March 23, 2014
By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan
Army Spokesperson, Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya, said the escape of K.P. Selvanayagam alias Gopi and Appan in Kilinochchi on 13 March, after shooting at a police officer, is a 'one-off' incident, however, it's a serious threat to the country's security, if he is here with the intention of reviving terrorism.
Gopi is speculated to be having connections with EU-based Nediyavan, who is believed to be the new head of the LTTE and a proponent of the idea that an armed struggle is the only way to achieve Eelam.
Speaking to Ceylon Today on the latest incidents that have disturbed the normalcy in Jaffna, particularly due to the mysterious presence of Gopi, who has allegedly made a call to the masses to revive the 'struggle' to achieve Eelam, the Brigadier said the hunt for Gopi and Appan can reveal a lot of information related to the LTTE's hidden weapons caches.
Following inquiries and investigations it has come to light that Gopi is speculated to be one of those LTTE cadres who had managed to escape during the last phase of the war in 2009. He had been at the Menik Farm with the rest of the displaced persons and had then left the county to work in the Middle East.
"We came to know about this mysterious man on midnight of 13 March, when several police officers had spotted some men in Kilinochchi pasting posters, calling for the revival of the armed conflict to establish the 'dream homeland'.
"Two of those men were taken into custody and they had revealed information about the other persons involved in the group and finally the information led to a man named Gopi. They also said Gopi is known to Nediyavan."
The officers attached to the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) and the police had then traced the house where Gopi was hiding.
"The officers had gone looking for him and when the house was being searched, Gopi had started shooting at the police officers while hiding under a bed and had escaped. The police officer had not expected the suspect to bear a weapon as there is no insurgency in the country or any disturbing incidences in the North."
Weapons detectors recovered
Afterwards, the officers had discovered that the owner of the house where Gopi had been hiding was Balendran Jeyakumari. A metal detector and a Menelab F-3 type mine detector were recovered at the premises. Subsequently, Jeyakumari was placed under arrest on suspicion of aiding and abetting Gopi in his activities.
"The villagers did not want to take the daughter under their care and so she was taken along with the mother and produced before the Kilinochchi Magistrate. Based on the Magistrate's order, Vibooshika, the daughter, has been placed under the care of Probation and Child Care Services."
After learning the background of Gopi, the Security Forces have tightened the security in the North, in order to trace his whereabouts. On such measure was setting up checkpoints in the North.
The army removed many of the roadblocks after the war, when the normalcy started settling in. However, random spot checks will be conducted till the arrest of Gopi.
According to the Army Spokesperson, there are several permanent barricades still in place and now they are compelled to have random spot checks to arrest Gopi and his associates.
"We have bled enough and cannot bleed again," Brigadier Wanigasooriya said, "Let the last bloodshed be the one that took place on 13 March, when a police officer was shot at.
"Some persons have pasted posters supporting Gopi's cause. Some have hidden weapons and a metal detector has been recovered. These incidents lead us to strongly suspect that Gopi has a map of where the ammunitions and weapons were hidden after the LTTE was defeated.
"This could lead a dangerous situation, as even Prabharakan started his movement with just 26 weapons.
"We must also understand that there may be both rehabilitated and non-rehabilitated ex-LTTE cadres who could be maintaining links with Nediyavan. We cannot take this matter lightly, given the horrible experiences we had to endure in the past.
"We are so far treating this incident as a 'one-off' incident. However, we don't want this incident to lead to a multiple number of cases."
Jeyakumari's arrest
The ICRC had reportedly visited Jeyakumari in the Boossa Detention Camp, whose sons had been LTTE fighters and had died in the war. It is also said that another son had disappeared mysteriously. Jeyakumari, who is an activist, had even met UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay and Jon Snow, to seek their help in finding her missing son.
The Brigadier said the ICRC is free and welcome to visit Jeyakumari and the other inmates in the Boosa Camp. Jeyakumari is detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and awaits charges from the Attorney General's Department.
"Jeyakumari's arrest is legitimate and cannot be treated otherwise because she knows where Gopi is and what he is up to, but is unwilling to reveal those details," the Brigadier said.
"The PTA, or some other law along that line, should be there to keep the country safe from terrorism.
"I don't know whether the PTA is good or bad, but looking at the situation, there should be some legal framework like the PTA to tackle or counter terrorism or some other upheaval in the country," he said.
The Army Spokesman also said, the authorities had to take activists, Ruki Fernando and Fr. Praveen, as they were spotted at Gopi's mother's house.
He also said the TID and the police officers were on their way to search for Gopi after his escape and had traced the house of Gopi. There, they had seen Ruki Fernando and Fr. Praveen. "True enough, you don't know who is there, but they were questioned. No one knew them to be activists and neither did the officials. My question is why were they there? There were so many crime scenes and events taking place in the North and they were not there, but why at this particular place?"
With regard to the West pointing fingers at the Security Forces in Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes, the Brigadier said, "It is regrettable. We won a ruthless war and now they want proof how we won the war. This is mere geopolitics and nothing related to human rights violations. "My only answer to filmmaker Callum Macrae of 'No Fire Zone' fame is that he is happily producing movies, but without proof. The burden of proof is on the man who is accusing us. Let the man who accuses us prove the legitimacy of the alleged war crimes and not the accused."
Highlights from TID investigation
The Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) has commenced a comprehensive investigation into an attempt to revive the LTTE, based on information received by State intelligence services.
Accordingly, the person who is leading the mission is Kajipan Ponniah Selvanayagam alias Gopi a.k.a. Kasiyan. Thirty-one-year-old Gopi is six feet tall and dark skinned. He has a scar on the left side of his upper lip.
Gopi was a close associate of LTTE Intelligence-Wing Leader, Pottu Amman. He came to Vavuniya with civilians at the end of the war and stayed at the Ananda Coomaraswamy Welfare Camp. He left the camp in 2010 for a job in Saudi Arabia and left for Europe from there. He returned to Sri Lanka in 2013 via the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake. State intelligence services say that he is working for the Tamil Diaspora to rebuild the LTTE by campaigning in Jaffna, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Kilinochchi. He regularly meets former LTTE members and the Tamil youth that have links with the Tamil Diaspora.
As the intelligence services have learnt, Gopi has recovered the LTTE's hidden weapons. After receiving information about him, the TID officers had raided a house in Dharmapuram in Kilinochchi to arrest Gopi. The terrorist fired at the police and fled, police said. One police officer sustained injuries on his leg.
The woman who owned the house was arrested. Her name is Jeyakumari. She was the person who handed over a letter to British Prime Minister, David Cameron, who toured in Jaffna, stating her son had been disappeared after the Army arrested him. This boy was abducted by the LTTE and listed as a member of its forces.
Jeyakumari's husband had died of cancer. She had been living with her 13-year-old daughter. When she was arrested, the daughter was taken into the custody of the police and the court handed her over to the care of the probationary officers.
Jeyakumari has been arrested on the charge of providing safety to a terrorist. The TID officers have detained her and are questioning her about Gopi.
Arresting Jeyakumari was a topic at the Geneva UNHRC session within hours after she was arrested. TID officers arrested Rev. Fr. Praveen of the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation together with human rights activist, Ruki Fernando, while they were in Kilinochchi to look into the arrests. As the issue got hotter in Geneva, the police eventually produced them in Court and released them.
