Ralph Michael in Colombo - It was just before dawn yesterday when the bomb exploded in front of Tiran Alles’s villa in Colombo, signalling a new low in one of the dirtiest elections in Sri Lanka’s history.
By the time he rushed from his bedroom at the back of the house, the entire façade was in flames, as was his Toyota saloon in the forecourt. “Shocking,” Mr Alles, 49, told The Times as police examined the wreckage. “There’ll be more violence like this before polling day.”
Until the Tamil Tigers’ defeat in May few would have doubted that the rebels were behind an attack like this on an ethnic Sinhalese businessman. This time, the finger of suspicion points in a different direction.
Mr Alles is a key supporter of Sarath Fonseka, the former army chief, who led the campaign against the Tigers but is now challenging President Rajapaksa in an election on Tuesday.
General Fonseka has openly blamed the bombing on the President. “This shows the Government is in huge fear,” said the general. “The whole reason for my coming into politics has been justified.”
President Rajapaksa’s camp has denied any role in the attack, which did not hurt anyone. The bombing has, nonetheless, heightened fears that election violence could spiral out of control, undermining a peace that took three decades to achieve.
Four people have been killed in more than 773 registered cases of political violence, police say, compared to about 125 in the last presidential poll in 2005. “This is extraordinary,” said Keerthi Tennakoon, of the Campaign for Free & Fair Election. “We’ve not had organised election violence like this since 1989.”
So unruly has campaigning been that Ban Ki Moon, the UN chief, and Baroness Ashton of Upholland, the EU foreign policy head, both appealed for restraint this week.
Dayananda Dissanayake, Sri Lanka’s Election Commissioner, also admitted that he had given up warning police and public officials to remain impartial because they repeatedly ignored him.
Few would have predicted such mayhem in May when the army finally crushed the Tigers’ 26-year struggle to create an ethnic Tamil homeland.
Mr Rajapaksa, a Sinhalese, was hailed as a hero by his supporters, and called the election early to capitalise on his popularity. But he failed to give credit to General Fonseka, and angered him by transferring him to the powerless post of Chief of Defence Staff.
The general resigned, and declared his candidacy last month, backed by an unlikely alliance of opposition parties. “The opposition realised it didn’t have a candidate and had to find someone with an equal claim to winning the war,” said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, of the Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The general, too, has a reputation as a Sinhalese nationalist and many human rights groups accuse him and Mr Rajapaksa of committing war crimes. But his entry split the Sinhalese vote, forcing both candidates to reach out to Tamils as kingmakers.
General Fonseka has been particularly outspoken, accusing the Government of ordering the army to execute Tiger leaders as they surrendered. He also said that the Government was dragging its feet on releasing 300,000 Tamils detained in internment camps.
Mr Rajapaksa responded by freeing the detainees, making hurried visits to Tamil areas, and mustering current army officers to denounce General Fonseka. “The time has come for all groups of people to forget party or colour differences and unite to develop the country,” he told a rally this week.
But while popular still in Sinhalese rural areas, he has failed to convince most Tamils. This month General Fonseka was endorsed by the Tamil National Alliance, the main Tamil party that was close to the Tigers.
Many are betting that he cannot be worse than President Rajapaksa.
© Times Online
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