Abominable terror that snatched young lives in their prime
Rasika Somarathna
Date: February 3, 2008
Location: Colombo Fort
Railway Station
Time: 2.10 p.m
Rajarathnam Radeeswaran, 17, of Dematagoda
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Eranda Chaturanga, 21, of Colombo 7
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Thiwanka Tissera, 17, of Dehiwala
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The highly active Fort Railway station is somewhat deserted with an
extended weekend holiday in the offing. It is unnaturally calm in this
normally busy transport hub. On this lazy Sunday afternoon gun totting
security personnel at every entry\exit point remind the travellers of
the troubled times they are going through.
Security has been beefed up and troops are on red alert, With Sri
Lanka at the doorstep of another landmark in its annals, in the form of
their 60th independence anniversary which is to be flagged off with a
grand celebration in a few hours.
Sixty years hence the struggle by our forefathers to gain freedom
from the clutches of colonial rulers, another struggle is being waged,
this time to free the nation from the clutches of terrorism.
In this backdrop the Fort Railway station and the general area
resembles a mini fortress with armed guards at every nook and corner.
The students’ remains at D.S. Senanayake College, Colombo.
Pictures by Sudath Nishantha and Ranjith Jayaweera |
The time is 2.05 p.m, the train from Kandy arrives at the station and
among the crowd are seven young baseball players and their coach from
D.S. Senanayake college in Colombo, returning after a club match in
Kandy.
There are heavy bags on their backs and menacing looking baseball
bats in their hands. The young men in the prime of their lives move to
the exit point, at the corner of the number three platform, laughing and
joking with each other.
They either did not see or did not take any notice of, a young woman
who had a deadly secret: a suicide jacket strapped to her waist. In
their eyes, she could have been just another passenger waiting to
disembark. But she had no plan of ever going home.
The big clock overhead turns to 2.10, and stops its tick, tick as
crows are the first ones to take flight in unison with the sound of the
deadly blast, sending its shockwaves on unsuspecting, innocent
bystanders.
The clock which stopped at 2.10 p.m would be repaired in the near
future and its hands would weave back and forth once again. But those
young hearts which stopped ticking at 2.10 p.m on February 03, 2008,
would never tick again. The life journey they began with so much hope
and dreams is shattered so cruelly, on the concrete floor of a railway
station to appease the bloodlust of terrorists.
White balls lathered in red slowly roll on the concrete floor and
shattered bats lie in the cold concrete, so are their bodies which have
been decimated in their prime.
For Rajarathnem Radeeswaran (18) of Dematagoda the fate has had it's
say. His life has been snatched away by an organisation which claims to
be the very guardians of the community he represents.
The tears of his mother M.Wasantha is the same as his dear friend
Thiwanka's mother from Dehiwela, both have lost their beloved sons and
at what cost they ask ?
His Father Vijayan Rajaratnam who is in shock over his son's death
has a baseball cap in his lap, and talks about his son's love for the
American game, which had paved the way for him to get the nod in getting
admission to the famed D.S. Senanayake college.
Mother of Thiwanka Tissera |
Young Eranga Chaturanga who resides next to his beloved college too
has bid adieu to this world at a time when both his mother and father
had sought greener pastures in the Middle East, to make their son's life
more comfortable.
But alas they have to return home abandoning the hope of a brighter
future for their loved one, as his life has been terminated by a cruel
terror which has no regard for human life.
Baseball captain of DS Nadeera Jayawardene who missed that fateful
journey speaks painfully about the demise of his colleagues, calling it
as an irreparable loss. The pain would haunt the rest of his and his
friends' lives.
He painfully recollects the memories and says "I was scheduled to
join them but because it was not a college match and also because I had
to attend some other matters I did not go".
According to Nadeera six of his team mates had returned on the
previous day but the rest had stayed back to visit the historic sights
in Kandy, unknowing that death lay waiting to snatch them away on their
return.
Kolitha Kumara (19) from Hokandara and Supun Halalla of Angoda who
were studying in the A\L Commerce class were best of buddies according
to their friends, and had excelled not only in sports but in studies as
well.
Alas both had their future dreams shattered as victims of a conflict
in which they never took part.
Young Dinuth Priyasanka of Agalawatte who was staying at his aunt's
house in Colombo was eagerly awaiting to commence his A\L studies in the
Science stream and according to friends was aspiring to be a doctor.
Thiwanka’s family |
His father had migrated to Middle East with the untimely death of his
mother to make his two children Dinuth and his sister's lives more
comfortable.
But now the grief stricken father has to return home, with his dreams
shattered to see his beloved son lying in a cold coffin, a victim of a
cold blooded attack by a group which calls themselves 'freedom
fighters'.
Freedom at what cost? Could anybody even with a semblance of humanity
justify attacks on innocent schoolchildren and unsuspecting civilians,
asks Uvidu Vidura a senior prefect at the D.S.senanayake College.
Now the only thing left for us is to pay the highest honour and
assist their bereaved families on behalf of our college, says Vidura
giving voice to the DS student community, as the coffins of their
colleagues are brought to the school hall one by one.
The very gates from which they came to school day after day has
opened for one last time. But this time round the entry is not on foot,
but over the shoulders of their weeping colleagues, with their youthful
bodies wrapped in satin in a cold coffin.
The young baseball coach of DS, Malinda Arumadura (27) of Gandara
would never see his one year old child and his wife Sadeshi, whom he
married recently. His dreams of a happy family life too got shattered
like his body on that concrete floor at Colombo Fort.
A weeping student in front of their colleagues' remains says this
Nation has lost many innocent young lives. "I hope my friends would be
the last. I hope the blood spilled by them would not be in vain."
And as one banner erected by students proclaimed
Let the white doves fly
Don't let anyone cry
End War by and by
Then no one will sigh |