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Wijemuni Vijitha Rohana de Silva (born 1965) is a former Sri Lankan navy sailor and an astrologer. He is noted for his assault on Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on 30 July 1987 at President's House, Colombo. It was claimed by some as an attempted assassination. [1] He later contested a general election under the Sihala Urumaya party in 2000.
Born in Boossa, Ratgama in the southern province of Sri Lanka; he studied at Gintota Maha Vidyalaya and passed the O Level examination. Thereafter he joined the Sri Lanka Navy received his weapons training at the Naval and Maritime Academy and specialized as a radiomen. [2] He was stationed at SLNS Elara in Karainagar, Jaffna taking part in the Vadamarachchi Operation. In July 1987 he was a Leading Rate and transferred the Colombo and assigned to the Guard of honour for the visiting Indian Prime Minister, who was in Colombo to sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord that would result in the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force.
Rohana was enraged by the Indian support for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and its direct interference in Sri Lanka with Operation Poomalai and forcing the conclusion of the successful Vadamarachchi Operation before all its objectives were met. These were sentiments felt throughout the country and continues to this day.
The Guard of Honour was commanded by Lieutenant Mendis who invited the Indian Prime Minister to review the guard as per tradition. Rajiv Gandhi was escorted by Lieutenant Mendis along with Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel, and Sri Lankan security personnel. Vijitha Rohana swung his ceremonial Lee–Enfield rifle at the Indian Prime Minister aiming at the back of his neck. Gandhi managed to duck and miss the full brunt of the blow, even though the rifle struck him. Rohana was quickly restrained by Lieutenant Mendis and the Chief Petty Officer of the detachment along with other security personnel and Sri Lankan police.
Vijitha Rohana faced a court martial headed by Commodore K.R.L. Perera, Group Captain Buddhi Siriwardhen and Colonel Vijaya Wimalaratne. He was charged with attempted murder and acting contrary to navy discipline and insulting a state leader. [2] Prosecuted by Senior State Counsel Captain Raja Fernando, his defence team included Sarath Wijesinghe, Susil Premajayantha and Donald Hewagama. The defence implied that Rohana was not aiming to kill since he could have stabbed the premier with the bayonet affixed to his Lee–Enfield rifle at the time. The court martial found him guilty of attempted culpable homicide not amounting to murder and insulting the Indian Prime Minister. He was sentenced to six years in prison, however President Ranasinghe Premadasa gave him a presidential pardon after two and a half years.
After his release from prison he gained a degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and started his own business. [3] In 2000 he contested the general election under the Sihala Urumaya party.[ citation needed ]
He later became an astrologer and claimed that President Maithripala Sirisena would die by 26 January 2017. This was seen as a part of a conspiracy to assassinate the president and he was arrested again. [4]
Rajivaratna Gandhi was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then–prime minister Indira Gandhi, to become the youngest Indian prime minister at the age of 40. During his tenure, Gandhi introduced several initiatives and policies aimed at modernising India and promoting economic development. He emphasised technology, computerisation, and telecommunications, launching the "Vision 2020" program to transform India into a technologically advanced nation.
Lieutenant General Denzil Lakshman Kobbekaduwa, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP was a senior Sri Lankan Army officer who served in the 1971 Insurrection and the Sri Lankan Civil War.
Major General Vanigamuni Indrajith Vijeyakumar Mendis Wimalaratne, RWP, RSP, VSV, USP was a senior Sri Lanka Army officer. One of the most distinguished field commanders in Sri Lanka, Wimalaratne raised the Gajaba Regiment, he commanded the 1st Brigade during the Vadamarachchi Operation, he commanded the Amphibious Task Force Commander during Operation Balavegaya and was the Commander Security Forces – Jaffna at the time of his death in a land mine explosion at Point Arali in the Kayts Island while making preparations to re-capture Jaffna.
The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on 29 July 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene. The accord was expected to resolve the Sri Lankan Civil War by enabling the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act of 1987. Under the terms of the agreement, Colombo agreed to a devolution of power to the provinces, the Sri Lankan troops were to be withdrawn to their barracks in the north and the Tamil rebels were to surrender their arms.
Patabendi Don Jinadasa Nandasiri Wijeweera (Sinhala: පටබැඳි දොන් ජිනදාස නන්දසිරි විජෙවීර; 14 July 1943 – 13 November 1989, better known by his nom de guerreRohana Wijeweera, was a Sri Lankan Marxist political activist, revolutionary and the founder of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. Wijeweera led the party in two unsuccessful insurrections in Sri Lanka, in 1971 and 1987 to 1989.
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lankan Civil War between Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan military.
Operation Poomalai, also known as Eagle Mission 4, was the codename assigned to a mission undertaken by the Indian Air Force for airdropping supplies over the besieged town of Jaffna in Sri Lanka on 4 June 1987 to support the Tamil Tigers during the Sri Lankan Civil War.
Operation Pawan was the code name assigned to the operation by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to take control of Jaffna from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), better known as the Tamil Tigers, in late 1987 to enforce the disarmament of the LTTE as a part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. In brutal fighting lasting about three weeks, the IPKF took control of the Jaffna Peninsula from the LTTE, something that the Sri Lankan Army had tried but failed to do. Supported by Indian Army tanks, helicopter gunships and heavy artillery, the IPKF routed the LTTE at the cost of 214 soldiers and officers.Many Indian soldiers died
Operation Liberation also known as the Vadamarachchi Operation was the military offensive carried out by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in May and June 1987 to recapture the territory of Vadamarachchi in the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE. At the time it was the largest combined services operation undertaken by the armed forces deploying multiple brigade size formation, becoming the first conventional warfare engagement on Sri Lankan soil after the end of British colonial rule. The operation involved nearly 4,000 troops, supported by ground-attack aircraft, helicopter gunships and naval gun boats. The offensive achieved its primary objective, however operations were suspended when the Indian government dropped food supplies over Jaffna in Operation Poomalai on June 4, 1987, which prompted the Sri Lankan government to accept the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord.
India–Sri Lanka relations, Indian-Sri Lankan relations, or Indo-Sri Lanka relations, are the bilateral relations between India and Sri Lanka. Only 4% of Sri Lankans have a negative view on India, the lowest of all the countries surveyed by the Ipsos GlobalScan. The two countries are also close on economic terms with India being the island's largest trading partner and an agreement to establish a proto single market also under discussion at an advanced stage. There are deep ethnic and cultural links between the two countries. India and Sri Lanka share a maritime border. India is the only neighbour of Sri Lanka, separated by the Palk Strait; both states occupy a strategic position in South Asia and have sought to build a common security umbrella in the Indian Ocean. Both India and Sri Lanka are republics that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Events in the year 1987 in the Republic of India.
The 1987 grenade attack in the Sri Lankan Parliament is an attack that took place on August 18, 1987, when an assailant hurled two grenades into a room where Members of Parliament were meeting. The grenades bounced off the table at which Sri Lankan 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.
The 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. The deployment followed the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord between India and Sri Lanka of 1987 which was intended to end the Sri Lankan Civil War between militant Sri Lankan Tamil nationalists, principally the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the Sri Lankan military.
Brigadier Donald Danister Hewagama (1926-2009) was a Sri Lankan lawyer. He was the Judge Advocate General of the Sri Lanka Army.
General S. Cyril Ranatunga, VSV was a Sri Lanka Army officer. He served as Secretary of Defence, General Officer Commanding, Joint Operations Command and Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army during the 1980s. He was also the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Vice Admiral Hikkaduwage Ananda Silva, VSV was a Sri Lankan senior naval officer who was the 11th Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy.
The following lists events that happened during 1987 in Sri Lanka.
Patriotic People's Armed troops was a militant organization in Sri Lanka. The organization was recognized as a military arm of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, which was attempting to overthrow the government of Sri Lanka.
The Battle of Nelliady took place during the early stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War. It occurred on 5 July 1987, when a force of 50 LTTE militants assaulted the Sri Lanka Army Camp located in the Nelliady Central College in the town of Nelliady in the Jaffna District in northern Sri Lanka. The attack was the bloodiest battle for the Sri Lankan forces since the Vadamarachchi Operation in June 1987, which cleared the area of Nelliady of LTTE militants. The attack on Nelliady army camp resulted in the Sri Lankan forces suffering 19 killed and 31 wounded, while LTTE executed its first suicide bombing which was carried out by Captain Miller.