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It was just past 6 a.m. Sunday morning when the blue Isuzu Elf truck came along Trincomalee Street, took a left turn, entered Kings Street and drove towards Sri Dalada Maligawa.
Loaded with wheel barrows and bags of cement, the occupants pretended to be labourers proceeding towards a work station, one of many making preparations for the golden jubilee independence celebrations in Kandy on February 4.
It drove past the small junction flanked on the left by the road to President’s Pavilion and on the right Deva Vidiya. Those who crouched behind cement bags clutching T 56 assault rifles, rose, pointed them in the air and fired volley after volley. The thin gauged metal barricade, which was movable, gave way as the bumper of the speeding truck hit it. It was akin to a heavy gust of wind thrusting a gate wide open. Apparently those manning the barrier were caught by surprise. Hence there was no counter fire or resistance.
The truck drove through at high speed. Staring at them ahead, on high ground, was a turret with a Light Machine Gun mounted. Strangely the truck did not attract any fire. Did the LMG get jammed or those manning it make a hasty retreat in fear after hearing gunfire ?
It took a right turn and came to a halt just outside the Maha Vahalkada (gateway) - a covered passage that forms a bridge across a moat. Adorning the door step is the Sandakada Pahana or the moonstone. Slabs carrying carvings of elephants adorned either side of the imposing walls that held four archways - two across the bridge and the other facing each side of the moat.
The headlights of the truck were on since the morning haze was not swept off by the rays of the rising sun. The driver and another alighted from the front and three others from the rear. The one who was in the front seat reached out for a T 56 rifle and what appeared to be an explosive lined suicide jacket.
This was spotted by a woman constable, who together with a male colleague, were on duty at the outer entrance. The two large iron rod gates there bore two small ones in the middle through which devotees passed through. This was after they entered through the Maha Vahalkada. Body checks were carried out here before they went in.
It is thereafter they climb the flight of steps to the main entrance, past the Makara Thorana above a doorway and the figures of two Doratupalas (or door keepers) on either side. Only a few devotees had gathered that day for the daily pooja, part of rituals performed by monks of the Asgiriya and Malwatte Vihares.
Fearing that the person who pulled out the weapon would rush towards the iron rod gate and ascend the staircase into the inner sanctorum, the WPC and her colleague locked the gate and rushed upstairs. They later explained they had wanted to bring the matter to the notice of seniors.
Within seconds, a massive explosion rocked the area. Its reverberations were felt within a radius of at least 25 kilometres. Among the residents who heard the deafening noise were those from Kadugannawa, Akurana and Karaliyadde, three different directions. Windows in the surrounding buildings cracked, ceilings fell and doors that were shut threw open.
Stones from sections of the brick wall, the Diyareli Bemma (or the wall releasing the wave swell from waters filling the moat), with holes below to house oil lamps, flew into the sky and scattered several hundred metres. Ahead of the Sandakada Pahana (moonstone), where the truck was parked, lay a near five metre by five metre crater. It was almost one and half metres deep.
Tiles on the Maligawa roof including the Pattiruppuwa flew leaving gaping holes. Walls in many sections, which were cabook, cracked causing extensive damage. However, the inner chambers were all intact.
At the auspicious hour of 8.58 a.m, it was from the Pattirippuwa (Octagon) that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was to address the nation. Main among those who were to assemble at the Maha Maluwa (Audience Hall), right in front, was to be the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles. It was here, 183 years ago, (in 1815), Wariyapola Sumangala Thera brought down the Union Jack and hoisted the Lion Flag to protest against the British occupation of the Kandyan kingdom.
And just nine days before the heir to the British throne could tread the same soil, signalling the dawn of a newer era of goodwill after five decades of freedom, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) struck hard. They added to their catalogue of military, civilian, economic and religious targets, the Sri Dalada Maligawa. That shattered the hearts of Buddhists and the non Buddhists alike.
For the Buddhists, if it was one of the most sacred, for the others it was the cultural and spiritual centre of Sri Lanka. Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers and service chiefs, among others, who assumed office made the Dalada Maligawa their first official stop to pay homage. So did every visiting dignitary. For thousands of tourists who were attracted by the beauty of Sri Lanka over the years, Dalada Maligawa, was known for the colourful esala perahera.
And on Sunday, January 25, a truck laden with some 200 kilograms of explosives and five Tiger suicide cadres did what others dared for several centuries. The bomb explosion left 17 dead and 20 injured. That included the guerrilla who pulled out a weapon and tried to head for the inner chamber as well as the three others who tried to make good their exit past the Natha Devale, St. Paul’s Church and on to Trincomalee Street. A fifth managed to escape. The attackers left behind a launcher and a Rocket Propelled Grenade, three T 56 rifles, ammunition and a walkie talkie with a limited range - an indication that they operated from a base not far away from the Dalada Maligawa.
Another fact that heightened suspicion about this, according to intelligence officials, was the manner in which the explosives had been carefully concealed near the gear box to avoid detection. A shorter run had been planned from a closer base to prevent the rising engine heat triggering off an explosion. Intelligence officials claim that last month’s explosion of a lorry at Magalle, on the outskirts of Galle, had been the result of excessive heat. They have learnt that an LTTE cadre went under the truck to disconnect the wiring mechanism but the explosion occurred before he could succeed. This claim, however, could not be independently verified.
The incident came as a shameful indictment on those responsible for security in Kandy and the Dalada Maligawa in particular. Brigadier Sarath Munasinghe, Military Spokesman, told Thursday’s news briefing that security for Maligawa was in the hands of the Police. The national significance of the independence celebrations, where not only Prince Charles but foreign ministers of the SAARC and several non aligned countries were to attend, warranted the personal attention of the Inspector General of Police, W.B. Rajaguru, downwards. Yet the LTTE had hit at the very heart of where celebrations were to be held.
Police Chief, Rajaguru himself presided at top level conferences in Kandy where security arrangements for independence celebrations in Kandy were discussed. According to authoritative security sources, Brigadier K.A.M.G. Kularatne, who heads the Army’s Central Command in Kandy and his senior officers were conspicuous by their absence. These sources insisted they had not been invited for the conferences.
It is not immediately clear whether security arrangements in Kandy were placed exclusively in the hands of the Police with instructions only to draw additional strength, if required, from the Army. Defence Ministry officials insisted no such move was envisaged.
It was only last month the MOD placed security in Colombo in the hands of the Army (Operations Command, Colombo). It remained in the hands of the Police until the World Trade Centre bomb explosion. Some sections of the defence establishment wondered whether the Police wanted to prove a point, that they could handle the Kandy security operation on their own.
The truck bomb explosion came just three days after Deputy Defence Minister, General Anuruddha Ratwatte’s claim that the biggest security operation in Kandy had begun. He told veteran foreign correspondent and Bureau Chief of Agence France Presse (AFP) in Colombo, Amal Jayasinghe that “some 10,000 troops and Police will guard the historic town of Kandy...” His report was headline news in The Observer of January 22.
Gen. Ratwatte was quoted as saying “What we are facing is the threat of a terrorist attack. Even with a small attack, they will be able to catch the headlines and that is what they will try to do.”
-Therefore the fact that an attack was imminent was known. As he forecast, the LTTE caught the headlines. But it was not a small attack as he thought.
That “biggest” security operation involving 10,000 troops and Policemen, as he claimed, could not prevent a small truck laden with bombs moving without any obstruction to Dalada Maligawa to wreak havoc. That “biggest” operation did not have one proper barricade to check or deter mobile access to the sacred Temple of the Tooth. That “biggest” operation failed to reveal the fact that LTTE had infiltrated Kandy and suicide cadres were moving around in vehicles.
Expert forecasts and shifting deadlines have only become all too common for General Ratwatte whose meteoric rise to a now “serving” four star rank had only two previous stops - at Lieutenant and at Lieutenant Colonel. He has declared that LTTE has been evicted from 96 per cent of the land mass they had dominated. Only a small four per cent was left. And by his own estimate, (interview with Sunday Island of November 2 “I think the LTTE cadres have been reduced to about 2500. All of them are not hard core terrorists. Most of them are young boys between 13 and 17 years....”
And it was this 2,500 that had stalled the advance of the ten month old “Operation Jaya Sikurui” (or Victory Assured), infiltrated to carry out attacks in the Jaffna peninsula during the local polls, triggered off incidents in Yala and Galge (on the Buttala-Kataragama Road), damaged transformers in Nuwara Eliya and now exploded a truck bomb at Dalada Maligawa. Even thereafter, they attacked a Army patrol base at T-Junction on the Welikanda-Batticaloa Road.
There were ominous signs only last Saturday night that LTTE were busy in the hill country. Two power transformers were blasted and the security forces defused the bomb attached to a third in Nuwara Eliya. The area was plunged in darkness after this incident, a reasonable step would have been to tighten security procedures in Kandy.
Within minutes after the explosion, Diyawadana Nilama (Chief Custodian) Neranjan Wijeyaratne, who was rudely awoken, rushed to the scene. Even at his own house, the explosion had led to the collapse of a ceiling fan to the ground. He was soon joined by the venerable Maha Nayakes of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters.
The first cabinet minister to rush was PA General Secretary, D.M. Jayaratne, Minister of Agriculture and Lands. He was in a Government bungalow in Hantane and heard the loud explosion. After checking up where it had occurred, he rushed in the sarong and tee shirt he was wearing.
An angry Maha Nayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter, Most Venerable Rambukwelle Sri Vipassi Thera was heard telling Minister Jayaratne “Oya thiyanava sarasala.... Dekkada gihilla karagaththe ... (there its decorated... look what you have gone and done....)
It was well past 10.30 a.m. when General Ratwatte arrived. Speaking to Neranjan Wijeyaratne and the others who had gathered, he explained he had received information that those who carried out the attack may be waiting to get him. “The LTTE is pushed to the wall. They are doing this in desperation,” he explained.
Gen. Ratwatte ordered that the debris around the area be cleared immediately and went into the Diyawadana Nilame’s office room. It lookedwind swept after the explosion. There he presided over a conference with senior Police officials, Mr. Wijeyaratne and others. He said they should have both a short term and a long term programme for reconstruction and rehabilitation. Commenting on the LTTE, he said, he would crush them soon but said the plans must remain confidential.
The meeting was under way when a highly agitated Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Lakshman Kiriella, arrived at the scene. He was heard exhorting what happened and who caused all this.
Soon after the meeting was over, Gen. Ratwatte came before the TV camera of the SLRC to say that despite the LTTE attack, independence day celebrations will be held in Kandy “under any circumstances.” He had finished the interview when someone told him there was a demonstration going on outside and advised him to leave. The crowd taking part was 300 strong.
Gen. Ratwatte was not deterred. He reached out for the walkie talkie of one of his security officers and spoke to to a senior Police official, SSP. He gave the orders - “let them demonstrate but do not let them enter the temple area.” He was later busy giving orders to summon an urgent conference of those from the State Engineering Corporation, Department of Water Supply, National Archives and the Electricity Department for a conference the next day.
The Maha Nayake of the Asgiriya Chapter, Most Venerable Palipane Sri Chandananda Thera, who had arrived early at the Magul Maduwa and was seated on a chair when he learnt that President Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was trying to reach him on the telephone. He received a call from her. Later that afternoon President Kumaratunga who was at a public function in the south flew direct to Kandy and saw for herself the damage caused. She promptly offered financial assistance from the Govenment for reconstruction work.
Returning to Colombo, it did not take President Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, who is also Commander-in-Chief, 48 hours to decide that the golden jubilee independence celebrations should be held in Colombo. An announcement was made on Wednesday morning that Colombo will be the new venue. The same day (January 28) General Ratwatte in an interview with the Daily News declared it was he who suggested Kandy as the venue for the golden jubilee.
“I as the Chairman of the President’s Task Force and the other members are thankful to all officers and other civilians who accomplished this task within the scheduled time to make this golden jubilee a memorable and historic event,” he told Daily News. Until Wednesday, he was hopeful Kandy would still host the golden jubilee. But President Bandaranaike Kumaratuna had decided otherwise.
Needless to say that security considerations formed one of the main reasons for the shift from Kandy to Colombo.
And that aftermath saw Gen. Ratwatte sending in his two page letter of resignation to President Kumaratunga on Wednesday afternoon - the beginning of a high pitched political drama. He made the point that he had “implemented the policies in defence matters”, that the President delegated to him, on her behalf, under her guidance.
The letter was not accepted. Gen. Ratwatte continues as Deputy Minister of Defence.
The ease with which the attack on the Maligawa was executed has exposed the ineffectiveness of security planning by the defence establishment. Glib statements like that the terrorist need only one success whereas the government has to be successful all the time only exaggerates the hollowness of accountability. Arcane generalization of guerrilla methodology may confuse the less knowledgeable yet it does not diminish the responsibility of protecting high priority terrorist targets from attacks. To apply such generalizations in this context is to make a travesty of all security accountability.
The possibility of an attack on the Sri Dalada Maligawa has been a concern for years. What better way to arouse the emotions of a Nation now disciplined, after July 1983, to provoke backlash rioting targeting Tamils. A sorely needed situation to rebuild the flagging image of the LTTE and their supporters internationally. That the Golden Jubilee celebrations made this a more attractive proposition to the terrorist was public talk. A concern to the country, but not to that extent to the Defence establishment it would appear, judging from the laxity of security at the Maligawa that fateful Sunday which permitted the infiltration of Terrorist in a truck laden with explosives without so much as a shot being fired in defence and that too when the boast of the Deputy Defence Minister that the best of security measures were implemented.
Further more, the question of National Security is not entirely a political prerogative. The Security Forces, Police and State Service have their own responsibility and accountability to the public. These departments and the political establishment must work in concert to best serve the public interest. Unfortunately, it is our experience that these individual responsibilities are often subservient to the political establishment. In the circumstances unprofessional decisions, invariably in narrow political interests, do not serve public and national requirements.
In striking contrast to the security of public institutions is the seemingly tight security provided to politicians. Not that they are not deserving of protection, but rather that if the same enthusiasm and vigilance is demonstrated in the security to institutions of sensitivity and strategic importance to the country then disasters like that of the attack on the Maligawa can be avoided or at least minimized. The difference is that whereas protection of politicians begets benefits the dedication to institutions of strategic value require commitment.
Not only in this instance but in all other preceding disasters whether they be those answerable for security of national institutions or for matters military. It seems that it is the underling that is subject to accountability and liable for punishment but not those on the top of the ladder. Talk of cronyism !!! Let bygones be bygones, and enjoy 50 years of political independence.
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