EXPOSED: Sinhalese Tamil Tigers: Ice Manju

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The Nation / Sunday July 08th, 2007
Ice Manju wanted!

Andrahennedige Chaminda Roshan alias Ice Manju is a Sinhalese, fair in complexion and standing at 5’ 7”. Thirty-year-old Ice Manju has been a wanted man since October 29, 2005. Ice Manju is believed to have shot dead, at point blank range, Staff Officer of the Military Intelligence Corps, Colonel Tuan Rizli Meedin at Kiribathgoda.



Thirty-year-old Ice Manju has been a wanted man since October 29, 2005. Ice Manju is believed to have shot dead, at point blank range, Staff Officer of the Military Intelligence Corps, Colonel Tuan Rizli Meedin at Kiribathgoda.

He was spotted the very next day at Kantale and later on, on the Seruwila Road. Since then, Ice Manju has disappeared into LTTE-controlled Sampur, where LTTE Trincomalee Military Wing Leader Soosaipillai Joseph Anthonydas alias “Col.” Sornam, was operating from.

“Col.” Sornam was a prize catch and Col. Meedin and many others in the intelligence business were keen on getting him. The LTTE, in turn, was trying to eliminate Meedin and many other intelligence officers. In short, the Colonel and the self-styled Colonel were trying to get at each other but were using the same contact –Ice Manju, a Sinhalese.

He was playing the role of a double agent. After Meedin was killed by Ice Manju, as if to take sweet revenge, Sornam’s brother was eliminated the following year. Ever since, Sornam’s troubles have multiplied.

Ice Manju was promoted by the LTTE to the rank of “Major” and has been provided with a luxury vehicle and two body guards in the Wanni from where he operates after Sampur changed hands from the Tigers to the army on September 4, 2006.

Last year, he was located at Kurunegala by spies working for the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Speculation was rife this week that it was Ice Manju who was arrested while seeking medical treatment at a hospital in Kandy. But, whether this was the most wanted Ice Manju is in doubt. The suspect has been handed over to the CID and possibly the Special Branch there. Sleuths would use the latest technology and a DNA test was likely to be done to establish the identity of the suspect in custody.

Sleuths are also alive to reports that plastic surgery had been performed on at least one other person to create a look alike.

The authorities suspect the latest arrest could be a case of mistaken identity and the chances are that the mother would be traced in Dambulla in a bid to establish whether the suspect in custody is actually her son.

Who is Ice Manju?

Andrahennedige Chaminda Roshan alias Ice Manju is a Sinhalese, fair in complexion and standing at 5’ 7”. He earned the name Ice Manju from his ancestral parents at Gandara who had an Ice plant or factory (mola) deep down South.

There were many Sinhalese including the Galappathys from Gandara and other places in the South who migrated to Trincomalee where a thriving fish business was underway. Ice Manju is one of them. After his father divorced his mother, the latter who got re-married had settled in Dambulla.

Selin Kumar, another Sinhalese who had a thriving fish business had made Ice Manju his Manager. Around 2002-2003, during the UNF peace process, Ice Manju was taken to custody on alleged trumped up charges and he is learnt to have been sent to Boosa.

But, police insist that Ice Manju was an underworld gangster who was involved in criminal work. The Ice Manju who was later released became a changed man and wanted to take revenge on the Sinhalese. He was fluent in Tamil and was an ideal candidate for the LTTE which tapped him. He proved to be an asset in the hands of the LTTE.

During times of peace, Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE chief has a carved out plan of action that runs parallel to the process of peace. Often, this plan of action is ignored by many hoping to achieve the higher goal of peace.

The LTTE wanted to eliminate Tamil paramilitaries as much as possible. The Cease-fire Agreement had a clause to have Tamil paramilitaries disarmed within 30 days making them sitting ducks as we have seen. The State was getting its act together regarding intelligence gathering and the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) had successfully undertaken missions previously. Hence the LTTE insisted on a clause in the CFA to stop all “activities by deep penetration units.”

But, Intelligence Officers and agents were singled out and eliminated very much during the peace process and in most cases the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission failed to rule on these killings, claiming that they did not fall within the SLMM ambit. In the case of Col. Meedin, the SLMM did rule the act a violation by the LTTE.

After, Mahinda Rajapaksa became the President with the help of the LTTE, which ensured a polls boycott of Tamils from uncleared areas, war was imminent and hence the LTTE went for the top officers of the army. The modus operandi was changed to prevent suspicion. Hence, Sinhalese civilians and military officers were tapped to do the job.

One such officer is Major Piyasiri Perera who was sentenced to death by court martial for passing on information about senior officers’ movements to the LTTE.

Meanwhile, Major Manamendra Dassanayake allegedly aided and abetted in the assassination of the Army’s No. 3, Major General Parami Kulatunga, promoted posthumously Lieutenant General. Dassanayake along with Ice Manju is learnt to have aided and abetted in eliminating Intelligence Officer Major Tuan Muthaliph who was posthumously promoted Lieutenant Colonel.

Ice Manju, a Sinhalese, with wide influence was tapped to liquidate Lt. Col. Meedin who was promoted posthumously a full Colonel.

In what appears to be a pre-meditated murder, Ice Manju silenced his victim, not after a heated argument following the consumption of alcohol, but in the course of friendly advice given by Meedin to his would-be assassin to flee the place.

Seated in the rear seat of Meedin’s car, driven by the army officer, Ice Manju said he was in serious debt and he hadn’t the money to flee to another country. Having said that, Manju pulled the trigger of his 7.62 Micro Pistol and shot his associate on Saturday night at 10:15 p.m. Meedin was taken to the National General Hospital in an unconscious state by his brother Brigadier Tuan Fardyle Meedin several hours after the shooting. He died there on Sunday morning at 1:30 a.m.

Ice Manju shot Meedin in the presence of a mutual friend Chamley who was in the front seat of his official car bearing number 19-5823. Ice Manju obviously got to know Meedin through Chamley who operated a fish business from St. John’s market. Chamley’s two brothers, Kapila and Ranga, were based in Trincomalee where they supported the business. All three brothers are now in custody.

Ice Manju who had visited Chamley’s house before he made his way to Meedin’s place had allegedly hid the micro pistol in a pedestal fan.

He was on contract by the LTTE’s Colonel Sornam to kill Meedin two months after an LTTE big shot and his three body guards were killed in Nilaweli, Trincomalee.

Meedin had been warned by his superiors to be mindful of those whom he associated with. But, the nature of his work- intelligence gathering- necessitated that he moved with people of all strata. On that fateful day, Meedin was expecting for dinner a former PLOTE cadre, his wife and three children who were leaving for an undisclosed overseas destination.

In the interim, Chamley came over with Ice Manju to meet Meedin at his residence in the Kiribathgoda Housing Scheme. After an hour’s discussion, the three left Meedin’s place in his car ostensibly to get a bite.

The conversation which centred on LTTE’s Trincomalee Wing Leader Col. Sornam was obviously quite interesting that every time Meedin’s wife called her husband, he had requested her to ask the guests to wait. Finally, Meedin had told them to have dinner and they had to leave as it was getting late.

It was only two hours after the killing that Chamley who knew Meedin’s wife, informed her of the killing using his own mobile. This prevented the injured officer from being rushed for medical treatment. It also gave the assassin enough time to escape the scene of the crime. The police have obtained the vehicle in which Ice Manju used to flee the scene of the crime.

He was spotted in Trincomalee and Kurunegala but has managed to escape arrest. There is grave doubt that the suspect arrested is actually Ice Manju, and it is a matter of time before the sleuths make a determination.

After all the investigations are completed, the Attorney General would have to take a decision based on evidence on whom to indict. Chamley was arrested two days after the incident in Kadawatha, and has been in custody since. Whether he can be used as a crown witness may also have to be considered.
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Exposed: The Southern cells of the LTTE terror network

(ORIGINAL POST PUBLISHED ON Friday, 16 February 2007. COURTESY DAILY NEWS )

Exposed: The Southern cells of the LTTE terror network

BLASTS: The entire country was puzzled when five bombs exploded almost simultaneously in Kiribathgoda, Wattala, Rajagiriya, Nugegoda and Dehiwala on January 24, 2006. No one was injured in the relatively minor blasts which took place at night.
The explosions that rocked the suburbs that day remained a mystery as Police could not make any breakthrough in their probe.
However, they came to the conclusion that a single organisation was behind all five explosions.
As time passed those low-scale explosions turned into a trivial matter not only for the people but also for the Security Forces and the Police as suicide bombs dominated the entire scene overshadowing all the other incidents in Colombo.
But there was a worrying factor for the Security Forces and the Police.

The second batch of the Revolutionary Liberation Organisation comprising, 1. Dinesh Buddhika Kalapalage alias Jagath, Talapalakanda, Deniyaya. 2. Gunaratna Adhikari Mudiyanselage Priyantha Goonaratna alias Parakrama, Udagammana, Divulapitiya. 3. Weerakoon Mudiyanselage Suranji Pradeep, Meetotamulla, Wellampitiya. 4. Mannadhi Pathirannehelage Sarath Janaka Manamendra, Divulapitiya. 5. Jayaratna Mudiyanselage Udaya Shamal Costa, Pahalabiyanwila, Kadawata. 6. Mohammed Lalith Seneviratna, Hokandara, during their visit to Elephant Pass.

The recovery of claymore mines one after the other in Colombo and suburban areas put them in an uneasy situation.
Those claymore mines posed a major threat to civilian life given the situation that arose after the Kebithigollewa bus bombing. But the people were fortunate enough as none of these claymore mines could do any harm. The Security Forces connected the LTTE to all these incidents since it was the only organisation which promotes violence to achieve their so-called objectives. Therefore, the Security Forces and the Police doubled their alertness towards disruptive elements in the country consequent to the two bus explosions in Nittambuwa and Hikkaduwa which killed several innocent civilians and injured many more. They detected more claymore mines, weaponry and ammunition and patiently monitored the situation.At last the Security Forces made a breakthrough that solved all those puzzles.


Acting on a tip-off received by the 112 Brigade and after a months long investigation and exercise of patience, the Army arrested Mohammed Lalith Seneviratna alias Mola Seneviratna, a former JVP activist who unsuccessfully contested the 1994 General election along with Ajith Kumara for the Gampaha district under JVP banner.

Along with Mola Seneviratna two more suspects Sudu Hewage Nihal Serasinghe alias Ragala Nihal, a resident of Rajagiriya who was married to a Tamil woman from Ragala and Mayadunne Arachchige Sisira Priyankara, a resident of Panadura and the treasurer of the leftist Trade Union of the Railway Department were also arrested.


The arrest of Seneviratna and Sisira Priyankara triggered controversy in trade union and media circles in Colombo due to their media and journalistic backgrounds. Many media organisations and trade unions jumped to the conclusion that an innocent journalist and a trade union activist have been arrested or rather abducted by unidentified men.
However, Seneviratna and Priyankara proved their guilt in their confessions to the Army, completely silencing the people and the organisations that hastened to blame the Government and the Security Forces without examining the background of these people.
Seneviratna revealed how he formed the Revolutionary Liberation Organisation when he lost faith in the path adopted by the JVP after entering Parliamentary democratic politics.

The prime aim of their organisation, in their words, was to “prevent the country from falling into the hands of imperialists” and they firmly believed in an armed struggle to protect the country.

Though some years passed after the formation of the organisation they failed to form a constitution. However, the organisation had several co-secretaries for administrative, political, military and intelligence.

It increased membership through their family links, trade union links and media links. According to latest revelations they have used street dramas and drama training centres to recruit new members. The most shocking part of his revelation was the path they selected to approach their goal. Mola Seneviratne explained how he developed contacts with the LTTE through a person called Ravi and how they received training in weapons and use of explosives from LTTE Intelligence Wing deputy leader Kapila Amman.They revealed how three batches of their organisation comprising 12 people underwent training in weapons and use of explosives with the LTTE in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.The photographs show the second batch of the Revolutionary Liberation Organisation undergo weapons training in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu with LTTE members.

This threesome admitted that their organisation was responsible for the following crimes:
*Placing of claymore mine near STF camp, Ganemulla
*Placing of claymore mine at 9th Mile Post, Mahara
*Placing a claymore mine and a time bomb aiming an Army vehicle in Koggala
*Exploding time bombs at Kiribathgoda, Wattala, near Castle hospital, Nugegoda and Dehiwala
*Placing of time bomb at Radawana
*Exploding a time bomb at the IOC Filling station at Piliyandala
*Throwing a hand grenade at IOC filling station at Mount Lavinia
*Throwing a hand grenade at IOC filling station at Kadawatha

In addition Seneviratna has also admitted that he worked as a freelance journalist for Minister Mangala Samaraweera from 1996 to 1998. They have received claymore mines, weapons and explosives from Tiger cadres and have distributed those weapons, claymore mines and ammunition among their members.They fell into the hands of the LTTE and became a cat’s paw of the LTTE in the South. They helped the LTTE to accomplish what they could not otherwise have achieved in the South.

The most alarming factor is that the LTTE had used this organisation to collect intelligence on vital economic and military centres in the South. Apart from the supply of weapons and ammunition the LTTE has also sent funds worth Rs.1 million and in turn the organisation invested money at various business establishments.
One such business establishment was found in Kadawatha area and steps have already been taken to freeze these assets by obtaining a Court order.After these three key suspects were handed over to the Terrorist Investigation Division, the Criminal Investigations Department made another eight arrests after February 8. The TID arrested two men from a hideout in Nivitigala, two from Habaraduwa, two from Kadawatha and one from Kotadeniyawa. The TID arrested Priyantha Nugawela, an employee attached to the Railway Department and his brother-in-law, a conductor who assisted Priyantha to conceal ammunition buried in their compound.

Sanjaya Sugathchandra of Kuleegedara, Kotadeniyawa a friend of Suranjith Pradeep of Wellampitiya and Priyantha Gunaratna of Divulapitiya both of whom have been trained in weapons and use of explosives were arrested at a hideout in Nivitigala Police area on February 13.The TID on February 9 also arrested the Grama Niladari of Balawela, Badalagama Sarath Janaka Manamendra who had undergone weapons training under the LTTE in Kilinochchi.

In addition, Hewadadallagodage Keerthi alias Podi Malli of Habaraduwa was also arrested by the TID on February 12 and based on his interrogation Ravindra Lasantha Kumara of Habaraduwa too was arrested. Police recovered one pistol with 13 live bullets.The TID also recovered weapons cleaning material and a 21-metre long detonator cord from Sisira Priyankara’s house in Panadura. Sisira Priyankara who was the President of Left oriented trade union of the Railway Department has played an active role in the recent strikes in Railway Department. Police recovered one micro pistol with six rounds of live ammunition from his locker at the Railway Department in a search carried out subsequent to his arrest.A further recovery was made on February 12 from the principal suspect Lalith Seneviratna which included a USB drive, a computer and a hard disk.

The USB drive contained the photos of the principal suspect and his group members taken during LTTE military training and during their visit to Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass.
The CID and the TID has deployed more teams in search of the members who had gone missing.
Though initially it was believed that this organisation comprised only Sinhalese, more roots have been found in the estate sector too with the involvement of estate Tamils. The organisation was in the process of increasing its membership in many parts of the country by training new recruits after deploying those who had already undergone weapons and explosive training with the LTTE.

Therefore, it is believed that the organisation could have been used as the cat’s paw of the LTTE to carry on their activities in the South using trained Sinhalese as their agents, hoodwinking the Security Forces and the Police.

Further interrogation of these suspects has revealed that they have been engaged in planning a big calamity in the South in the coming days specially on the day CFA is due to complete five years (February 22). But it is not yet confirmed what type of disaster they had planned in the South.
Therefore, the credit should go to the Security Forces and the Police for exposing such a terror group even though unfounded and baseless allegations are levelled against them without a proper knowledge of what is going on.

Certain foreign INGOs and organisations are in the habit of the blaming the Security Forces for violating the human rights and making Security Forces and the Police responsible for so-called abductions.
And even some politicians knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly have become a part of the LTTE stage-managed campaign against the Security Forces, jumping to the conclusion that the Security Forces have violated human rights.

Setting aside their slogans at demonstrations and protests, it should be questioned whether they have made a proper and impartial analysis of the whole situation.
In the final analysis even the Southern media also have become a part of the LTTE propaganda machine to discredit the Government, Security Forces and the Police as the LTTE in a very subtle way has used them to achieve their aims.

The most prominent feature in this campaign is that these media organisations too are playing a vital role in promoting the cause of the LTTE by sympathising with the people who have been “abducted in white vans” as they say, without making any effort to find out their background.

The most amusing factor is that all these so-called abductions have been perpetrated by people arriving in white vans. According to Government Defence Affairs Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, the idea is to give the impression that Government and the Security Forces are behind these so-called abductions.
What should be uppermost in the public mind at this moment is to see whether there was any complaint from a single political party or organisation to suppress them as had happened during the terror period in the late 1980’s. So far no political party or organisation had made any complaint against the Government. The only worrying factor they were having is the so-called abductions.

When going deeper into these allegations, it is obvious that the LTTE was indirectly behind these agitations though several organisations are in the front line.The prime aim of the LTTE is to prevent the Security Forces and the Police from arresting suspected LTTE cadres who had arrived in the South from various parts of the Wanni with ulterior motives. The LTTE made use of Southern politicians and also the Sinhala civilian organisations so effectively to cover up their attempt to launch a surprise attack on the Colombo Port.
These politicians and civil organisations coupled with certain media organisations are still making an effort to blame the Navy saying they have fired upon innocent fishermen.

In fact, they are still playing to the tune of the LTTE managed campaign, to cover up their plan which they launched using the fishermen to guide the LTTE boats to the Colombo Port. However, the Navy still stands firm that the arrests made by them were correct given the number of weapons recoveries they made after the detection of the boat. It is high time for the public to think twice before jumping to hasty conclusions about the steps taken by the Security Forces and the Police and keep faith in them since they have so far taken the correct measures to strengthen the security of civilians. And they should be grateful to the Security Forces and the Police for taking effective measures for creating a more secure environment for a peaceful life.

RAFEEF ZIADAH: We Teach Life, Sir! Poem with text-transcript

Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Poem "We Teach Life, Sir!" by RAFEEF ZIADAH (with text-transcript)
RAFEEF ZIADAH is a Canadian-Palestinian spoken word artist and activist. Her debut CD Hadeel is dedicated to Palestinian youth, who still fly kites in the face of F16 bombers, who still remember the names if their villages in Palestine and still hear the sound of Hadeel (cooing of doves) over Gaza. link to video


THE TEXT-TRANSCRIPT OF THE POEM
Today, my body was a TV'd massacre.
Today, my body was a TV'd massacre that had to fit into sound-bites and word limits.
Today, my body was a TV'd massacre that had to fit into sound-bites and word limits filled enough with statistics to counter measured response.
And I perfected my English and I learned my UN resolutions.
But still, he asked me, Ms. Ziadah, don't you think that everything would be resolved if you would just stop teaching so much hatred to your children?
Pause.
I look inside of me for strength to be patient but patience is not at the tip of my tongue as the bombs drop over Gaza.
Patience has just escaped me.
Pause. Smile.
We teach life, sir!
Rafeef, remember to smile.
Pause.
We teach life, sir!
We Palestinians teach life after they have occupied the last sky.
We teach life after they have built their settlements and apartheid walls, after the last skies.
We teach life, sir!
But today, my body was a TV'd massacre made to fit into sound-bites and word limits.
And just give us a story, a human story.
You see, this is not political.
We just want to tell people about you and your people so give us a human story.
Don't mention that word "apartheid" and "occupation".
This is not political.
You have to help me as a journalist to help you tell your story which is not a political story.
Today, my body was a TV'd massacre.
How about you give us a story of a woman in Gaza who needs medication?
How about you?
Do you have enough bone-broken limbs to cover the sun?
Hand me over your dead and give me the list of their names in one thousand two hundred word limits.
Today, my body was a TV'd massacre that had to fit into sound-bites and word limits and move those that are desensitized to terrorist blood.
But they felt sorry.
They felt sorry for the cattle over Gaza.
So, I give them UN resolutions and statistics and we condemn and we deplore and we reject.
And these are not two equal sides: occupier and occupied.
And a hundred dead, two hundred dead, and a thousand dead.
And between that, war crime and massacre, I went out words and smile "not exotic"; smile, "not terrorist".
And I recount, I recount a hundred dead, two hundred dead, a thousand dead.
Is anyone out there?
Will anyone listen?
I wish I could veil over their bodies.
I wish I could just run barefoot in every refugee camp and hold every child, cover their ears so they wouldn't have to hear the sound of bombing for the rest of their life the way I do.
Today, my body was a TV'd massacre
And let me just tell you, there's nothing your UN resolutions have ever done about this.
And no sound-bite, no sound-bite I come up with, no matter how good my English gets, no sound-bite, no sound-bite, no sound-bite, no sound-bite will bring them back to life.
No sound-bite will fix this.
We teach life, sir!
We teach life, sir!
We Palestinians wake up every morning to teach the rest of the world life, sir!