Sunday, April 20, 2008

Fr. Karunaratnam and the blame-game

The Sri Lanka army flatly denies the killing of Rev. Fr. M.X. Karunaratnam today. The location of his death is on the Mallavi-Vavunikulam road in Mullaithivu District, which is 30kms from the SLA FDL.

The LTTE has on previous such assassinations claimed that the SLA makes random attacks on its targets in LTTE areas. On Sunday, 06 January 2008, 01:20 GMT, Tamilnet.com claimed that "Col. Charles, Head of Liberation Tigers Military Intelligence, was killed Saturday evening in a random Claymore attack by Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit in Pa'l'lamadu in Mannaar, LTTE sources in Vanni said."

Rev. Fr. Karunaratnam's killing does not, in any way, seem random. His vehicle had broken down midway his journey and had been towed when the roadside bomb (IED) went off around 12.30pm. This clearly indicates the assassins were aware of his journey, planned it then delayed it until his vehicle was towed to the location of the ambush.

Taking the Tigers' previous such claims and matching those with the claims made now, the truth becomes clear. When they lose a high-ranking comrade, the attack is random. When they lose a civilian/s, suddenly the attack is planned and executed to precision by 'DPU' and the blame game begins.

If the Tigers claims of 'DPU' is to be taken seriously, it also means that the Tigers are inadvertently admitting to a much superior intelligence capability on the part of Long Range Recon and Military Intelligence. It would also indicate that the Tigers have failed to protect its backyard; Mullaithivu, where they concentrate the majority of their forces.

The Tigers must also then admit to the fact that they are unable to guarantee the safety of even a civilian priest in their 'de-facto nation'. If the same was to occur in the south, it would be tantamount to State Failure and many organizations would jump at the opportunity to describe that failure and its numerous repercussions on the state and its people.

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