The burden of being Wijeweera's widow

Twenty-six years after the JVP leader's arrest and death, his wife speaks of the humiliation and hardships she and her six children continued to undergo:

by Manjula Fernando

Chitranganee Srimathi, widow of JVP's iconic founder, Rohana Wijeweera broke years of silence and let the spill gates open as it were, when she wrote to President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera recently about the plight of her children - now adults who are still suffering the consequences of their father's rebellion.

"I had been silent for far too long and I have begun to wonder if I did the right thing by my children," Chiranganee now 59 years said.

When the Sunday Observer contacted her last week, the story of the widow of JVP founding leader, Rohana Wijeweera seeking state facilitation to migrate had leaked and was making headlines in the media including news websites.

By even Wednesday she had not received any response to her call. "I am still waiting. I had to witness my husband being arrested and murdered as a young wife, and raise six children as a single parent. And today even those of my children who are educated have been denied a decent living as they are branded as being Rohana Wijeweera's offspring."

That is how, society remembers Rohana Wijeweera, if not, why are my children still being deprived of a free life. Amidst the veneration and remembrances on the surface, she asks. "My children were named, shamed, humiliated, threatened and deprived."

Some of her children were bold enough to withstand all this but the others are not that strong.

The eldest, the only one who has a faint memory of her father as an eight year old then, is today separated from the family and is undergoing psychiatric treatment. She was arrested in 2013 when she tried to attack her mother and brother.

"She attempted suicide when she was 13 years. I asked for help from the JVP leaders at the time and others, to send her overseas, to be away form all this, to ensure that her emotional state will be intact. Everyone I spoke to, turned me away. "

Arrest and surrender

Chitranganee surrendered to the State in 1989, after Rohana Wijeweera was hunted down and arrested by the Army. It was announced the next day that he was killed in a shoot out. She knew he was murdered by his captors.

A public announcement via the State media called her to surrender with a promise that the State would take the responsibility for her and her six children. No one at the time wanted to shelter them, for fear of earning the wrath of the state. At the time all pro-JVP elements were being hunted and killed. Chitranganee said, she does not want to be a puppet any longer. "I don't believe in the JVP anymore, I am grateful for the small mercies they have given me so far but my children deserve more. I was asked to keep mum and I obeyed without a murmur. No one heard from me until now. But my children cannot pay for crimes that they were never part of, when the people who were actually part of it lead free lives today. So I decided to break the silence."

Chitranganee denied contacting the media .She had written to the Government in March this year after receiving a letter in February to vacate her house in the camp by October 1. The media got wind of it, by which time she was ready to break the silence.

"I sometimes wonder if the JVP want my children to be sidelined and cornered in this manner, Are they afraid that his children might claim their right in the party?"

She said life was a constant struggle and that she was tired of it now. "I don't want to keep anything secret, so that others will benefit from my silence." Her letter was to the heads of state were due to the mistreatment meted out to her. Soon the media pounced on the information and followed it up.

"I have no faith in the people who lead the movement or the party that my husband founded long ago. We have been cheated by everyone."

When my pleas to the JVP, who I thought could lend us a hand were futile, I turned to leaders of the breakaway Peratugami Party. They did not help us either. Chitranganee said she did not want to tarnish anyone's image but was merely presenting facts. "I am the last person to speak about these things in public if I had any other option. I have been pushed to the brink with a notice from the Navy that I have to vacate the house at theWelisara camp which we had occupied for many years. We have nowhere to go."

Children's future

Chitranganee is torn between her desire to secure her children's future and to keep silent about how her family was treated by the JVP and even successive governments.

This is not the first time she had been asked to vacate since the late 1990s, when they first came into occupation. In 2008 also she was asked to vacate.

As reluctant as she sounded, Chitranganee was not ready to hide her anger, but wanted to guard certain information such as details of her family, the child who is undergoing therapy, her relationship with the JVP and most of all the identity of her children. She refused to give recent photograph's of her children and pleaded not to publish their names.

"My children have suffered enough, they have been branded as children of a murderer." Out of the six children (four daughters and two younger sons), two daughters and a son have completed university education, the third daughter has studied up to postgraduate level but none are employed. Her eldest is 34 years and the others are 33, 31, 28, 27 and 26 years. The youngest was not even born when her father was killed in 1989. Most of their childhood was spent at the Navy camp in Trincomalee (till 1999).

"There were times when they came home from school or university sobbing, after being verbally abused for a past that they were too young even to remember, let alone be held responsible. I have tried to console my children as much as I can, while a few of them withstood the stigma associated with their father's violent legacy, some were not so brave.

Reaching out

In the letter to the President she had asked for state assistance to migrate to the UK. From day one of her surrender, she had sought help to leave the country, as she feared her children will not be accepted in society here. She wanted to shield them from hatred, as the JVP was partly responsible for the state sponsored terror that reigned the country at the time.

"Many JVP members fled but I was held under detention. She now regrets her decision to hand her self and family in."

"Wijeweera never discussed politics in my presence, although we were in hiding since 1983, just three years into our marriage, we never discussed what I should do in case he was caught."

He had made it a point to relegate his wife and children into a room when party members came to see him.

"It was never discussed that I should take shelter in a foreign mission. If I was advised better, our fate would have been much different."

Chitrangnee has been given six more months to occupy the house at the Welisara camp with the intervention of President Maithripala Sirisena and after that she must find her own abode with her five grown up kids.

JVP has done a lot for them - JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake

If the widow of JVP leader, Chithranganie Wijeweera didn't have any source of income over the past 26 years, how did she survive ? Who provided the opportunity for her children to pursue a good education? The JVP has done a lot for them. One thing is pretty certain that we didn't offer cheques to her to attract media publicity. We have fulfilled our responsibility. She has said that she is not satisfied with what we have done for the family.

Of course, she is entitled to make any statement she likes. Our party has done the best it could to help them.

Anybody with a sense of proportion will concede the assistance given by us for the children to have a good education to seek gainful employment. Now that she complains about her grievances, the question remains as to how she and her family lived during the last 26 years. Of course, it is the government's responsibility to release them from their custody. But she has never requested us to intervene to release them. We can't ensure her security and that of her children. We can look into their other needs.

They had a problem regarding their security and as such we also felt it is more appropriate for them to continue to live in the safe house, which she agreed to. If she ever sought release from the safe house, we would have certainly intervened to help her. By the way, the JVP headquarters at Pelawatta had become the abode for most of her children.

No decisions about Ulapane house - Cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Gayantha Karunatilleke

To my knowledge there has been no proposal to hand over the Ulapane house which was occupied by Rohana Wijeweera to his family. The Government has so far not discussed this matter at Cabinet level.

If there is a proposal and if the Government takes a decision at Cabinet level, I may be in a better position to answer you.

We have looked after her Former JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe

What she says is not true. The party has assisted them since 1994. Before 1994 there was no way the party could help her family. We have looked after her according to our capacity, even during my leadership. On November 13, 1989, when Rohana Wijeweera was assassinated, the government wanted his family to surrender to the security forces, they said they will look after the family. It was not we who decided to keep them in the Navy camp. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was the premier at that time. The Government is talking about the Tamils who suffered during the war, the Sinhalese and Muslims were also victims and they must be compensated. I have written to President Maithripala Sirisena about Rohana Wijeweera's family. After the JVP was proscribed in 1983, the Government confiscated our property. The family was living in a house in Ulapane - that house belonged to the JVP, it was taken over by the Government in 1989 and is being occupied by the Ministry of Youth Affairs.

They could give that house to them. If the family does not want to live there, they can sell it and buy another house. We cannot rule out that there is a risk to the family.