Business community shocked by LTTE brutality

Channa Kasturisinghe and Shirajiv Sirimane

MASSACRE: Yesterday's brutal massacre of innocent civilians in Kebithigollewa by the LTTE shocked the country's investor community. However, they urged the public to act with restraint in the face of provocation by a terrorist organisation, which has once again proved its barbaric nature.

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), which represents the cream of the country's business community, said in a release that everyone who would be justly appalled by this act should not be provoked and thereby, satisfy the aspirations of the separatists.

"The duty of every citizen, law enforcement authority and the Government is to take all possible steps to protect the populace of this country, without discrimination, and strenuously thwart any form of violence against civilians. We should be prepared to resolutely face any situation with fortitude and compassion towards everyone," the CCC said.

The shocking news about the bomb explosion targeting a civilian passenger bus which resulted in the deaths of over sixty people including children and Buddhist monk caused the Colombo stock market to nosedive yesterday. The All Share Price Index fell by almost 3 percent or 63.7 point to close at 2,106.64 points. The Milanka Price Index suffered heavily losing 97.04 to close at 2,672.52 points.

Yesterday's turnover was a fairly healthy Rs.490 million mainly contributed by Touchwood Investments, which contributed about 35 percent. It was among one of the few shares recorded gains yesterday with over 1.4 million shares being traded.

The controversial share which resumed trading on Wednesday after the CSE halted its trading on Monday moved up by Rs.4.25 to close at Rs. 112.75. Vanik also recorded gains with over 7.7 million shares being traded but the analysts described it as pure speculation.

"What we worry about is the fundamentally sound stocks. Their prices went down due to selling pressure by the panicked investors," Angelo Ranasinghe of Bartleet Mallory Stockbrokers said.

Dialog share price moved down to Rs. 19.75 with nearly 5.6 million shares being traded. 2.4 million Sri Lanka Telecom shares traded but the share remained flat.

"What the investors were looking for during the last few weeks was a positive news from the political front. However, we fear that this latest attack has shattered all their hopes. Most investors do not want to actively participate in the market fearing that the Government would go for an all out war," Ranasinghe said.

However, the possibility of an all out war on the part of the Government was ruled out by the head of the Peace Secretariat Palitha Kohona yesterday. He told the Daily News that the Government is totally committed to a negotiated settlement in the face of increased LTTE attacks on the Security Forces and civilians.

The President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka Nawaz Rajabdeen told the Daily News that this tragic incident happened at a time when the government is making a sincere effort towards peace."

He said that he was very disappointed in the manner in which the LTTE is responding to the peace deal that is being offered to them. He urged the international media to highlight the brutality of this massacre so that the world community gets the true picture of the terrorists.