The recent visit of four western diplomats, based in Colombo, to the Batticaloa war zone that led to mortar fire on the base after they had landed from their helicopter, raises a number of questions.

The questions are not only about the government’s administrative and security arrangements but also about the diplomats’ foolhardiness. Did these four diplomats think they were going on a picnic?

We are informed, that Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, who is said to have rushed back from China on receiving reports of the incident, has stated that ‘the normal protocol was not followed when the trip to the East was undertaken.’ This observation of the Foreign Minister is certainly strange. Here we have a ‘gaggle’ of foreign diplomats based in Colombo, who decide on a helicopter ride to the East, to an area that was the scene, quite recently, of bitter fighting. They appear to have just hopped into a helicopter and gone east, perhaps after a convivial cocktail party. Perhaps they did have a ‘chat’ with the acting Foreign Minister Mr T B Maduwegedara and his Meduia Director Mr Ravinatha Aryasinghe in the ‘gents’, we do not know, since it appears, that there are no minutes or records of these apparently ad hoc meetings.

The Foreign Minister appears to have decided, after this incident, that he will expect protocol to be strictly followed. Does this mean that protocol has hitherto not been strictly followed? To quote the Foreign Minister, ‘several of these procedures are not practiced in its correct context. But now it has given us the need to practice this with greater interest and concern. So it has been re applied.’ This is getting ‘curiouser and curiouser’, to quote Alice in Wonderland. We are told that the ‘procedures’ have to be ‘re applied’. A strange state of affairs! Clearly, the procedures that have not been applied so far now need to be ‘re applied’?

Are we to believe that, in what the Sri Lankan armed forces pride in calling a ‘High Security Zone’ (HSZ), persons are allowed to pop in and out on a visit without even informing the relevant authorities?

We are told that this visit of the four Colombo based western diplomats was organised by the Ministry of Disaster Management. This ministry appears to be one of those ‘toy’ ministries that have been created for the 50 or so new cabinet ministers, to play with. The minister in charge of this ministry, Mr Mahinda Samarasinghe, claims that the decision to visit Batticaloa was taken on the 20th February (quite recently) at a meeting of the Consultative Committee on Humanitarian Assistance that was attended by the Acting Foreign Secretary T B Maduwegedara (apparently acting while the minister was out in China) and Mr Ravinatha Abeyasinghe the Media Director who is also said to have been a member of the group that visited Batticaloa.

There appears to be some break down in communication between the Foreign Minister and the Acting Foreign Minister. It would appear, according to the report of Easwaran Rutnam, that the foreign ministry was not aware of the arrangements even though the acting Foreign Minister is said to have attended the meeting of the Consultative Committee. Apparently, minutes are not kept at these meetings or perhaps; the Consultative Committee on Humanitarian Assistance arrived at its decision, over a cup of coffee in the canteen or in the ‘gents’ and not at a regular committee meeting?

Clearly, there are too many cabinet ministers and consequently ministerial officials, for any person to keep track of their movements. However, that is a matter that the President and his brothers (who advise him) to look into. What we Tamils are concerned with at present is the manner in which the Sri Lankan government is exploiting this incident as a weapon against the freedom fighters. The Foreign Minister is reported to have said at a news conference following the incident ‘it is incumbent upon the international community to take effective measures to eliminate fund raising and weapon procurement by the LTTE in foreign countries.’

It should be noted that the freedom fighters, if they were the persons responsible for the mortar attack, had no way of knowing that there were foreign diplomats aboard the helicopter that had just landed at the base. It is however possible that the mercenary Karuna and his men, who are closely allied to the Sinhala army, may have been aware of the diplomatic personnel abroad the flight.

There is yet another matter that must be noted. If, as the government claims, the Freedom Fighters were behind the attack on the Batticaloa base it would show that, though the government claims to have won the battle for Vakarai they have clearly not won the war. Their military bases in their High Security Zones are still within range of mortar fire from the Freedom Fighters.

At a press conference following the incident the Foreign Minister Mr Bogollagama is reported to have said ‘one did not have to go to the North or the East to face the threat of the LTTE as it prevailed even in the south’. Thanks to the Foreign Minister we now know that the government is aware that they cannot contain the Freedom Fighters. Is it not time to sit down and work out a peaceful solution to the conflict instead of interminable battles in which both sides lose and the whole country bleeds?

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