TAMIL NATIONAL FORUM
Selected Writings -
Fr.
Chandiravarman Sinnathurai
What Questions Are Worth Asking?
27 April 2006
Why
is it that all the focus is on Trinco?
Does Colombo want all Tamils to vacate Trincomalee?
International media reports seem to suggest the attack that took place on the
25th of April in the Sri Lanka (SL) Army HQ complex � a High Security Zone (HSZ)
had a prime target. The goal was to assassinate the Army Commander Sarath
Fonseka. All indications seem to prove that was the case. Our friends in the
media, however, have all gone pear shaped by �jumping to conclusions� by putting
the whole blame on the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).
Soon after this incident initial word came that the Commander Fonseka was
mortally wounded. The National Hospital reportedly said, immediately after the
operation, even though the commander is still in critical condition, his medical
state has stabilised. It�s like saying in Tamil: �Sugam varum anal arll
thapathu!� (He�ll recover, but he won�t survive). Reliable medical sources have
whispered that this is a euphemism to mean that the commander has slipped into a
coma. Among the others who sustained mortal injuries were Major Wickremasinghe,
Lance Corporals Jayasakera and D.G Seneviratne along with female officer Sithara
Gunatileke. All these military personnels' lives are hanging on a slender
thread.
The Sri Lanka intelligence community have unanimously put forward some logical
questions. Explosion experts will need to be invited to investigate whether this
was truly a human bomb blast. Either way this could very well be an �inside
job,� or done with the connivance of �internal forces.� This can of course lead
to a series of questions. Is there a dangerous rift developing within the army?
Did this come about as a failure to cooperate for an attempted coup? Now, who
planted the bomb? Is Sri Lanka moving away from a police state to becoming a
military dictatorship? Call it a conspiracy theory, but questions and doubts are
currently being raised within the echelons of power and in the Sinhala Street!
Soon after the HQ attack, the SL forces engaged in revenge attacks. Israeli Kfir
jets bombed, while from the land and sea there was shelling and artillery fire.
Tragically,
their targets were Tamil civilians in Trinco. It is reported that Trinco is
in a war situation. BBC has reported that over 35,000 Tamils have been displaced
in Trinco. Why is it that all the focus is on Trinco? Does Colombo want all
Tamils to vacate Trincomalee?
The International Community is yet to condemn the state terror unleashed on
Tamil civilians. Why?
The neighbouring superpower India has not looked favourably on the attacks on
the Tamils. China has voiced that she would help Sri Lanka to safeguard her
territorial integrity. The EU-rope is watching with alacrity, while it seems the
US is beginning to keep her options open! Observers claim that there is room for
possible a geopolitical shift.
If the international media allegation against the Tamil Tigers, based solely on
the premise of �guilty until proven innocent,� were to be right, then tags along
with it some interesting questions which beg serious answers.
Many Sinhala commentators, however, believe that even if the �bomber� were to
pose as a pregnant wife of an army official, the guards would have checked her
carefully. In the process of a thorough security body check, a female guard
would have easily discovered the plot. That was not to be. If the human bomb was
a Tamil, suspicions would have doubly risen owing to her accent. Gone are the
days of any Tamil army officials in the Sinhala army � no decent Tamil would
ever want to join such a genocidal killing system. Was this �human bomb� then a
Sinhala? Did the human bomb bribe the guards in order to sneak her in to the
complex and to be close to the intended target? What does this story line tell
about the security system in the heart of the Army HQ? How did the so-called
human bomb glean intelligence, including of the precise timing of the
Commander�s exit?
All these questions point one to deduce that this increasingly looks less like a
suicide attack, but more like a perfect inside job. This attempted assassination
ought to have served someone�s (or a group) sinister plan to capture the seat of
power.
Colombo�s sinister plan is two-fold. Firstly is to find a pretext to attack
Trinco by air in order to see the defensive capability of the Tigers. Secondly,
to immediately frame this incident as a �Suicide attack� and to turn this on the
Tamils for their reputation to be tarnished and to implicate them with the
international terrorist network. The SL Foreign Ministry would love to see a
negative world opinion against the Tamils. Colombo will go any distance to
achieve this! The Tamil Tigers have carefully strangulated Colombo�s sinister
strategy.
It must be noted that the Black Tigers are an elite suicide squad. There is no
need for the Tamils to hide this fact. However, the highly disciplined Black
Tiger �Tatkodai padai� [self-giving force employing the concept of uyirautam �
utilising life as weapon] always claimed that they attacked solely military
targets. Practical and tactical reasons have necessitated the Tigers to form
such a force in order to fight against a bigger; ruthless and ferocious enemy
called state terror. Tamil Tigers have insisted that they have not breached the
Ceasefire Agreement. It is now common knowledge that, even though many civilians
died owing to the SL air strikes, the Tigers observed restraint from
retaliating.
One must underscore that the Tamils Tigers did not �pull out of the Peace Talks�
as the international media are wrongly reporting. Since the Geneva ? Talks,
Colombo had no intentions to fulfil any of the commitments that were made in
Switzerland. Over a hundred civilians had been killed since first Geneva Talks
and many have involuntarily �disappeared,� including the abductions of the seven
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization workers!
Its not rocket science to work out that Colombo had twin intentions. One was to
seduce the international community by their charm offensive and to engage in a
covert and overt genocidal war against the Tamils. The second one was to corner
the Tiger by the tail. The latter has failed miserably only to reveal the true
intentions of state terror.
Sadly, in Sri Lanka today you can do any horrendous job and blame it on the
Tamils. In all of this, Mr President comes across as a colossal failure. With no
second thought or any intelligence President Rajapaksha was prompt in ordering
the revenge air strikes.
The international community has, of course, a moral obligation to take note and
act promptly in protecting the Tamils from state terror. |
