(May 18, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The big mouth of the vast propaganda machinery of the Sri Lankan state told its people that once Prabakaran is gone everything will return to normal. One he has gone from the defeat of LTTE but has anything return to normal. One thing that has not returned to normal clearly is the nation’s law and order situation. Sri Lankan lawlessness continues to get worse.
The insecurity of children demonstrates the extent of the lawlessness. The incident of two and half year old girl from Keleniya and one and half year old boy from Hendela demonstrates that even child sales have become a part of Sri Lankan life now. In March 2009, a six-year-old girl Varsha Jude Regi was kidnapped from her school. Then, the ransom demand was made. When the ransom demand was discussed and parents took time to find the money, the little girl’s body was found in a gutter. Not long thereafter, the death of another young girl was also heard from the eastern region. According to the report, behind such kidnappings are the armed groups who have become part of the ruling cliques in the region. Naturally under those circumstances, there is nothing that the people expect from the police. There have seen more as a part of problems of lawlessness than the solution.
In Colombo, the situation of insecurity is manifested from the case of the disappearance of Pragreeth Ekeneliyagode. What is worse than even disappearance is the manner which the government’s spokesperson and the IGP have been telling the public about this disappearance. The government’s spokesperson told the media that the media shortly after the disappearance began to be discussed publicly that the government has already had information about the disappearance and all the facts will be rebuild in two weeks. However, now months have passed by and various government’s spokespersons including the new minister for the media keep on repeatedly saying that no information is yet available about this disappearance. The IGP has made no attempts at all to explain to the public about the inquiries that they have made and why the Sri lankan police force have failed to find any information about this matter. At no stage, did the police department engage in getting the public support by calling for information on this disappearance. Even in the case of the disappearance of the little girl from Keleniya, the parents of the girl did more to get the media coverage to their call for information than what the police force has done over this month to solicit the information on the disappearance of Pragreeth Ekeneliyagode. While the IGP was doing nothing on this issue, the pro government newspaper, Ireland, through one of his political correspondence known for bias in favour of security agencies carried on a campaign to slander the character of the disappeared person and to create the impression that the whole story about the disappearance was the fabrication. Meanwhile, the editor of lanka e news stated that the reason for the disappearance of Pragreeth Ekeneliyagode was his engagement in collecting information on the use of chemical weapons at the final stages of the attack on the LTTE.
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" There are no discussions in the parliament about solving the problem of lawlessness in the country. In fact, the measures that are to be adopted soon by way of amendment of constitution will further encourage the negative tendencies in this area."
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" There are no discussions in the parliament about solving the problem of lawlessness in the country. In fact, the measures that are to be adopted soon by way of amendment of constitution will further encourage the negative tendencies in this area."
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The constant report on custodial killing and widespread torture is heard from police stations all over the country. The report of police inaction against crime is told not only by the citizens but by even the politicians associated with the ruling party itself. Even the secretary of the defence and the IGP himself has gone on record in condemning the sri lankan police. However, the only measure taken in recent time for bringing some discipline to the police by way of control of the police through an independent commission has been abandoned by the government. With the seventeenth amendment, the national police commission was also abandoned.
Adding to the collapse of the police is now the virtual disappearance of the attorney general’s department as an independent institution. This department has now been taken under the direct control of the President and lost its character as an independent department. The politicization of the prosecutor’s role is bound to destabilizing and demoralizing impact on the administration of justice. It will also undermine further the independence of judiciary as the role of independent prosecutor and the independence of judiciary are interlinked.
There are no discussions in the parliament about solving the problem of lawlessness in the country. In fact, the measures that are to be adopted soon by way of amendment of constitution will further encourage the negative tendencies in this area.
Thus, one year after the end of the war, people have not been able to see how security could return to their lives. This is the situation of all in the country. Worst affected of course are those in the north and the east who have lost everything. There is nothing for their comfort by way of any proposal or plan placed before the nations.
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