Sunday Times 2
Where did we go wrong in the Easter Sunday debacle?
‘Intelligence officers never sleep’, is a dictum we (speaking as a former Intelligence officer) proudly claim. Slackness in intelligence is a disaster to a country, for obvious reasons. Intelligence officers are ‘not born, but made’ and should serve a minimum of 10 years in that trade.
Intelligence officers (in any nation), have the highest responsibility and the sacrificing accountability to safeguard their society and the country, regardless of who the rulers are. Customarily, many of our political leaders tend to make use of this expertise for their own survival rather than for the country’s benefit.
To overcome any threat, prior intelligence has to be perfect. Gathering intelligence requires much time consuming, accurate analysis, followed by appropriate dissemination. Any slack in this process, and we witness the adverse consequences which turned the country into a mass funereal house, purportedly by some religious extremists. The questions that follow are; will they continue? If so, how? Will they abandon their ideology? Will the Government be able to eradicate it? With the LTTE, we were able to ‘convince’ the countries who helped them; can we attempt that in this scenario? These are some of the crucial questions to be answered, honestly.
Increased security in the aftermath of the attacks
Inadequate information
Sri Lanka won the Northern separatist war, despite foreign interference, through sound intelligence provided by the national and armed services intelligence apparatuses.
It is well known that the (new) radical Islamic religious organisation(s) did not surface overnight. Prior intelligence was available on the periodical developments of these organisation(s). The police have been acting on such information at various intervals. It is revealed that a suicide bomber had been arrested and released, as usual through political interference, while a senior member was associating politicians. It is also speculated that a bomb factory has been operating in the heart of the capital, with business support by a leading citizen. Invariably, any offender will always have an innocent cover story when persuading those to be influenced. Thus the blunder was inevitable and never to be salvaged.
Islandwide police action
“Why now? Why was this not done earlier?” These are the imperative questions the public are baffled with, when observing the sudden and rapid islandwide operations, raids, arrests, recoveries etc, which could not be done sans prior intelligence. These activities should continue unabated until terrorism is nipped in the bud. This, of course, will be a tedious task with the said foreign interference and die-hard radical ideologies, which will not be given up easily. A lot of passports have been recovered, which reveal that the perpetrators had one foot here and one overseas. Counter-action has to be planned well, locally and overseas. The foreign arm of the state Intelligence Agency will have to be revived better.
Prior information
There are media reports that the relevant intelligence had been conveyed in advance to the concerned authorities, as well as to mandatory higher political sources, which appear to have gone unheeded for reasons unknown. Whatever the reason, the damage is done now with the loss of more than 250 innocent citizens, approximately 450 injured, and much destruction, and on the whole adversely affecting the economy and progression of the country.
To make matters worse, it is reported that a police officer had forewarned the father of a politician of a ‘church attack’, which had gone unheeded. What was his source? Obviously through his profession. Why then were the concerned clergy not alerted? Why wasn’t the police directed? It is speculated that a bomber abandoned his entry to a Colombo church when he spotted police on duty, who were there due to a theft that had occurred previously in that church. This shows that the mere presence of the police could have averted such a large destruction.
Security alertness
Since the end of the civil war, the masses had no necessity to suspect people of carrying bombs. Hotel security didn’t find it unusual to see a person carrying an extra-large heavy backpack, entering and roaming freely in crowded restaurants. Worshipers had observed the bombers entering the churches carrying heavy shoulder bags. The time has come again to suspect each and every one around us.
Remedial measures
Assessing all these, politicians – immaterial of their power struggles – have to lead, guide and pave the way for the clergy and the masses to rally together, keeping in mind that terrorists all over the world are a very determined lot.
The Muslim community should continue to maintain their status quo which they exhibited in the aftermath of the mayhem. The Archbishop of Colombo paved the way and consoled instantly the most affected community and the country on the whole. The Buddhist clergy rallied among the rest of the religious leaders in a gesture all Sri Lankans appreciate. The communities of all nationalities and religions have to rally round each other and shoulder the responsibility of keeping the peace.
Responsible authorities have to strengthen the intelligence setup and the security machinery to ensure such a tragedy never reoccurs, keeping in mind that eradicating terrorism needs absolute determination rather than giving jobs to the faithful.
(The writer is a former Senior Superintendent of Police and Deputy Director of the National Investigation Bureau. He functioned as Acting Commissioner General of the Youth (JVP and LTTE) Rehabilitation.)