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| Sunday, 1 August 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Will Colombo become a killing field ? Hostilities between forces loyal to LTTE leader Prabhakaran and his former confidant Karuna, confined to the North East, spilled over to Colombo last week with the massacre of eight persons, identified as senior aides of the renegade commander, at a safe house in Kottawa. Preliminary investigations point to the LTTE as being the perpetrators of the brutal slaying.
The LTTE, however, have been quick to counter any accusations by claiming the massacre was committed by dissidents of the Karuna faction. While who actually committed the gruesome murders remain moot, more pertinent is the question as to what the eight members were doing in Colombo. And perhaps more significantly, whether Colombo will become the killing field in the latest sequel of the Prabha-Karuna War? by Jayampathy Jayasinghe Last week's massacre of eight people at an isolated residence at Kottawa allegedly by cadres loyal to the LTTE hierarchy clearly demonstrate that they have the capacity to execute assassinations of their adversaries no matter where they are, whether they be in Colombo or in the North-East. The bodies of seven persons killed have been identified by relatives of the victims at the Colombo morgue. They are Ponadrai Thurainathan, Sivaprakashu, Kandiah, Balakumar, Ganneshan, Murugesu Selvarajah of Batticoloa. However one person has yet to be identified, police said. According to the Tamil Net the slain members of the Karuna faction has been identified as Kauhasesan , Castro, Kesavan, Ruban, Atparan, Vickey and Vimalkanth. Kuhanesan had acted as the second in command to Karuna in the renegade group. Kuhanesan was one of the fourteen members of the renegade group arrested in June at a Buddhist temple in Hingurakgoda near Polonnaruwa before being released. According to reports Tamil Tigers have warned the relatives and parents of the slain men not to bring the bodies to Batticoloa to hold the funeral ceremonies. LTTE cadres had visited the homes of each of those killed and had threatened the parents and relatives that the slain men were considered as traitors. The shaken parents and relatives were unable to finalise anything about what to do when they receive the dead bodies of their dear ones. Meantime posters were pasted in may parts of Batticoloa warning public not to participate in the funeral ceremony of the slain men alleged to belong to Karuna's group. While, the Northeast remains tense, with anticipated Karuna retaliation, the west has been baffled as to how swiftly and meticulously the killers were able to execute their operation without the knowledge of the neighbours. In fact the neighbours had heard the noise of crackers being lit at around 3.30. a.m. But no one had bothered to find out what it was all about although it was an odd time. True, Sunday before last was an auspicious day and many would have thought the lighting of crackers were connected to a wedding ceremony. But had the neighbours became a little inquisitive they would have found out what was going on in that house. Why were the neighbours so complacent about it? Was it because they were too frightened to step outside their homes sensing some danger? Or were they simply reluctant to get involved in trouble, knowing the hassle of making statements to the police as pointed by a senior police officer? What ever it may be, the residential environment notwithstanding, the aloof attitude of the neighbours provided the perfect setting to commit the gruesome murders. In fact, even after the massacre, it took some time for the police to realise the seriousness of the killing. The police were galvanised into action only after the Secretary, Public Security, Law and Order, Tilak Ranavirajah had queried from the police as to whether there had been any reports of a massacre. There were numerous queries from the media who peppered the secretary for details about the massacre. Finally when the police located the house at Kottawa, they found the bodies of eight persons in an upstair room. Apparently all of them had been shot dead with an Uzi machine gun, while they were fast asleep. The bodies were lying in pools of blood. Police said the luxury, upstair house at Malabe road, Kottawa was rented out to a group of persons early this month by one Gunesekera, who had gone on holiday. In fact neighbours had seen occupants of the house travelling about in luxury vehicles. But strangely no one knew who they were or what they were doing there. At a media briefing held last week, the Secretary Defence, Cyril Herath emphatically stated that a body of a military intelligence person was not found among the bodies at the Kottawa residence. The body of a Sinhala person found there had been identified as one Dammika, a bulldozer operator from Polonnaruwa. IGP Indra de Silva said that Dammika had been identified as one Samarakoon Mudiyanselage Herath, residing at 253 Neluwa Wewa, Polonnaruwa. The Defence Secretary, explained that intelligence services cannot be faulted for their failure in collecting information with regard to every terrorist act. If that was possible, there would not be terrorist activity anywhere, he reiterated. He said it becomes possible to gather such information through an organised group once it is penetrated. However, if members of a splinter terrorist group decide to act on their own accord, it becomes difficult for an intelligence gathering organisation to monitor such activity. Asked whether the LTTE was responsible for the massacre of eight people, the Defence Secretary said there was no clear evidence of their involvement and the matter is being investigated by the CID. Meanwhile the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vidar Helgessen and the facilitator of the Peace Process who met LTTE Political Wing Leader S.P. Thamilchelvan at Killinochchi last week said the killings at Kottawa cannot be attributed to any group till investigations are completed. LTTE's Political Wing Leader S.P. Thamilchelvan speaking to the press in Killinoichchi last week said the massacre at Kottawa was due to internal rivalry within the Karuna group itself. Meanwhile several reports had indicated the two assassins responsible for the massacre had fled to Batticoloa and had surrendered to the LTTE hierarchy. Several rumours were afloat that an opportunity would be afforded for the press to meet the two assassins but political sources dismissed the idea. Public Security, Law and Order's Ministry's Secretary Tilak Ranavirajah said that government has decided to strengthen security in Colombo after the Kottawa massacre. A new scheme would be introduced to prevent terrorist cadres infiltrating the city of Colombo in future. However it becomes a difficult task to detect them once they enter the city with arms and ammunition. "We hope to stop the issuance of Passport and National Identity cards in a day to prevent forgeries," he said. The Secretary however assured the government does not intend setting up road barriers to cause inconvenience to the public. Referring to the massacre at Kottawa he blamed the neighbours for their complacency in not informing the police. There are plans to set up a new system at Mirihana Police Communication Centre for anybody to pass valuable information to the police. The Nugegoda Police probing the massacre at Kottawa will have to find answers to several questions? First and foremost, will they have to establish how many people had lived in the house at Kottawa? What their mission was and why they selected a secluded neighbourhood? What went wrong and who were the killers? Was it rivalry between different terrorist groups and how did they smuggle in a deadly Uzi machine gun to Colombo despite tight security. The answer to these questions won't be that easy and may take time. Meanwhile a website report stated quoting a Karuna field commander an LTTE cadre had given the Karuna faction group drudged porridge at the Kottawa residence and had left a door open for the LTTE hitmen to come and finish them of. The field commander had identified LTTE cadre as one Thabo who had earlier lived in a rented house at Rajagiriya. But karuna faction leader Kuhanesan fearing that LTTE spies had located his house had shifted to the Kottawa residence two weeks ago. However the group was not aware that Thabo was hatching a deadly plan to liquidate them all, the field Commander said. Thabo had acted in such a manner that he had won the confidence of Kuhanesan and was in charge of finance and food. It was he who went to the market to purchase provisions and cooked meals and served them to the group. Thabo served the heavily drugged meal to the eight cadres who are said to have become unconscious soon after consuming it and then he had kept the back door unlocked for the LTTE hitmen to enter the house as planned. The killers had slipped into the house around 3.30. a.m. and had shot the eight cadres at point blank range with 9.mm automatic Browning pistols fixed with silencers. The slaying was carried out with exact precision and was over within minutes a Karuna loyalist was quoted as saying. Soon after the slaying the hit squad had done a quick search of the house for clues about Karuna. They had also removed cards in the mobile telephones of the slain men apparently to find out with whom they had been in contact. The killers had then accompanied Thabo to the East. |
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