A Surreal Experience

The sound of a muffled thud outside my hotel window woke me.  Noting the time of 2 am, I thought to myself, sounds like fireworks, Sri Lanka must have won the world cup.  This seemed to be a dramatic turn of events considering that I had retired to bed at 12.30am with a sinking feeling that they were going to lose to the Australian juggernaut.

Rushing to the window, I expected to see street parties and fireworks on the streets below.  For a few 5 seconds, I stood there mesmerized by the very unusual scene which greeted me. The surroundings in downtown Colombo, normally brilliantly lit were now pitch black.  There were no street parties and the beams of ‘fireworks’ were too close together and moreover sounded like sub machine gun fire.

A cold shiver went down my spine as I realized that this was no celebration shooting but retaliatory anti aircraft firing emanating from the compound in front of the hotel which housed the Ministry of Defence.

The worst fears of the government and those of us who have been observing the deterioration of the security situation in Sri Lanka had been confirmed.  The LTTE had started their air attacks on Colombo striking at the heart of the city in the middle of the night as the whole country was in a relaxed mood eagerly awaiting the world cup cricket showdown.

Backing away from the window rapidly, I made my way out of the room to find several of my colleagues who were also staying at the hotel outside in the corridor alongside several other tourists and nationals who had come to see the match at the hotel confronting the security guard.

 ‘Don’t worry this is normal, everything is ok’ I heard him say loudly almost trying to convince himself of the truth.

 Obviously the guests were not buying that.  For once thankfully a training session had paid off.  What we had learnt in our personal safety and security course and our experience in emergency response meant that my colleagues and I were able to guide the guests downstairs to the lobby.

The lobby seemed to be chaos central.  Coupled with drunk world cup spectators, nervous tourists and   confused hotel staff, the next couple of hours can best be described as interesting. 

Despite our best efforts as humanitarian workers to aid the hotel staff to deal with the hundreds of people now crowding the hotel lobby, it became difficult to stop curious people from wandering outside to see what the noise was about or to convince the hotel staff to dim the lights and make some preparations for the emergency. 

‘I am sorry Mr Saleem.  We do not want to panic the guests and do anything out of the ordinary’ replied one hotel manager when I had asked him about his plans for dealing with this emergency.  Something stopped me from slapping him back to his senses. 

Thankfully the whole ordeal lasted about an hour and a half, by which time, Sri Lanka had lost the world cup, the final drinks had been bought and the clubs started to empty.  By 4am the situation returned to normal and we dragged ourselves back to bed.

The next morning was a surreal experience as silent guests took their breakfast, shell shocked from the events of the previous night, the disappointment of the defeat and the realization that there had been a serious security incident that had been averted.  As I went to check out, I could see it beginning to dawn on the hotel staff there including my friend the manager that things could have got worse.

As is so common in Sri Lanka and what is seen as a forte of the Sri Lankan spirit, the roads of Colombo that morning had returned back to normal.  It was as if the previous 24 hours was in a separate time warp.

The events of the infamous 28^th of April have now taken this ‘low intensity defence operation’ (in the words of the government) to a new low.  Despite both sides claiming that the 2002 peace process is still intact, the last wave of attacks by the LTTE have initiated a new dimension to the scenario.

Over the last couple of weeks and months, the security situation in Sri Lanka has got increasingly bad.  Each day does not go without some report of an air attack or mine attack or ambush with people being killed from all sides.  Whilst the anti war and pro war rhetoric is scaled up accordingly with each infraction of security and justice, it is the innocent people that are left suffering.  Those internally displaced people (IDPs), numbering thousands still stranded in makeshift refugee camps are waiting to go home. 

Now Colombo has become involved and this can only be damaging to the country and the prospects for peace.  On the 29^th morning itself, around 120 tourists who had arrived the previous day, packed up and left the country.  Several airlines suspended flights and suddenly the tourist industry of Sri Lanka heading into a long weekend was starting to look fragile.  As one hotelier was heard to comment ‘One more incident like this and I shall have to close up for good’.

The prospects for Sri Lanka’s growth and development are based on a peaceful situation.  Despite, many tourist areas not being the subject of attacks, there is undoubtedly nervousness internationally as incidents like the attack get reported widely.  Sri Lanka just celebrated its cultural new year, and there is now fading hope that things will certainly get bright.