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Sri Lanka: Attempt on Pak envoy’s life : Aerial bombing kills school children

	August 21, 2006

Sri Lanka is on the brink as violence threatens to disrupt the 2002 ceasefire between Colombo and the LTTE. While the Pakistan High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Bashir Wali Mohammed, narrowly escaped an LTTE suicide bomb attack, which was a warning to Pakistan not to arm Colombo, at least 100 LTTE fighters were killed in the Jaffna peninsula after the Tamil Tigers launched an attack on the Forward Defence Line of the Sri Lankan forces in Kilally. The LTTE alleged that the Sri Lankan air attack on a school killed over 60 girls and injured 155 whom the Government described as child soldiers.



The suicide bomb attack aimed at the Pakistan High Commissioner in Colombo took place on August 14 just as cricket teams of three countries – Sri Lanka, India and South Africa – were about to hold the inaugural match. This prompted the South African team to think of withdrawing from the championship.



The Pakistani envoy had a narrow escape when an LTTE suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden three-wheeler into his motorcade in the heart of Colombo on August 14. He escaped unhurt, but seven people, including four army commandos who were in an escort jeep were killed. Three bystanders were also killed and 10 others were injured in the Claymore mine attack. His car was badly damaged. A government statement said the three-wheeler driven by an alleged LTTE suicide bomber was prevented from reaching the target by the military escort vehicle. Bashir Wali Mohammed was returning from a flag hosting ceremony to mark Pakistan’s Independence Day. Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka have condemned the attempt on the life of the Pakistani envoy.



The Defence Ministry spokesman blamed the LTTE for the blast. The spokesman, Rambukwella, said the attack was a sign that the rebels would not stop pushing us for war. He told a Press conference that the LTTE targeted the envoy because he arranged arms supplies to bolster Sri Lanka’s war against Tamil Tigers.



The widespread thinking in both official and unofficial circles in Colombo is that the Pakistani envoy was targeted because his country has emerged as a key source of military supplies to Sri Lanka after India refused to sell offensive weapons. It was with the help of the Multi-Barrel Rocket Launchers (MBRLs) supplied by Pakistan that the Sri Lankan Army was able to drive the LTTE out of Jaffna. And, in the ongoing war, the MBRLs supplied by Pakistan are tormenting the LTTE on both the northern and eastern fronts. Sri Lankan nationalists never tire of saying that Pakistan and China have been Sri Lanka’s only true friends as they have been friends during war.



Pakistan is also said to be cultivating the Muslim minority in Sri Lanka with which the LTTE has been at odds. Envoy Bashir Wali Mohammed, with an intelligence background, is believed to have been quite active in this regard. The LTTE has been complaining about the existence of a ‘Jehad’ and an ‘Osama’ group among the Muslims in the troubled eastern province. A Pakistani hand is suspected in the development of these shadowy groups.



Bashir Mohammend was posted as High Commissioner in June 2004 and since then has been very active in promoting military-to-military relationship between Sri Lanka and Pakistan and liaison between the intelligence agencies of the two countries. Since Rajapakse took over as President in Nov. last year, Sri Lanka which had received from Pakistan a consignment of weapons, communication and other equipment suited for counter-insurgency operations against the LTTE in 2001 has sought more military supplies from Pakistan. It is learnt that Bashir Wali, who enjoys a clout with Musharraf, has been playing an active role in pushing through supply of all the equipment sought by Sri Lanka. It is also learnt that part of this is to be supplied as a gift and a part is to be sold at reduced prices. The LTTE also suspects that Pakistani Air Force officers with experience of air-mounted operations against Baloch freedom-fighters, have been training Sri Lankan Air Force officers and that this should account for the success of the recent air strikes of the Sri Lankan Air Force against the LTTE forces on the ground as well as against the LTTE’s Navy. There have been reports that Rajapakse proposes to raise a Muslim regiment in the eastern province to counter the LTTE, suggesting that Sri Lanka has been seeking Pakistani assistance for this too.



The LTTE attack caused a shadow on the triangular cricket series the opening match of which was due to take place in Colombo. The suicide bomb attack took place just one and a half km from the hotel where the Indian and South African cricket teams were staying. While the Indian team had no problem to stay on if adequate security like bullet proof buses were provided, the South African team thought of returning home because of security concerns. The Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Nirupama Rao also held a series of meetings with Sri Lankan security officials who assured her of the very best and fool-proof security for the Indian cricket team. New Delhi demanded a bullet proof bus to carry the Indian cricket team from hotel to the playground.



Jaffna fighting

The Army blamed the LTTE for the latest offensive in the Jaffna peninsula alleging that they attacked the security forces Forward Defence Line at Killaly and suffered heavy casualties and deaths in the counter attacks.



The Jaffna attack itself was preceded by an air strike by government forces on a school in the Tamil Tiger-controlled Mullaittivu district on August 14. Both the Government and the Tamil Tigers are giving different versions about the facility which was targeted. The LTTE alleged that it was an orphanage and the bombing of the building killed at least 61 school girls and boys in the age group of 15-18 and injured 150 others. It said, the girls from various schools in the nearby districts of Mullaittivu and Kilinochchi were staying overnight at the compound attending a two-day course in first aid. But at a Press conference in Colombo, the Govt. Defence spokesman, Rambukwella claimed that the air strike was not on a school or orphanage but in one LTTE training camp . Army spokesman Athula Jayawardene said the military had been tracking the facility in Mullaittivu district since 2004 and bombed it only after carrying out fool-proof checks.



The government claim has however been rejected both by the UNICEF and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The UNICEF which runs programmes in Mullaittivu district and sent a team to the reported bombing site, said in a statement that the victims were innocent children. The SLMM which also dispatched its team, disputed the government version and said it saw no evidence of any military facility. Defying international condemnation the Sri Lankan Government declared that it considered children killed in the air attack to be legitimate targets. “If the children are terrorists, what can we do?” the military spokesman said.



“This latest incident comes amidst escalating hostilities in Sri Lanka in recent weeks , where tens of thousands of children were displaced from their homes. Hundreds of children have been injured, lost family members, and live in constant fear of the violence and continuous shelling of their communities,” the statement said.



The Sri Lankan Government in a statement said it is ready for talks with the LTTE. It was responding to a purported LTTE statement to this effect. However, Puleedevan of the political wing of the LTTE denied that the Tamil Tigers had made any fresh offer of talks.



Political noises against Sri Lanka have grown in India also particularly from Tamil Nadu after the spurt in violence and the killing of school children in air raids in Mullaittivu. The Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a Government- sponsored resolution on August 17 condemning the “massacre of innocent Sri Lankan Tamils” by the Sri Lankan armed forces . “This House expresses its shock over the death of 61 girl students… and strongly condemns the uncivilized, barbaric, inhuman and atrocious act of the Sri Lankan armed forces”. The Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) which staged a walkout in protest against the Centre “remaining a mute spectator” supported the Government-sponsored resolution.



MDMK leader Vaiko accused the island nation of being a terrorist state carrying out planned genocide of Tamils. He warned New Delhi against considering military assistance to Sri Lanka. Vaiko said he has requested the Prime Minister to send a delegation of MPs to Mullaittivu to find out the truth. The CPI(M) has also in a statement urged the Sri Lankan Government to immediately halt bombing of civilian areas in the North-East. It asked both the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to exercise restraint and explore avenues for negotiations. It also urged the Manmohan Singh Government to use all diplomatic and political channels to avert a full-scale civil war in Sri Lanka.



Observers say, the undeclared war amidst a declared ceasefire had to happen. The “no-war, no peace” situation – and the negotiations that skirted the political issues at the root of the Tamil-Sinhala conflict- had gone on for long enough. No longer was such a (peace) process unsustainable. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) knows that talks will never deliver a separate state. A militarist outfit thrives on confrontation. Protracted negotiations requiring the LTTE to keep its powder dry can be sapping.



The LTTE provided the trigger with its blockade of water supply, which set eastern Trincomalee as the stage for military attacks and LTTE massacres. The intense fighting between the Sri Lankan security forces (SLSF) and the LTTE has escalate to full-scale hostilities over a much larger area. The water dispute is a mere drop in a tide that is inexorably pushing Sri Lanka towards civil war. With both parties locked in a passive peace frame, the tide began gathering long before Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar’s assassination in August 2005, or President Mahinda Rajapakse’s election in November 2005. Some sighted the drift as early as 2003 when the LTTE walked away from the Norway-brokered peace talks. Over two years ago, Norway found the peace process “melting at the edges”.