The President and Prime Minister, are making every endeavour to maintain a close and friendly relationship with our big neighbour. India, which has blossomed to a great extent in recent times. We have to court on the goodwill of India to a great deal at a time when the country is going through one of its darkest periods in history.

In this backdrop what transpired recently at the mega musical show graced by the ever popular Bollywood super star Shahruk Khan, turned out to be a nightmare.

That dastardly grenade attack ruined an absorbing musical evening, which in its wake claimed two innocent lives, while fourteen others were injured.

Large crowds flocked in their numbers to see their idol in concert. There was a lapse on the part of the organisers when they picked on the date to stage this show which almost coincided, with the first death anniversary of Ven Gangodawila Soma Thera, a highly respected Buddhist monk, whose preaching has had a great impact on a very large number of Buddhists in the country.

Some believe that the death of this illustrious monk occurred under mysterious circumstances and a special commission has been appointed to go deeper into the cause of his death.

I presume the organisers of this concert were in the dark with regards to the timing of this show, which was quite evident when they apologised to Buddhists and observed two minutes silence as a mark of respect for the late thera at the commencement of their show.

The matter should have ended there.

The police did overstep limits in trying to disperse a group of angry protesters and that added to the tension the situation was fraught with.

The perpetrator of this brutal act took advantage of the tense atmosphere that prevailed in the area prior to the commencement of this show to bring the government and Sri Lanka to disrepute.

The Indian Government quite rightly is anxiously awaiting the outcome of the investigations, which are now in progress.

The brutal grenade attack indicates that there was a hidden hand behind this attack.

Now it is left to the Colombo crime Division officers to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to bring these ruthless criminals to book, however powerful they may be in the underworld or in politics.