FR.
Joe Francis Xavier

On May 31,
1983 at noon I was arrested in Vavunyia along with nine students
from Pilimatalawa Theological College. I was their trainer in
Pastoral Counselling. They gave me a hard time and released us
by 2.00 am that same day. We escaped a trap laid by them to kill
us and we safely waited in the Gandhiyam Centre in Vavuniya. That
same night I watched through the keyhole as army men threw fire
bombs and the Ghandhiyam Centre was set ablaze. My students and
I fled into the jungles, taking along with us about twenty orphans
who were living in the Ghandiyam Centre. The next morning, June
1st, we were arrested as we returned from our hiding and all of
us we were taken to the Vavuniya Police station and then to the
Army Camp where we were detained. Thanks to the intervention of
people contacted by my wife in Colombo, we were released and returned
to our families.
Soon it
was July 25th and we heard rumours of riots. My wife, Chandranee
left early morning to Thurston College where she taught. By 10.00
am we heard screams and cries. The Sinhala thugs, with the aid
of the army and police, were burning cars that belonged to Tamils,
looting homes and setting Tamil houses on fire. My children and
I were terrified as we hid in our bathroom shower stall waiting
for our turn. My wife walked home a few hours later as schools
had been shut down. She witnessed many horrifying events on Galle
Road as she made her way home. Our house was not burned that day
because it did not belong to us and the front portion of our home
housed the National Christian Council’s Family Counseling
Centre of which I was the director. My wife and her aunt who lived
with us, dissuaded the thugs from looting our house. Soon thereafter,
my wife’s brother came to take our three children away for
safety. My wife, her aunt and I remained in the house.
After midnight
the same day heavily armed police men came after midnight and
arrested me. They searched the house and took with them my camera,
photos and slides as well as the slide-projector. They would not
allow me to speak to my wife, but I quickly whispered to her to
take care of herself and the children. There were two jeeps, one
an army jeep with heavily armed soldiers and I was taken in the
police jeep with six armed men. The jeep zigzagged through streets
littered with burned vehicles and I thought it was the end. I
prayed, commending my soul to God, certain that I would not live
to see my family again. I was taken to the infamous 4th Floor.
There they questioned me for nearly thirteen hours. In between
questionings, they took me to a dark room and punched me on my
chest and stomach. I shouted out in pain. Some of the police men
cursed at me and accused me of treachery to the government. After
several hours of questioning that seemed like an eternity, I broke
down and told them to do whatever they wanted with me as I had
nothing to confess. I had always been an open opponent of the
government however none of my activities had been illicit. I was
told I would be taken to a judge and that I would have to sign
the Prevention of Terrorism Act –PTA since I was allegedly
hiding terrorists in my Family Counselling Centre. They also told
me that I would be taken to the high security prison in Welikada.
A little
later, however, a senior police officer entered the room and escorted
me to his office and he had received orders to release me and
keep me under house arrest while my camera and other confiscated
items would be further examined. Five police officers took me
home in a jeep. When I returned home, I found my wife in deep
distress as she had received many harassing and obscene phone
calls, threatening to punish her for marrying a Tamil man.
During this
time the Anglican Bishop of Colombo and the Rev. Soma Perera,
Chairman of the Board of Directors of my Family Counselling Centre
were planning to send me to U.S.A. where I was to attend an International
Counsellors Conference in San Francisco. I had cancelled the airline
ticket only days before as my counseling services were now needed
in refugee camps given the present situation of the country. The
ticket was repurchased for me and the US Embassy gave me a visa
most readily.
Then, I received a phone call from the Assistant Superintendent
of Police of the Wellwatte Police station. He was a Eurasian man
(Burger) who had followed my Alcoholism counselling sessions for
three months. He came to my home and asked me to get into his
car where he proceeded to reveal secret police information. He
said that some policemen and thugs were planning to kidnap and
kill me along with a few other Tamils in the area. He subsequently
drove me to a friend’s home where I was to remain in hiding.
Meanwhile, friends from the Attorney General’s Department
in Colombo informed me that there was an order sent out to airports,
and seaports in the country to impound my passport. By the grace
of God, Rev. Soma Perera and the Airport Commandant of the Katunayke
Airport, who happened to be the husband of a close friend of my
wife, found a way to sneak me onto my flight. I hid in the car
as my two friends, who were armed for my protection, drove me
to safety and put me onto the Korean Airlines plane. The next
day, I landed safely in San Francisco albeit with a distressed
heart and dread for my family and my people.
While I
was at the Conference the Archbishop Ted Scot, the Anglican Primate
of Canada, who was then the Moderator of the World Council of
Churches flew from the WCC Conference in Vancouver to meet with
me and arrange passage to Canada for my wife and our three children,
my son aged 11, daughter 8 and youngest son 7. The Archbishop
kept a night vigil to arrange with the Canadian Embassy in New
Delhi to have visas issued for my family so that they could come
to Toronto.
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