A clear message

The LTTE has been battered and bruised to an unprecedented level over the past one year. The East was completely liberated from their clutches. They suffered several other military defeats. But perhaps the biggest loss to the organisation was the death of its Political Wing Chief S.P. Thamilselvan on November 2, in a precise Sri Lanka Air Force air attack.

The loss of the de-factor number two came as a shock to LTTE leader Prabhakaran and senior LTTE leaders. For them, the message was loud and clear: The Armed Forces were equipped with accurate intelligence on the whereabouts of LTTE leaders.

This would naturally have sent a shiver down the spine of many a Tiger, most of all Prabhakaran. Worse, whatever propaganda gains the LTTE made after the Anuradhapura attack were in vain as the Forces claimed a much bigger target.

It would be na‹ve to think that the LTTE leader did not take any precautions after this attack. Defence authorities had already warned that they knew the movements of all LTTE leaders, even though no names were mentioned.

According to reliable reports from Kilinochchi, this prompted Prabhakaran, already one of the most heavily guarded terrorist leaders, to keep moving from one underground bunker to another to ensure his security. The only other comparison, in terms of personal security, would be al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

However, the Security Forces have once again proved their military superiority and intelligence prowess by causing injuries to the LTTE leader in an air raid last month. This has shattered of aura of invincibility that Prabhakaran projected to the outside world especially to the Tamil diaspora.

Intelligence authorities do not mention, for obvious reasons, whether they were aware of Prabhakaran’s presence inside the well-fortified bunker.

Nevertheless, by targeting a building frequented by LTTE leaders, the Security Forces, especially the Air Force have demonstrated in no uncertain terms their capability of delivering lethal blows to the Tigers in Kilinochchi itself. The key has been improved ground intelligence, be it through aerial surveillance or other avenues.

Prabhakaran must interpret this as another opportunity to reform himself, as the Government has made no secret of its plans to liberate the people in the uncleared areas.

He must at last realise the futility of fighting to achieve ‘liberation’ and enter the negotiations process for which the Government has kept the door open. That will pave the way for an honourable way out for Prabhakaran, instead of an ignominious one.

Help find this child

Monday’s episode at the Kalubowila hospital where a newly born infant was stolen from it’s mother would no doubt have caused shock, grief and consternation across the length and breath of the country.

According to media reports the mother of the infant girl had entrusted it in the care of an unknown woman while she went to the washroom. When she returned the infant had vanished and so the woman.

The sight of the anguished father of the infant weeping on Television pleading with every one to locate his infant daughter and going to the extent of offering half a million rupee reward would no doubt brought a tear to the eye of many. It is hoped the public would be sufficiently moved by this emotional outpouring to take extra keenness to locate the child.

What is baffling is how could a strange woman whisk away a newly born infant without arousing the suspicion of the Hospital staff particularly when the same hospital has had a similar experience before this one.

It is no secret that today there is a burgeoning racket in the sale infants to foreigners. While a majority of these children are taken for adoption there is also the well known racket in the sale of human organs which are in heavy demand in certain countries.

One could not help but recall the infamous Baby farms that were being operated in a well known Colombo suburb about two decades ago allegedly by a powerful politician at the time.

The authorities should strive to unearth if such baby farms do still exist or if there is any other organised ring involved in the disappearance of infants, so that this may provide an explanation for Monday’s episode at the Kalubowila Hospital.

Since this is the second such incident at the Kalubowila hospital it begs the question why the hospital authorities had failed learn from experience.True, hospitals cannot be expected to provide armed sentries inside their premises but in this instance given earlier experience at least there should have been extra vigilance by the nursing or hospital staff.

It is also reported that the woman had walked out of the Hospital under the very nose of the Hospital security at the gate. An alert sentry would no doubt have spotted the difference between a mother who had just delivered and an ordinary woman.

Surely a Hospital particularly a maternity ward is not a thoroughfare for strangers to walk in and walk out as they please. This is not to lay the blame with the Hospital security. But that much more vigilance should have been exercised after the last episode.

Minister Nimal Siripala has already appointed a Committee to probe the incident.One of the first things it should go into is how strange women are permitted to loiter in Hospital premises.

May be the woman may have escaped attention because this was a maternity ward. However every detail and angle should be gone into in order to ascertain if there was a laxity or negligence on the part of the hospital staff.

At the same time no effort should be spared by the authorities to locate the infant since much emotion and heartburn had been generated among the public by this episode.