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X-13 Plan: Blueprint of Ongoing Crimes
The question is whether the infamous “X-13 Plan” is still backed
by “sophisticated political leadership”

By Seopaul Singh CEM, CHS

The January 26, 2008 massacre at Lusignan on the East Coast of Demerara, Guyana is déjà vu for many Guyanese who survived the 1960s as the PNC, supported by British and United Sates Agencies, moved to overthrow the PPP Government. Many atrocities were perpetrated on the Indian population in particular, by rogues of the disciplined services back then. With a free hand, financial aid and arsenal from the anti-PPP forces in and out of Guyana, a carefully planned and executed strategy was carried out. How can we forget the past when the present unfolding of similar atrocities are played out all over again?

I am personally persuaded that the elements of the infamous “X-13 Plan” are still on the agenda of the racist criminal gangs today backed by “sophisticated political leadership”. There were numerous incidents throughout the PNC dictatorship attesting to the continual execution of the X-13 Plan. This was most visible with the setting up of the Peoples Militia and later the arming of the House of Israel ‘army’ with 303 rifles.

It was forty-five years since the PNC launched the X-13 Plan in May 1963 naming L.F.S. Burnham, Hamilton Green, Ptolemy Reid, former officers of the British Guiana Police and Volunteer Forces, and Claude (Chippy) Graham as prime operatives. Over nineteen incidents of bombings were reported by then Supt. of Police Paul Britton of Special Branch. In May 1964 the X-13 Plan was first executed at Wismar against the minority Indians there, with broad daylight and nocturnal widespread arson, violence and ethnic cleansing done in clear view of the British Guiana Volunteer Force.

Another phase of ethnic cleansing of Indians in Wismar followed the accident involving the Sun Chapman. Nearly forty-four years have passed by since the Wismar massacre and the Perth Village ethnic cleansing against Indians in Branch Road, Mahaicony in June 1964. Again in July 1964 there was a repetition of ethnic cleansing in ‘Branch Road’ Mahaicony – the massacre of eleven Jaikarrans at Chance, Mahaicony, 28 July 1964. Previously, four Allys at Farm, Mahaicony and two Sooknanans at ‘Back Dam’, Mahaicony had been shot and killed.

These atrocities were allegedly perpetrated by members of the Police and Volunteer Forces who were identified by eyewitnesses, but they were never charged for their crimes. The victims were not political activists. They were all simple farmers who were also shot up in bed along with their children by armed Volunteer Force members. The eleven victims in Lusignan are all also poor citizens, including five children. This is déjà vu.

In the early 1960s the PPP was in office, and, as was the case then, so it is now – in government but not in power. The Socialist Revolution advocated back then did not materialize. The PPP was ousted, but at a great price. The nation was bitterly divided on racial lines. The Disciplines Forces demonstrated partisanship and racism then and continued throughout the twenty-eight years reign of the PNC dictatorship.

The appointed Colonial Commission’s Report on Guyana among other things recommended a balancing of the Forces. The Volunteer Force was disbanded and the GDF was established. There was an open move to keep out certain highly skilled Indian officers (Major Sattaur, Assad Ishoff) from holding positions in the new army. Unfortunately, most of the members of the disbanded Volunteer Force and an untold number of criminals coming out of the nineteen sixty-four disturbances joined the GDF and received training in military operations.

Linden London, called Blackie, who carried out several robberies in Guyana and sought refuge in Suriname in the seventies (whilst still in the GDF), was one notorious example that became public knowledge. Indian communities became prime targets for the kick-down-the-door bandits throughout the seventies and eighties. This led to the unbearable scenario in which representation was made to have Community Policing Groups set up in the vulnerable communities.

1992 saw the return to free and fair elections. The PPP fairly won Office, but still not Power. The state machinery including the GDF, the Police Force and the Public Services of the nation remained 90% Afro-Guyanese and strong supporters of the PNC. Herein was the recipe for easy destabilization of the newly formed Government led by the PPP.

Upon their assumption of office, Government officials alluded to their knowledge of the establishment of “paramilitary type organizations” (Guyana Chronicle, Jan. 13 2008) and of certain weapons issued to the Ministry of Mobilization and National Development during the Burnham-led government. The PNC leader Robert Corbin was a key figure of that Ministry. Immediately following this recent exposure he moved to throw a smoke screen on the real issue by claiming that the government is diverting from the issue of torture by the army.

One such piece of weaponry issued to the Ministry of National Mobilization was purported to have been used by Blackie. A recent GDF report following the discovery of the weapons cache in Zeskenderen, Mahaicony, uncovered over two hundred pieces of weapons that were issued to the Ministry of Mobilization and National Development – weapons that were never returned. Which officers had the charge and knowledge about all of this?

Wasn’t there a covert (or overt) move to arm PNC supporters? Regular military exercises of the GDF and Peoples Militia were concentrated in Indian communities. Why? These were strategically targeting Indian communities as was done since way back in the seventies.

Despite these known facts the PPP Government never saw it fit to effect the recommendations of the Colonial Office but assumed that all would be well. There were no summary investigation or Commission of Inquiry into the disturbances of the sixties or of the weapons later issued to the PNC. The 200 303-rifles also purported to have been issued to the House of Israel for training at Gluck Island should also come under scrutiny. Unto his death Cheddi Jagan played into the hands of the politically motivated thugs who learned the tricks of the trade since the sixties, and passed down the skills to disgruntled new recruits who were welcomed with open arms into the GDF.

A few years before his death, there were overt threats to the national peace from H.D. Hoyte himself as he pledged to “Let loose the dogs of war… Make the country ungovernable…” and threatened “Slow Fiah Mo fiah”. The loss sustained by the PNC at the 1997 General Elections was too painful for Desmond Hoyte and his faithful cohorts. More demeaning to the PNC was the ascendance of Janet Jagan, a white woman, into the office of the President. January 1998 saw wanton attacks on Indians throughout Georgetown. This soon escalated and spread to the East Coast with blockades and robberies of vehicles that were taking produce into the city. January 12, 1998 has gone down in infamy in our history.

On May 4. 2001 three Enterprise ‘early risers’, Bemchand Barran and his 10-yr-old son Mervyn Barran and Dhanpaul Jagdeo, went to catch fish at Buxton backdam. They stumbled upon a training camp with armed men who killed them. Training of criminals formerly done in Linden had moved to Buxton backlands. Since way back then many had advocated a continual presence of the Military around the vulnerable communities near Buxton.

The February 23, 2002 prison breakout of criminals stunned the nation – with the murder of two prison guards and mayhem on the East Coast. More shocking it was to hear sundry mouthpieces of certain Afro-centric “marginalization” clique in the society, fanning the flames of violence and bloodletting. David Hinds, Tacuma Ogunseye, Roger Moore, Debra Backer, David Granger, Hamilton Greene, James McAllister and others joined the chorus of marginalization. Ogunseye even baptized the criminals ‘Freedom Fighters’ and lent them moral and motivational support.

Efforts to curtail the atrocious activities of criminal gangs saw a few fatalities among criminals. This led to the revenge killing of men like Fraser of the Rapid Response unit and several other officers who dared to confront the criminals. Every sane Guyanese wonder how it is that an entire army cannot control a few criminals in one village and neutralize the gangs! One remembers the days of Clement Cuffy when almost the entire Police Force went out to get him. One also remembers the days of Eyelash, a notorious criminal, who was cornered in a house in Enterprise and neutralized. Linden London was cornered in a house in Eccles and killed. The Rosehall Town Bank Robbers were all stopped by timely action.

There is some disagreement in the killing of criminals. The self-styled Guyana Human Rights Organization is swift to label such action extra judicial killing. But they do not provide a solution to the curtailment of the activities of bandits who only understand the firepower of AK-47’s.

Kean Gibson came out with the most bizarre case against Indian in Guyana in her book. In her diatribe she postulated that Indians by virtue of their religion were bent on promoting violence against Africans in Guyana. Every sane scholar spewed scorn and condemnation on the Gibson’s disinformation which escaped the halls of academia.

The elder respectable Buxtonian Eusi Kwayana could not hold back on the condemnation of the crimes emanating from Buxton. “This beating of Indians,” exhorted Kwayana, “must stop.” Scholar and political activist David Hinds relented two years too late to admit that Indians did not marginalize Africans after scores of Indian businessmen were murdered and families robbed by bandits armed with AK-47’s.

There has been a suggested close link between the criminals and renegade officers of the GDF. This is now beyond denial. A few years ago, criminals were found to take refuge at Camp Grooms on the Linden Highway. A few were arrested or killed by the GPF. This led to the revenge killing of men like Supt. Fraser of the Rapid Response unit and several other officers who dared to confront the perpetrators.

Recently in 2006, the army found that 33 of its AK-47 were missing. Exactly when these hardware disappeared remains a mystery. A Colonel from the army was detained for court marshal. The recent arrest of a GDF Sergeant for training criminals in Buxton has confirmed the story. All of the above is indicative of the ongoing relationship, since the seventies, between the criminal gangs and renegade elements of the GDF. No wonder the massacres of Agricola, Kaieteur News Staff, Satyadeo Sawh’s family and now the Lusignan eleven were all done with military precision by criminals using automatic weapons some of which were traced to the use of the same AK-47’s

When former Army Officer David Granger addressed the ACDA Forum at City Hall in 2006, he spread quite a lot of venom against the Indians as he made claims that Dr. Jagan started the ‘Hurricane Protests’ in 1964 to promote violence against Africans. One wonders what Granger did or did not do about the alleged violence against Africans while he served in the GDF! After all he and colleagues were some of the role models of the Army back then.

On January 28 2008 Oliver Hinckson sent a serious subliminal message in the press (Kaieteur News) to those who would venture to retaliate to “think twice." This is akin to Granger’s erstwhile warning “Arming Community Policing Groups is a recipe for civil war.” In a letter to the press I noted then that these gentlemen would prefer the vulnerable communities be left without any protection. In the business of Security Management the presence of a deterrent is always a priority to stymie the incursion of undesirables. In the absence of such, criminals have a free entry to targeted areas. Now there seems to be an ongoing insurgency using guerilla warfare techniques (against Indians) in Guyana as viewed by Dr. Randy Persaud? (Stabroek News, January 31st 2008)

A SWAT Team was promised over three years ago. I had questioned in a letter the viability of a SWAT team on the grounds that it would have to be splintered and large enough to be easily deployed considering the vastness and complications of the terrain. Despite earlier recommendations on setting up, training and arming Community Policing Groups and forgetting about the numerous acronyms being bandied around to deal with the crime emergency in Guyana, the authorities did not budge an inch to correct the imbalances or establish this Citizen Defence mechanism (CPG’s) against the criminal gangs.

To date the PPP has completed a different kind of revolution. This is by no means a Socialist Revolution. It is a revolution in the literal sense of the word, going around in a complete circle. This revolution has taken them over forty-four years to realize (1964-2008). The atrocities of the sixties have gripped Guyanese all over again – since 1997 with the Government unable to protect the people, which incidentally is the first and most important function of Government.

The basic requirement of any Socialist Revolution is the ownership and control of the State Machinery (Lenin in ‘State and Revolution’ and ‘What is to be done’). The PPP should never even mention the idea of Socialism amidst its faithful. This has been done so often in public and at Accabre College that the idea has become meaningless or has been carefully used to keep the proletariat under control by the elite. Any one challenging the control of the PPP is branded with betrayal of the party and “splitting the votes.” One columnist E. Mervin noted that the PPP has sacrificed its supporters through incompetence and neglect. Maybe he has a point!

There is need for a drastic overhaul of the Government. The time has come for true inclusivity. The incompetent and unproductive should be weeded out. This PPP is definitely not the party Dr. Jagan founded. The Army and Police should be revamped and a different recruitment procedure put in place. Every cadre should be investigated and fingerprinted with possible DNA marker. There is dire need for a professional external leadership of both the Army and Police. The international community should be openly invited to lend help.

The overhaul would affect the National Development Strategy. Capital Funding must be redirected to maintain the security of citizens first. Their tax dollars were extracted for that purpose. Pass the necessary legislation to have legal mechanisms in place. The Community Policing Groups need no other sophisticated names or acronyms. Just organize them, provide the funding, mobility, communication, hardware and training of the people who are crying daily for protection. The frequent lethargic reaction of the Police has passed its limit especially in response to Indian communities where crimes have virtually paralyzed the citizens.

In the light of Police delayed action and certain soldiers prolonged covert support of the criminals, a well organized armed community would have been able to thwart the marauding gunmen in Lusignan. If the Government does not act fast it will have to deal with an incensed people who are already at the brink of despair. Now is the time to put the Crime Emergency on the top priority of the nation’s agenda and a comprehensive campaign on crimes and terrorism mounted with full citizens’ participation.

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X-13 Plan: Blueprint of Ongoing Crimes
The question is whether the infamous “X-13 Plan” is still backed
by “sophisticated political leadership”

By Seopaul Singh CEM, CHS

The January 26, 2008 massacre at Lusignan on the East Coast of Demerara, Guyana is déjà vu for many Guyanese who survived the 1960s as the PNC, supported by British and United Sates Agencies, moved to overthrow the PPP Government. Many atrocities were perpetrated on the Indian population in particular, by rogues of the disciplined services back then. With a free hand, financial aid and arsenal from the anti-PPP forces in and out of Guyana, a carefully planned and executed strategy was carried out. How can we forget the past when the present unfolding of similar atrocities are played out all over again?

I am personally persuaded that the elements of the infamous “X-13 Plan” are still on the agenda of the racist criminal gangs today backed by “sophisticated political leadership”. There were numerous incidents throughout the PNC dictatorship attesting to the continual execution of the X-13 Plan. This was most visible with the setting up of the Peoples Militia and later the arming of the House of Israel ‘army’ with 303 rifles.

It was forty-five years since the PNC launched the X-13 Plan in May 1963 naming L.F.S. Burnham, Hamilton Green, Ptolemy Reid, former officers of the British Guiana Police and Volunteer Forces, and Claude (Chippy) Graham as prime operatives. Over nineteen incidents of bombings were reported by then Supt. of Police Paul Britton of Special Branch. In May 1964 the X-13 Plan was first executed at Wismar against the minority Indians there, with broad daylight and nocturnal widespread arson, violence and ethnic cleansing done in clear view of the British Guiana Volunteer Force.

Another phase of ethnic cleansing of Indians in Wismar followed the accident involving the Sun Chapman. Nearly forty-four years have passed by since the Wismar massacre and the Perth Village ethnic cleansing against Indians in Branch Road, Mahaicony in June 1964. Again in July 1964 there was a repetition of ethnic cleansing in ‘Branch Road’ Mahaicony – the massacre of eleven Jaikarrans at Chance, Mahaicony, 28 July 1964. Previously, four Allys at Farm, Mahaicony and two Sooknanans at ‘Back Dam’, Mahaicony had been shot and killed.

These atrocities were allegedly perpetrated by members of the Police and Volunteer Forces who were identified by eyewitnesses, but they were never charged for their crimes. The victims were not political activists. They were all simple farmers who were also shot up in bed along with their children by armed Volunteer Force members. The eleven victims in Lusignan are all also poor citizens, including five children. This is déjà vu.

In the early 1960s the PPP was in office, and, as was the case then, so it is now – in government but not in power. The Socialist Revolution advocated back then did not materialize. The PPP was ousted, but at a great price. The nation was bitterly divided on racial lines. The Disciplines Forces demonstrated partisanship and racism then and continued throughout the twenty-eight years reign of the PNC dictatorship.

The appointed Colonial Commission’s Report on Guyana among other things recommended a balancing of the Forces. The Volunteer Force was disbanded and the GDF was established. There was an open move to keep out certain highly skilled Indian officers (Major Sattaur, Assad Ishoff) from holding positions in the new army. Unfortunately, most of the members of the disbanded Volunteer Force and an untold number of criminals coming out of the nineteen sixty-four disturbances joined the GDF and received training in military operations.

Linden London, called Blackie, who carried out several robberies in Guyana and sought refuge in Suriname in the seventies (whilst still in the GDF), was one notorious example that became public knowledge. Indian communities became prime targets for the kick-down-the-door bandits throughout the seventies and eighties. This led to the unbearable scenario in which representation was made to have Community Policing Groups set up in the vulnerable communities.

1992 saw the return to free and fair elections. The PPP fairly won Office, but still not Power. The state machinery including the GDF, the Police Force and the Public Services of the nation remained 90% Afro-Guyanese and strong supporters of the PNC. Herein was the recipe for easy destabilization of the newly formed Government led by the PPP.

Upon their assumption of office, Government officials alluded to their knowledge of the establishment of “paramilitary type organizations” (Guyana Chronicle, Jan. 13 2008) and of certain weapons issued to the Ministry of Mobilization and National Development during the Burnham-led government. The PNC leader Robert Corbin was a key figure of that Ministry. Immediately following this recent exposure he moved to throw a smoke screen on the real issue by claiming that the government is diverting from the issue of torture by the army.

One such piece of weaponry issued to the Ministry of National Mobilization was purported to have been used by Blackie. A recent GDF report following the discovery of the weapons cache in Zeskenderen, Mahaicony, uncovered over two hundred pieces of weapons that were issued to the Ministry of Mobilization and National Development – weapons that were never returned. Which officers had the charge and knowledge about all of this?

Wasn’t there a covert (or overt) move to arm PNC supporters? Regular military exercises of the GDF and Peoples Militia were concentrated in Indian communities. Why? These were strategically targeting Indian communities as was done since way back in the seventies.

Despite these known facts the PPP Government never saw it fit to effect the recommendations of the Colonial Office but assumed that all would be well. There were no summary investigation or Commission of Inquiry into the disturbances of the sixties or of the weapons later issued to the PNC. The 200 303-rifles also purported to have been issued to the House of Israel for training at Gluck Island should also come under scrutiny. Unto his death Cheddi Jagan played into the hands of the politically motivated thugs who learned the tricks of the trade since the sixties, and passed down the skills to disgruntled new recruits who were welcomed with open arms into the GDF.

A few years before his death, there were overt threats to the national peace from H.D. Hoyte himself as he pledged to “Let loose the dogs of war… Make the country ungovernable…” and threatened “Slow Fiah Mo fiah”. The loss sustained by the PNC at the 1997 General Elections was too painful for Desmond Hoyte and his faithful cohorts. More demeaning to the PNC was the ascendance of Janet Jagan, a white woman, into the office of the President. January 1998 saw wanton attacks on Indians throughout Georgetown. This soon escalated and spread to the East Coast with blockades and robberies of vehicles that were taking produce into the city. January 12, 1998 has gone down in infamy in our history.

On May 4. 2001 three Enterprise ‘early risers’, Bemchand Barran and his 10-yr-old son Mervyn Barran and Dhanpaul Jagdeo, went to catch fish at Buxton backdam. They stumbled upon a training camp with armed men who killed them. Training of criminals formerly done in Linden had moved to Buxton backlands. Since way back then many had advocated a continual presence of the Military around the vulnerable communities near Buxton.

The February 23, 2002 prison breakout of criminals stunned the nation – with the murder of two prison guards and mayhem on the East Coast. More shocking it was to hear sundry mouthpieces of certain Afro-centric “marginalization” clique in the society, fanning the flames of violence and bloodletting. David Hinds, Tacuma Ogunseye, Roger Moore, Debra Backer, David Granger, Hamilton Greene, James McAllister and others joined the chorus of marginalization. Ogunseye even baptized the criminals ‘Freedom Fighters’ and lent them moral and motivational support.

Efforts to curtail the atrocious activities of criminal gangs saw a few fatalities among criminals. This led to the revenge killing of men like Fraser of the Rapid Response unit and several other officers who dared to confront the criminals. Every sane Guyanese wonder how it is that an entire army cannot control a few criminals in one village and neutralize the gangs! One remembers the days of Clement Cuffy when almost the entire Police Force went out to get him. One also remembers the days of Eyelash, a notorious criminal, who was cornered in a house in Enterprise and neutralized. Linden London was cornered in a house in Eccles and killed. The Rosehall Town Bank Robbers were all stopped by timely action.

There is some disagreement in the killing of criminals. The self-styled Guyana Human Rights Organization is swift to label such action extra judicial killing. But they do not provide a solution to the curtailment of the activities of bandits who only understand the firepower of AK-47’s.

Kean Gibson came out with the most bizarre case against Indian in Guyana in her book. In her diatribe she postulated that Indians by virtue of their religion were bent on promoting violence against Africans in Guyana. Every sane scholar spewed scorn and condemnation on the Gibson’s disinformation which escaped the halls of academia.

The elder respectable Buxtonian Eusi Kwayana could not hold back on the condemnation of the crimes emanating from Buxton. “This beating of Indians,” exhorted Kwayana, “must stop.” Scholar and political activist David Hinds relented two years too late to admit that Indians did not marginalize Africans after scores of Indian businessmen were murdered and families robbed by bandits armed with AK-47’s.

There has been a suggested close link between the criminals and renegade officers of the GDF. This is now beyond denial. A few years ago, criminals were found to take refuge at Camp Grooms on the Linden Highway. A few were arrested or killed by the GPF. This led to the revenge killing of men like Supt. Fraser of the Rapid Response unit and several other officers who dared to confront the perpetrators.

Recently in 2006, the army found that 33 of its AK-47 were missing. Exactly when these hardware disappeared remains a mystery. A Colonel from the army was detained for court marshal. The recent arrest of a GDF Sergeant for training criminals in Buxton has confirmed the story. All of the above is indicative of the ongoing relationship, since the seventies, between the criminal gangs and renegade elements of the GDF. No wonder the massacres of Agricola, Kaieteur News Staff, Satyadeo Sawh’s family and now the Lusignan eleven were all done with military precision by criminals using automatic weapons some of which were traced to the use of the same AK-47’s

When former Army Officer David Granger addressed the ACDA Forum at City Hall in 2006, he spread quite a lot of venom against the Indians as he made claims that Dr. Jagan started the ‘Hurricane Protests’ in 1964 to promote violence against Africans. One wonders what Granger did or did not do about the alleged violence against Africans while he served in the GDF! After all he and colleagues were some of the role models of the Army back then.

On January 28 2008 Oliver Hinckson sent a serious subliminal message in the press (Kaieteur News) to those who would venture to retaliate to “think twice." This is akin to Granger’s erstwhile warning “Arming Community Policing Groups is a recipe for civil war.” In a letter to the press I noted then that these gentlemen would prefer the vulnerable communities be left without any protection. In the business of Security Management the presence of a deterrent is always a priority to stymie the incursion of undesirables. In the absence of such, criminals have a free entry to targeted areas. Now there seems to be an ongoing insurgency using guerilla warfare techniques (against Indians) in Guyana as viewed by Dr. Randy Persaud? (Stabroek News, January 31st 2008)

A SWAT Team was promised over three years ago. I had questioned in a letter the viability of a SWAT team on the grounds that it would have to be splintered and large enough to be easily deployed considering the vastness and complications of the terrain. Despite earlier recommendations on setting up, training and arming Community Policing Groups and forgetting about the numerous acronyms being bandied around to deal with the crime emergency in Guyana, the authorities did not budge an inch to correct the imbalances or establish this Citizen Defence mechanism (CPG’s) against the criminal gangs.

To date the PPP has completed a different kind of revolution. This is by no means a Socialist Revolution. It is a revolution in the literal sense of the word, going around in a complete circle. This revolution has taken them over forty-four years to realize (1964-2008). The atrocities of the sixties have gripped Guyanese all over again – since 1997 with the Government unable to protect the people, which incidentally is the first and most important function of Government.

The basic requirement of any Socialist Revolution is the ownership and control of the State Machinery (Lenin in ‘State and Revolution’ and ‘What is to be done’). The PPP should never even mention the idea of Socialism amidst its faithful. This has been done so often in public and at Accabre College that the idea has become meaningless or has been carefully used to keep the proletariat under control by the elite. Any one challenging the control of the PPP is branded with betrayal of the party and “splitting the votes.” One columnist E. Mervin noted that the PPP has sacrificed its supporters through incompetence and neglect. Maybe he has a point!

There is need for a drastic overhaul of the Government. The time has come for true inclusivity. The incompetent and unproductive should be weeded out. This PPP is definitely not the party Dr. Jagan founded. The Army and Police should be revamped and a different recruitment procedure put in place. Every cadre should be investigated and fingerprinted with possible DNA marker. There is dire need for a professional external leadership of both the Army and Police. The international community should be openly invited to lend help.

The overhaul would affect the National Development Strategy. Capital Funding must be redirected to maintain the security of citizens first. Their tax dollars were extracted for that purpose. Pass the necessary legislation to have legal mechanisms in place. The Community Policing Groups need no other sophisticated names or acronyms. Just organize them, provide the funding, mobility, communication, hardware and training of the people who are crying daily for protection. The frequent lethargic reaction of the Police has passed its limit especially in response to Indian communities where crimes have virtually paralyzed the citizens.

In the light of Police delayed action and certain soldiers prolonged covert support of the criminals, a well organized armed community would have been able to thwart the marauding gunmen in Lusignan. If the Government does not act fast it will have to deal with an incensed people who are already at the brink of despair. Now is the time to put the Crime Emergency on the top priority of the nation’s agenda and a comprehensive campaign on crimes and terrorism mounted with full citizens’ participation.