Dear Reader of London Diary
Please spend a few moments reading this appeal and see if Mr Navan Ruban - Former Engneer at Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka, can be contacted.
Appeal on behalf of Ms Darshini Gunasekera - Lion Air Tragedy
Appeal on behalf of Ms Darshini Gunasekera Lion Air Tragedy To : Mr Navan Ruban - Former Engineer at Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka From : Mrs. Ranjini Gunasekera Meegalewa Galgamuwa Sri Lanka I am writing this letter to you as I do not know about your whereabouts and hope you would read this through the Internet. I hope you will recall the incident at the Meegalewa Mahaweli camp Galgamuwa during the 1983 communal riots where the lives of yourself, your wife & 2 children was at stake. My husband Ranjith Gunasekera who was the OIC of the Police in Galgamuwa went out of his way to rescue you from a wild mob attacking and threatening the lives of your family and yourself after a battle for nearly 2 hours. He rescued you all and kept in the safe custody at our house, where my hospitality and kindness gave you much needed confidence and solace. I hope you would recall this incident and the way we went out of our way to help you, which I am sure would be in your minds even now. I am now facing a similar situation in Sri Lanka where my daughter Darshini Gunasekera who was the chief stewardess in the inflated Lion Air which was transporting 48 Tamil Passengers to Colombo from Palaly Jaffna on 29/09/1998 has disappeared. I reliably understand that this plane has crashed in an area around manner called the Iranathivu and most of the passengers along with my daughter has survived, and is in safe care of the LTTE. More or less the whole community of the Galgamuwa & Maho areas who was saved by my husband in a similar fashion to your episode has shown their gratitude and has appealed to the LTTE by letter requesting my daughter to be released if she is in their safe care. The ICRC has by now handed over this appeal to the LTTE hierarchy. The contents of this letter has already been e-mailed to the relevant sites. I humbly request you to endorse through Internet or e-mail contents of this appeal and request the LTTE to release my daughter if she is in their safe care. May god bless you and your family, Mrs. Ranjini Gunasekera An Appeal from our concerned Tamil Brethren: To All the Sri Lankan Tamils and the members of the LTTE Living in Sri Lanka and abroad, Our Humble Request Regarding the disappearance of daughter of A.S.P Ranjith Gunasekera, Air Hostess, Lion Air, after the incident occurred on the 29th September 1998 off the Mannar Coast The above named A.S.P Mr Ranjith Gunasekera who fought and set peace in our lives during the " 1983 Black July " has made a remarkable and unforgettable character in our hearts. He was the H.Q.I of the Maho police station then. He saved our lives and properties by serving us with a special police guard under his supervision, then only did we sleep without fear. There were several occasions that our lives and our belongings were like Toys of children. But unfortunately this brave officer came forward risking his life and saved us. He never parted us as Tamils. This was best demonstrated by the fact so many Tamils came forward to sign this letter. We do not hesitate one second to say that even today our lives and property are safe and secure because of our dear friend A.S.P Ranjith Gunasekera. Finally, He is a very rare kind of man who never thinks or acts like the other Sinhalese we have known so far and according to our knowledge not a single person has been killed or injured in Maho during his tenure in the Police in this area. As I have mentioned through out the letter this man is loved by all the Tamils in Maho area and is held in high esteem by the Tamil community in Maho. Signed by, V.Periyathamby Sri Siva Subramaniya Swamy Kovil and so many ииии..