One can hardly find the right words to express condemnation for the dastardly attack on churches and hotels in Colombo that resulted in the deaths of nearly 300 innocent people. It is indeed incomprehensible how a sane person can target people who are in prayer in the solemn enclosure of a church. Perhaps calling them sane is a misnomer itself because no person in the right state of mind can shed blood in a prayer hall. Therefore, it would be most appropriate to define them as ‘mad’ persons having cold hearts. In fact, the coldness of hearts of the perpetrators can be assessed from the report that as many as eight devastating bombs have been detonated through hotels and churches where Christian religious services on the occasion Easter were being held.
Reports claim that the coordinated attacks were the deadliest to hit the country in the last 10 years since the end of a bloody civil war that killed up to 100,000 people. It has also been reported that violence against the country's Christian minority has been going on in Sri Lanka for a long time.
Any kind of terrorist attacks targeting unarmed civilians that result in the death of innocent men, women and children, need to be condemned in unequivocal terms. We believe no cause is greater than human lives, therefore, if one faction has to settle scores with another, they should go to a war-field and fight it out.
It is however good news that eight people have been arrested so far and the investigative authorities are looking into the background of the arrested men. They would probe whether they have any foreign connection. Though the law and order authorities and intelligence agencies have yet to pinpoint any group for the heinous act, a Cabinet spokesperson has commented that some international network is involved in the bombing in Colombo. Another agency believes that a homegrown Islamist extremist group called the National ThowheethJama'ath (NTJ) was behind the deadly suicide bomb attacks. The name came from government spokesman RajithaSenaratne. Interestingly, RajithaSenaratne said that the Easter Sunday bomb attacks in Sri Lanka were carried out with the help of an international network. He further said that without the help of an international network these attacks could not have succeeded.
Any kind of terrorist attacks targeting unarmed civilians that result in the death of innocent men, women and children, need to be condemned in unequivocal terms. We believe no cause is greater than human lives, therefore, if one faction has to settle scores with another, they should go to a war-field and fight it out. Blowing up one self with a suicidal vest and taking lives of forty others in the process is not an act of heroism. It is rather a cowardly act because the perpetrator has to hide and act surreptitiously amidst unarmed civilians. No history books will ever write their names in bold letters as heroes.
Shahnoor Wahid is Advisory Editor of Bangladesh Post
