Name and shame the LTTE

Evil prospers when good men (states) remain silent. This memorable saying, with the relevant modifications, is applicable to the Lankan situation in the wake of the LTTE - triggered Kebithigollewa massacre which saw the cruel snuffing out of some 64 civilians lives.

At the time of writing, from among member states of the world community, only the US has forthrightly condemned the LTTE by name for this horrendous tragedy. Such mute silence by the rest of the world on the identity of the killers, aggravates Sri Lanka's sorrow and suffering in this hour of deep crisis.

Naming the killers clearly and unambiguously, the US government's statement of condemnation says, among other things: "This vicious attack bears all the hallmarks of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam."

We wish the rest of the world was as frank and forthright as the US in its condemnation of the Kebethigollewa massacre. While the US is pulling no punches in its identification of the killers of this grave crime, most other states seem to be fighting shy of doing the same, although they have been spontaneous in their condemnation of the incident.

While these condemnations need to be appreciated as signs of a world which is ever sympathetic towards Sri Lanka's trials and tribulations, it is a matter for regret that the LTTE is not being named as the fiendish authors of the massacre.

How then, do the right-thinking sections of the world expect to bring pressure on the LTTE to give the negotiations a chance? How do they expect to shame the LTTE and make it ponder the enormity of its crime? How do they expect to work towards the international isolation of the Tigers, as part of a strategy of making the Tigers explore the path towards a political settlement?

We hope the international community would come to grips with these issues and do the needful by clearly naming the LTTE. If it does not do so, it could be in the sorry situation of unwittingly making evil thrive.

There could be no more fence-sitting on these questions which have a bearing on the future of Sri Lanka. It is plain to see that the LTTE's inhumanity has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few months. Apparently it is willing to kill with increasing savagery. It is stopping at nothing in its unleashing of terror.

The prime question that arises from this bleak backdrop is this: has not the global silence on its identity encouraged the LTTE into killing voraciously with impunity?

We hope the world would turn the searchlight inwards and discover the importance of naming the LTTE clearly with a view to making it accountable for Lanka's suffering. The earlier this is done the better for Sri Lanka and its peace process.

The international community is right in insisting that Lanka must go for a negotiated solution and nothing else. It is right in insisting on talks but it should be plain to see that it is not the State but the LTTE and LTTE only which is torpedoing the negotiatory process.

Thus, the world community should impose increasing pressure on the LTTE to cooperate with the State in bringing peace. It cannot do this unless and until the LTTE is universally censured for its gruesome atrocities.

Red signal for railways

The railway service seems to be running on the wrong tracks. Tuesday's crash at Kalutara in which 50 persons escaped with injuries indicates a chronic malaise in the railways sector. This is by no means the first such accident in recent memory.

Transport Minister A.H.M. Fowzie has appointed a Major Board to probe the accident which caused damage estimated at over Rs.50 million to the Railways Department.

We are certain that the investigators will leave no stone unturned to find the truth, but it would not be premature to say that a signal failure was behind the accident.

That is the simplest explanation for the presence of two trains heading in the same direction on the same track. Whether by sabotage, negligence or accident, one train had not received its signals properly.

This is indeed a serious state of affairs that deserves the urgent attention of the Government. An efficient, safe train service is essential as nearly a million people use the rail network daily. It is also much cheaper than bus travel - another reason for its popularity.

Rail employees thus have a special responsibility to serve the public. Unfortunately, some rail trade unions do not have commuters' interests at heart.

There have been frequent strikes by rail unions which severely inconvenienced commuters including schoolchildren. They neglect their duties during and even after strikes, so the Kalutara train collision was an accident waiting to happen.

Minister Fowzie has now urged the public to go to Court against the strikers and even suggested having tills to collect funds for such legal action.

We cannot immediately say how practical this would be, but such collective action is long overdue. The strikers must be held accountable to the people, who fund the railways in the end.

That said, the authorities can do more to develop the train service. Electrification has been talked about for decades, but it remains just that - talk. Our trains are woefully slow when compared to those of even the rest of South Asia. At least some of the main tracks should be electrified.

Subways have also come into the picture. We hope the project to build a metro for Colombo would be a reality in the foreseeable future. This will be a clean, fast and comfortable alternative to the private car.

While these are future projects, there is one thing the Railways Department can do right away: make the trains more clean. Train compartments are shoddy, dingy places that make journeys a real headache. The railways should be clean, in more ways than one.

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