A senior parliamentarian and one of the most important ministers in the present government was assassinated by the LTTE. The bomber is believed to have come disguised as a Marathon runner. DefenseNet [1] gives a brief update of the incident, but the post created some heated debate and in my opinion it gives a glimpse of the average Sri Lankan's mind, who are so used to people getting killed by bomb blasts. Below are some of the comments, read the full post Minister Jeyeraj Fernandopulle killed in Weliweriya Blast [2]
Rover -
“Jeyaraj dead ,Thats that, now lets move on.”MyShadow -
Yes, i am gone mad…,how many of this country men will get killed, how many will blasts will keep happening in this country,
you say that “We can't dwell on the death of a single guy”
you say that in front of your computer. thousands and thousands are killed. may be you are in a foriegn country in a good position
may be you are a sadist who don't worry about people get killed, boombed
did you die ? someone died, and you say move on…
Other than the minister close to 10 people have died and among them is national marathon champion Mr.Karunasena better known and “Marathon Karu” and National Athletic Coach Mr.Lackshman De Alwis.About Sri Lanka [3] speaks about the other prominent people injured in this post [4].
Meanwhile, the war continues in Sri Lanka with government claiming to kill many Tiger cadres while LTTE denies them strenuously, what most people don't hear about is the displaced people because of the war, who live in refugee camps, sometimes denied even the basic human needs, although the government speaks highly about the liberation of North not much is mentioned about the displaced persons.
ground views [5] speaks about forgotten IDP's from the North where he mentions the hardships the Muslims and the other in that area had to suffer for more than two decades.
For these Muslims, who once led peaceful and productive lives in the north of the country, their lives were shattered when they were ordered to leave their homes in just two hours – or face dire consequences. Leaving everything they possessed behind them, they fled with their families, hoping no doubt to return when things calmed down.
Little did they know that their lives, which had turned topsy–turvy in the blink of an eye, would remain so and in fact only worsen, for the next two decades.
Although not as unforgiving as ground views transcurrent.com [6] also speaks about the difficulties faced by the IDP's [7] especially about the security concerns faced by them.
Despite the diversity of circumstances, Mr. Kalin identified several key issues affecting all of the IDP and returnee communities with whom he met. The predominant concern among IDPs is physical security. The Representative was struck by a pervasive sense of fear and uncertainty among those he spoke. Sources of insecurity are varied, but include the following: continued incursions and attacks by the LTTE; disappearances, abductions and looting; threats and attacks upon individuals by irregular and armed groups such as the Tamil Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal (TMVP), including infiltration of camps at night; incomplete or delayed mine-clearance; approaches used by security forces in response to security incidents, including roundups, methods to identify suspects, and detention of individuals without proper notification of family members of the reasons for and location of the individual's detention.