Sirimavo, Ranil call for calm

By V.S.Sambandan

COLOMBO, JAN. 6. Normal life resumed here today amidst tightened security and continued investigation into the suicide bomb blast and the gunning down of Tamil political leader, Kumar Ponnambalam, yesterday.

While the parents and sister of the woman suicide bomber, who exploded herself outside the Prime Minister's office were taken into custody, no head way has been reported in the investigations in to the killing of Ponnambalam. Tamil sources said the mobile phone of the slain leader, his gold chain and gold wristwatch were missing from his person when his body was found. Tamil pockets in Colombo remained tense as there was no head way in the probe in to the killing of Ponnambalam.

The woman suicide bomber, suspected to belong to the LTTE, was said to be of Sinhala-Tamil parentage and had left home in 1998, reportedly telling her parents that she was joining the army. At least 130 Tamils were reportedly taken in for questioning today.

Political leaders, including the Prime Minister, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, have urged people to maintain calm. The Deputy Defence Minister, Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte, calling for the monthly extension, told Parliament that the efforts of the Government to bring in peace were thwarted by the Tigers.

Mr. Wickremesinghe said, ``as long as the war is on all leaders are targets.'' The escalation of the military conflict, he said, would bring Colombo under increased threat. ``The only challenge before the nation is how to bring an end to the war,'' he said, reiterating his party's position to support the government initiatives to end the war.

Mr. Wickremesinghe said the recent address to the nation by the President was akin to a ``communal campaign.`` Calling for restraint, he said ``Tamils have been repeatedly singled out'' and added, ``under the guise of destroying the LTTE, she cannot destroy democracy in the country.''

LTTE's charge

The LTTE, in a press release faxed from its international headquarters, has expressed its ``deep shock and profound grief'' over the ``brutal killing'' of Kumar Ponnambalam. It accused the Government and the Tamil quisling groups of masterminding and executing this ``heinous'' crime to silence a brave, daring voice of reason that defended the rights of the Tamils. Ponnambalam's death was ``a monumental tragedy'' for ``the Tamil nation at a critical historical time,'' the LTTE said.

The reaction of the cyber-connected expatriate Sri Lankan Tamil community, spread across the globe, also reflected similar sentiments, with a web-site listing reactions that charged the Government and some Tamil groups opposed to the LTTE with killing Ponnambalam.

Some Tamil political leaders, however, are not ruling out the possible involvement of the LTTE itself in the killing of Ponnambalam.

Insecurity among Tamils

A sense of insecurity has come into being in the minds of the minority Tamils in the aftermath of yesterday's violence .While there were bomb-hoaxes and impending inter-ethnic clashes yesterday, it was a quiet day today. The Tamil-majority pockets here, however, remained tense.

``To overcome the insecure feeling, the Government would have to investigate the case thoroughly and bring the culprits to court,'' Mr. Suresh Premachandran, secretary general of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) said.

Prison clash in Kalutara

Unrelated to yesterday's developments, in a prison clash at the Kalutara prison, south of Colombo, 32 Tamil inmates and eight Sinhalese prison guards were reportedly injured. The clash was reportedly over along-pending demand of the prisoners for the removal of a wall, and flared up as officials were involved in discussions to resolve the matter this afternoon.

Several hundreds of Tamil prisoners, mostly suspected to belong to the LTTE are lodged at the Kalutara prison. In June 1998, the leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), Mr. Douglas Devananda, MP, had an escape from death after he was assaulted by Tamil prisoners when he went to meet them to end a fast by the prisoners asking Tamil political leaders to take up their plight.

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Section  : International
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