Each time Indika Jayawickrema uses public transport, his wife Chamindri anxiously waits for a telephone call to let her know he has safely reached his destination.
His journey is one that has become more risky recently as a wave of bomb attacks targeting civilians sweeps through Sri Lanka, which is in the midst of 36-year-old civil war.
“With a 10,000 rupee [US$93] monthly pay, an infant and a wife to maintain, I can only afford the bus,” he shrugs outside a bus stop in Colombo, a day after twin bus bombs on Friday killed 23 people.
PHOTO: AFP
Sri Lanka’s defense ministry blames Tamil Tiger rebels for a string of attacks against civilian targets that have killed more than 170 and injured over 500 since January.
Attacks against civilians are of little strategic military or political importance, but they heighten public insecurity, said Ajai Sahni, head of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management.
“If you look at the pattern, they [the attackers] are hitting the softest of soft targets, the poorest of the poor, the most unguarded population. The sheer volumes doesn’t allow meticulous checking to prevent future attacks,” he said.
However, the Colombo-based government is not easing up and instead has poured a record US$1.5 billion into this year’s war effort, hoping for a quick end to a conflict that has left tens of thousands dead.
Endless bloodshed is also taking a toll on the island nation’s finances, where inflation last month hit a high of 26.6 percent, fuel prices were recently raised by 30 percent and bus fares by 27.7 percent.
“We have to first look after our safety, in spite of economic hardships,” said Sudeepa Jayakody, who drives a private minibus carrying office workers to Colombo.
Jayakody, who narrowly escaped on Friday morning’s bus bomb, wants to buy a motorbike to escape the dangers of public transport.
“I tell everybody, Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese, if you can afford it, hire private transport, buy a bike, rather than risk your life on a train or bus,” Jayakody said.
But many, like financial analyst Anchana Kathirgamathamby and stockbroker Mohandas Thangarajah, say they have no choice but to use the bus.
“I can’t afford to take cabs,” Kathirgamathamby said, calling the security situation “scary.”
“Each time I step into a bus or stand at a bus stop, I try to be aware of people around me, the surroundings, people carrying bags and try to keep my distance from them,” she said.
Thangarajah, a minority ethnic Tamil, says the rebels are “knowingly or unknowingly waging an economic war” on hapless civilians.
“Terrorism is hitting people who are barely making ends meet. People are living on the edge,” he said.
The situation is worse for minority Tamils who live in and around the capital of Colombo.
“Each time an incident happens, Tamils in the surrounding areas are detained for hours, their houses are searched. I can’t remember ever being so scared, as we are now,” said a Tamil lawyer, who declined to be named.
A museum in southern French city Marseille is inviting visitors to discover Europe’s relationship to the naturist lifestyle by wandering its halls in the nude. “It’s not every day you get to walk around a museum naked,” said Julie Guegnolle, 38, who was celebrating her birthday at the “Naturist Paradises” exhibition in the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean (Mucem). Once a month, visitors to Mucem can explore the history of naturism in Europe in only their shoes — a precaution not for modesty’s sake but simply to “avoid getting splinters,” said Eric Stefanut, head of French naturist organization
SPIRITUAL COUPLE: Martha Louise has said she can talk with angels, while her husband, Durek Verrett, claims that he communicates with a broad range of spirits Social media influencers, reality stars and TV personalities were among the guests as the Norwegian king’s eldest child, Princess Martha Louise, married a self-professed US shaman on Saturday in a wedding ceremony following three days of festivities. The 52-year-old Martha Louise and Durek Verrett, who claims to be a sixth-generation shaman from California, tied the knot in the picturesque small town of Geiranger, one of Norway’s major tourist attractions located on a fjord with stunning views. Following festivities that started on Thursday, the actual wedding ceremony took place in a large white tent set up on a lush lawn. Guests
Four days after last scanning in for work, a 60-year-old office worker in Arizona was found dead in a cubicle at her workplace, having never left the building during that time, authorities said. Denise Prudhomme, who worked at a Wells Fargo corporate office, was found dead in a third-floor cubicle on Aug. 20, Tempe police said. She had last scanned into the building on Aug. 16 at 7am, police said. There was no indication she scanned out of the building after that. Prudhomme worked in an underpopulated area of the building. Her cause of death had not been determined, but police said the preliminary
‘DISCONNECTED’: Politics is one factor driving news avoidance, a professor said, adding that people who do not trust the government are more likely to tune it out Hannah Wong cried when the Hong Kong government effectively forced the territory’s Apple Daily and Stand News out of business three years ago. Among the last news firms in the territory willing to criticize the government openly, many saw their end as a sign that the old Hong Kong was gone for good. Today, the 35-year-old makeup artist says she has gone from reading the news every day to reducing her intake drastically to protect herself from despair. Four years into a crackdown on dissent that has swept up democracy-leaning journalists, rights advocates and politicians in the territory, a lot of people