To express solidarity to the hoteliers who suffered from the recent terrorist attack on Easter day, I wanted to go to a Sunday buffet at cinnamon Grand. The suicide bombers had exploded their vests at cinnamon, shangrila and at Kingsbury among the people having buffet on April 21. But instead, Wikum drove me to Kochukadai church in Colombo 13. There were heavy security around the church and a thorough security screening at the entrance. It is hard to realize that a terrorist attack occurred there recently. They have rebuilt the church well very quickly. I was told that the beautifully decorated ceiling was completely blown away. In place of it, I could see only wooden planks. Islamic terrorists had attached Kochukadai church and two other churches on that day which killed more than two hundred and fifty people.
Not many countries have suffered from terrorism as much as Sri Lanka. In the seventies, it was the Marxist/Leninists movement, In the eighties, it was the Tamil tigers and in the recent times the Islamic terrorists. It is very strange for a predominantly Buddhist society. There was even a terrorist attack by Buddhist monk which killed the then prime minister Bandaranaike for signing a peace act with the left radicals.
But the first in it's recorded history must be by Hanuman. That is when Hanuman secretly entered the Raavana's palace and lit fire to it's surrounding. When I saw the pictures in the national museum and read the history of beautifully carved palaces and temples completely made in wood, I was wondering how devastating would have been the fire started by Hanuman. Strangely, there are temples in Sri Lanka which worship Hanuman, it's first terrorist!
History always had good terrorists and bad terrorists. Bagat Singh is a hero in India. Che Guevera is worshiped by the socialist parties world over. World is still far away from condemning all forms of terrorism. US fights the terrorists in Afghanistan but supports the same group in Chechnya. Pakistan fights militancy at home but supports those in Kashmir.
Will we ever embrace Buddhist and Gandhian principles fully? Will we ever learn to live peacefully? Why do we fight for a piece of land at the expense of peace? Will we ever learn to fight discrimination? When will we learn to discriminate good from the bad?
