Wake up, wake up oh Sri Lanka!

By Punyakante, Colombo 7

On Saturday, April 28th night while the whole of Colombo, excluding myself, was watching our cricket team play against Australia in what we hoped would be a victory for Sri Lanka, its enemies, the LTTE, raided the skies…

I had retired early, being tired and also not an ardent cricket watcher. However before I retired I saw there was a moon in the sky after many nights of rain accompanied by fierce lightning and thunder. I awoke twice in the night to the sound of explosions and dismissed them happily thinking. 'I’am glad our team is winning.' I mistook gunfire for crackers.

When the lights went out I thought: 'another power failure' and went back to sleep. There was no point in phoning the department who would assure me power would be restored in due time.

I was aware only in the morning that what had taken place the night before was not cricket but an air raid.

• One air craft had dropped a bomb at a fuel dump of the Petroleum Corporation’s oil installations in Kolonnawa.
• Another bomb had fallen on the LPG gas facilities in Muthurajawela triggering off a large fire.
• Colombo Fire Brigade had been busy all night dousing the flames.
• Explosions I had heard had not been fire-crackers but the Sri Lanka Air Force shooting into the sky at the deadly aircraft.
• More firing had occurred in different parts of the city including the outskirts of Ratmalana, Battaramulla and within the main city Colpetty
• The SLAF had been firing from the Katunayake base and the airport had been on alert.
• It is time we, as citizens, woke up to reality. Our thanks to the armed forces not the politicians for securing our lives while we watched cricket or slept as I did.