Telescope

In his Heroes' Day address, LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran did not attempt to disguise his disappointment with the international community, or his contempt for the southern political parties, on their part in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict. On the day following his speech, two bombs exploded - one in the political office of Minister Douglas Devananda and the other in a popular clothing store in a busy suburb of Colombo.

The two attacks led to a plethora of theories as to the origin and motive of the bombers. Interestingly, those who did not support the theory that it was the work of the LTTE were as vociferous and insistent as those who did. Let us assume for a moment that it were the Tigers who planted the bomb at Nugegoda junction that killed 18 civilians and wounded 40 others. Why would they want to do it?

It is well-known that acts of terrorism are directed at targets not only to destroy or debilitate, but to also convey a powerful message to others who might not be direct victims of that act of violence. In that sense there are two targets: primary and secondary.

Interestingly, though the killing of 18 persons is making news because it is in the metropolis, if the government is to be believed, there were also civilian killings in provincial Tissamaharama and Mahavillachchia in the recent weeks. And if we assume that the LTTE did author these attacks too, we have to juxtapose such incidents with the 'hard' military and economic targets the rebels have been pursuing in the recent months.

If that is done the message to the government and the international community is clear and unambiguous: the LTTE believes civilians in southern Sri Lanka are a legitimate target because Tamil civilians are perishing in the hands of the security forces in the Wanni as well as in other parts of the North and East.

Aerial bombardment of targets in areas held by the Tigers ever since the SLAF flew regular sorties from around April 2006 has killed, maimed and terrorised civilians. The security forces pursued their tactics of shock and awe to 'clear' areas under LTTE control by intensive aerial bombardment supplemented by deadly artillery barrages so as to shift civilian populations from where they resided, thereby creating massive IDP populations, disrupting livelihoods and destroying possessions. Of late, attacks in the Wanni have been supplemented by deep penetration units (DPUs) whose victims have invariably been civilian.

Meanwhile, in areas of the North and East controlled by government, civilians are targeted individually and murdered, abducted and tortured. The government's tactic of causing terror is having a devastating impact in the Wanni with children especially displaying symptoms of grave psychological trauma due to air strikes. Teachers complain of schoolchildren panicking at the very sound of aircraft flying overhead. In government-controlled areas, the result of extra-judicial killings, disappearances and abduction allegedly by the military and paramilitary forces was seen in the eyes of the relatives of the victims of such crimes when they gathered to meet UN Human Rights Chief Louise Arbour while she was in the country.

There were reports this week of a heightened number of SLAF air strikes causing civilian casualties in the Wanni. During this period, in the same area, 11 persons, including seven schoolchildren, were killed when a Hiace van was caught in a DPU attack. The stock response of the MCNS and military spokespersons to allegations of civilian casualties in air strikes is either that pilots reported hitting their targets or that the SLAF targeted LTTE's military facilities.

International humanitarian law not only forbids direct targeting of civilians, but even military targets if the risk to the lives of civilians is disproportionately high compared to the military objective. But 'exceptions' do occur. In February 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, 300 Iraqi civilians died when US military aircraft bombed al-Amariya bunker. US forces escaped only by claiming that their intelligence had wrongly informed them the bunker was a command-and-control base. Otherwise it would have been classified a war crime. Similarly, the SLAF insists when accused of deliberately bombing civilian centres that its target was an LTTE military installation. These incidents go back a long way in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict.

On September 15, 1999, 21 persons were killed and 40 injured when Kfir jets bombed Puthukudiyiruppu in the Mullaithivu District. The military claimed it was targeting an LTTE camp at Nandikadal four and a half kilometres from Puthukudiyiruppu. Amnesty International in a public statement said, "…the reported high number of civilian casualties and the significant distance between the intended objective of the air strike and the actual place where the civilians were killed raise serious doubts about the quality of the intelligence used before the bombing raid. It also raises questions as to whether the alleged military value of this attack was proportionate to the risk it posed to civilians" (AI16/Sept./1999).

The last sentence in the report refers to the above-mentioned principle in the Law of War of air strikes on military targets near civilian centres having to be proportionate to military goals. How does the LTTE countenance the killing of civilians in air strikes day in and day out? It appeals to the international community but to no avail; it warns the government, but the words go unheeded. So it could very well be that the LTTE would have placed a bomb in Nugegoda frustrated by the silence of the international community and the perversity of Colombo.

The international community was quick to condemn the Nugegoda bomb that is classified as a terrorist attack deliberately targeting civilians and as such a war crime. Although the UN, the US and the EU, while condemning the Nugegoda blast have criticised attacks on civilians in the Wanni too, it appears they are doing so because desisting would admit of colossal bias. This is proved by the fact that on a number of earlier occasions when complaints of civilian targets being hit in the Wanni or the North and East were lodged, a deafening silence was the only answer by the international community.

There can be no doubt that if indeed the LTTE set the bomb in Nugegoda to send a message to the government, the act has to be deplored vehemently. But if we are to agree with the government that it was the work of the Tigers, there can be little doubt about the message they wish transmitted. And the longer it takes the international community to compel the government to maintain even a modicum of respect for the Laws of War, the longer it would be for such diabolical messages to stop.

Looking for the message behind the Nugegoda blast