AERIAL ATTACK AT KIRANCHI.
The bombing of the Sea Tiger base at Kiranchi in the Poonakari Division of the Kilinochchi Electorate is highly deplorable. I am deeply concerned about the civilian casualties in this aerial attack in which men, women and small children numbering eight were killed and fourteen injured some of whom are very serious and awaiting at the Kilinochchi Hospital to be transferred for specialised treatment elsewhere.
Kilinochchi was an electorate represented by me in Parliament for several years. It is a very quiet village where over 50 years back 200 peasant families were settled is 5 acre plots of a coconut colonisation scheme along with some middle class allottees in larger extents of land. I do not dispute the fact that there was a Sea Tiger base, may be along the coast. What I wish to know is whether it is the fault of the innocent civilians if the LTTE cowardly and foolishly locate their base in the midst of civilian population.
In a situation like this it is obligatory on the part of the Government Forces to safeguard the civilians at any cost. There had been a number of instances in which various countries had spent several millions to save one life. In this instance, the Air Force that had knowledge of a Sea Tiger base there, should have also known that the base itself is in the midst of civilians and acted with extreme caution. The civilians should have been alerted before commencing the attack. The LTTE can descend to any level but the Government Forces can’t behave like the Tigers. This incident is a serious violation of human rights of a group of people living peacefully atleast 35 km away from the combat zone. This type of incidents should be avoided by the Forces, lest they lose their credibility.
The LTTE in turn should learn to show their strength to the Forces and not to the innocent unarmed civilians. The bomb explosion in a bus at Mount Lavinia yesterday caused injury to 18 persons only, fortunately because of the timely warning of a passenger. If not for this it would have ended up in great disaster. The discovery of 20 kg of explosives in Kerawalapitiya is another irresponsible act of the LTTE, fortunately detected in time on some information received. LTTE is very well aware that the Tamils who had fled their homes out of fear for the LTTE are now living in peace among the Sinhalese. What the LTTE wants is a backlash. The LTTE is blood thirsty and is all out to shed innocent blood. The task of the forces is to prevent it. The duty of every citizen is to pass on any information available to the authorities to help to detect and prevent disaster.
V. Anandasangaree,
President – TULF.
