[See SAJAforum's full coverage of the Mumbai attacks]
This weekend, The Guardian reminded us that "[b]ehind the headlines of wealthy westerners fleeing Mumbai's terror frontline, it was ordinary Indians who bore the brunt of the bloody attack[s]" in India's financial and cultural capital this past week. Those same headlines might easily lead one to conclude that the Bombay attacks are significant only or primarily for their geopolitical, economic, and personal consequences for people in the West.
However, the attacks and their aftermath are certainly being experienced rather acutely throughout the South Asian subcontinent itself and within South Asian diaspora communities in other parts of the world. Take, for example, Sri Lanka. Certainly, the people of Sri Lanka have plenty else on their minds these days, with military clashes between the government and the Tamil Tigers proceeding apace and major floods destroying thousands of homes and displacing tens of thousands of people, many of whose lives already had been disrupted by the ongoing fighting. Nevertheless, these serious events -- each worthy of greater international media attention in its own right -- have not kept Sri Lankans from also experiencing the ramifications of this week's Bombay terrorist attacks.
Sri Lankan business leaders have expressed concern that any negative effects of the attacks on the Indian economy will have significant consequences for the Sri Lankan economy as well:
Former Chairman of the Ceylon National Chamber of Industries A.K. Ratnarajah said the Mumbai attacks will have repercussions not only for India but for Sri Lanka as well. India is Sri Lanka's largest source of imports and he believes the attacks will negatively impact them. Any sort of instability in India will most likely have consequences for Sri Lanka....
Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau Renton De Alwis said tourism will be impacted in the region in the short term because tourists generally think of a region as well, not only a destination. "When there are problems in the region, it impacts on all destinations," he said. "People also have a short memory and they know that all places are impacted by terrorism so the impact will not be felt in the long term." He added that Sri Lanka should support its industry colleagues in India in overcoming the crisis. [link]
Given the particular significance to the Sri Lankan economy of tourism, which already has been adversely affected by the global economic downturn, the government of Sri Lanka has ordered security to be stepped up at the country's luxury hotels:
"The need for a special security arrangement to protect hotels is greatly felt," [President Mahinda] Rajapaksa said at the security review meeting with owners of tourist hotels, government representatives and defence authorities here....
"These unfortunate attacks [in Bombay] bring into focus the urgent need for concerted action by all countries to eradicate the menace of terrorism, wherever it is, and whoever the leaders and manipulators of such violence may be," he said in a statement.
The Sri Lankan government is reportedly giving final touches to the setting up of a "security committee network" for the protection of high end hotels that will be headed by a top retired police officer.
The committee will work in close cooperation with the Defence Ministry.
Sri Lanka, known for its lush green surroundings and forest cover besides the golden beaches, depends to a great extent on tourism for generating revenue for its coffers. [link]
On a more personal level, the CEO of Unilever Ceylon Ltd, Amal Cabraal, was among the guests at Bombay's Taj Hotel when the attackers struck, attending a dinner banquet at the hotel as part of a Unilever management conference:
"I was due to return on Friday, but in all the commotion I lost my travel documents," Mr. Cabraal said. "I returned home safely this morning. My baggage is still in the hotel. We managed to get out of the hotel safely on Thursday morning, and I informed the Sri Lankan consulate about my situation." Mr. Cabraal declined to elaborate on his experience in Mumbai.
The Sunday Times learns that the Unilever delegates heard the sound of gunfire coming from the front of the hotel, and hotel staff immediately took the delegates to another part of the hotel. They were ushered into a room and instructed to barricade the door with furniture.
The entire hotel was plunged in darkness when the management disconnected the power supply. According to Indian police sources, the Unilever guests heard loud explosions, and when smoke started to fill the room they smashed open a window. [link]
Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Rohitha Bogollagama, has explicitly suggested that the Bombay attackers may have found inspiration in the tactics of the Tamil Tigers:
Bogollagama contended that the methodology and precision of these savage attacks are reminiscent of the terror tactics employed by the LTTE against innocent civilians and vital infrastructure in Sri Lanka. "I have no doubt in my mind that terrorist groups the world over, study and mimic the modus operandi of each other to cause maximum death and destruction. We in Sri Lanka are all too familiar with the stark reality of the cruel hand of LTTE terrorism, which has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians over the last 25 years, as we have seen many times over in our country," said Mr. Bogollagama. [link]
At the same time, a post on the Sri Lankan citizen journalism website Groundviews advises India to learn from Sri Lanka's experiences in responding to terrorism. The post, which is premised on the possibility that those responsible for the Bombay attacks might have included some Muslim citizens of India, recalls the 1983 anti-Tamil riot and other human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan government, and compares the circumstances of Tamils in Sri Lanka with those of Muslims in India:
To see what is happening in India today is to look in the rear view mirror of what we did wrong in Sri Lanka. When we suffered terrorist attacks, we blamed it on foreign interference, namely India. India does the same today: the Prime Minister in a televised message blamed a "group based outside the country". Both countries have failed to realize that the root of the problem is not outside our shores; the problem lies within. Messages from the Indian public are scrolled continuously on NDTV, most of them blaming the government for inadequate security and calling for a severe crackdown on terrorism (as if they weren't already trying all this time). Not one message asked the question: "what drove these Indians to do this to other Indians?"
In the interests of combating terrorism, it won’t be long before anti-terrorist squads ask Indians with Muslim names questions like: what are you doing out so late? Do you have a legitimate reason for walking near that hotel? How can you prove that you live in this city? If you’re not from here, what reason do you have for being in this city? It won’t be long before Indian Muslims are arrested simply for being Muslims, and asked to prove that they are not terrorists. As for the public, the great majority will applaud these actions. They’ll say it is unfortunate, but it is necessary. We know this because we have seen it all before....
So here's a word of advice from a Sri Lankan to our big neighbour. Don't go down the path we have taken. Don't be tempted to sacrifice the freedom of another for your own safety. Be smarter than us. Look within and find the disease that is causing this fever called terrorism. For now, your terrorists seem to be ad hoc groups of lethal young men. With every attack in your country a new terrorist group with a new label takes credit. That's how it starts. The day will come when a determined and motivated leader manages to coalesce the many fingers of extremism into a hard-hitting fist, with an ideology as compelling as it is evil. When that happens, you will pay a price in blood and sorrow for generations to come. We know this because we have seen it all before. [link, via Global Voices]
Finally, the Bombay attacks have prompted another Sri Lankan-related response among some security officials in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu: concern at the prospect that future attackers might seek to enter the country by sea while masquerading as Sri Lankan refugees:
According to [Tamil Nadu] police, it would not be difficult for terrorists to smuggle in arms to the state using the sea route. "If they use boats and arrive under the guise of Sri Lankan refugees, chances of them going undetected are very high. They can easily carry the arms to any place along our coastline, conceal them in vehicles, and get them through into hotels as personal baggage. We plan to address all these issues in the new security programme," the official pointed out. [link]
Share your reactions, as well as other Sri Lankan and Sri Lanka-related perspectives on the Bombay attacks, in the comments. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.
