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A postscript on the Easter bomb attacks in Sri Lanka.










The Easter Sunday bomb attacks exposed the defects and shortcomings of Sri Lanka’s security establishment. A series of coordinated bombings on that day rocked Sri Lanka, killing at least 257 people and wounding 500 others. The attacks, carried out by two Muslim extremist groups were the deadliest the island has witnessed since the end of its civil war 10 years ago. The attacks targeted three churches as well as four hotels in the Western Province.

Since 2009, Sri Lanka enjoyed a negative peace. Having ended a war that lasted close to 30 years, the bomb blasts evidently caught people by surprise. The prospect of encountering terrorism of this nature appears to have not been registered even within the security establishment of Sri Lanka. Security experts, since 2009 in particular, have focussed on the maritime security aspect of Sri Lanka’s security and as a consequence failed to notice the emergence of internal security threats. Lately, public criticism has been directed at the political hierarchy in Sri Lanka for their failure to detect and circumvent terror threats. Moreover, the advent of foreign security forces to the country in the aftermath of these attacks, voicing the need to ‘protect’ Sri Lanka and ensure its security and safety needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

In this regard, the geographical, geo-economic and strategic salience of Sri Lanka’s position carries significant utility for major powers. Western nations may view the island as a node in the global strategy to ‘contain China’. Beijing on the other hand, may view Sri Lanka as a critical junction in its Belt and Road Initiative. Despite the intentions and blueprints of foreign major powers, the Government’s decision to focus on foreign powers and their activities in the Indian Ocean whilst overlooking the internal security dynamics of Sri Lanka was a significant shortcoming.   Even when extremists’ groups garnered some attention, it was chiefly centered around the “Awa” Tamil extremists group in the North. Despite the government’s efforts at establishing peace and harmony in the island, one can posit therefore that this endeavour has also not been efficacious.

According to Theresa May, “National security is the first duty of a government”. However, in the case of Sri Lanka one has reason to doubt whether the government adequately paid attention on guaranteeing the island’s national security. The lack of intelligence exchange, the absence of intelligence specialists and the lack of an effective national security policy for the island was starkly visible in the aftermath of the attacks. Sri Lanka must do more in future to prevent a further recurrence of terrorism in the island.

By Dulanjani Wijesinghe
MA in International Relations (Reading), University of Colombo

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and not the institutional views of the BIDTI, nor do they necessarily reflect the position of any other institution or individual with which the author is affiliated.

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