කුමාර් පොන්නම්බලම් ඝාතනය
An investigative dossier on the January 2000 killing of Kumar Ponnambalam. It sets out a timeline linking the killing to the President’s televised attack on critics, and reports Mrs Ponnambalam’s accusation against the government and CID chief Bandula Wickremasinghe’s secret report naming Mahen Ratwatte as instigator. It reproduces the President’s two condolence letters (one wrongly dated), suspect Sugath Ranasinghe’s affidavit clearing Mahen Ratwatte, a lawyer’s letter for Ratwatte, and a transcript of Ranasinghe’s taped phone confession.
ජනාධිපති ලේකම්ට පිළිතුරක්
An open letter to Kusumsiri Balapatabendi answering his statement that private media were running a campaign linking the President and her security division to murders. Ivan lists attacks on Lasantha Wickrematunge and himself, the President’s own claim to have stopped a plot to kill two editors, S.B. Dissanayake’s account of her plan to bomb Ravaya and the Sunday Leader, and evidence linking presidential security men to the killings of Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam and the assault on Rookantha and Chandraleka, and offers to join an impartial inquiry.
ඡන්දයේ වටිනාකම එක සමානද?
A set of short items. Ivan objects that the President, Prime Minister and Anura Bandaranaike voted at their residences while ordinary voters faced threats. He faults the failure to prosecute election offences, the Bribery Commission’s refusal to act on misuse of state resources and its neglect of asset declarations, and the CID’s cover-up of the Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam murders. He ends with a satirical note on the President’s visit to supporters in Bogambara prison.
බියගැන්වීමේ දේශපාලනය
A severed head and hand from a corpse were delivered to the homes of UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake’s wife and mother, an evident warning to an active opposition politician. The piece notes that the police have not traced the body, likely taken from a morgue, recalls how political interference stalled the Rohana Kumara, Kumar Ponnambalam and Nimalarajan murder inquiries, and says intimidation is as brutal as killing and incompatible with democracy.
රෝහණ කුමාර ඝාතනය ෂෝ වික්රමසිංහ
Ivan describes a meeting he, Lasantha Wickrematunge, Varuna Karunatilake and Ravaya’s Chapa Bandara had with CID director Bandula ‘Shaw’ Wickramasinghe over the Rohana Kumara murder. The talk ended when they showed that suspect Thara Ajith was arrested at the home of Presidential Security Division man Beddagane Sanjeewa. Ivan argues the confessions of Thara Ajith and Moratuwa Saman are designed to shield the government before the election.
අවසානයක් නොදුටු ඝාතන සංස්කෘතිය
Ivan details the political crime network behind the killings of Satana editor Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam: gunman ‘Moratuwa Saman’, associates sheltered by a cabinet minister’s residence and an Urban Development Authority flat, and links to Beddagane Sanjeewa of the Presidential Security Division. He describes police interference, the reversal by investigator Shaw Wickramasinghe, a failed first attempt on Rohana Kumara, and the car and pistol used, concluding that small-scale state-backed killing continues.
පොන්නම්බලම් ඝාතනයේ ඇත්ත යටපත් වීමට ඉඩ නොතැබිය යුතුය
The editorial recalls that Ravaya named the criminal ‘Moratuwa Saman’, arrested on 6 April, as Kumar Ponnambalam’s killer and linked a reserve police constable holding the victim’s phone. Senior police officer Bandula Wickramasinghe first blamed the LTTE and now says the constable ordered the killing, apparently to close the case. It demands that police identify the political hand behind the murder and the Rohana Kumara killing.
A new age of terror
The government called the harassment of the singers Rukantha Gunatilaka and Chandralekha Perera a robbery, and the levelling of Anoja Weerasinghe’s house at Moneragala a personal grudge. Set those explanations beside each other, Ivan argues, and a pattern appears that the country has seen before.
යළි මරණ බිය රජ කරන යුගයක්
Ivan rejects the government’s explanation of the attacks on Rookantha Gunathilake, Chandralekha Perera and Anoja Weerasinghe as robbery or private feud, comparing the haircutting to the abduction of Lakbima’s Sri Lal Priyantha and recalling unsolved attacks on photographers, Sarath Kongahage and Lasantha Wickrematunge and the murders of Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam. He quotes Chandrika Kumaratunga’s 1994 advertisement pledging to end state terror and says she now travels the opposite road.
Who killed Kumar Ponnambalam?
Kumar Ponnambalam was the most courageous of Sri Lanka’s political commentators. He lived in Colombo among Sinhala people, most of his associates were Sinhala, and knowing exactly what it cost to defend the LTTE from Colombo he went on saying what he thought, fearlessly and well.