Came to office around 7.15, had breakfast, checked mail and the syndications. Then slowly started with day's work when I started to receive IMs from friends asking about a bomb blast in Fort, where my office is.
I didn't hear a thing, but the IMs were too many for it to be a false alarm. One said it was in front of the harbour. I get a clear view of the harbour, so I took a look, nothing seemed to be moved. Hmm...
Half an hour later, it's in the front page of my iGoogle!!
http://defencenet.blogspot.com/2007/05/suicide-attack-on-army-transport-pettah.html
http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2007/5/15203.html
It's so sad to think of our soldiers not being able to even go in a vehicle without getting bombed. They offer us so much of security and what do they get in return?
ReplyDeleteThe other issue is how come when the security in Colombo is stepped up, incidents like this still happen? We, normal citizens, can't go anywhere without being checked, but terrorists seem to be going about freely and happily bombing our lights out! Bad scene.
:(
It’s not that the security checks are not effective but the arms and the explosives were well positioned by the LTTE during the ceasefire agreement. How practical is it to do thorough search operations in the areas like pettah and wellawatta now? Security was breached once and we are still paying the penalty for that.
ReplyDeleteTamils have been suffering under a racist and deliquent goverment. Worst things are about to come. The LTTE has also attacked a naval detachment. Hatered is one full circle. Nazis/Japanese tried it and got what they deserved in return. Likewise you will too.
ReplyDeleteThe Tamils in the South fear to openly support the tamils but most in their heart do. They would opely support them if they had their sister raped or family killed or they themselves beaten.
If there is a tamil eelam then all the problems for the tamils will be solved but how about the sinhalese and rest. You need to go back to the muslims like in 1915 and burn and loot them.
Sri Lankan economy is failing. The country is on its knees for world aid. CFA has nothing to do with the situation Sri Lanka has put itself in the last 30 years.
The richest man in malaysia is a Jaffna Tamil. He is Ananda Krishnana who just bought telco shares in Sri Lanka. The Jaffna tamils are probabily the richest people in Malaysia per capita.
Funny you have to mention the ceasefire when discussing this bombing.
ReplyDeleteOf course, before the CFA, these things never happened: The central bank, the Kolonnawa oil refinery, the World Trade Centre, Navy Commander killed, Neelan Thiruchelvam killed, Elephant Pass lost, Dalada Maligawa attacked, Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi attacked, Bhikkus killed in Aranthalawa, Kent Dollar farms attacked, our leading politicians killed, Prime minister's office attacked, the Pettah bomb, Maradana bomb, Town hall bomb , the Joint Operations Command attacked and the Airport attacked.
Everything is the fault of Ranil and the CFA - the same one Percy still hasn't torn up hyet.
“The richest man in Malasia is a Jaffna Tamil”, what’s the relevance of it here?
ReplyDeleteTerrorists would be treated as terrorists.
There were terrorist acts before the CFA, there were during it, there are after. Terrorists didn’t use air attacks before; they didn’t have such advanced satellite communication systems before; they had not penetrated the government controlled areas this deep before.
Not a happy situation. Luckily the casualties were minimal and the impact will not be great - it will be forgotten in a week.
ReplyDeleteOn the comment by Kalharie, these things are very difficult to stop. The Isrealis have tried for years.
The government is selling SLT to LTTE. This man is funding the terrorists and should be reported to interpol. Every pro-ltte has been shouting about him for the past few years.
ReplyDeletes---t just read this on your blog. Didn't know about it.
ReplyDeleteQ. What is SLT?
SLT - Sri Lanka Telecom - the premier telecommunications service provider in Sri Lanka.
ReplyDeleteThey started off with fixed line telephone, ran a monopoly for a long time, now offers the best internet services in the country (because they already had the infrastructure and the capital) and CDMA phones
SLT = Sri Lanka Telecom
ReplyDeleteSome details of that particular controvery are here:
http://lankawhistleblower.blogspot.com/2007/05/jvp-makes-us-10m-commission-charge-on.html
Thanks, ah yes...saw that one about the JVP.
ReplyDeleteOk. Looked at all three. Sri Lankan defence sites and Tamilnet. Tamilnet says bomb was on bicycle but doesn't say it is a suicide bomb attack which is weird.
Sounds terrible, I know its bad enough, but I am relieved it was not in the middle of Fort. When that happens the LTTE is desperate and won't stop at anything and then it will be even more like Israel and Palestine. Mahasen you said Fort!!!
I have to disagree with Jack Point. I think there is more hope for the two parties to come to a negotiation than Israel and Palestine.
ReplyDeleteThats why I was hoping it wasn't some crazy out of control killing spree.
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070524_01
ReplyDelete1st cross street - fort
Thanks, now its very clear.
ReplyDeleteYes there is definitely more hope for the resolution of the conflict than in Palestine, but the latest stament by Tamilselvam (which was not given much publicity, considering its seriousness) implies that implies that negotiations are further off than before.
ReplyDeletewhat I was saying is that it is very difficult to stop random attacks like these. It is simply impossible to guard every single place all the time. As the saying goes, they need to be lucky only once, we need to be lucky all the time.
Internationla pressure can be brought to bear on the LTTE to desist but for this to happen th government needs to improve its diplomacy. They need to do something more constructive in terms of trying to engage the LTTE, the international community seems to be pretty cheesed off with both parties at the moment.
Yes, actually, reading through what you wrote earlier, I can see the point you were making. ie the impossible task of protecting a city from guerila attacks.
ReplyDeleteHave you got Thamil selvam's statement by any chance? Havn't read it.
Actually its good that the internationals are pissed off with both parties. In some ways its good it is a third world country because they can't act arrogant like the US. Both are dependent on assistance.
The fact that LTTE has not let fly, says alot, because they are trying to show the world they are a legitimate millitary outfit. So that means they still think there is a chance of a settlement. At least thats my take on it. Im not an expert.
My instinct says that if they start letting fly, then their backs are to the wall and they don't think they have a chance in being included in a negotiated settlement.
All this is well and good. But my anxiety is also that the LTTE may accidently miss and hit a civilian target.
ReplyDeleteThen the government will have to show machismo to please the public and bomb rubble to dust.
Mahen the root of the problem was Sinhalese exterimism. In Malaysia Malay exterimisim and in Singapore Chinese extermism is very well controlled.
ReplyDeleteYou cannot go on the street to say X race is like this or like that. On and off some stupid people say some things in these countries but they never lead the country. Its like Pauline Hanson.
Jaffna Tamils have sucessfully developed Singapore because they could grow and the chinese caught up and most of the organisations mentioned earlier are managed today by chinese. You cannot solve a problem created in several generations in one go like in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is heading towards what prabha has formulated by bringing the fake sinhales Malaylee Mahinda PERCY Rajapaske and soon all out attacks on colombo can be expected.
Who is going to save Sri Lanka the fake sinhalese CBK and family or the tamil mudalai chetty fake sinahlese ranil and family.
Oh L, there need not be an accident, they have been intentionally targeting civilians
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tothecenter.com/news.php?readmore=1490
SOUTH ASIA TERRORISM PORTAL
Check this too L.
ReplyDeleteMahasen,
ReplyDeleteI didn't look at your links yet, will look at it soon after I post this up.
Just want to explain myself.
Its a bit complicated. I know they have in the past. And maybe also recently. But at the moment, if you noticed they are taking alot of care when bombing colombo to bomb military or strategic targets.
This sounds a terrible thing to say, because even when soldiers die, they are human beings...but it is sign of progress in that I think they are trying to show they are a legitimate millitary outfit.
What do you think?
Or it could also be that they are preserving the explosives brought in to Colombo.
ReplyDeleteBecause they bomb civilian targets without any hesitation outside.
Other fact is, foreign deligations feel the gravity only if incidents take place closer to their missions in colombo. LTTE knows that
Ok, Mahasen, this is very difficult because I am not an expert.
ReplyDeleteI am also intentionally not upto date with how many people got killed by which side. :-(
I think the place we have to go is the SLMM (Sri Lankan monitoring mission). Never looked it up before to be honest.
Meanwhile, here is what I do know, and this is where you are right, I am sure there are things happening in the North and East. Both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army have killed civilians. It is easy for both to do this, because that area is cut off from the rest of Sri lanka. This is why an independent monitoring mission is required. This is why there is a humanitarian crisis in those areas.
I should have been clear that I was refering to Colombo. Hope that clears the misunderstanding. And by the way I know that in the past, civilians have not just been killed by accident but also intentionally targetted. Eg. the central bank bombing. Actually one of my relatives got injured in the bombing.
The SLMM website is down at the moment.
Yes, regarding the effects of foreign people taking notice, that is possible.
ReplyDeleteWho knows Mahasen...I think we both are not the best people to speculate...!!!
I am definitely not an expert!
I have noticed, people keep quoting figures from SLMM.
Actually, we are talking about LTTE and Sri Lankan army, but now there is also Karuna :(
ReplyDeleteSLMM is not a trust worthy source of information. They are biased towards LTTE.
ReplyDeleteI do not beleive that government forces intentionally attacked civillians in the North and East, establishment of SLA camps depends a lot on civillians. I know this because I have friends and relatives. Existance of camps depends a lot on civilian community that surrounds it.
Karuna has been responsible for lot of massacres when he was with the LTTE, but now he’s not targeting the civilians.
ReplyDeletePut aside figures, I live in this country and all this is happening around me. People involved in these incidents are known to me or known by the people I know.
Mahasen, I am sure there are people in the Sri Lankan army who make an effort not to intentionally target civilians. And there are some outfits that have a good reputation. Your friends and relatives may be lucky that they are in those outfits.
ReplyDeleteUnfotunately, not just the Sri Lankan army, but every army in the world has bad eggs. Just imagine, there are hundreds of men with guns. They can't all be good. So sadly, there have been civilians who have been deliberately targeted.
Regarding the SLMM, actually the LTTE is also not happy with the SLMM so its really complicated. I have to look up and see why the LTTE has criticised the SLMM. I saw something in wikipedia, but they said they need a citation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka_Monitoring_Mission
I know alot of Tamils who don't like the SLMM.
ReplyDeleteSo can you see how complicated it is?
Anyway, I'll try and look up what the SLMM is all about and get back to you with that. LTTE have made many objections about them.
This is what happens in a war. It is a huge process to try to persuade the two sides to de-escalate the situation.
L, there certainly could have been isolated incidents where army soldiers deliberately assaulted civilians, but LTTE does that as an organization.
ReplyDeleteJack Point
ReplyDeleteIf you see this, let me know what Thamil Selvam said. Couldn't find anything on the internet and no one else seems to know.
Thanks.
L, just spent some time searching on the web myself, could'nt find it.
ReplyDeleteI saw it somewhere in the middle pages of a newspaper and also heard a bit of it announced on teh news.
The thing that stuck in my mind was that he had said the LTTE would never negotiate from a position of weakness. He then went on to say that if the government hopes that the military offensives conducted will weaken the LTTE and force them to come to talks, they are mistaken. They will never negotiate from such a position.
Or words to this effect.
I would agree with L in that of LATE the LTTE seems to have avoided hitting purely civillian targets.
ReplyDeleteThey have targeted the security forces, (eg the big bus bombing that killed 300 seamen) selected politicians or officials (Sarath Fonseka, Gota) but nothing like the Central Bank, World Trade Centre attacks.
Whether this is by accident or by design is not certain, but I believe it to be by design.
My reason is:
The world has changed since Sept 2001. There is an ongoing offensive against terrorism and the Tigers have had their wings clipped and taken a lot of flack as a part of this.
Ranil was one of the people who involved the US very early in the proceedings (right after he was elected in Dec 2001) and he brought them into the SL situation (along with the EU and Japan as part of the donor co-chairs).
At that time the US was keen on ensuring that terrorism should be stamped out everywhere and Ranil brought them into the local peace process to help keep the tigers under pressure.
The LTTE is finding is fundraising hampered and its operations constrained due to them being classified as a terrorist orgainsation.
More importantly, they want recognition. There is no point having a state if no one recognises you, something Taiwan (which goes around the world trying to buy countries to grant them recognition - only a handful of Carribbean and Pacific islands do) has a lot of experience in.
There is not much point in having a state if no one recognises you.
The LTTE, with an eye on the longer term goal is anxious to avoid being lumped with Al Quaeda.
On preventing these attacks, there is one thing they can do.
ReplyDeleteMove the army camps out ofteh city of Colombo. Why does the army hedaquarters have to occupy prime land in Colombo 2? The airforce has some buildings next to the Queens Club, and also something a little way past the Trans Asia Hotel that causes a traffic jams when they barricade bits of it.
They can easily move the army to a more remote location. A purpose built facility will be more secure and will separate the civillian population from the armed forces.
They could move all the politicians offices to Kotte, near the Parliament as well, this would also reduce the risk to the civillian population.
There are some fine colonial-era buildings including the army hospital plus the official residences of the army commander as well as the land that can be disposed of to pay for the move to new premises. There is superb tourism and redevelopment potential locked up behind the barricades - if only we had peace.
While they are about it, the airforce can jolly well hand back the Queens Club club house (on Bullers Rd) that was "acquired" under land reform, back to the club.
I agree with Ravi on moving military establishments away from metropolitan area. That's safer for them as well as the public.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jack Point
ReplyDeleteMahasen,
ReplyDeleteI said I would do some reading up about SLMM.
I found the website difficult to access all this time.
One consistent fact I found out from looking at other sites is that the SLMM recorded over 1000 ceasefire violations (I think around 3000?) compared to just under 200 violations by the government.
So who do I believe? The LTTE that the SLMM is biased or the Sri Lankan army that the SLMM is biased?
Anyway just following up things because I said I would.