Douglas Devananda was declared a proclaimed offender by a Chennai court on charges of murder, rioting and unlawful assembly in Chennai in 1986, according to reports.
This is not the first time that Sri Lankan Tamil leader Douglas Devananda has come to India since a case was filed against him in a Chennai court in 1986. The public interest litigation filed against him is aimed at embarrassing president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was responsible for eliminating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE) and the killing of hundreds of Tamils caught in the crossfire.
But for now it is the Indian government which is in a fix. The foreign ministry has kept a studied silence. The Chennai court is likely to haul up the ministry’s protocol division and seek an explanation as he was declared a proclaimed offender in 1986.
Devananda told reporters on Thursday that the Indo-Sri Lanka accord of 1987 had granted general amnesty to Tamil militant groups willing to join the democratic process in the island state.
But, he said, he was ready to face legal action. “...according to the Indo-Sri Lanka agreement, they have granted pardon to all leaders, all political leaders,” he said. “If there is anything legal, I am prepared to face that.”
Devananda gave up demands for a separate Tamil homeland but he and members of many other groups had retained firearms for protection from the LTTE. The arms have usually been used to get back at those opposed to them, mostly the LTTE and its supporters, in the case of Devananda.
In the early nineties, during a visit to India, Devananda had walked in to a newspaper office in the capital with a posse of gunmen, himself carrying a revolver.
The former Tamil separatist has led a violent life and survived by his wits, especially as many of those opposed to former LTTE chief V Prabhakaran were hounded out of the Northern province, and killed by the Tigers.
He survived many attacks because he has been as ruthless as the LTTE. Like many Tamil militant group members, Devananda has blood on his hands, but midway through the movement he broke ranks and began to oppose the LTTE and Prabhakaran.
Devananda is known for having a cat’s proverbial nine lives. There have been repeated attempts by the LTTE to get him. Once, as a young minister in Colombo, he visited the Wellikade jail to persuade Tamil inmates to give up their strike and offered a glass of juice to one. The prisoners, all LTTE cadres, were prepared and grabbed iron rods that they had smuggled in to attack the minister. His eye was badly damaged in the attack.
A four-member LTTE team broke into his official residence, killing guards, and entering his bedroom. Devananda had got wind of the attack and escaped by the backdoor. Gunfights have been part of the the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front’s culture.
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