Letters
View(s):Police, militarisation and people power protests
The search light is on the Police these days and divergent views have been expressed in the media in this regard.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the Police are political prisoners in an authoritarian and corrupt administration. In her article under ‘Focus on Rights’ in the Sunday Times of August 31, 2014, Kishali Pinto Jayawardene aptly states inter alia: “As the rawest recruit to the Head of Department of the Police is aware, refusing a political command invites professional suicide, if not danger to life and limb”. Yet, a retired DIG recently was naïve enough to write that It is time that the IG Police and Senior Officers declined to carry out any illegal orders and perform their duties according to the law of the land irrespective of any consequences. Eureka! What a discovery!
Such naivety apart, let us take serious note of Justice Mark Fernando’s warning in the Janagosha Case (1993, 1 SLR 264) quoted by Ms Pinto Jayewardene in her column on August 24: “Stifling the peaceful expression of legitimate dissent today can only result, inexorably, in catastrophic explosion of violence some other day”. This warning is all the more relevant today than in 1993, as dissent is just not tolerated.
Authoritarianism and militarisation have been discussed at length in the media these days and need no elaboration here. For these reasons the Government is falling from grace where its popularity is concerned. It appears that the Government is treating dissenters the same way it tackled terrorists. Having done a good job where terrorism was concerned, the defence authorities seem to adopt the same methods to suppress legitimate dissent.
Militarisation seems to be the only method known to the Government. What is foreboding is a discernible pattern that with realisation that its popularity is waning, the Government is stepping up militarisation. Thus all vestiges of community policing which is the hallmark of any democracy are completely abandoned. To all appearances, the inexorable catastrophic explosion of violence is surely drawing near. On the one hand is the injustice of the Government interpreting people’s dissent as terrorism to overthrow the Government, and attempting to suppress dissent militarily with draconian emergency laws. On the other hand, resisting such laws and the force in the implementation of unjust laws in pursuance of justice receives justifiability before the Light of Human Conscience and the Bar of Public Opinion. The confrontation then leads to the inexorable catastrophic explosion of violence that Justice Mark Fernando in his wisdom warned of.
To keep harping on words of wisdom will not do. Retired DIG Rohan Abeyawardene in his article in the Sunday Times 2 of September 7 raises a pertinent question: What is the remedy? He then answers his question stating that it is left to people-power to press for reforms. That, no doubt, is the correct answer. But, at what cost can the people pressurise the Government? The answer again is ominous – “inexorable catastrophic explosion of violence.”
There is only one person who can stem the tide avoiding the foreboding violence, and that person has the political power reposed on him by the sacred trust of the people, and the capacity to look at the problem in proper perspective. He is none other than President Mahinda Rajapaksa. All right thinking people should appeal to his wisdom not to be misled by self-seeking cronies surrounding him and to bring about the much desired reforms. All the people of this country will be right behind him in this endeavour and thereafter.
Tassie Seneviratne
Via email
Moves to restore the dignity of Police should come from within
Being an ex-officer, it is sad to observe the present status of the Police and the criticism being levelled against them. In a previous note to a journal, I wrote that the day may not be far off when people lose respect and confidence in the Police. Today, I say that people have already lost respect and confidence. In the earlier days, we boasted with pride that we were members of a noble service, but it has come to a stage that we are reluctant to identify ourselves as ex-members of this so-called noble service.
One could claim that it is only those who are no more in service who cry out about Police inaction and that they too had been puppets in their days of service. Once cannot dismiss such a remark. There would have been officers of all ranks who had acted according to political tunes, but the majority acted professionally, including the writer who left the service prematurely the day conscience did not allow him to stay further.
Being a disciplined service guided by a code of conduct, the Police Department should accept the fact that serving members cannot air their views openly even in good faith. But, they have a noble duty and should be bold enough to say ‘NO’ to wrongdoing, particularly to political interferences.
In recent times, a minister was seen criticising Police for their inaction.
Most people think that Police are helpless in the absence of an Independent Police Commission. I do not agree with this view. Unless the attitude and mind-set of police officers are not changed, this inaction will remain forever and the so-called miracle will get distanced away with each passing day.
It is also an accepted rule that prevention is smarter than detection. However, it is a shame that nowadays Police start investigations subsequent to wrongful acts after being simple observers to political violence committed in their presence.
Public expects the judiciary, as the pillar of justice, to correct these irregularities by exercising powers vested under the judicature and pave the way for a just society, as the Police are inactive. We are yet to see this happening.
Police, as the guardian of the country’s law and order, have a cardinal duty to create a peaceful and a safe social environment for the present and future generations. If the Police fail to adhere to this task, it may be said that Police are failing in their fundamental duty and purpose.
As retired DIG Anton Jeyanathan correctly pointed out in his article last week, it is high time the IGP and Senior Officers initiated action to safeguard this noble service without allowing unruly political elements to tarnish the image of the Police. We, being ex-officers, should rally round the IGP to support a call for an early change of the environment. Otherwise, the day may not be far off when the politicos will start exercising powers themselves.
The Uva election was held yesterday, but so many lessons are to be learnt from our mistakes.
Don Amarasiri
Via email
Where will the monitor lizards go?
The swamp next to my house is slowly getting filled by land companies to be sold. The swamp is home to many small animals — cormorants, cranes, all kinds of birds, frogs, water snakes and lizards of all sizes, including my favourite, the monitor lizard. Once the swamp is filled there will no longer be a home for them.
The birds can fly off to a better place. The small animals will hide in some place nearby. But what will happen to the monitor lizards? They are big and slow moving and there’s no place safe enough for them to hide. They have a hard time even crossing the road to get to the marsh nearby. Even if they do find a place to hide where will they get food to eat?
People do not feed monitor lizards like they do birds and squirrels. They can’t raid garbage bins like stray dogs and cats do. Without food and shelter how will they survive? Monitor lizards are not good as pets; so it’s unlikely that anyone will take them.
Jayanka De Silva
Moratuwa
Sorry for the omission: Thank you Gamini Viyangoda
The Sunday Times of August 17 published my article in the PLUS section, titled
‘Sarachchandra’s timeless sentinels’.That article contained the following section: Maname is “A vision of innocence, passion and all the possible splendour of life laid waste by a vast evil which cannot be understood but is present and fulfils itself in the intricate motions of human impulse and the obscure variety of involving circumstance“ –Professor D.M.de Silva.
The Sinhala translation, published of D.M.de Silva’s complex English original was by Gamini Viyangoda, who was good enough to translate this difficult passage, at my request through an intermediary.
After the publication of my article, I have received correspondence from friends and others expressing surprise at my command of the Sinhala language, because they are well aware that the best I can manage is colloquialisms, and even then, polite smile-producing ones, from three wheelers, street vendors and domestic workers.
I would thank you to publish this, which is by way of an apology from me to readers and to Gamini Viyangoda for the lapse of not mentioning his name as the translator.
Ernest Macintyre
via email