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Friday’s terror

While the news reports on Friday night and Saturday morning on the carnage at Rajagiriya conflicted in detail, what was crystal clear was that the LTTE had once again carried out a major terrorist operation in the heart of the capital city. While the Tigers may not have got the VIP target the hitmen sought, a great deal of blood was spilled and the victims included policemen, by-standers and people going home at the end of a hard day’s work. Regardless of developments on the peace front including the Norwegian entry into the picture and the PA - UNP talks, the LTTE is obviously sending out its own signals - whatever they may be.

Any hopes of a de-escalation of the violence in the light of progression of the peace effort have been blasted by what the Tigers did on Friday. That will only strengthen the conviction of the many who firmly believe that the only way in which peace can be restored in this tragic land will be by militarily crushing the LTTE. Senior military officers too are of this view and have gone public on it. Incidents such as Friday’s can only foul the peace seeking atmosphere and it is to be hoped that the Norwegians particularly will use their influence to impress upon Prabhakaran and his lieutenants that this is not the way forward. Given the change of government in Oslo, it remains to be seen whether peace in Sri Lanka will continue to receive the highest priority. On the positive side are indications that there will be no foreign policy changes and continuity is most probable.

Yesterday’s reports suggested that it was a civilian who first noticed suspicious activity and alerted the police. While we will never know whether the death toll would have been high as it was if the terrorist plan was not aborted leading to the fire-fight and the resulting bloodshed, Friday’s events underline the need for ordinary people going about their legitimate business to be ever alert. The people must be the eyes and ears of the security system. Policemen and soldiers cannot be everywhere however much the services have been beefed-up due to the ever present terrorist threat. But ordinary people are everywhere and they must continue to be as watchful. All credit then to the citizen who first sounded the alarm. He should certainly be rewarded.

A disturbing aspect of the latest attack as well as the previous blast near the prime minister’s office that deserves attention is the kind of reaction that might result among the law enforcers. Policemen and women are as human as the rest of us and it will be natural if they show a reluctance to move as swiftly as they should for fear of being sitting ducks for cold blooded killers including suicide cadres. The two policemen who moved to investigate the first information they received about suspicious activity in the bushes were shot dead by the terrorists day before yesterday. Similarly, those police officers searching the suicide bomber who blew herself up on Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha (Flower Road) paid the ultimate price. It is the business of the security hierarchy to devise preventive strategy to meet these imperatives and at least minimise risks. But the reality is that there will be an element of fear among most law enforcers who cannot be reasonably faulted.

Despite the damage they did, it must be remembered that the Tigers have had three recent failures beginning with the assassination attempt on President Chandrika Kumaratunga at the Colombo Town Hall grounds in December. While the prime target, though hurt, survived, dozens of others including policemen, servicemen and mediamen as well as members of the public and politicians attending the election meeting were killed or wounded. At Flower Road, the police officers searching the suicide killer and curious by-standers were blown up. This time policemen who responded to the first alert lost their lives and what followed led to more slaughter of innocents.

All this demonstrates that the LTTE do not care whom they kill, including Tamil people they claim to represent, in seeking out targets they are bent on liquidating. This has been so in the past and will remain so in the future. Incidents such as Friday’s and the headlines they grab globally as well as locally cannot be good for tourism or for that matter the peace of mind of ordinary people. It must also be noted that Prabhakaran is willing to dispense with more than one suicide cadre for a single strike. Reports suggested that there may have been as many as three suicide killers in the team deployed on Saturday.

The LTTE used hit teams with as many as a dozen people in previous attacks such as those on the Kolonnawa oil terminal and the World Trade Center in recent years. On Friday too as many as eight terrorists were known to have been members of the strike force. Whether there were more who got away is yet unclear. All this suggests a willingness on the part of Prabhakaran to move away from a strategy of solitary suicide killers and deploy more cadres in pursuit of specific targets. It is clear that the security blanket has been pierced at many points and terrorists who can be deployed at will are very much a part of the Greater Colombo scene. That is a reality that we must live with and endeavour to combat in our own way however small.

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