Only Extra-Judicial Means Can
Stop Multiple Bombings in Colombo
Dilrook Kannangara
Terrorists have struck just a day after their leader’s manhole
speech was made which promised genocide on Sri Lankans. The terrorists
wasted no time in executing their bloody strategy when three (3) bombs
exploded within one day – all targeting civilians. As expected
human rights activists have turned a blind eye; some even blame the
government!! However, for a long time tigers failed to carryout this
type of attacks in Colombo, etc. despite the fact that a very large
number of terrorists perished in the last two years. The question begs
why? At the same time there was much howling about abductions and extra-judicial
killings. Further corroborative evidence is found in recent Sri Lankan
history. Also during the time of President Premadasa many cases of abductions
and other extra-judicial justice resolution acts were reported; strangely,
there were only a very few bomb attacks in spite of heavy fighting in
the North! Obviously there should be a connection between the two.
On the other hand, during the time of CBK, although the war took a nasty
turn, no abductions, vigilante killings, etc. were reported in Colombo,
etc. As a direct result, the number of bomb blasts sky-rocketed. More
than twenty large scale bomb attacks were carried out by the LTTE in
civilian areas during CBK’s rule that drove fear and terror into
the hearts and minds of the entire population.
There is no justification for the entire population to suffer owing
to the whims and fancies of terrorists. It’s high time that effective,
proven and tried-and-tested means are used to tackle terrorists, their
sympathisers and supporters. Judicial means have failed miserably not
only in Sri Lanka but also in the US, UK, Spain, Iraq, Russia, Afghanistan,
etc. In spite of having CCTV cameras every 300 metres, London suffered
multiple bomb attacks on 7/7 in 2005! However, there are at least 1,000
times more suicide bombers and terrorists in Sri Lanka than UK. It is
high time that the government stops bending to terror and human rights
pressures and adopt workable mechanisms to quash all terror and related
elements immediately.
Of course terrorists deserve multiple bombings on them. But this is
the first time three (3) bombs exploded in one day in Sri Lankan history.
The bus bomb was very similar to Iraqi bombs. Some doomsayers even predict
that Sri Lanka would become like Baghdad! If the government does not
adopt proven strategies, legal and other, they may be right in expecting
Iraq style sectarian violence in Sri Lanka. However, if three explosions
in Colombo resemble happenings in Iraq, it calls for Iraqi style solutions.
Please read http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7116717.stm. According
to that report “there is general recognition that the security
situation in Baghdad and some other parts of Iraq has got significantly
better in the past three months or so.” Recent news reports (or
absence of many news reports from Iraq) justify this claim. The report
goes, “In addition to the current surge of US forces, one of the
major factors that is credited with helping the improvement, has been
the emergence in Sunni areas, of local fighters recruited by the Americans
as a kind of neighbourhood watch. There are thought to be nearly 80,000
of them nationwide. Many of them used to fight alongside the insurgents,
but now, encouraged by their tribal leaders, they have turned against
al-Qaeda and are helping keep it out of their areas….. Maj William
Kahmann of the Fifth Cavalry said that the role of the Sunni force,
the Knights of Mesopotamia was critical……. But the leader
of the Knights of Mesopotamia comes with a mixed reputation. He has
even been compared to a Mafia don. There are also fears that building
up what are essentially Sunni militias, could be storing up problems
for the future. But for the moment, in al-Ameriya and elsewhere, it
is working.”
BBC must be congratulated for this factual report. It shows the apt
response to terrorism in civilian areas. If it has worked in Sri Lanka
(on two separate occasions) and also in once impregnable Iraq, it must
be a good mechanism to follow. Failure to stop terror activities may
lead to ethnic tensions and riots are we have seen in the past. There
is no justification for school closures due to terror threats. What
got to be done is to cleanse civilian areas of terror elements. The
right to life of each of the 20 million Sri Lankans is much more important
than human rights of a few thousand terrorists and terror suspects.
There is no way that both groups can be protected at the same time.
It is either peace loving Sri Lankans or terrorists; the government
must decide soon.
Another important thing is to follow the present retaliation strategy.
It is essential that heavy LTTE casualties are caused in retaliation
to the 28/11 attacks soon. Failure to do so will result in the terrorists
using similar attacks in future to intimidate the government. On the
other hand if they are forced to come to terms with the cause-and-effect
phenomenon of their terror acts, they will surely stop such terror acts
in no time.
These cowardly terror acts following the Cowards’ Day which was
celebrated by the LTTE in manholes the day before, are desperate attempts
by the LTTE to divert attention from the real battlefield to elsewhere.
The government must ensure that no such nonsense happens and tigers
are attacked with even more ferocity. It is imperative that the Sri
Lankan war strategy change in accordance with the ground realities.
The ‘flush-out’ strategy must stop right-away. Instead, an
annihilation strategy must be adopted soon. For instance the recent
Pesalei attack by the terrorists was a complete failure on the part
of the SLN as all tiger boats (7) were allowed to escape to Sri Lanka
to fight another day! Battles in Muhamalei and Mannar are not supported
by bombers. MiG-27 jets that were purchased at about USD 3 million each
are classic ground support aircraft. The damage they can cause to LTTE
FDLs is enormous as the security forces have failed to move southward
from the Jaffna peninsula in spite of many attacks that killed hundreds
over two years although supported by Mi-18/24-Hind gunships. Why aren’t
the MiGs used for the purpose they were built?
Tigers have resisted successfully to the age-old flush-out strategy
in the North; they have so far held their ground firmly. At least this
fact should drive the defence authorities to change the tactics. Else
billions of dollars will continue to be wasted on unproductive war efforts.
The colossal amount of MBRL fire and other continuing mortar fire aimed
at tigers recently in the Muhamalei battle was nothing but a massive
waste of money with no commensurate return. It would have been different
had mortar fire aimed at large LTTE gatherings instead.
Yet another false pretext the government has given not to annihilate
the tigers is to ‘squeeze them militarily so that they would agree
to a solution’. In order to do that, pressure is exerted on the
tigers and their leadership. However, tigers show no sign of pressure
on them; their leaders seem undisturbed by death threats. The triple
bombings in Nugegoda come as a slap on the face of the Defence Secretary
who boasted many times about killing Parabakaran. To make things worse,
the hitherto silent killer Pottuamman is planning to come back with
a bang, according to news from Vanni. With the tigers trapped as never
before without Karuna, Suppiah, Bala, the East, the ships, etc. he is
forced to perform or perish. Parabakaran has given him a start by perfectly
executing the Anuradhapura attack; now it is his turn. The Ghandhian
Killer is going to strike big unless the government takes effective
means to rout them soon.
The third joke of the government is to test LTTE’s good behaviour
in order to decide on its ban. If killing dozens of civilians is good
behaviour as per government books, God help Sri Lankans! The JVP and
JHU have a task at hand. Instead of demanding dumb things it’s
time they demand from the government an end to this war by annihilating
the tigers within one year. Now that cracks have appeared in the government
camp over support for the budget, it is time JVP and JHU crack their
whips. A commitment from the government must be taken to finish-off
all the LTTE terrorists by the 2009 budget (which will be presented
in November 2008). Else elections. The SLFP would meet it’s worse
ever defeat for messing up the war effort, ruining the economy by not
winning the war, losing the budget, failure to adhere to ‘Mahinda
Chinthanaya’, failure to recognise the aspirations of the 2005
election partners, etc. A subsequent bump-off of the President (which
Ranil failed once but will not fail again if given the chance) would
seal the LTTE-TNA-UNP victory for good and the end of SLFP-JVP-JHU and
of course the end of Sri Lanka!
Every political entity must do there share to save the nation; its now
or never. Please Mr Gotabhaya, match your name and words by actions!
You don’t deserve the name ‘Abhaya’ if people live in
fear; you don’t deserve your post if you can’t deliver what
you have promised and you are not a true Southerner if you can’t
annihilate the terrorists. Giddy up Gotabhaya giddy up for the big tasks
ahead. You are given an unprecedented USD 1.5 billion (for 30,000 terrorists
both regular and ancillary; rupees 5.8 million for each terrorist! far
too much) to wipe out the terrorists.
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