1987 grenade attack in the Sri Lankan Parliament
Encyclopedia
The 1987 grenade attack in the Sri Lankan Parliament took place on August 18, 1987, when an assailant hurled 2 grenades
into a room where government Members of Parliament were meeting. The grenades bounced off the table at which Sri Lanka
n President J. R. Jayawardene and Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa
were sitting, and rolled away. A Member of Parliament
and a Ministry secretary were killed by the explosions.
A subsequent Police investigation concluded that the grenades were thrown by a member of the banned Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
(JVP) organization, which was staging a rebellion
in the country at the time. 5 members of the JVP were eventually put on trial for the attack, but were acquitted, due to lack of evidence. It is believed the attack targeted President Jayawardene for his signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
a few weeks earlier.
began a war of insurgency
with the objective of establishing an independent Tamil nation
in the north and east of Sri Lanka. 6,000 people had died as a result of the conflict by 1987. In May 1987, the Sri Lanka Army launched a major offensive
to defeat the Tamil rebels; the operation was a success, and the rebels were cornered in a small part of the Jaffna Peninsula
. Sri Lankan military commanders believed that they would be able to totally defeat the militants within a few weeks
However, the Indian government became increasingly involved in the conflict, because southern India was the home of 50 million Tamils
, who sympathized with the Tamil militants in Sri Lanka. As the Sri Lankan army was closing in on the rebels, India Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
ordered an airdrop of materials
to the besieged rebels, which Sri Lankan president J. R. Jayawardene termed a “naked act of aggression” by India.
Faced with the prospect of Indian military involvement to support the militants, Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayawardene was pressured into signing the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
on July 29, 1987. It called for Tamil rebels to lay down their arms, in exchange for limited autonomy in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Jayawardene also agreed to have India send troops to Sri Lanka to enforce the accord.
The accord proved highly unpopular amongst Sinhalese
groups in the south of the country, who saw it as a sellout to India, and the Indian troops
as an invasion force. When Rajiv Gandhi was leaving Sri Lanka following the signing of the accord, a member of the honor guard stuck him in the head with a rifle butt. Gandhi was not hurt in the incident. The guard was later found to be a member of the outlawed Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
, a left-wing Sinhalese nationalist organization that was attempting to stage a rebellion in the south of the country.
after the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was due to be held on August 18, 1987. Before the convening of Parliament, the bi-weekly Government Parliamentary Group meeting was held in Committee Room A of the Parliament Complex. Approximately 120 legislators were at the meeting, which started at 8.40am. The group initially observed two minutes of silence in memory of Jinadasa Weerasinghe, the Member of Parliament
for Tangalle
, who had been assassinate a few days earlier by the JVP. As MP A. D. B. Ekanayake was speaking to the group, an assailant in the adjoining room hurled 2 grenades at the head table where the President J. R. Jayawardene and Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa
were sitting. The grenades bounced off the table, and rolled close to the table where National Security Advisor Lalith Athulathmudali
and Matara District Minister Keerthi Abeywickrama were seated, and exploded in front of them.
According to a government press officer who was at the meeting, pandemonium reigned following the explosions. He said some legislators thought Parliament was under attack. Using wooden chairs, they broke the thin plate glass overlooking the Parliament lawn to escape the room, and were immediately bundled into cars and driven away.
Member of Parliament for the Matara District
Keerthi Abeywickrama, whose face was blown off due to the explosion, was carried outside and rushed to hospital, but died on the way there. Norbert Senadeera, an official with the Parliament staff, died later due to a shrapnel
wound on the head. Sixteen others were injured in to attack, including National Security Advisor Lalith Athulathmudali
, Prime Minister Premadasa and Ministers Gamini Jayasuriya
, Montague Jayawickrema and E. L. B. Hurulle. President J. R. Jayewardene escaped injury.
Although initial reports indicated that gunfire had preceded the attack, no shots were fired during the incident.
A day after the attack, the BBC
reported that the Patriotic People’s Movement, which would later be identified as the military wing of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
, claimed responsibility. They also distributed leaflets in Colombo
, calling on "patriotic people in the armed forces" to resist "Indian expansionism", and calling President Jayewardene "a traitor whose death would be welcome". They also told the BBC they were seeking revenge for Jayewardene's "betrayal of Sinhalese interests in granting greater political autonomy to ethnic Tamil areas".
There was however no related violence after the attack.
Subsequent investigations suggested that Ajith Kumara, an activist of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna who was working for a private catering service inside parliament, had thrown the grenades into the committee room. He was friendly with most of those working in the complex and had access to the room from where the bombs were flung. Kumara disappeared immediately after the incident. A Rs one million ($35,000) bounty was placed on his head, but he evaded arrest for several months.
He was eventually arrested on April 8, 1998, when he tried to flee from police who were conducting an unrelated search for illegal liquor in Naulla. The Police did not realize who he was until they conducted further investigations.
After his arrest, Ajith Kumara, along with four others, were charged with carrying out the grenade attack. They were indicted on ten counts, including conspiracy
to commit the murder of President J. R. Jayawardene; and attempting to commit the murder of Lalith Athulathmudali. In court, State Counsel Palitha Fernando claimed Kumara was a member of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
(JVP), which was a banned organization at the time, and that the JVP ordered the attack as a result of President Jayawardene’s decision to deploy the Indian Army
in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Kumara held in the maximum security Welikada Prison
throughout his trial.
On October 12, 1990, the Colombo High Court at Bar delivered a unanimous verdict acquitting Kumara, the first accused, and M. Jayasiri Goonewardene, the fifth accused, due to lack of evidence. Delivering the verdict, High court judge Ananda Grero said the prosecution had not proved the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The three other suspects had previously been acquitted on October 4. However immediately following their discharge from prison, Kumara and Goonewardene were re-arrested, as the Attorney General
appealed the decision.
During the trails, the defendants were represented by future Minister Susil Premjayanth and diplomat Mangala Moonesinghe
.
Ajith Kumara was ultimately released on August 6, 1993. He entered politics afterwards, becoming an active member of the JVP, which had since been decriminalized. He later became a JVP politbureau member, Pradeshiya Sabha member and unsuccessful Chief Minister
ial candidate of the JVP for the 1999 Sabaragamuva Provincial Council
elections.
Hand grenade
A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...
into a room where government Members of Parliament were meeting. The grenades bounced off the table at which Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n President J. R. Jayawardene and Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa
Ranasinghe Premadasa
Ranasinghe Premadasa was the 3rd President of Sri Lanka from January 2, 1989 to May 1, 1993. Before that, he served as the Prime Minister in the government headed by J. R. Jayewardene from February 6, 1978 to January 1, 1989...
were sitting, and rolled away. A Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
and a Ministry secretary were killed by the explosions.
A subsequent Police investigation concluded that the grenades were thrown by a member of the banned Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
The Janathā Vimukthi Peramuṇa is a Marxist-Leninist, Communist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was involved in two armed uprisings against the ruling governments in 1971 and 1987-89...
(JVP) organization, which was staging a rebellion
Insurrection 1987-89
The 1987-89 insurrection in Sri Lanka, in which around 50,000 lives were lost, was carried out by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, a Marxist Sinhalese political party in Sri Lanka.-Leadup to conflict in the 1980s:...
in the country at the time. 5 members of the JVP were eventually put on trial for the attack, but were acquitted, due to lack of evidence. It is believed the attack targeted President Jayawardene for his signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on July 29, 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the ongoing Sri Lankan civil war...
a few weeks earlier.
Background
Beginning in 1983, Tamil militantsSri Lankan Tamil militant groups
Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception amongst minority Sri Lankan Tamils that the state was preferring the majority Sinhalese...
began a war of insurgency
Sri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
with the objective of establishing an independent Tamil nation
Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam , is the name given by certain Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora to the independent state which they aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Tamil Eelam has no official status or recognition by any other state or authority...
in the north and east of Sri Lanka. 6,000 people had died as a result of the conflict by 1987. In May 1987, the Sri Lanka Army launched a major offensive
Vadamarachchi Operation
The Operation Liberation or Vadamarachchi Operation, the military offensive carried out by the Sri Lankan military during May to June 1987, to re-gain the territory of Vadamarachchi in Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE control...
to defeat the Tamil rebels; the operation was a success, and the rebels were cornered in a small part of the Jaffna Peninsula
Jaffna Peninsula
The Jaffna Peninsula is an area in Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It is home to the capital city of the province, Jaffna and comprises much of the former land mass of the ancient Tamil kingdoms of the Nagas and the medieval Jaffna kingdom. The peninsula is mostly surrounded by water, connected to...
. Sri Lankan military commanders believed that they would be able to totally defeat the militants within a few weeks
However, the Indian government became increasingly involved in the conflict, because southern India was the home of 50 million Tamils
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
, who sympathized with the Tamil militants in Sri Lanka. As the Sri Lankan army was closing in on the rebels, India Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India . He took office after his mother's assassination on 31 October 1984; he himself was assassinated on 21 May 1991. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India when he took office at the age of 40.Rajiv Gandhi was the elder son of Indira...
ordered an airdrop of materials
Operation Poomalai
Operation Poomalai or Eagle Mission 4 was the codename assigned to a mission undertaken by the Indian Air Force to airdrop supplies over the besieged town of Jaffna in Sri Lanka on 4 June 1987 in support of Tamil Tigers during the Sri Lankan Civil War....
to the besieged rebels, which Sri Lankan president J. R. Jayawardene termed a “naked act of aggression” by India.
Faced with the prospect of Indian military involvement to support the militants, Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayawardene was pressured into signing the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
Indo-Sri Lanka Accord
The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on July 29, 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the ongoing Sri Lankan civil war...
on July 29, 1987. It called for Tamil rebels to lay down their arms, in exchange for limited autonomy in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Jayawardene also agreed to have India send troops to Sri Lanka to enforce the accord.
The accord proved highly unpopular amongst Sinhalese
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
groups in the south of the country, who saw it as a sellout to India, and the Indian troops
Indian Peace Keeping Force
Indian Peace Keeping Force was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990...
as an invasion force. When Rajiv Gandhi was leaving Sri Lanka following the signing of the accord, a member of the honor guard stuck him in the head with a rifle butt. Gandhi was not hurt in the incident. The guard was later found to be a member of the outlawed Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
The Janathā Vimukthi Peramuṇa is a Marxist-Leninist, Communist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was involved in two armed uprisings against the ruling governments in 1971 and 1987-89...
, a left-wing Sinhalese nationalist organization that was attempting to stage a rebellion in the south of the country.
Grenade attack
The first session of ParliamentParliament of Sri Lanka
The Parliament of Sri Lanka is the 225-member unicameral legislature of Sri Lanka. The members of Parliament are elected by proportional representation for six-year terms, with universal suffrage. Parliament reserves the power to make all laws...
after the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was due to be held on August 18, 1987. Before the convening of Parliament, the bi-weekly Government Parliamentary Group meeting was held in Committee Room A of the Parliament Complex. Approximately 120 legislators were at the meeting, which started at 8.40am. The group initially observed two minutes of silence in memory of Jinadasa Weerasinghe, the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Tangalle
Tangalle
Tangalle is a town on the southern coast of Sri Lanka located in the Hambantota District. It has a mild climate, in comparison to the rest of the district, and sandy beaches....
, who had been assassinate a few days earlier by the JVP. As MP A. D. B. Ekanayake was speaking to the group, an assailant in the adjoining room hurled 2 grenades at the head table where the President J. R. Jayawardene and Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa
Ranasinghe Premadasa
Ranasinghe Premadasa was the 3rd President of Sri Lanka from January 2, 1989 to May 1, 1993. Before that, he served as the Prime Minister in the government headed by J. R. Jayewardene from February 6, 1978 to January 1, 1989...
were sitting. The grenades bounced off the table, and rolled close to the table where National Security Advisor Lalith Athulathmudali
Lalith Athulathmudali
Lalith William Samarasekera Athulathmudali , PC was a Sri Lankan politician of the United National Party and former Cabinet Minister of Trade, National Security, Agriculture, Education and deputy minister of defence.-Early life and teaching career:Born to a family of Lawyers, his...
and Matara District Minister Keerthi Abeywickrama were seated, and exploded in front of them.
According to a government press officer who was at the meeting, pandemonium reigned following the explosions. He said some legislators thought Parliament was under attack. Using wooden chairs, they broke the thin plate glass overlooking the Parliament lawn to escape the room, and were immediately bundled into cars and driven away.
Member of Parliament for the Matara District
Matara District
Matara is a district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. Its area is 1,246 km². It is represented in the Sri Lankan Parliament following the Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2010 by former Sri Lankan national Cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya who stood for the United People's Freedom Alliance....
Keerthi Abeywickrama, whose face was blown off due to the explosion, was carried outside and rushed to hospital, but died on the way there. Norbert Senadeera, an official with the Parliament staff, died later due to a shrapnel
Fragmentation (weaponry)
Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
wound on the head. Sixteen others were injured in to attack, including National Security Advisor Lalith Athulathmudali
Lalith Athulathmudali
Lalith William Samarasekera Athulathmudali , PC was a Sri Lankan politician of the United National Party and former Cabinet Minister of Trade, National Security, Agriculture, Education and deputy minister of defence.-Early life and teaching career:Born to a family of Lawyers, his...
, Prime Minister Premadasa and Ministers Gamini Jayasuriya
Gamini Jayasuriya
Gamini Jayasuriya is a Sri Lankan politician. He was the former Cabinet Minister of Health, Agriculture Development and a Member of Parliament and former General Secretary of the United National Party. He was educated at Royal College Colombo....
, Montague Jayawickrema and E. L. B. Hurulle. President J. R. Jayewardene escaped injury.
Although initial reports indicated that gunfire had preceded the attack, no shots were fired during the incident.
Reaction
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene blamed "terrorists" among the Sinhalese population for the incident. He also appealed for calm in the country, and called the attack an "attempt to destroy the parliamentary democratic system of the country".A day after the attack, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reported that the Patriotic People’s Movement, which would later be identified as the military wing of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
The Janathā Vimukthi Peramuṇa is a Marxist-Leninist, Communist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was involved in two armed uprisings against the ruling governments in 1971 and 1987-89...
, claimed responsibility. They also distributed leaflets in Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, calling on "patriotic people in the armed forces" to resist "Indian expansionism", and calling President Jayewardene "a traitor whose death would be welcome". They also told the BBC they were seeking revenge for Jayewardene's "betrayal of Sinhalese interests in granting greater political autonomy to ethnic Tamil areas".
There was however no related violence after the attack.
Investigation
Although the Police sealed off the Parliament building following the attack, initial reports stated that the assailant fled in the panic that followed the explosions. No arrests were made immediately following the attack.Subsequent investigations suggested that Ajith Kumara, an activist of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna who was working for a private catering service inside parliament, had thrown the grenades into the committee room. He was friendly with most of those working in the complex and had access to the room from where the bombs were flung. Kumara disappeared immediately after the incident. A Rs one million ($35,000) bounty was placed on his head, but he evaded arrest for several months.
He was eventually arrested on April 8, 1998, when he tried to flee from police who were conducting an unrelated search for illegal liquor in Naulla. The Police did not realize who he was until they conducted further investigations.
Trial
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
to commit the murder of President J. R. Jayawardene; and attempting to commit the murder of Lalith Athulathmudali. In court, State Counsel Palitha Fernando claimed Kumara was a member of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
The Janathā Vimukthi Peramuṇa is a Marxist-Leninist, Communist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was involved in two armed uprisings against the ruling governments in 1971 and 1987-89...
(JVP), which was a banned organization at the time, and that the JVP ordered the attack as a result of President Jayawardene’s decision to deploy the Indian Army
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Kumara held in the maximum security Welikada Prison
Welikada Prison
The Welikada Prison is a maximum security prison and is the largest prison in Sri Lanka. It was built in 1841 by the British colonial government under Governor Cameron. The prison covers and area of . It is over-crowded with about 1700 detainees exceeding the actual member that could be accommodated...
throughout his trial.
On October 12, 1990, the Colombo High Court at Bar delivered a unanimous verdict acquitting Kumara, the first accused, and M. Jayasiri Goonewardene, the fifth accused, due to lack of evidence. Delivering the verdict, High court judge Ananda Grero said the prosecution had not proved the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The three other suspects had previously been acquitted on October 4. However immediately following their discharge from prison, Kumara and Goonewardene were re-arrested, as the Attorney General
Attorney General of Sri Lanka
The Attorney General of Sri Lanka is the Sri Lankan government's chief legal advisor, and its primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The Attorney General is usually a highly-respected Senior Advocate, and is appointed by the ruling government. The current Attorney General is Mohan...
appealed the decision.
During the trails, the defendants were represented by future Minister Susil Premjayanth and diplomat Mangala Moonesinghe
Mangala Moonesinghe
Mangala Moonesinghe is a Sri Lankan lawyer, politician and diplomat. He was Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2000 to 2002 and Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India from 1995 to 2000...
.
Ajith Kumara was ultimately released on August 6, 1993. He entered politics afterwards, becoming an active member of the JVP, which had since been decriminalized. He later became a JVP politbureau member, Pradeshiya Sabha member and unsuccessful Chief Minister
Chief Minister
A Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British Overseas Territory that has attained self-government...
ial candidate of the JVP for the 1999 Sabaragamuva Provincial Council
Sabaragamuwa Province
Sabaragamuwa, is a province of Sri Lanka, and contains two main cities: Ratnapura and Kegalle. Sabaragamuwa University is in Belihuloya. It is named after its former indigenous inhabitants, namely the Sabara, an indic term for hunter gatherer tribes, a term seldom used in ancient Sri...
elections.
See also
- Sri Lankan Civil WarSri Lankan civil warThe Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
- Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil WarIndian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil WarThe Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War was the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka intended to perform a peacekeeping role...
- List of attacks attributed to the LTTE