CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Preventing terrorism in the South can only be achieved by the citizens

Dr Kamal Wickremasinghe

The Sri Lankan government forces have recently started achieving major successes in gaining the Sri Lankan territory held by the LTTE, and in eliminating or injuring the merdorous LTTE leadership.

The invincibility of the self-acclaimed 'Sun God' itself appears to have ended, with him suffering injury. There appear to be internal squabbles within the LTTE, caused by a grab for power by his important lieutenants . (According to the intelligence in the hands of the Pakistani ISI, the information on Prabhakaran's movements that enabled the Sri Lankan Air Force attack on his bunkers was passed onby his newly appointed Police Chief Elanko).

The government is about to launch what it considers to be the final 'push' in to theTiger held north. It is to be expected that the morally bankrupt LTTE leader is now likey to start a campaign of cowardly bombings in Colombo and the suburbs, with the hope of provoking the Sinhalese for a round of communal violence, and as a destraction for the army and the police.

Prabhakaran started the new year with the execution of the popular Colombo MP Maheswaran, significantly at the Sivam Hindu temple, as if to show his total lack of respect for Hinduism and the sensitivities of the Hindu Tamils. On January 9, they murderd a minister of the government in the suburbs. Prior to that, late last year, their cowardly attack in Nugegoda caused the deaths of a number of people including young school students.

The murderous hitory of the LTTE over the last 35 years, especially their fascist, psychopathic leader has demonstrated that they have no respect for human life, be it Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or Eskimo. Nor do they have any respect for religious sensitivies of the Buddhists or Hindus, as displayed by the cowardly bombing of the Kandy Buddhist shrine and the murders of Alfred Duraiappa and Maheswaran, at or near Hindu temples. (One hopes, his being a Catholic, he has some respect for Christianity).

Their final response is likely to be based on the explosives and operatives transported to the south during the 'unilateral' government ceasefire (imposed on the Sri Lankans by Eric Solheim through Ranil Wickremesinghe), and the general democratic freedoms still maintained by the Colombo government (allowing unhindered movement of people irrespective of their appearance or the language they speak).

Exploiting these opportunities, the Tigers have planted 'sleeper' operatives in Colombo and its suburbs (around a radius of about 20 km). Like the operatives who spent 'years' before they acted on President Premadasa, these operatives are likely to stage suicide and other attacks in response to their inevitable defeat in the north in the coming months.

The Sri Lankan Defence forces or the Police (on their own) cannot be expected to prevent these cowardly attacks: the preventative strategies need to be based primarily on community vigilance.

Currently, the Tigers, in their unprincipled way, exploit the hospitability and the non-suspecting nature of the average Sri Lankan in Colombo and the suburbs: they appear to rent houses in the south as accommodation for their operatives, start businesses as fronts for the LTTE, and buy and sell goods including motor vehicles without any apparent difficulty.

For an observant eye visiting from overseas, it is obvious that at least some of the hundreds of sarong-clad young-ish people standing on the pavement along Galle Road (from about Kollupitiya to Dehiwela) are not just loitering!. At least some of them could be part of a well organised information gathering network who monitor such things as VIP movements.

The government needs to, as part of their overall strategy announced by the Head of the Defence Forces, initiate a public education campaign to alert the general public, not just to be on the alert for suspicious parcels in public places, but also to be 'inquisitive' about such 'little things' as 'who is renting the next-door annexe'. THey need to be informed to report any suspicions to the authorities, erring on the side of caution.

Eliminating the menace of terrorism requires such a common sense approach and the government needs to include this important issue amongst their considerations.

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