror in the name of democracy had been assassinated by the terrorists. He said he was full of admiration for them.
Mr. Gunasekara lashed out at the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) calling its members ‘loathsome creatures and total lackeys of the LTTE’ and lambasted the two major political parties the UNP and the SLFP for not having the ‘backbone and the courage’ to condemn the LTTE violence and not realising the impending danger of the ISGA.
