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It's on the tv right now - breaking news. In Sinhalese, so whatever Fahim translates is what I'll learn about it.
So far, it looks like the bombs were in two trishaws. And great, there's a picture of blood on the trishaw. I think I'll vomit now. Lots of debris all over the place and many many men with big guns.
I've lost track of how many bombs have gone off this year. This makes at least 3 in Colombo and countless more in other areas of the country.
Oh, look, it's in English news on the internet already. Our internet is having problems - very slow.
quote: COLOMBO (Reuters) - A military convoy escorting a Pakistan Embassy vehicle was hit by a bomb in central Colombo on Monday, but only a Land Rover at the rear was caught in the blast, and three people were injured, a Reuters witness said.
The windows of the Land Rover were blown out, and the vehicle was badly damaged. A three wheeler taxi was on fire. The other vehicles in the convoy were not damaged. Ambulances rushed to the scene.
The blast shook the windows of the Reuters office in the capital, and comes just hours after a suspected Tamil Tiger front threatened to attack civilians if the military continued attacks on Tamil Tiger rebel territory.
Nice. Kill the civilians. Why not. Since they're not having much luck in getting their military targets.
quote:A blast was heard in the Sri Lankan capital and thick smoke seen in the Flower Road area, police and residents said.
I know people who work on Flower Road.
Because of the increasing violence - bomb attacks, grenade attacks - as well as the strikes - no petrol for a week - and the rest of the crap the government's been doing, Fahim's actually serious about getting a job out of the country and taking me and his parents along. Well, I'm natural to accompany him, but he doesn't want his parents here, either.
This country is heading for war. There is no longer any cease fire, although it's not out and out war quite yet. I don't think it'll be that long from now, though.
I'm angry. Angry at those stupid politicians who are so greedy and so corrupt that they'd rather steal money from the citizens of this poor country even if it results in starvation, job loss, economic hardships, inflation, and war. I'm angry that they're blowing the future of this country. I'm angry that, because of them, Sri Lanka's economy and progress has already been destroyed, held back by decades.
At one point, Sri Lanka was thought to have the brightest future in the region due to its developed infrastructure. Thank the British government for that. But no, the stupid corrupt politicians have to destroy everything.
posted
The attacks were on the Pakistani ambassador, who is apparently fine.
There's a weird kind of logic in place here...
Years ago, the Tamil Tigers assassinated Rajiv Ghandi, a presidential hopeful. Until then, the LTTE had India's support, but after that assassination, they lost the support of the central government, although they still have support of people in southern India - Tamil Nadu, which is ancestrally where the Tamil Tigers are from.
By bombing the Pakistani ambassador, we're guessing that the LTTE is trying to win support from the Indian government.
Like I said, it's a certain amount of logic.
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Wow, that's scary. You be safe. The job elsewhere idea would be pretty appealing to me, were I in your situation.
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The particular road where the bomb happened is blocked off - it's actually just off Flower Road. Fahim passed by it twice today when he was out and about.
Thus far, the news is saying that the two trishaws were the bombers and 7 are dead with 17 casualties.
Oh, and that's about, um, 20 minutes away, so not that close, but not that far either.
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If I'm going to say anything at all, I will say this much. Keep safe. I'm not going to say how to do that, but I just want you and your family safe.
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I'm only a wee little bit scared. Mostly, I know that we're low risk just because a. we're not in Colombo b. we know no politicians or anyone who'd be a target c. we don't go out much.
I'm more bothered because of the crap that everyone else here has to put up with and has had to put up with their entire lives. It's crap that a small group of people can destroy so many lives. Basically, it's politicians and men with guns/weapons holding everyone else in the country hostage.
And it pisses me off.
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Man. Have you heard from the people that you know that work on Flower Road?
How long do you give it before out and out war breaks out, quid? If you had to guess, what do you think that the outcome of the war would be? I'm glad that you and Fahim have the resources and skills to successfully relocate elsewhere. What countries are you considering relocating to?
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Nope, haven't talked to them, but considering it's actually off Flower Road, they're likely unaffected, also given the exact location where the bomb went off...
I have no idea how long it will take for outright war. I guess it also depends on how you define that. Peace talks are stalled and have been for months. Hundreds of people have died already this year (the count was over 300 several months ago). There are new accounts of more dead army/navy people pretty much every week. The LTTE stopped people from voting last, um, October, was it? with grenade attacks. Which resulted in a different presidency than was thought to be voted in had the people in those areas had the opportunity to vote. Suicide bombers are doing their thing in a few different areas in the country. The LTTE claims that the army is bombing them, including innocent orphans and other civilians.
Where's the dividing line between what's already happening and outright war? I don't know. I guess it's when the government declares it's war.
It could be tomorrow. It could be six months.
Outcome of war? Tons of civilians dead and the bad guys keep on ticking. Paranoia leading to race riots. Paranoia leading to just plain rioting. Paranoia leading to theft, breakins, and whatnot as the economy collapses and more people cease being able to feed themselves and their families. More hate, more violence on a personal level with regular people beating up neighbors, strangers just because they might be the wrong ethnicity.
Basically, I predict the ugliest sort of behavior that humans are capable of.
Fahim's previously worked in Saudi Arabia and the US, and he doesn't have much desire to go to either country, and nor do I, to be honest. His sister (and her family, of course) live in Dubai, so that might be nice. Or, well, who knows? This is all in speculation and thinking about right now, nothing at all concrete. We might not leave at all even if it does get really bad. No one, for example, would ever suspect me of being on either side of the war simply because I'm white, so there's a certain amount of protection there, theoretically. *shrugs* I don't know.
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Being white and speaking English could get you targeted as American for those who don't know better.
It's a scary situation, and I think about you every time I see anything in the news about Sri Lanka. I hope you'll stay safe.
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One of my teachers in high school was from South India and he was Sinalese. We spent an entire quarter on Sri Lanka, we had to read a book that took place in Sri Lanka and had alot of the conflict documented. I didnt enjoy the book's plot, but it painted a very horrifying picture of what goes on there. Our teacher always said that you don't hear about it in the news, but there is so much violence down there between the Sinalese and the Tamil Tigers, that when I started seeing reports on it in the news recently I thought, "Wow its got to be REALLY bad if CNN is reporting it."
Best of luck to you, Quid, I hope you can avoid injury.
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Jesus. Good luck, quid. Are you an American citizen, and if you are, would Fahim consider crossing the Atlantic? I'm fairly sure there are conditions in immigration policy that make it easy for you to bring his parents over, too, and if not, it's not difficult to cross the border illegally if you have enough money for a guide.
I wondered what you were doing in Sri Lanka. I really hope you stay safe.
Edit: just read your last post more carefully. If not the US, maybe Canada? And if not Canada, Europe? I'm not sure Central Asia's a safe (or... enjoyable) place for a white woman.
Actually, have you considered Latin America? Countries there tend to be poor, but so long as you don't move to any urban areas, you might have a good time there. I did. Central America in particular -- Costa Rica, Puerto Rico -- is stuffed with gringos, and no doubt there'd be a use for skilled workers like you and your husband.
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I second Central America. It's absolutely fabulous and beautiful. A second idea is Ecuador, which I fell in love with immediately. I've always had it in the back of my mind to move there someday. Of course, finding a job that pays well might be a problem, but if you write or do online computer stuff, you can probably do that from most anywhere, can't you?
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Canadian, and he would have to be sponsored to come to Canada. It's a pretty messed up system in someways. Or, well, no, he qualifies to come to Canada as a qualified worker or something, but it's still pretty messed up that being my spouse doesn't get him in at all. And his parents? They wouldn't be able to get in. Not into Canada. That wouldn't work at all.
Besides, I don't want to go back to Canada.
If we did Central America, it would be Belize. I have a ton of relatives there who would help us get set up. Seriously. There are Mennonite settlements, several thousand Mennonites, all related to me, and, well, the closest relatives of mine in that pile are great uncles and second cousins who I've been in contact with for years. And yeah, they would help regardless of the circumstances. They're very decent people.
But that's not likely to happen. The Middle East is more likely - strictly from a Halal food issue if nothing else. Well, that, and it doesn't sound like Fahim wants to go to the Americas.
But none of this is firm, it's all still a thought, and while he's looking for work, we're not in a panic to find something. In the end, whether we go or stay will depend entirely on what we think God wants us to do. Yeah, I know, the atheists in the crowd don't like that as an answer. Oh well. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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And I just learned that another top politician was assassinated last week - one who was involved in the peace process, apparently - and there was another bombing in Colombo last week.
And the bombing a few days ago resulted in enough damage to a few buildings in the immediate vicinity that they had to be torn down.
I wonder how many bombings there've actually been this year and how many dead?
I'm going to see if I can find out. Just because I'm getting pissed off again.
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According to this report, over a thousand have died so far this year in the conflict between the government and the LTTE. But they also say that it's nearly impossible to give an accurate figure since there's no way to verify reports which may or may not be biased and/or inflated and/or outright lies.
The report also indicates that the orphanage that was bombed may or may not have been an LTTE base with the dead being child soldiers. The LTTE are known for using children as soldiers, even to the point of kidnapping the children and/or forcing the parents to give their children up. But then, they also force adults to fight with them, too.
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So*. We don't know what's going on, but apparently, the security checkpoints are checking every vehicle one by one. Has another bomb gone off? No idea. There are, apparently, problems with vehicles being checked everywhere.
My sister and nephew are here right now, and my sister needed to run an errand to a place that's normally ten minutes away by trishaw. Unfortunately, it would take us three hours just to get there.
We could walk there in that time.
In other news, Tamils who have escaped to India and living in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu, India, are trying to leave India - for where I don't know - because the Tamil Tigers are reaching them in the refugee camps in India and forcing them - adults and children - to join the army.
Nice.
Just, you know, an update.
When Fahim and I went to the airport to pick up Kim and Ike, we passed through two security checkpoints at the airport itself. The lobby of the airport is closed off, so everyone has to wait outside for arrivals.
In our out and aboutedness, we've gone through many checkpoints, so many I've lost track. Will it keep us safer? No idea. But then, I also know they don't check any vehicle we're in to the same degree they check other vehicles just because we aren't brown and all the terrorists are brown. Maybe they check other vehicles more rigorously. That would explain the three hour trip to go ten minutes away.
Life in Sri Lanka. Always interesting. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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The forced conscription of civilians by rebels . Have they resorted to injuring them if they won't go yet?
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quote:The forced conscription of civilians by rebels. Have they resorted to injuring them if they won't go yet?
The LTTE threatens to kill their family if they don't join their army. Effective, it would seem. It accounts for some of the civilian casualties.
Last week, an article in the newspaper gave a summary of the death statistics so far this year. 3000 dead since December 2005, 700 of them civilians. And last week, another bomb was found, luckily before it went off. As well, another female suicide bomber was caught, again, before she had the chance to do any damage.
This week? It's not looking so good. Another bomb went off today, this time near Sigiriya, a major historical site that's about 5 hours drive away from here. 96 troops were killed, another 100 injured.
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The LTTE is now attacking Galle Fort at the southern end of the country and the navy is sending two boats (ships? whatever) down there to fight back. Galle Fort is not in the LTTE's usual area of attack based on the previous decades of fighting - it's not even close to where the LTTE live and breathe. A few weeks ago, they had bombs in Kandy, which is in the centre of the country and also not even close to their area. They seem to be going for anything they can possibly get - maximize damage or something.
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And another one JUST went off in Colpitty, which is 20-30 minutes away, or about 5 minutes away from where I go to church. 16 injured, 1 dead. It looks like another trishaw carried the bomb, but since it JUST went off, we're watching people milling about in confusion around the crime scene. Lots of shrapnel hitting nearby vehicles, buildings, and such. The fire truck is just now arriving, and there are a LOT of men with big guns hanging about.
It sounds like they were trying to get the secretary of defense, and this is very close to one of the latest bombings.
Oh yeah, one car is just nasty looking - totally crisped, same as a motorbike.
The news, as usual, is all in Sinhalese, so Fahim's translated what's been said, which isn't much. You don't tend to get commentary with scenes like this - they film it and show it without.
Fahim's brother's wife lives very close to there, my church is very close to there, the offices of a magazine that Fahim and I both write for is a couple of blocks away - all meaning that people we know and care about are in that vicinity.
*Grossness warning*
*DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH*
*I'M NOT KIDDING*
Oh. The blood.
When they show this on the news, it's a live feed, and there's still blood all over the road. Like, puddles two feet wide and five or six feet long. Blood trails all over the place. Fresh, bright red blood.
posted
Not yet. He's applied at a bunch of places and posted his resume on Monster (the US, UK, and ME sites all), and there have been a couple of small nibbles, but nothing more.
He's also more recently got another job locally, but that's completely unrelated and doesn't help us get out.
On another side note, though - for the three days we were in Dubai, I felt way way better than I do here. Everything is air conditioned, so I wasn't hot all the live long day, plus there isn't as much dust. But really, I think it's the heat that does me in, and living in air conditioning would just be so much easier for me than living in heat. For that reason alone, I'd love to move. Well, and the grocery stores there... The selection...
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Apparently, the target of the attack, the defense secretary, is also the president's brother. Makes even more sense now. He escaped unharmed. There's a half-decent article here, which also says that more than 3500 people have been killed this year due to the conflict. It also says that police open-fired on someone after the blast, identity unknown.
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I wonder if India is going to intervene. I suppose they might if the fighting starts affecting India's Tamils a bit more.
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I would say that Iraq has caused many people in America to be skeptical of intervention, though I appreciate that Mr. Plate is looking at some kind of global intervention force.
This, in particular
quote: The world is not flat, it is a succession of poisonous eruptions from deep within our collective human misery. "The [prior] peace process was a brave attempt to end an apparently intractable conflict," explains Robert Templar, of the International Crisis Group. (It has just released a truly valuable report titled Sri Lanka: The Failure of the Peace Process.) "But," he adds, "it ignored hard questions. Until political attitudes on both sides are altered, the conflict is likely to worsen." And this comes after a quarter-century of civil-war conflict that sent more than 100,000 Sri Lankans to their graves.
is the nail in the coffin of any intervention, no matter what, it seems to me.
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Oh, I don't by any means think he has any answers, but he does present some interesting points.
I agree with his statement
quote:Until political attitudes on both sides are altered, the conflict is likely to worsen.
And it would have to be major attitude changes.
The most common "remedy" I've heard presented here is to kill all the politicians, on both sides. Then start fresh.
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You're laughing at the Kill all the Politicians comment, right? Please tell me that's what you're laughing at...
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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So*. Apparently, a bomb went off an hour and a half ago in Nugegoda, a couple of kilometres away from where we live. So far, 14 are dead and who knows how many are injured. Fahim and I, however, are fine, so no worries are there.
Apparently, one of the Tamil Tigers bigwigs died a week and a half ago, and the rumours have been that the LTTE would start striking with a vengeance. Considering that there was also a bomb in Colombo earlier today, and a man was stopped with grenades, it looks like the rumours might be true.
The telephone lines are jammed - at best, one call in six is actually making it through. One of Fahim's cousin's is supposed to be coming here tonight, so of course there's concern over that.
Anyway, just thought I'd let y'all know that yes, we're still alive. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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And we later learned that it was actually three bombs that went off yesterday, with three more bombers (or grenaders, as the case may be) caught elsewhere before they were able to detonate. Yay.
Fahim's cousin is fine - he and his wife were caught in the terrible traffic trying to get to us. Today, the roads are open again.
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Nope, Alcon, Fahim's been applying for jobs elsewhere pretty steadily for, well, the longest time, but there's been nothing. Strange as it may seem, neither of us are actually worried about our own safety, and neither of us feel a huge push to leave this country. At this point. It may change in the future, of course, but for now, this feels like where we ought to be.
I find it interesting that, in one breath, the president vows to wipe out the LTTE, and in another breath, says he's ready to negotiate with them.
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