A new print run of veteran journalist and war correspondent Ratnapala Gamage’s latest book Ranabimaka Panhinda (Notes from the Battlefield) was launched at the Colombo International Book Fair (CIBF), which will continue at the BMICH until October 1.
This Sinhala book is dedicated to Lankadeepa Chief Editor and veteran journalist Siri Ranasinghe and the heroes who sacrificed life and limb to liberate the motherland.
The book is a primer on the 30-year-conflict that ravaged Sri Lanka. Much of the 322 page book is written from the perspective of a journalist who had covered the Northern conflict from the beginning to the end.
Gamage has chosen the LTTE leader’s infamous Vanni press conference during the peak of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) as a starting point for this 322-page book.
The book also details some of the exploits of the Army’s LRRP (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) which penetrated deep into enemy-held territory to carry out strikes.
Some of these hair-raising stories are being told for the first time – at the time they operated behind enemy lines, only a very few men even in the Army knew about them.
Apart from the exploits of the Army, Gamage devotes a fair number of pages for the heroic acts of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF). The Black July of 1983 has been given a separate chapter.
The Book is published by Navindu Publishers and is available at the book fair stalls of many booksellers.
