Sunday Times 2
Election violence and police inaction: A way out
‘A provincial poll that is more of a battle field,’ runs the headline of a comment article in the Sunday Times of August 31, 2014 (p 22). ‘A senior Minister of this government lambasted the police for failing to stop election violence at Badalkumbura…’ is the further note of Kishali Pinto Jayawardena (KPJ) in this article. KPJ adds, ‘The Department of the Police has fared the worst in this regard. Its professional command hierarchy has been rendered obsolete. Political patronage reigns supreme’.
Undoubtedly the focus is on the police when there is an outburst of violence as the only authority expected to deal with such breakdown of law and order. Often there has been a failure on the part of the police to curb the violence. The role of the police in such situations then comes out as the main issue. The local police have failed and there has been a breakdown of the command structure itself. These media comments cannot be disputed and cannot be easily explained away.
Police have become mere onlookers as election laws are blatantly violated in Uva
The focus here is on the current Uva provincial elections. The law and order situation is serious that the Elections Commissioner has even threatened to postpone holding the elections if the violence escalates. The problem of law and order — and violence unleashed — has occurred elsewhere too, in other situations, too, as in Alutgama, Beruwala in the very recent past, and much more over the years. And in all these situations, the role of the police and their failure to curb the violence have come in for considerable criticism. Many more such headlines were heard of before and will continue to hit the press in time to come. Possibly the same comments will follow.
KPJ has written on this from a rights perspective and bemoans this violence. KPJ asks why other police officers, apart from (SSP) Tassie Seneviratne, do not speak on these issues which affect the morale of the police in similar situations. The purpose of this article is to respond to the call for more observations and to put this matter in some perspective. There is little to dispute about these comments as they are reported. However, the particular perspective urged in consideration is that of the political dimension which attends these law and order situations. The point is that the political element aggravates the violence. And as seriously, the political element compromises the action of the police to deal with the violence, particularly at elections.
The system of elections
The system of elections, one prior to 1978 and many elections held after 1978 have much to do with this problem.
Prior to 1978, elections were held in the wake of a complete interregnum or power held in a complete abeyance of political structures. Then the effective political structure came up for elections with no intervening authority overseeing the process. Parliament was then the only effective political structure and it was Parliament which came up for elections. Till this process was complete the existing structures were held in abeyance, taking on a form of caretaker government. During this intervening period between the former government and the new regime the total process was held in place by the Elections Commissioner assisted by the Police and the Public Service. The police and the public officers were under the effective control of the Elections Commissioner. There was no intermeddling political authority throughout this intervening process. Violence was then less. The role of the police did not come in for that criticism in those circumstances.
Since 1978, there were three layers of government, the Presidential, the Parliamentary and the Provincial. When elections were up for one, the others continued to exercise their power and authority. This meant that no election to one authority could be held without some influence being brought to bear on that one by the other standing authorities. The framers of the 1978 constitution could not have been unaware of this untoward possibility, if it were not specifically intended. In these circumstances it is difficult for police to act independent and in disregard of these political influences. In effect the very system of elections compromises the role of the police.
Status of police officers
Worse still, the police officers on duty in these politically precarious situations are themselves appointed by and function under the administrative authority and control of a political appointee in the person of the Secretary. Failure of police is in respect of action or inaction in the face of violence which itself operates under a form of political direction. This is not an explanation for failure. It is a fact. But such background matters are rarely reported in the media. Only the failure and breakdown of law figure prominently in the headlines. This may be contrasted with the constitutional order in 1948 and thereafter when police came under an independent PSC to which alone police owed their career prospects.
The incongruity of the control lines has repeatedly been pointed out in express terms. The potential for law and order breakdown by reason of such delegation of administrative authority over the police to the Secretary Defence — a political appointee — has also been pointed out. But all that went with little avail.
These are the critical facts. All other related issues drawn out in the above press reports, such as police morale, political patronage, lack of a professional police hierarchy and more, are simply subsidiary issues to the main constitutional issue of the system of elections and the manner of appointment of police officers mentioned above.
Conclusion
The problem could only be contained somewhat if some remedy of a constitutional nature is ventured. Thus if it were possible to have all elections — Presidential, Parliamentary and Provincial –held during an interregnum of power and concurrently, then much of these problems discussed above can be obviated. However, practical problems may not make this proposition feasible. Yet the principle is worth the thought.
Another possibility that was missed was in the 17th Amendment NPC. The National Police Commission could have functioned as a monitoring body and as an independent investigating commission to step in when matters went wrong and impose sanctions. Unfortunately the NPC conceived itself as an executive authority to completely distance the politician from the police. This was a short sighted view which lacked depth in perception and was short of conception.
The writer is thankful to KPJ for raising the issue and for calling others who may join the discussion.
(The writer is former Inspector General of Police)