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The day marked the first time that the Vesak Poya Day was declared as an international religious day by the United Nations and the blast set off near a Buddhist temple confirms the ruthlessness of the LTTE, the Special Media Information Centre (SMIC) said yesterday. The LTTE's attacks on innocent civilians and places of worship began several years ago. The attack on civilians at Anuradhapura in 1985, the killing of Buddhist priests at Arantalawa, the assassination of the Dimbulagala Chief Priest and the bomb attack on the Sri Dalada Maligawa in 1998 are a few examples of LTTE brutality, the SMIC statement said. The aim of the LTTE seems to be to stall the war effort in the North by causing ethnic disharmony through the bomb blast on Vesak day held sacred by Buddhists all over the world. There is no doubt that Buddhists would have been deeply shocked by this brutal attack. It is for this reason that the Government decided to withhold this news until steps were taken to safeguard innocent civilians and prevent an ethnic backlash. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has directed that Civil Defence Committees set up to protect innocent Tamil civilians be kept at full alert, the release added. While the Government has expressed its appreciation of a majority of the media acting in a very responsible manner under the given circumstances, there have been a few media organisations which have published detrimental information without the approval of the Censor and which acted in a manner to create ethnic disharmony. The Government seeks the cooperation of the entire population in its military effort to root out terrorism without being misled by brutal tactics of the terrorists. The Government has also called upon all citizens to protect from any Sinhala extremists the majority Tamil population of the country who do not subscribe to the brutal acts of the LTTE terrorists, the release said.
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