COUNTRY HEADING IN DANGEROUS DIRECTION

The government's announcement of its military victory at Kilinochchi has been accompanied by two acts of targeted violence in Colombo. The first was an LTTE suicide bomb attack that killed 8 and injured over 20 persons. The second was the attack and fire bombing of a popular independent TV station, MTV by a heavily armed group with automatic weapons and grenades. The National Peace Council condemns both these acts of terror. It is perhaps of significance that the attack on the broadcasting station followed government and nationalist criticism of MTV for allegedly emphasing the costs of the suicide bomb attack, instead of highlighting the government's victory at Kilinochchi.

The National Peace Council is concerned that the government's emphasis on its military success will lead to a de-emphasis on the political reforms necessary to establish lasting peace in the country and end the lawlessness that terrorism and militarization of society breeds. We are concerned by calls being made by government allies to even do away with the All Parties Representatives Committee which has been mandate by the President to work out a political solution to the ethnic conflict that is acceptable to all communities. The ethnic conflict predates the LTTE, which is a symptom and not the cause of the conflict. NPC urges the government to reaffirm its commitment to a political solution and give hope to the people that lasting peace and the rule of law will be the outcome of the government's endeavours.

NPC is appalled by the attack on MTV which is a media organisation that has consistently been supportive of political efforts to resolve the ethnic conflict and to show the costs of the war. MTV has also been giving equal importance to Sinhala, Tamil and English language programmes unlike other media channels, which helped uniting the three ethnic communities along cultural lines. We are dismayed by the lackadaisical attitude of the law enforcement authorities who failed to give adequate protection to MTV even after it was attacked a few days ago when petrol bombs were flung from a vehicle. NPC calls on the government to take meaningful and genuine and immediate action beyond rhetoric to apprehend the culprits without considering their status or position and restore confidence about the direction in which the country is heading.