Ballot should be Saved from
Bullets and Bombs
Dilrook Kannangara
Terrorists have started again their counter-productive strategy of
hunting down national leaders. A number of bomb laden trucks were found
recently and possibly there are many more out there. There are a few
practical steps that can be taken to stop them
Politicians also need to make some changes to their itinerary for the
sake of the success of the ongoing military operations. If the war will
be terminated in the foreseeable future, these politicians can have
their meetings thereafter. A travelling politician puts a very heavy
burden on the military, the police, general public, transport systems
and the secret service. Therefore it is wise to avoid potentially dangerous
trips.
LTTE terrorists have never paid for targeting politicians. They even
escaped scot-free after killing the Prime Minister of world’s largest
democracy! This is absurd. They should be made to pay for their crimes
and attempted crimes. There is nothing better than targeting their leaders
in heavy retaliation attacks. Of course their cowardly leaders are underground
and that is why we need to use the weapons said to have been acquired
recently. One such bomb is the Mark-80 bomb; this has the capability
of destroying a large and well fortified bunker with a blast radius
of more than 100 metres. With aerial monitoring, there should be enough
evidence of Parabakaran’s movements by now. UAV surveillance on
the terror camp that was bombed by the SLAF last year showed in remarkable
detail all terror movements in the area. Detecting a VVVIP in Vanni
should not be prohibitively difficult. Therefore, there got to be such
evidence on the terror leader’s whereabouts as well. Repeated and
large scale bombardment will ensure he perishes in his own grave dug
by his own cadres. This will be a marvellous deterrent against terrorist
activity against political leaders. In addition, RPO-Shmels need to
be reintroduced to the security forces. These were abandoned in 2002
when the LTTE servants grabbed power. It is such a versatile and handy
weapon for the security forces in their war to hunt down those terrorists
hiding underground.
Identification and destruction of LTTE weapons dumps has not happened
very effectively. In fact, there were no reports of deliberate targeting
of LTTE weapons dumps by the security forces. This is a grave shortcoming
on the part of the security establishment. No doubt they should have
a central location packed with their weaponry. Issues may be monitored
by UAVs constantly monitoring the LTTE controlled area. Destruction
of weapons facilities will mean that the terrorists are nobodies thereafter.
We need new methods of detection of bomb laden vehicles. Although so
far the terrorists have mainly used trucks, it is very likely that they
will use other vehicles as well. Skilful packing makes it very difficult
to detect these hidden explosives. Weighbridges can be used to detect
explosive laden vehicles easily. However, given the requirement, the
need is to use not so expensive ones. Each type of vehicle has a manufacturer’s
weight and these should be recorded and compared against the empty weight
of vehicles under scrutiny. Apart from these, standard weights of goods
laden trucks (coconuts, fish, etc.) should be recorded for each type
of transported commodity. Large variations mean definitely something
is hidden somewhere, may it be drugs, bombs, humans, poached animals,
etc. No matter how skilfully concealed, there is no escape from the
weighing machine. Their costs are surely justified as the potential
damage is enormous. All vehicles coming or returning from LTTE controlled
areas should be subjected to this test all the time.
Deterrent mechanisms should also be used. There can be enough political
deterrents. According to most Sri Lankans, our premier would be a bigger
gun in the war on terror. They claim that if the terrorists managed
to bump-off the president; they will face the music of a very hardline
Rathnasiri Wickremanayaka who already has a proven record of really
tough measures against the underworld (2000) and the vehicle racket
that sent shock waves to most motorists (2004). His empowerment of the
police to take ‘drastic’ successful measures was welcomed
by most people then. By any measure, Mahinda and Ranil are the least
aggressive politicians compared to all their potential successors.
Ballot should never be allowed to be subjugated by bombs and bullets.
Whatever political ideology they profess, elected politicians should
be protected at all cost. If such an elected leader is killed by the
terrorists, the government should ensure that he/she did not die in
vein by punishing the wrong doers with extremely violent retaliation.
LTTE’s impunity should be broken in iconic style.
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