Blind Law Professor who cannot recognise lawlessness

Political Column

By Our Political Editor

(February 19, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Professor G. L Peiris who was at one time known as the legal scholar with the greatest number of postgraduate degrees in Sri Lanka is proving himself to be legally blind. A former vice chancellor who is just a propaganda agent for the government makes statements to the press which reveals that he has lost whatever legal skill he may have had in the past. In looking into the real situations his statements are worse than those of a wayside proctor who tries to convince any client of any kind of excuse for criminality just to make a fast buck. That old tradition of irresponsible proctors is what the law professor is now exhibiting in talking about such serious matters as the GSP+ and even issues such as military tribunals and other issues of dealing with investigations into human rights violations.

On the GSP+ issue he told a recent press conference that there is no problem at all that there is still 6 months of negotiation with the European Union. The professor perhaps does not understand what negotiations mean. The EU has spoken about a few simple things relating to observations on some fundamental elements of civil and political rights, on issues about prevention of torture and issues on child rights. On none of these issues has the government shown any inclination to improve the conditions. In fact it is showing all the willingness to do even worse than before. Lets take the case of civil rights.

The European Union is talking about the basic obligation of the state to investigate violations of rights when complaints are made. Lets take the case of Prageeth Eknaligoda who disappeared on 24 January – two days before the elections. The family of the journalist has clearly indicated that he had been a critic of the president and had been a supporter of the candidature of the opposition common candidate Sarath Fonseka and that they see this as the reason for him to go missing. What has the Inspector General of Police done so far to investigate this forced disappearances. Enforced disappearance is amongst the most heinous crimes under any circumstances. Sri Lanka has a record of enforced disappearances of tens of thousands of people from the south, the north and the east. Like in those cases there is also no investigation into this disappearance.

This is the issue that the European Union is raising about all cases of human rights violations, which in Sri Lanka means extrajudicial killings, very serious kinds of abuses such as illegal arrest, prolonged detention of persons without trial and the like. In none of these issues has there been any kind of response from the government to show willingness to deal with basic civil rights issues.

The other issue that the European Union is raising is the common issue known to all Sri Lankans which is the use of torture used by the police in all police stations in a routine manner. The Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission which is the least critical human rights body in the country could not avoid saying hat despite many interventions by the Supreme Court and reports by local and international human rights organisations, there has been no improvement on the issue of prevention of torture in Sri Lanka. It said this in one of the most recent reports after a committee studied several cases relating to torture. The case of Balawarnam Shivakumar exposed the brutality of the Sri Lankan policing system so glaringly. All other cases of Moratuwa Agulana, were two boys who were killed by drunken policemen for no reason at all were glaring examples of a routine phenomena that is happening every day at every police station.

The policemen swear by the fact that without their torture they cannot do their job. Often the reason for torture is nothing other than to get bribes and extortion remains the sharpest characteristic of Sri Lankan policing. Absence of police discipline is being recognised by everyone.

Other issues relate to questions of children’s rights. Letting alone other things, the number of children who have died in hospitals from dengue fever alone without proper care, exposes the extent of neglect of the rights of children in the country. Other issues, such as the malnourishment of the poorer children in all parts of the country, but particularly in the north and the east, is also so glaringly apparent. Neglect of children of the poorer sections of society remains a fundamental problem in the country.

But the learned professor G.L. Peris cannot see any of these problems. He thinks the GSP+ issue can be resolved without dealing with any of these problems. Whether that is blindness about reality or simply a habit that is acquired in politics just to say whatever comes to the mouth does not make a difference to the credibility of such statements.

The same goes to the professor’s declarations about military tribunals. A fundamental issue is seen in the case of Sarath Fonseka in the shift from the civilian courts into the military courts in order to settle political disputes. In the past there have been more serious cases involving military and police personnel such as the 1968 coup. Such serious cases were dealt with within the system of Sri Lankan courts with due regard to the independence of the judiciary in dealing with such matters.

Sarath Fonseka’s case is a manipulated attempt to create an impression of justice when in fact there is no kind of justice at all, and that a pure political revenge is resorted to with many manipulated reasons about misdemeanours that may have occurred during the time he was in military service. Everybody in the country knows that had he not contested the elections none of these problems would have become issues. But the learned professor of law cannot see any of these things.

This again is not just a question of a blind law professor but it is a question of a government of that has gone blind to the enormous lawlessness which is the fundamental issue in the country. Once a particular individual – the executive president – is considered above the law, there cannot be a system of rule of law within a country.

A professor of law that cannot understand this issue simply cannot understand what the law is within the framework of the rule of law. Perhaps he is thinking about the type of law that prevails in places like Burma under the military junta. Under those circumstances lawlessness is seen as the law.