Security guards mix up priorities

The LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran unleashed yet another blood thirst act on Wednesday, exactly 24 hours after his so-called 'annual speech' in which he manifested his clear desperation over his shattered dream of Tamil Eelam, claiming the lives of another set of innocent civilians.

The parcel bomb which was kept at the parcel counter of the "No Limit" fashion store in Nugegoda went off exactly at 5.55 pm on Wednesday, leaving another book of lessons for the general public have been under constant threat of LTTE terror for the past three decades.

The parcel bomb was detected as the country was on a high alert anticipating Tiger attempts for a blood bath in the South as was indicated in their attempt to take the life of Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, the long time enemy of LTTE leader Prabhakaran, by deploying a physically handicapped woman suicide cadre.

The video clip of the suicide attack, which seems to be the first recording of a suicide blast live, by Closed Circuit TV (CCTV), perhaps for the first time in history, will give a clear picture about the brazenness of such suicide cadres in accomplishing their targets.

It is now very clear that the innocent civilians near Nugegoda junction after their office work, the school children after their tuition classes and those who were doing their shopping rounds, for no fault of theirs became victims of a Tiger bomb allowing the Tiger leader to achieve his motive.

The Police investigations into the incident has revealed that the parcel bomb went off exactly 12 minutes after it was 'spotted' as a suspected bomb left there at the parcel counter by a person.

The security guard in charge of the counter had observed that the person who kept the parcel behind hurrying away from the scene.

Own parcels

Few minutes later he had disclosed his suspicions to another security guard, who and in turn went inside to the store to tell the Manager. The security officer then had sought the assistance for a police constable on traffic duty to check on the parcel.

According to eye witnesses the constable had dug into the parcel and identified it as a bomb and called for pair of scissors to cut the wires off and when he tried to do that, the exploded bomb.

The most important factor behind this story is that many of the people who were inside the shop have, having known that it was a bomb to rushed to collect their own parcels at the counter, totally ignoring the risk.

According to investigations many of the people who had been killed in the blast were those who had rushed to collect their parcels from the counter, knowingly or unknowingly that there was a suspicious looking parcel being searched near the parcel counter.

It is unfortunate to note that this kind of incident had to take place at a time when people who have been already well educated by the relevant authorities regarding the possibilities of bomb explosions, targeting civilians.

The deaths, casualties and the damages could also have been averted if the people were removed from the scene. The Police officer who was on traffic duty could have easily done that without unnecessarily trying to do a search of the parcel, as he lacks the basic knowledge to defuse bombs.

Not only that, had the security officer at the counter was intelligent enough to question the person with the parcel was moving away from the scene.

The most unfortunate fact is that people think more about their financial gains than the risk factors. It is regrettable to note that the conductor and the driver of the private bus plying on route no. 154 thought more about their financial gains when passengers detected a suspicious looking bag which was later identified as a suicide kit.

If they had stopped the bus soon after they detected the bag they could have easily identified the person who had kept the bag. But they have waited until the last passenger got down from the bus and then to hand over the suspicious bag to the Bambalapitiya Police station.

As a nation experienced with ruthless terror acts of the LTTE for the past two and half decades should be determined to become part and parcel of the campaign against terrorism to rid the country from the menace.

They also should shoulder the responsibility along with the Security Forces and the Police protecting the civil society from terror acts of the LTTE.

Once Security Forces and the Police detect lorry loads of bombs and armouries filled with claymore mines and explosives the civilians should be vigilant on the suspicious people around them and act responsibly to avoid unfortunate incidents of this nature.

They should be aware that thousands of such incidents have been thus avoided due to increased surveillance by the Security Forces and the Police and also by adopting measures which made the Security Forces and the Police more unpopular among public.

But people should be aware that those unpopular measures taken by the defence authorities contributed vastly to increase the security in the South and if they were discouraged by criticisms levelled against them one after the other, the things would have been easy for the LTTE to achieve their goal easily.

The civil society should be made aware as to why Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is resorting to desperate acts of this nature. The LTTE has very clearly demonstrated that there is no regard for humanity by using a polio-disabled suicide cadre targeting the life of Minister Douglas Devananda.

Colleague

But this time too, Minister Devananda was fortunate enough to save his life from the Tiger death squadron. It was not only his good luck, but also his knowledge about the terror tactics adopted by the Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran from his own experience by associating with him for a quite long time as a colleague.

That was the main r eason Prabhakaran dispatched a human bomb to take the life of Minister Devananda, after he talked about a peaceful resolution to the North East conflict in his annual speech given from a clandestine location in the Wanni, as he is well aware that his existence was a threat to his life due to his intimate knowledge about Prabhakaran.

Therefore, there is a need to protect the life of Minister Douglas Devananda at any cost as he is an asset that could challenge terrorism directly and also an example to show how he embraced the path of democracy denouncing violence.

One major factor is exposed through these desperate acts of the LTTE, in Narahenpita and Nugegoda that they are now not in a position to bear the brunt of the Security Forces pressure on them both from Northern and Wanni fronts.

They have taken the cover of their false media campaign that eleven Tamil students were killed in an uncleared area due to claymore attack by the Long Range Patrolling Groups of the Security Forces.

But intelligence reports have confirmed that they were not school children but a medical team supporting the battlefront in the West of Omanthai where heavy fighting erupts on a daily basis. One cadre of the Charles Anthony Brigade has also been killed in this incident according to the reports reaching from Wanni.

The LTTE had taken this flimsy excuse to unleash violence against the innocent civilians in the South ignorant of the fact that each and every incident taking place in Wanni is reported to the Security Forces through their intelligence network which the LTTE leader weakened under the cover of the Ceasefire Agreement.

Terror campaign

One major factor behind these violent acts is their failure to scuttle the Government's efforts to see an end to the terror campaign of the LTTE, by engaging in various violence acts in the South to divert the attention of the Security Forces from the Northern and Wanni battle fronts.

The Security Forces have now arrested one LTTE cadre who had infiltrated the Yala National Park to launch attacks on Thalgasmankada Army detachment on October 15. He has revealed that a group of 18 Tiger cadres entered the Yala National Park from Kanchikudichchiaru jungle for this attack.

They have been supported by outsiders by dropping food parcels at locations on Buttala-Kataragama road to feed the Tiger cadres inside the jungle.

Therefore, Security Forces firmly believe that there is outside support for Tiger cadres hiding inside the Yala National Park.

Therefore the Tiger leader would have thought it is a futile attempt to engage in such activities to divert the attention of the Security Forces outside the North and East. The increasing strength of the Sri Lanka Army has no way affected the on-going operations in the North and East as they have enough strength to deploy at any part of the country whether it is Yala National Park or Mahavilachchiya area.

The LTTE would have been unaware of fact that Sri Lanka Army had deployed more than 1,000 soldiers apart from the Special Forces and Commando troops deployed to conduct search operations inside the Yala National Park along with a strength of over 1,200 strong Civil Security Forces and 500 Police personnel to secure the area.

The strength of the Sri Lanka Army has increased with the recruitment of 30,000 youth this year alone. Out of this 16,000 are now undergoing training at various parts of the country, to be deployed later in other parts of the country.

The Tiger outfit has been beaten up to the maximum level in both fronts. That was why the Tiger leader made a plea to the international community to save them from this grave situation while blaming them for keeping silent against the oppression against them by the Security Forces.

According to Security Forces 1,900 Tiger cadres have been killed in the Wanni battle front alone since February this year. In the month of October alone 500 Tiger cadres have been killed in both Mannar, Vavuniya and Jaffna fronts.

Therefore, the Tiger outfit is facing severe manpower shortage at this decisive juncture and they have left with only 200,000 people many of them aged and disabled to be recruited.

The Security Forces believe that they are now in decisive juncture of the war as they are now in a position to challenge the strong holds in Killinochchi and Mullaitivu.

Man power shortage

Though this situation cannot be compared with the situation at the late 1990s at the height of the Jaya Sikurui operation which could be able to secure major portion of Wanni by engaged in military operation only along the main supply routes, the Security Forces are now in a strong position as they have left no room for the LTTE to defeat the Security Forces at any means.

The Security Forces are now in a firm and steady move towards their Wanni strong hold to see and end to the terror of LTTE leader Prabhakaran.

According to intelligence reports the LTTE leaders are not even using telephones and not sleeping in their comfortable hideouts fearing they be detected by the Security Forces and come under air raids.

Considering these factors the common masses of this country should strengthen the hands of the Security Forces setting aside their political affinities, to see an end to the decades long suffering at the hand of the LTTE reacting responsibly to the situation created by the LTTE to scuttle the Security Forces efforts.