De-politicise the Army and Police - (D. Jayawickrarna) Commissioner

The Presidential Commission to inquire into and report on the raid on an Army Safe House at Millennium City, Athurugiriya had said that ASP Kulasiri Udugampola had sinister motives to raid the place. Mr. D. Jayawickrama (Commissioner) retired Judge of the Court of Appeal was the Commissioner while S. M. .J Senaratne was the Secretary to the Commission
CHAPTER V ConclusionThe saga of the Army's Athurugiriya Safe House began not with the raid itself, but nearly two months prior to that. On 10 th November 2001, the United National party by its letter signed by its Chairman, Charitha Rat watte and Vice-Chairman, Daya Pelpola, complained to the Army Commander, Lt. Gen. .Balagalle, about the use of thermobaric explosives brought from the operational areas in the North to the Panaluwa Army Testing Range and that certain persons alleged to be attached to a Northern Tamil political party were being trained in its use by the Directorate of the Military Intelligence in an attempt se them on the meetings held by the United National Party leadership and the leader's campaign bus. The United National Party Chairman warned the Army Commander that they will hold him responsible in the event of any such unfortunate incident. Charitha Ratwatte in his evidence stated that the information in respect of the contents of the above letter was divulged by late Gamini Athukorale, Deputy leader of the United National Party. Unfortunately as dead men cannot speak the commission had no way of verifying the truth of this statement.
Army Commander in reply to the above letter of the Chairman of the United National Party on the same day assured that there is no substance in the information set out in the above letter. Charitha Ratwatte stated that he satisfied with the reply of the Army Commander. was December General Election, and also just a few days before the raid :through Major M.B. de S. Jayatillake , RSP MIC -GSO I DMI, and Corp. M.P. Anura Pieris, MP A MIC. The evidence of these officers themselves proves this fact. Knowing Capt. Nilam very well there was no necessity for Col. D.P. Dissanayake to find out the address and the whereabouts of Nilam through his junior officers. If he wanted he could have directly contacted Capt. Nilam and got whatever information he wanted. Col. Dissanayake's explanation was that he wanted to contact Capt. Nilam to get his assistance in respect of the house Col. Dissanayake was building at Malabe. The evidence before this Commission further discloses the fact that Lt. Col. Padmasiri Udugampola, SLCMP , brother of ASP Kulasiri Udugampola, Major General Ivan Dassanayake and Colonel K. H. N. S. S. Dharmaratna, Major A.C. A. de Soysa, SLCMP , Major A.S.P . Podiralahamy, SLCMP, Major K.U. Jayanetti, SLCMP, Major B.M.A.N.S.K. Karunaratne, MIC, Corp, J.H.A.P. de Silva, JHAT- MIC, Corp. M.P.A. Pieris, JHAT-MIC, were all aware of the impending raid and have directly and indirectly assisted ASP Kulasiri Udugampola in raiding this Safe House. If these officers had any doubts about the Safe House they should have brought it to the notice of the Army Commander and moved the Military Police to investigate. But these officers, without doing so, have conspired with Kulasiri Udugampola to raid this Safe House for their own personal 155 satisfied with the reply of the Anny Commander. If it was so, the matter should have ended then and there, but it did not. After the Election results of 5th December 2001, the United National Front came into power and within a month the Athurugiriya Safe House was raided by ASP Kulasiri Udugampola from the Kandy Kennels Division under the guise of looking for suspects in the Udathalawinna murder case causing the greatest damage to LRRP operations of the Anny which were extremely successful in countering and arresting terrorism. ASP Udugampola in his evidence admitted that one of the reasons. for the raid on the Athurugiriya Safe House was a complaint made by Charitha Ratwatte, the then Chairman of the United National Party, to the Anny Commander which appeared in the media. It is very unfortunate that the new Government could not prevent or control the actions of ASP Udugampola, although the then Chairman of the United National Party was satisfied with the assurance given by the Anny Commander before the Election. ASP Kulasiri Udugampola proceeded with his illegal raid and investigations disregarding the orders of his own Inspector General of Police and senior Police Officers and even the advice of the Hon. Attorney General. This failed attempt was reminiscent of the arrest of Major General Richard Udugama the then Anny Commander just after the 1965 General Election on a charge of conspiring to overthrow the then government. It seems that some disgruntled officers in the Directorate of Military Intelligence backed by some high ranking officers who were behind the United National Front 156 election campaign have instigated this raid. In Sri Lanka during a general election, which ultimately leads to a change of government, the involvement of retired Army, Police and other Service officers in campaigning for rival parties is , . now common place. These persons after the elections mount pressure on the newly elected leadership of the winning party to settle scores with their former colleagues or superiors over past rivalries while they were in service. This was all too common as stated in his evidence by veteran journalist, Iqbal Athas. The United Front Government's continued silence, in the wake of the obvious embarrassment, made matters worse in the case of the Athurugiriya Safe House fiaSco. Even the belated action of the Minister of Defence in refusing to issue Detention Orders on the arrested Army personnel could not rectify the damage already caused to the Army's successful covert operations. As reported in "The Sunday Times" of 27th January 2002, the Hon. Minister of Defence himself has observed that the Police raid on the Army's Safe House at Athurugiriya was ill conceived and harsh treatment meted out to the officers and men was very bad. In view of the facts stated above, it is time that the Government takes stock and realizes that in order to establish an Intelligence Service that will serve as the corner stone towards integrity and stability for the security of this nation political interference should be prevented. In fact the Minister of Interior, John Amaratunga himself accepted the fact that it is improper and unethical for a Minister to interfere in police investigations.
But Amaratunga himself has :0. 157 , . violated this principle and sent his own Private Secretary to assist ASP Udugarnpola in respect of the raid on the Safe House and to give wide publicity to , this raid. If the existing situation in the Security Forces and the Police are allowed to deteriorate, particularly due to no action of any sort being taken by the Government, the country's security establishment will be in grave danger. Due to this situation it would create more chaos in an already confused situation where there is very little cohesive command and control from the apex. It is the duty of the Government to prevent ill conceived Police actions as it happened in the raid on the Safe House at Athurugiriya. The Government should take remedial action and punish those responsible for the great betrayal to inspire confidence in the Army and the public at large; It is an urgent necessity to de-politicize the Army and the Police and place them in the hands of capable young men which would infuse professionalism and prepare the men for battle whenever the government wants one. To neglect this aspect would be suicidal to the security and safety of this nation.