General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Ranjan Wijeratne (4 April 1931 – 2 March 1991) was a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n planter and politician. He served in the

Premadasa cabinet The Premadasa cabinet was the central government of Sri Lanka led by President Ranasinghe Premadasa between 1989 and 1993. It was formed in January 1989 after the presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of s ...

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

and then

Minister of Plantation Industries The Ministry of Plantation Industries ( si, වැවිලි කර්මාන්ත අමාත්‍යාංශය; ta, பெருந்தோட்டக் கைத்தொழில் அமைச்சு) is a ministry in the Go ...

, while holding the office of State Minister for Defence.Suicide terrorism: a global threat, www.janes.com
/ref>

Early life

Ranjan Wijeratne was born on 4 April 1931, the son of Walpola Mudalige George Hercules Wijeratne and Rosalind Maria née Senanayake a first cousin of

D. S. Senanayake Don Stephen Senanayake ( si, දොන් ස්ටීවන් සේනානායක,; ta, டி. எஸ். சேனநாயக்கா; 21 October 1884 – 22 March 1952) was a Ceylonese statesman. He was the first Prime Mi ...

. He was educated at

S. Thomas' College, Gurutalawa , motto_translation = Be Thou Forever , denomination = Anglican , established = , type = Private , religious_affiliation = Christianity , affiliation = , founder ...

and

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia , motto_translation = Be Thou Forever , song = Thomian Song , athletics = Yes , sports = Yes , nickname = Thora , denomination = Anglican , patron ...

Plantation career

Wijeratne began his career as a planter having apprenticed under Carlyle De Kretser on Kehelwatte Estate Plantation in Lunugala in the Badulla district and then joined Whitalls Plantation on 11 October 1950. Wijeratne had the rare opportunity to also understudy De Kretser on their rubber property Bibile Group which they had just acquired from the Dunlop rubber Company.Carlyle’s father Harris was instrumental in securing his first appointment at Whittalls. He went onto hold senior positions in the tea plantation sector including being appointed General Manager of Demodara Group in 1968, the largest tea plantation in Ceylon. He served as a Director of Whittals Estates and Agencies, Gordon Frazer and Co, Ltd., Bosanquet and Skrine. He was the Chairman of Planters Society from 1967 to 1968 and the Chairman of Planters Association of Ceylon from 1970 to 1971. He was also Chairman of the Agency section of the Planters Association, Chairman of the Colombo Tea Traders’ Association, Vice President of the Ceylon Institute of Planting, Member of the Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board, and Member of the Tea Research Institute of Ceylon.

Government sector

In 1977, on invitation of President

J. R. Jayewardene Junius Richard Jayewardene ( si, ජුනියස් රිචඩ් ජයවර්ධන, ta, ஜூனியஸ் ரிச்சட் ஜயவர்தனா; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly abbreviated in Sri Lanka as ...

, he switched to the government sector by becoming Director Operations of the Lake House Group of Newspapers. Thereafter in 1978 he was appointed

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

to the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Research and Chairman of the Agricultural Development Authority, Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation, Land Reform Commission, Pelwatta Sugar Company and Rajarata Food Grain Processing Co.

Military service

In 1984 Wijeratne was commissioned as

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in the

Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force The Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force (SLAVF) is the active-duty volunteer reserve force of the Sri Lanka Army. The SLAVF is separate from the Regular Force (known as the ''regular army'') which consists of personal who are professional soldiers an ...

and became the first

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the 2nd Battalion,

Sri Lanka Rifle Corps The Sri Lanka Rifle Corps (SLRC) is a (reserve) regiment of the Sri Lanka Army. It is made up of two volunteer (reserve) battalions. It has been formed with personnel from the central highlands and the many plantations in the Central Province of ...

on its formation. The Rifle Corps, drew its members from the plantation sector in the central hill country.

Political career

Wijeratne resigned from all government posts and his commission when he went into active politics in 1988 when he was appointed Chairman of the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

. He later went on to become the General Secretary of the Party. Wijeratne led the party in 1988 Presidential elections followed by the 1989 General Elections. Wijeratne was appointed a National List member of parliament in 1989 and was appointed as

and State Minister of Defence by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Ranasinghe Premadasa Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa ( si, රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස ''Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa'', ta, ரணசிங்க பிரேமதாசா ''Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā''; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was t ...

. Wijeratne invariably made many enemies due to his tough position. He was equally hawkish in dealing with

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

(LTTE) and

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; ) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party and a former militant organization in Sri Lanka. The movement was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 (SLFP), and anot ...

(JVP) militants.Menon ramesh.Explotion Setback.IndiaToday.31 March 1991. Having established

Operation Combine Operation Combine ( Ops Combine) was a special operation established by the Sri Lanka Army from 4 August 1989 to February 1990 as counterinsurgency operation with support of the Sri Lanka Police against the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) whic ...

, he masterminded the JVP near rout in 1989 and the LTTE was to follow.

Death

He was assassinated on 2 March 1991, by the

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

organisation using a remote controlled

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1991, Asia Overview, Federation of American Scientists
/ref> while he was travelling to his office in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

Havelock Road Havelock may refer to: People As a surname * Havelock-Allan baronets, holders of the baronetcy * Sir Henry Havelock (1795–1857), British general, active in India * Lieutenant General Sir Henry Havelock-Allan, 1st Baronet (1830–1897), B ...

, during rush hour killing 19 people including the minister and five bodyguards and 13 civilian bystanders. Ironically, two days before his assassination Wijeratne laughed off the LTTE threats to his life saying "Good Luck to them". He was known to have a hard line stance towards the

.The Rediff Special
/ref> Wijeratne was posthumously promoted to the rank of General of the Volunteer Force of the Army and

Kotelawala Defence Academy General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) ( Sinhala: ජෙනරාල් ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් කොතලාවල ආරක්ෂක විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය ''General Sir John Kotelawala'' ''Ar ...

(now Kotelawala Defence University) at its second

convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a speci ...

, conferred an honorary degree of

Doctor of Law A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL ...

(LLD) (Honoris Causa). In 2008,

Tamil Tigers The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

alleged that Ranjan Wijeratne tried to kill their leader

Velupillai Prabhakaran Velupillai Prabhakaran (; ta, வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன்; , (26 November 1954 – 18 May 2009) was a Sri Lankan Tamil guerrilla and the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ...

during the 1990 peace process.

References

External links

Ranjan Wijeratne Foundation

Official Website of United National PartyRanjan Wijeratne

India Today Group 01 or '01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * 01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * ''01'' (Son of Dave album), 2000 * ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''O1'' (Hiroyuki Sawa ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wijeratne, Ranjan 1931 births 1991 deaths Foreign ministers of Sri Lanka Members of the 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka United National Party politicians Sri Lankan planters Sri Lankan full generals Sinhalese military personnel Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force officers Assassinated Sri Lankan politicians Deaths by car bomb in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan terrorism victims Terrorism deaths in Sri Lanka Sinhalese politicians Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Gurutalawa Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia People killed during the Sri Lankan Civil War Ministers of state of Sri Lanka