An event which gained public attention over the avurudu period was the attack by suspected LTTE activists on the Sri Lankan embassy in Oslo. The incident left Norway with egg on its face and led to the Sri Lankan government formally releasing them from their role as a mediator in the conflict. The problem with Norway is that from the very beginning, they failed to appear impartial to the Sinhalese public. It is certainly true that among the two main political parties in Sri Lanka, the Wickremesinghe-led UNP look at the Norwegians more kindly than the Rajapakse-led UPFA which would tend to look upon them with suspicion. The converse could also be true in varying circumstances. There was a time when the UPFA government led by Chandrika Kumaratunga did not look upon the Norwegians with suspicion.

But any leader of the UNP other than Ranil Wickremesinghe or S.B.Dissanayake would perhaps be more wary of Norway. Despite what the political parties and their leaders may think about Norway, the general feeling, rightly or wrongly, among the Sinhalese majority is that Norway is pro- LTTE and as far as this was concerned the Rajapakse government was perhaps more attuned to this opinion than was the Wickremesinghe-led UNP. In fact the perception that the Sinhala public has of the Norwegians and their peace deals is at least in part responsible for the present plight of the UNP. There’s no point in being impartial, but failing to communicate that to the target audience. In this sense the Norwegian role in Sri Lanka was a spectacular failure Following the attack on the Oslo embassy and its local fallout, The Island interviewed the Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka Tore Hattrem. The following are excerpts from the interview.

A. The relationship between Norway and Sri Lanka goes back a long way. Diplomatic relations were established as Sri Lankan gained independence and our work in development assistance in Sri Lanka started at the end of the 1960s. From 1977, we have had full-fledged development cooperation. There have been ups and downs but I wouldn’t say that this is the lowest point in our bi-lateral relationship. Among friends, sometimes there are problems that have to be dealt with. This incident is an example of that.

A. Before we talk about the steps that have been taken, let me first assure you how sad and regrettable we think this attack on your embassy and your property in Oslo is. As soon as this occurred, I was informed by Oslo and I immediately called your foreign secretary and expressed my regrets and conveyed the condemnation of the Norwegian government of this attack. The foreign minister in Norway went public and condemned it. Our minister in Oslo has also met the Sri Lankan ambassador in Norway and conveyed his condemnation of the incident. The fact that this attack took place and the police could not prevent it is a very regrettable thing. It is our responsibility according to the Vienna Convention to protect foreign missions and in this case we failed to do that. The police also have expressed their regrets. The circumstances here were that demonstrations have taken place over several days and they were by and large peaceful, until some turned violent. Obviously in hindsight, there should have been more police outside the premises to prevent something like this from happening. The national security police – the FBI of Norway, so to speak - have now taken over the investigation from the Oslo police. They are now trying to identify the culprits and arrests will come soon. We have also told the Sri Lankan government that compensation for the damage will be paid according to international law, by the Norwegian government. The police will in the meantime do whatever it can to bring the culprits to book because this is an act that is absolutely not acceptable.

A. Those who did it, were among the demonstrators. It seems that most of these demonstrators if not all of them were ethnic Sri Lankans. It’s difficult for me to say who they were before they are actually arrested. But at the same time, the Sri Lankan ethnic community in Norway, are citizens of Norway and they have their rights as any other Norwegian citizen and the right to demonstrate. But at the same time, violent demonstrations are not allowed and that goes for all Norwegians. If you transgress the law, you will be prosecuted.

A. Norway is a very law abiding country. We also have obligations with regard to international law when it comes to the financing of terrorism. There are all kinds of regulations with regard to international terrorism adopted by the UN Security Council, which we have to implement in our law, and there we have the tools to pursue those who support acts of terrorism, or finance terrorism. Of course in this regard, there may be activities that the police are not able to investigate. But certainly, there is the political will to deal with acts that are illegal.

A. What Norway is doing is what most other members of the UN are doing – that is implementing the Security Council resolutions on terrorism in our legislation. We don’t have a ban in Norway and only the future will show how things will turn out. But I donthink it’s fair to say that we are more lenient towards crime than other countries.

Q. What is going to happen to Norway’s role in Sri Lanka? The Sri Lankan government has basically said that they are not interested in mediation. So where does that leave Norway as a country that pushed the peace process?

A. Well, there really hasn’t been a peace process to facilitate since 2006. Our attention is now on the north with regard to the civilians.

Q. There were initiatives taken by the Norwegians in conflicts in the Middle East and in Sri Lanka and other theatres of conflict. But peace has not come about. Would you see the Norwegian approach as a failure?

A. I think it is extremely important to remember that when there are attempts to peacefully resolve a conflict, the onus is on the actors in the conflict. In the Middle East, it is the Palestinians on the one side and the Israelis on the other. On the Palestinian side you have the Fatah and the Hamas and there are several actors there. One should not exaggerate the ability of outsiders to help or influence the parties to come to a peaceful solution. I think they are influential on the margin of things. When it comes to these international conflicts a lot of responsibility for failure or success if put on the external actors whether it is Norway or the US. But at the end of the day, it is the actors involved in the conflict who will be the decisive factor. So I am uncomfortable with such questions or part-accusations which presume that external parties are all powerful.

A. All human beings make mistakes. At the end of the day, the verdict on our conduct and the conduct of the LTTE and the government must be given by others. We did whatever we thought we should do to be and to be perceived to be impartial and to act in a way which was in the interests of peace. But at the same time we also see that we were being perceived as being partial, and we admit that has been a problem. On the one hand you have the perception but on the other you have the substance. I can assure you that our actions have been driven by a strong wish to work in the interests of peace and the interests of the Sri Lankan people.

When the present writer arrived at the Norwegian Embassy in Ward Place Colombo, to interview the Ambassador, everybody seemed to be in a relaxed mood. Nobody seemed to be expecting a counter-attack on the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo in retaliation for what happened in Oslo. When I sounded my horn outside the gate, the security guard came out confidently to talk to me instead of peering at my car fearfully through the bullet-proof window, as one would expect in the circumstances. Clearly, Sri Lanka has come a long way since the 1980s. It is rarely that Sri Lanka has had the moral upper-ground on matters like this, and the government should ensure that it is maintained at all costs. Ranil’s avurudda

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has a genius for doing exactly what should not be done at any given moment. With only a little more than a week to go for the Western Provincial Council elections, he chose to spend the new year not in the Western Province, but in the Southern Province. He based himself in the luxurious Bentota Beach Hotel for the New Year season. Karu Jayasuriya however who has much more of a political instinct made himself useful even over the holiday season by participating in a progress evaluation meeting at the Kalutara district office of the UNP where he met UNP stalwart Imtiaz Barkeer Markar and almost all the UNP PC candidates in the Kalutara district. Jayasuriya also went to the Malwatte Viharaha in Kandy to participate in the funeral ceremony of the Ven Ambanwelle Pannasara as the representative of the UNP. S.B.Dissanayake and the Kandy Mayor also participated in the funeral obsequies so it was not as if the holiday season was a relaxed period even for those UNPers outside the Western Province. There were social obligations to fulfill, and appearances to make, election or no election.

As a result of Wickremesinghe being out holidaying in the south, he did not attend a janahamuwa organized by his cousin Ruwan Wijewardene at Makola on April 12 which was attended by Tissa Attanayake and parliamentarian Gayantha Karunatilleke. Wickremesinghe celebrated the New Year at the Galle Sri Paramendrarama Purana Viharaya. The anusasana made by the Ven Beligalle Pragnarama on this occasion received wide publicity with the venerable monk telling Wickremesinghe that the reason why he is not suited to Sri Lankan politics is because he does not know how to lie, to deceive, to steal and murder. Speaking further, the monk said that Wickremesinghe was like a majestic tusker, making his way forward slowly, with measured steps. It’s not often that monks praise Wickremesinghe so the comments got wide publicity.

Following the religious ceremonies and the sermon, there was an avurudu treat organized by Vajira Abeywardene and Gayantha Karunatilleke with the usual kevum, kiribath, plantains etc. The highpoint was the distribution of Rs 100 notes wrapped in betel leaves to all those who participated. UNPers had not seen Wickremsinghe participating in a complete avurudu celebration in the past fifteen years since he became the UNP leader and many were grudgingly complimentary towards Abeywardene for having been able to induce Wickremesinghe to do so. But Wickremesinghe could not shake off his usual lack of gregariousness even on this day, and observers say that even though he did go through the motions of handing out the Rs 100 note wrapped in a betel leaf to the assembled hoi polloi, he was not really looking at the people who came to receive the gift from him.

The president’s avurudda

In contrast to Wickremesinghe’s fumbling and unfamiliar celebration of the Sinhala avurudda, the president true to form, had a grand avurudda with all the customs observed to the letter at his residence in Tangalle town. It was a complete avurudda with people coming to see him in their hundreds heavily laden with the customary sweetmeats, plantains, bottles of treacle etc. For those who came to see him at his house in Tangalle, their avurudda was not complete without laying their gifts at the president’s feet. For a president with the highest threat level of any world leader at this given moment, the adequacy of the security arrangements in Tangalle was questionable. Even a layman with no nose for security matters would feel that there should be at least two barriers before entry to the house with all visitors being body searched at both barriers and all gifts and parcels left at the first barrier with a senior PR man to smilingly accept the gifts on behalf of the president so as not to cause offence to the well-meaning visitors. And even after passing the two barriers, visitors should have been body searched one more time before being ushered into the presence of the president. But in Tangalle, there was only one barrier with visitors carrying their gifts past it and into the house.

There were no scanners to be seen. Having metal detectors is next to useless as the Akuressa Godapitiya bomber did not have the usual metal shrapnel in the suicide vest he was wearing and the deaths were due just to the C4 explosives. Had there been shrapnel in his vest, the number of deaths in Godapitiya would have been several times higher. Body searchers are also not really reliable as the suicide bomber who attacked Chandrika Kumaratunga in December 1999 had got into the venue of the final rally despite a body search. The ideal situation would be a body search, followed by a scan with an airport style scanning machine and two more body searches before being ushered into the president’s presence.

All the politicians who were subject to LTTE attacks were attacked outside their offices and normal place of residence. This includes Premadasa, Ranjan Wijeratne, Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, C.V.Gooneratne, and others. Adequate security measures are in place at VIP residences and offices but these people become vulnerable when they go out or when traveling. The president’s vulnerability has been reduced when traveling thanks to the closure of roads. But when meeting people outside his normal place of residence which is Temple Trees, the president becomes vulnerable. One would think that the approach to his house in Tangalle would have been blocked with heavy concrete barriers which cannot be rammed even with a laden lorry, but no such thing was to be seen. In short, the security protocols for Minister Douglas Devananda were said to be better than that for the president in Tangalle. Devananda is a military man himself and he knows the LTTE. With the LTTE, there’s one cardinal principle to follow – never lower your guard, even for a second.

The Godapitiya bombing was entirely due to complacency and lack of alertness - so was the bomb that killed Jeyaraj Fernandopulle earlier. There should be a scanning machine with its attendant technicians that is transported everywhere the president goes in order to scan those who meet him.

Last week, Vajira Abeywardene and Ranil Wickremesinghe paid their last respects to the late Albert Silva who was the MP for the Galle electorate from 1977 to 1981. One of the things that Wickremesinghe told those present was that the coming year was an extremely bad period for the country astrologically, because never before had the avurudu nekath fallen before sunrise.

The late Albert Silva had joined the SLFP in the late 1990s and the crowd that would have come to pay their last respects would have been a mix of UNP/SLFP – and ideal gathering for ‘psy-ops’. What Wickremesinghe said also has implications for the president. The UNP will have a future only if the situation is bad for the country and for the president. If it’s good, they get nowhere. That perhaps is true of any opposition party anywhere. The Conservatives in Britain will have any hope of making a come back only Britain goes to the dogs under Labour rule. This is the reality of the two party system. But perhaps what Ven Beligalle Pragnarama said last week was true – Wickremesinghe does not know how to lie – so he wears his heart on his sleeve, expressing his hopes of gloom and doom openly.

A highpoint in the president’s itinerary last week was his visit to Kilinochchi for an avurudu party with the soldiers. This was a symbolic act which will undoubtedly be reflected in the results of the WPC elections next week. Visiting Kilinochchi may look like a security risk, but things were probably safer in Kilinochchi than they were in Tangalle with all that complacency among those responsible. That visit was a slap in the face for both the LTTE which held at one point that the security forces would never be able to take Kilinochchi; and the UNP as well, which belittled and ridiculed the government’s war effort, before the fall of Kilinochchi – one of the many instances when UNP spokesmen put their feet in their mouths.