Terrorist horrors faded away on May 19, 2009
by Ranil Wijayapala
The Sri Lankan nation which rose up brushing aside the dust of war
within the past six to seven months after the death of that megalomaniac
terrorist Velupillai Prabhakaran on May 19,2009 in the banks of
Nanthikadal lagoon, still cannot erase the memories of those brutal
massacres, which are still haunting their minds.
They can remember the way the entire nation wept and moaned when the
innocent children who were to take over this country were brutally
massacred by those ruthless terrorists.
The massacre in Kebithigollewa on June 15, 2006 and the suicide blast
on February 3, 2008 at the Fort railway station were added to the
history of this nation as the bloodiest days since they were not mere
bomb blasts that devastated the country but events that put this nation
in a deep sorrow for generations.
The ruthless terrorists had no bounds for their terror acts. The
rural folk, the urban middle class, the Sinhalese, Muslims and even
Tamils became victims to their brutal terror.
Those brutal terrorists who now lie peacefully in their graves put
the country in sorrow on June 15, 2006. It was just and usual news for
the people of this country which was marred by terrorism when they heard
a passenger bus was caught in a bomb blast. But it did not become simple
news for the country when the story unfolded in detail by the media.
When villagers of Yakavewa, Halmillewa, Kanugahavewa an Thalgahavewa
in the far end of the Anuradhapura district moaned, the entire nation
joined them. But the most tragic instance came very late and people
could not bear up when they saw a row of rosy faced little kids laid on
the floor of the Kebithigollewa hospital. They had closed their eyes for
ever not to see the world which had been cruel to them.
This horror scene scared the parents of their future and more than
ever of their young ones when they saw those rosy faces of the innocent
children and the parents who were weeping over their lost souls.
Sixty four innocent civilians including 15 children were killed and
87 others injured in that brutal Tiger bomb blast targeting this
passenger bus which was plying to Kebithigollewa. The Tiger terrorists
triggered off the twin claymore mines after counting until the very
moment, that they could make much damage and spread shock waves across
the country.
Most of the children killed were attending the Kebithigollewa
hospital children’s clinic. Some of the dead and injured included
students attending tuition classes for the Year 5 Scholarship
examination.
Among the dead was an extended family of 35 and a Buddhist Monk, Ven.
Aparekke Suddassa Thera who was going for a funeral in Vavuniya.
Around 40 others in the bus were also attending the same
funeral.Fifty eight of them died on the spot. At least 160 persons had
been inside the bus
But, that unfortunate incident could put this country in a determined
path of war against terrorism. The hapless villagers were not left
behind unlike in the past. The Head of State and the Commander in Chief,
President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself reached the place to share the
sorrow of those villagers on the very same day despite the threats on
his life.
He mingled with the sorrow stricken parents sharing their feelings as
if it was his own children who were killed in this incident. Tears
dropped from his own eyes when the parents moaned over their dead
children and showed their tiny bodies to him. But he stood with the firm
determination to get rid of this curse, terrorism, and to be a strength
to these people battered by the brutal terrorist acts.
A well planned program to strengthen the security of these threatened
villages in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Ampara, Trincomalee and
Puttalam districts after reorganizing the Home Guard service into a
Civil Security Department, a program to improve the infrastructure
facilities in those villages were commenced immediately after this
tragic incident that placed the entire nation in sorrow.
The bodies of those bomb victims were buried under State patronage
when the entire nation was weeping over theirs deaths while making a
firm commitment to get rid of Tiger terrorism from the country. More
than 10,000 mourners gathered at this mass burial.
But that was not the end of their brutal terrorism. They continued
with the very same terror tactics even when they were facing severe
defeats in the battlefront in the East and in the Wanni.
They carriedout number of bomb blasts targeting well-known
politicians, and civilian targets.
But is was on the eve of the 60th Independence Day in Colombo when
the entire nation was preparing to celebrate. The Tiger terrorist once
again came out with yet another brutal terror attack in Colombo Fort
railway station.
Once again shock waves spread in the country as it took the precious
lives of teenagers who were about to breathe the fresh air of their
youth.
Seven members of the baseball team from D.S. Senanayake College
Colombo and its coach and two other teenage girls were killed as a
female suicide cadre blew herself up inside the Fort railway station to
avoid being arrested by Police sleuths.
Lives of nine children were brutally taken away by the Fort Railway
station bomb blast on February 3, They had vivid dreams for their
future.
Some of them wanted to become pilots, while others doctors. Some were
excellent sportsmen while others were prolific dancers. Yet, all hopes
was shattered in an instant, crushed by the inhumane hand of terrorism
which took innocent lives from both sides of the ethnic divide.
Supun Halalle, Eranda Chaturanga, Thivanka Thisera, Kolitha Kumara,
Rajaratnam Rateeswaran, Dinuth Piyasanka, Vimukthi Sajan along with
Malinda Amaradura, the coach of the baseball team were among those 11
people killed at Fort railway station bomb blast. They had just returned
to Colombo from Kandy after participating in a baseball tournament.There
is no need to express the feelings of the parents who lost their
children who were to shine like stars in society.
The school and the entire nation lost the talents of those youngsters
forever, becoming victims of terror before rendering their yeoman
service to the nation as citizens of this country.
The entire nation once again faced a similar situation to that, that
created ethnic violence in 1983, when the bodies of these children were
taken to D.S. Senanayake College for the students and the staff to pay
their last respects.
But the entire nation once again tolerated this act of terror as they
were aware that the country was in the winning path against LTTE
terrorism. They waited patiently and tightened their belts to move fast
with the war against terrorism as they were aware that their patience
will one day bring peace to the country.
At the same time the citizens of this country were aware that the
country was on the correct path of winning the war and they were not
moved by any of the terror attacks like the Piliyandala bus bomb and
several other blasts that took place in Colombo and the suburbs.It was
on May 19, 2009 they realized that their patience has brought fruitful
results as they saw the body of the megalomaniac terrorist Velupillai
Prabakaran on the banks of Nanthikadal lagoon.
It was the day they breathed a sigh of relief as they were fully
aware that an era of terror had gone with the eradication of terrorism
from the country.
-RANIL
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