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Saving Children: Tell Uncle Chilcott and Uncle Bauer
Friday, 30 June 2006 - 4:05 AM SL Time
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If Hanuman had a mobile phone or a land phone at that time, he wouldn`t have taken the trouble of lighting his tail to set Ravana`s kingdom on fire. He would have done just as some Sri Lankans did on Tuesday night. Relaying as they did a rumour of possible terror attacks on children, they crippled schools in Colombo and many other areas on Wednesday. Before hard facts put on shoes, it is said, rumours are capable of covering half the distance around the globe.
In a country where the people live in eternal fear of terrorism and a large number of children have so far perished in terror attacks, it is natural for parents to be wary of taking chances. There is no end to terrorism in sight and one may ask how long they are going to keep children at home. True, children cannot wait till terrorism is over to resume schooling. But fear oftentimes gets the better of reason as we saw on Wednesday.
Who originated the rumour in question' We are not short of mischief makers. Even in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster that shocked the world, some miscreants sounded false alarms and had the people running helter-skelter. So, a mischief maker could have posted the story on the grapevine. Or, a politician or a party yearning for chaos and attendant instability could have thought of fishing in troubled waters to make governance more problematic for President Rajapakse, according to the government propagandists. Or, the LTTE itself might have spread the rumour as the best weapon at its disposal is neither the MBRL nor the human bomb but fear. It might have wanted to thwart any retaliatory attacks over the assassination of Lt. Gen. Kulatunga by reminding the government of the vulnerability of the soft targets in the South such as schools.
Whoever was responsible for that rumour, it has brought to light the people`s sense of insecurity and helplessness vis-`E0-vis the unbridled terrorism which has over the last two decades eaten into the vitals of society. It is extremely difficult to allay fears of the people condemned to live with terrorism.
The LTTE is reported to have said it intends no attacks on school children. But its track record makes that assurance ring hollow. The history of its armed struggle is replete with instances of massacres of children and pregnant mothers. Its cruelty to children knows no bounds as manifest in the forcible conscription of child soldiers'a crime for which it has been placed on the UN List of Shame. Only Prabhakaran`s children can rest assured that the LTTE won`t harm them.
The government has said there are no intelligence reports warning of terror attacks on schools. It has threatened to deal with rumour mongers appropriately. We have no way of either proving or disproving the government`s claim, but cannot help thinking aloud: Hadn`t the government been in the dark until the Army Commander came under a terror attack inside the Army Headquarters' On June 17, the Colombo Port would have come under a devastating attack but for the bad weather that caused the LTTE to abandon its mission. Still, there had been no warnings from the State Intelligence. So, it may not be advisable to depend on intelligence reports entirely on matters like the one at issue.
Prabhakaran, on the other hand, doesn`t think the way ordinary human beings do. He doesn`t think before leaping. He does it the other way around. Look at the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. He now regrets it'too late in the day! Even a kindergarten child would have known the consequences of such a crime but he didn`t. None can read his mind or predict his actions.
The government is right in asking the people not to panic. But it behoves teachers, children, parents and religious dignitaries to take it up with the international community, especially Norway and the UK. When a ferocious hound is on the rampage posing a grave danger to the people, its master must be informed of it first of all. Norway and the UK, being the sponsors of the Tigers, should be urged to obtain an assurance from them that they will steer clear of schools.
If representatives of all schools which had to be closed for fear of terror attacks go in a procession, clad in uniforms, and hand over petitions to foreign missions, Uncle Chilcott, Uncle Bauer et al will have to sit up, take note and do something to save children from their pet Tigers.
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