This open letter, authored by Kagusthan Ariaratnam (also known as Murali and code-named “05”), serves as a formal whistleblowing disclosure and a demand for historical rectification regarding his decades-long exploitation by internationally acclaimed counter-terrorism expert Dr. Rohan Gunaratna. Ariaratnam asserts that Gunaratna utilized his unique insider knowledge as a former LTTE Naval Intelligence Officer to build a career in global security studies without providing due credit or compensation. The author claims his original research on the Tiger Organization Security Intelligence Service (TOSIS) and suicide tactics was presented by Gunaratna as his own or extrapolated into models sold to international intelligence agencies. Furthermore, the letter highlights a pattern of manipulation where Ariaratnam was promised legitimate university degrees in exchange for intelligence, only to be referred to Knightsbridge University, a documented unaccredited “diploma mill”.
Supported by a vast collection of physical evidence—including medals, conference tags, and verified email archives—the letter proves that Gunaratna acted as a direct intermediary for the Sri Lankan Directorate of External Intelligence (DEI) and maintained close ties to the Rajapaksa-era security apparatus. Ariaratnam alleges that Gunaratna and military handlers, such as Brigadier Rizvy Zacky, blackmailed him into diaspora surveillance by using his family in Sri Lanka as collateral. Finally, the author challenges Gunaratna’s analysis of the Easter Sunday Massacre, characterizing it as a potential “Reichstag Fire” ruse designed to justify a return to authoritarianism, and demands a full public disclosure of Gunaratna’s political links to the Sri Lankan state
Dear Professor Rohan Gunaratna,
I am writing this open letter to you as Kagusthan Ariaratnam, the man you known for decades as “Murali,” and the operative you and the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) officially code-named “05”. For too long, my life and my identity have been subsumed by your professional narrative, and it is time to rectify the record.
Rectification of Professional Exploitation
Since our first interview in 1996, while I was a prisoner of war, you have utilized my unique insider knowledge of the LTTE to build your reputation as an international expert. Despite your recent claims to others that you did not assign me to work for the Directorate of Foreign Intelligence, my records—including our extensive email history—prove otherwise.
I am demanding that you publicly acknowledge the following:
(i) Intellectual Theft: The detailed analytical papers I wrote on the Tiger Organization Security Intelligence Service (TOSIS) and LTTE maritime tactics were used as the basis for your own presentations and were extrapolated into Al-Qaeda models that you sold to international intelligence agencies.
(ii) The “Broken Promises” of Education: You and Eugene de Silva manipulated my desire for a stable life by promising me a legitimate degree in exchange for my research. Instead, you attempted to funnel my work through Knightsbridge University, an unaccredited institution and “diploma mill”.
(iii) Unauthorized Co-authorship: You co-authored the book Countering Terrorism using information I provided while I was in a vulnerable state in Canada, yet you refused to give me credit, claiming you were “protecting your source”.
Disclosure of State and Political Links
My “05” file contains clear evidence of your role as a direct intermediary for the Sri Lankan state and the Rajapaksa-era security apparatus. You arranged my Sri Lankan passports, influenced my travel documents through the High Commission, and coordinated my activities with military handlers like Brigadier Rizvy Zacky.
I call on you to disclose the full nature of your financial and operational links to the Rajapaksa family. Your “expert” testimony on the international stage has been funded and directed by a regime that used my family in Sri Lanka as collateral to blackmail me into service.
The Easter Sunday Massacre: A Reichstag Fire Ruse
Most urgently, I address your book Easter Sunday Massacre: Lesson for the International Community. Having been a “sleeper” agent myself—sent by the LTTE to infiltrate the government, then used by your handlers to infiltrate the Canadian Tamil Diaspora—I recognize the patterns of state-managed deception.
I believe you wrote this book knowing full well that the operation bore the hallmarks of a Reichstag Fire—a ruse designed to create a climate of fear to justify a return to authoritarian power. You have spent your career branding the Tamil community as a “terrorist stereotype” while ignoring the deep-seated manipulations of the Sri Lankan intelligence services that you personally advised.
I have saved every email since the year 2000 in my inbox, complete with IP addresses and HTML source codes, to prove these associations. I am no longer your “expendable material”. I am a Canadian citizen, and I am finally emptying my heart and mind so that I can be truly free.
I await your public rectification of these facts.
Kagusthan Ariaratnam (a.k.a. Murali / 05) Ottawa, Ontario