Some ten heavily armed Tigers, lying in wait near Castle Street-Cotta road junction at Rajagiriya suburb in west Colombo were detected by a civilian resident during the evening rush-hour. Approaching policemen were shot dead and a Black Tiger exploded a bomb killing several civilians.
Four guerrillas retreated, firing their machine guns to prevent pursuit and took-up position in the Serpentine flats in nearby Wanathamulla. The apartments were surrounded by 500 Sri Lankan military commandos. Following a gun battle lasting 12 hours, three Tigers exploded grenades committing suicide and the other was shot dead.
The daring attack in the capital has embarrassed the security authorities who claim to have thrown a ring of steel to protect the city. The LTTE cadre were waiting near the road leading to the Parliament in Sri Jayewardenepura, where, in addition to Emergency rule, the budget allocation for the Defence Ministry was being debated.
Observers believe that the Tiger target was Deputy Defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte, who is reputed to have led the Army capture of Jaffna in 1995. The three armed force chiefs and the Inspector General of Police were present in Parliament at the time.
The police are puzzled how heavy weapons used in the attack were brought into the capital. They believe that the five or more Tigers who escaped from the scene are part of a support group operational within the city. Crimes Detection Bureau (CDB) Director Bandula Wickremasinghe says 12 suspects have been arrested. Some observers say that the Colombo attack and LTTE’s continuing military operation Oyatha Alaigal III (Unceasing Waves) in Jaffna cast doubt over Tiger commitment to peace and may provide fuel to opponents of the Norwegian peace initiative.
An event 5,000 miles away in the northern hemisphere, further alarmed peace activists. The Norwegian government collapsed after it lost a parliamentary confidence vote on an environmental issue on 9 March. But fears were allayed after Foreign minister Thorbjoen Jagland affirmed the new government’s commitment to peace in Sri Lanka. Norwegian MP Erik Solheim has been appointed special advisor on Sri Lanka and granted leave from parliamentary work for a six-month period.
In Colombo, the ruling People’s Alliance (PA) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) met on 9 March in the President’s Temple Trees residence for the first round of talks on peace and constitutional reform. The parties agreed to continue discussions on the government’s draft constitution tabled in Parliament in 1997. Four further rounds of talks were held during March. According to reports, President Chandrika insists that the PA-UNP talks must be completed before the Paris Aid Group meeting under the auspices of the World Bank on 29 May.
Outside Temple Trees, the two parties continued to criticize each other. UNP leader Gamini Athukorale condemned President Chandrika for accusing his party in an interview to the Far Eastern Economic Review of collaborating with the LTTE to assassinate her.
NSSP leader Wickremabahu Karunaratne says the two parties have no real intention of devolving power or granting the rights of the Tamil people. The Tamil political parties point out that there are no Tamils in the delegations of the PA and the UNP. They continued to express concern that as in the case of all-party conferences and select-committee sessions in the past 12 years, vital issues such as the permanent merger of the northern and eastern provinces, unit of devolution and the Thimpu principles are not being discussed.
In a petition to President Chandrika Kumaratunge, Mahanayakes or highpriests of the four main Buddhist sects expressed opposition to Norway’s involvement, calling for full military force to annihilate the LTTE. The Defence Ministry, meanwhile has issued a notice requesting Sinhalese parents to urge their children to join the Army.
While the Sinhalese hardline National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) and Weeravidhana continued demonstrations in Colombo against Norwegian involvement, 25,000 school children marched in Ragama in early March demanding peace. In late March, the Jaffna and Mannar Catholic Bishops expressed concern over the importance given to war and urged President Chandrika and the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran to seize the unprecedented opportunity and create greater space for peace.
The LTTE continued to lay down conditions for peace talks. Tiger political advisor, Anton Balasingham called for a ceasefire supervised by a Monitoring Committee and withdrawal of the armed forces to military camps. President Chandrika declared that there will be no troop withdrawals, ordering the commanders of the three armed forces on 29 March to remain in Jaffna and step-up efforts to eject the Tiger forces around Elephant Pass military camp.