CID inquiry creates panic

COLOMBO, JAN 12: With investigators questioning a leading member of the Tamil business community and hinting that several other quot;prom...

COLOMBO, JAN 12: With investigators questioning a leading member of the Tamil business community and hinting that several other quot;prominent personalitiesquot; were behind the quot;conspiracyquot; to kill President Chandrika Kumaratunga, there is panic and fear over which way the CID8217;s moving finger will point next.

The state-run Daily News today said the head of a state media organisation was also questioned by investigators in connection with the alleged conspiracy. Earlier this week, the wife of a leading banker from the Tamil community was grilled about the alleged plot to kill Kumaratunga hatched by pro-opposition Tamil businessmen, a section of the press, and some army officials.

Kumaratunga narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by an LTTE suicide bomber at her final election rally on December 18, three days before the presidential election. But she lost one eye in the attack, which killed 25 others and wounded at least 100 people.

The editors of two pro-UNP/anti-government weekly newspapers have declared they are the journalists on the CID8217;s list of suspects in the case, and said the attempt to link them with the Tamil Tigers was a direct threat to their lives, especially after the killing of pro-LTTE lawyer Kumar Ponnambalam here last week. The killing was claimed by a previously unheard of group which warned all other LTTE supporters of a similar fate.

As if in tandem, an editorial in the Daily News used exceptionally strong words to warn those said to be supporting the LTTE financially: 8220;May we remind the errant financiers that those who live by the sword die by it8221;.The CID8217;s conspiracy theory has come in the backdrop of accusations from the highest quarters in Kumaratunga8217;s camp that United National Party UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had joined hands with the LTTE in a bid to defeat her at the elections.

By narrowing down on those who openly came out in support of the opposition UNP during the presidential election, the CID investigation seems like an extension of the political accusations.

The screaming headlines about the alleged conspiracy in state-owned newspapers and Ponnambalam8217;s killing have created an atmosphere of confusion and fear in the capital.

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This is so especially among Tamils, a majority of whom backed the UNP in the presidential election for its promise to talk with the LTTE and end the war.quot;The president, it appears, will seek vengeance on all those who opposed her. She might begin with the press, but the Tamil people do not seem to be far behind. Clearly, she finds it difficult to accept that they rejected her. If going after the press is scary, this is truly frightening,quot; wrote a respected columnist in the Sunday Leader.

It is not clear what evidence, if any, the CID has against those who are being questioned in the attempted assassination case but the Mid-Week Mirror described the entire exercise as an 8220;unnecessary witch-hunt8221; targeted at stifling dissent, and warned it would only lead to the exacerbating of the country8217;s ethnic conflict.

It described Kumaratunga8217;s three-hour address to the nation over TV last week, in which she lashed out at all those whom she perceives as her opponents, as evidence of a quot;vituperative politician pursuing a petty personal agenda rather than a statesman overseeing the task of national reconciliationquot;.