Comment on 'A Lapse in Diplomatic Security'

by Nimal

Anthony Dias wrote “Firing at foreign ambassadors is an extremely serious matter.” No one would disagree.

BUT is Dias right in saying that the UN Secretary General’s statement was apt and is it natural to blame the LTTE, “since they are the ones who trained their barrels in the direction of the diplomatic landing site”? And is it only a case of “immense ignorance” and of “someone ignor[ing] his or her responsibility somewhere” that is behind the incident?

According to the UN Secretary-General, “The attack was in total disregard for the lives of civilians, humanitarian workers, Government officials, and the international community.”

For it to be an attack in TOTAL DISREGARD, all the information had to have been available and clear for it to be disregarded. But the LTTE says it did not have any information, therefore it could not have been AN ATTACK in disregard…

Indeed, if the LTTE was acting with disregard, or if there was intention to attack all those people, then why did they stop as soon as they were informed of the situation? An attitude of total disregard or deliberate intention would not at all have been changed by the UN official informing Kilinochchi. So the UN Secretary-General’s statement is certainly neither apt nor thought-out. If someone is to be blameworthy, they must know the effects of what they are doing; so again for the above reasons, it is certainly not natural to blame the LTTE for the INCIDENT just because they fired the guns.

“Immense ignorance” and/or irresponsibility?? This is Dias’ s line. And Dias blames it on the “security officials of the relevant high commissions”, “UN officials”, and “the International and Local Non-Governmental Organizations”, whom Dias calls “the cream of the international representation in this island.” Apart from many rhetorical sentences, Dias gives absolutely no REASON why these people are in any way to blame. Dias also contradicts himself because he also notes that it was a UN official who very responsibly contacted the LTTE liaison office in Kilinochchi as soon as he/she knew what was happening.

Most surprisingly and tellingly Dias makes no mention of GoSL responsibility and culpability. Surely, it is the GoSL who must take every responsibility in looking after those people. Surely, it is highly irresponsible for the GoSL to take these people into a war zone while fully knowing about the prevailing conditions. Dias tries to evade the case of GoSL “foul play”, to put it mildly, by saying “Alternatively, was there some foul play that deliberately fed wrong information to the high commissions of these countries that supposedly have the best information-gathering technology?” But why at all should the possession of information-gathering technology prevent anyone being fed wrong information and lies?

All the evidence points to the fact that there WAS “foul play” with a deliberate intention on the part of the GoSL to involve the international community in this war by getting these high-ranking people killed or badly injured. Anthony Dias’s article hides this and is very poor security analysis.

Dias ’s conclusion, “One cannot help wondering if their efforts in this island may end up in doctoring themselves” is also a message from the GoSL to the international community:  ‘Butt Out or get doctored’! Interestingly, the GoSL is threatening to ‘doctor’ the international community with its own aid money!! Can the international community not see this? The UN Secretary-General seems not to have.