Sri Lanka needs exemplary leadership during this national catastrophe
The bombings in Sri Lanka, targeting Christians as they prayed on Easter Sunday and tourists in hotels, have struck the country like a hammer blow a decade after its agonising civil war came to a
close. The news of nearly 300 lives lost will have sent a shiver down the spine of all peace-loving Sri Lankans, bringing back memories of a violent past when terror attacks dominated the national agenda.
For nearly three decades we were known as the place that gave birth to a ruthless guerrilla organisation, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Its use of suicide bombings as a tactic was chillingly replicated by the perpetrators of Sunday’s atrocities. But while it is no stranger to terrorism, Sri Lanka has never witnessed violence on this scale and with this level of coordination on a single day. Our return to normalcy, nurtured through 10 years of relative peace, has been effectively shattered.
Though the island has experienced sporadic sectarian violence, Sunday’s explosions constituted a major departure. In fact, they represent the largest attack on the Christian community in the recent history of south Asia, a region that plays host to multiple faiths, and alongside them its fair share of faith-based identity politics, divisive nationalism and extremist violence.
In a public appeal, the head of the Catholic church in Sri Lanka, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has urged all Christians to follow the example of Jesus, who forgave and prayed for those who betrayed him. His plea is that, despite the anguish of losing family members and the ensuing trauma, Christians are
not tempted to take matters into their own hands.
Christians on the island have had their patience tested for some time. According to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, an organisation that represents more than 200 churches, there have been 26 incidents of discrimination, threats and violence so far this year. In 2018 there were 86. But despite the number and frequency attacks on them, the Christian population has historically avoided responding in kind.
On Monday, a cabinet spokesman, Rajitha Senaratne, made the first official statement identifying a littleknown radical Islamist organisation, National Thowheeth Jama’ath, as being behind the attacks. Senaratne told journalists in Colombo that it was a surprise that a grouping so small was capable of carrying out a series of highly orchestrated attacks in several places at once. He also claimed that parts of the government had been aware of a threat for some time. “Fourteen days before these incidents occurred, we had been informed about [them],” he said, although he emphasised that the prime minister had not been made aware. The government proffered an apology for failing to take adequate measures to prevent the attacks, but this will provide little comfort to those who have lost loved ones.
Ranjith and others have called for a swift investigation. So far, 24 arrests have been made.
But the identification of an Islamist organisation as prime suspects highlights a new threat, one that goes beyond anything Sri Lanka has known so far. The government has vowed to investigate the group’s global links, as it should. And it must root out those responsible at home as well. However, it is vital that in attempting to curb extremism, no one community or faith group ends up being victimised.
It will be necessary to reassess our approach to national security and perhaps introduce new measures to ensure that terrorism is kept at bay. President Maithripala Sirisena has declared that a nationwide emergency will apply from midnight on Monday. Action by the authorities is welcome, but we must not forget that the government’s job is to balance its duty of preventing future violence against the fact that the civil liberties of all law-abiding Sri Lankans must be maintained.
In Colombo, it seems as though our leaders are at least as concerned with trying to apportion blame for government failures as they are with protecting their citizens. Such behaviour cannot help the country and certainly does nothing for the families of the victims.
Our small island nation has suffered enough. It does not need bickering political leaders who indulge in verbal sparring even during a national catastrophe of this magnitude.
Instead the situation calls for exemplary leadership. This is what is needed if we are to take bold action to defeat terror without targeting individuals or ethno-religious communities.
In this time of grief, our government must be responsive, but it must also be responsible.
• Dilrukshi Handunnetti is a lawyer and executive director of Sri Lanka’s Centre for Investigative Reporting
It is vital that in attempting to curb extremism, no particular community or faith group ends up being victimised