A COMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT OF A NATIONAL TRAGEDY-by Professor Ravindra Fernando

Source:Sunday Island

The Assasination of President Premadasa

by Professor Ravindra Fernando 

Published by Vijitha Yapa Publications April 2021

Review by Tissa Devendra Price Rs 700

None other than Professor Ravindra Fernando could ever have written this fascinating account of this blood stained chapter of our country’s recent history. He is our pre-eminent author on forensic subjects. His work on the Sathasivam and the Vicarage murders have won acclaim for their fine expression of forensic and legal knowledge.

What is most valuable is his account of the political and social background of this troubled period that culminated in this assassination. We are given a meticulously researched account of the phenomenal rise of young Premadasa from humble origins in Colombo’s working class Pettah to the supreme position of Sri Lanka’s President. But his journey to the summit was not smooth. He had to fight tooth and claw, using every stratagem and ally he had acquired during his early days in bare-knuckle Municipal politics.

The entrenched political and social elite of his own ‘grand old’ party, the UNP, did their damnedest to pull him down even after his rise to the Preidency. It is no secret he suspected many of his colleagues of treachery. This paranoia led to the popular suspicion that he employed a shadow Gestapo to harass and allegedly eliminate his perceived enemies. In this context of rumour and suspicion, it was inevitable that popular rumour blamed the murders of investigative journalist Richard de Zoysa and political rival Lalith Athulathmudali on Premadasa’s minions. Talk of assassination was in the air – though of whom and by whom were never spelled out.

The chapter on the Tamil terrorists is an excellent account of their political aims, military strategy and, above all, their mastery of suicide bombings –  meticulously planned and carefully aimed at political targets – finally the country’s President.

In the chapter ‘Who was the Assassin?’, the author not only names Babu but also discloses his strategy of worming himself into Premadasasa’s domestic  circle and security officers as a trusted provider of food and fun. It was, therefore, perfectly normal for this friendly killer to be guided to the President’s side by his trusted valet, Mohideen. The killer reached his target and exploded his bomb. Prabhakaran had scored his greatest victory.

The chapters on the post-mortems of President Premadasa’s assassin, Babu, and all other victims makes macabre reading. The best analysis of the actual explosion and its aftermath is the magistrate-ordered report by Professor Fernando himself. This deserves careful reading

End note: It is sad to observe that this assassination was the result of sheer incompetence and corruption of the security apparatus that fell victim to the well planned strategies of Babu, Mohideen, and of course, Prabhakaran.

Dr Ravindra Fernando, Emeritus Professor of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, has written the finest analysis of this tragic episode.