Athas Breaks Silence To Reveal His Ordeals Under Different Governments

June 5, 2012 

By Iqbal Athas -

Iqbal Athas

One night in February 1998, a group of well-built men, all clutching Browning automatic pistols, forced their way into my house at Wijerama in Nugegoda.

One of them stormed into my bedroom in the second floor, cocked his pistol and placed it on my left temple. My wife Anoma and daughter Jasmin, then seven years old, watching television together with me froze in shock and horror. A second intruder walked in to thrust a loaded pistol at my back. They forced me out of my bedroom.

Outside the door, I saw others with their weapons in hand busy with the household staff. They were poring over their National Identity Cards or interrogating them. When they tried to force me down the stairway, my daughter, fearing she was going to lose her father, raised loud cries. One of them ordered a female help to move with her into a bedroom nearby and shut the door. Instead, she thrust her hands around my neck in a hard bind and screamed “my thathi, my thathi.” The cries could be heard from the road outside.

For some inexplicable reason, three more armed men rushed upstairs shouting “api yamu, api yamu” or let us leave. They withdrew. I rang the Police Emergency at Mirihana. A mobile patrol arrived to ask a few questions but left hurriedly. Word of the incident spread and we could not lie on our beds that night. The telephones rang incessantly. One of the callers was Mahinda Rajapaksa, then Minister of Fisheries. He was championing human rights issues and was kind enough to assure support. Others included highly placed sources in the military establishment and the Police. Some offered to come over. I forbade them for fear of exposure. Yet, there were a few who defied.

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