| by Basil
Fernando
(December
6, 2012. Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is clear by now that the attempted
impeachment is being done in a completely lawless manner. The present approach
adopted for the inquiry is no different to a committee consisting of a man's
enemies being assigned to conduct a murder trial against him. Regardless of the
man's guilt or innocence, the enemies will ensure that he will be found guilty
and be hung.
 |
If the people thought that they might have some recourse to the courts and find some solace as in the past that too will prove an illusion more and more. In a country where the Chief Justice herself is helpless before lawlessness how could any other citizen expect the protection of the law?
There
are many clips on YouTube about the mobs that gathered before the Supreme Court
and the Parliamentary Complex shouting slogans against the Chief Justice and
demanding her resignation. In no other country can you find examples of mobs
gathering to shout slogans demanding that judges resign. Some of the people in
the mobs who were interviewed directly named certain Members of Parliament from
the ruling party as those who organised the mobs. It was thus clear that the
mobs were organised by the government to shout slogans against the CJ. Thus,
the responsible party for mobilising the mobs to bring down the prestige of the
courts is the government itself. This is a government that is openly
encouraging lawlessness. A government that mobilises mobs in this manner
demonstrates no political will to keep law and order or to ensure respect for
the institutions of the state. The result will be the government causing chaos
in the country.
However,
the history of the government resorting to lawlessness is not new in Sri Lanka
nor is it confined to this government only. The most glaring example of
absolute lawlessness is the manner in which various governments since 1971 have
resorted to the causing of large scale disappearances.
In
1971, according to the statistics which came up at the Criminal Justice
Commission (CJC) the JVP was responsible for 41 civilian deaths, the killings
of 63 and the wounding of 305 members of the armed forces. In retaliation, the
United National Party government killed 5,000 to 10,000 young people and placed
another 15,000 to 25,000 in arbitrary detention. As it is well known, a very
small number of these would have been hardcore JVPers but there was little
concrete evidence of engagement in any serious attacks against the majority.
The procedure that was followed was arrest, torture during interrogation,
killings and, for the most part, secret disposal of the bodies.
It is
a universally recognised principle in law that, once a person is arrested, the
state is under obligation to protect that person and produce them in court. It
was this principle that, on government orders, the armed forces and the police
openly flouted. The government neither expressed any regret for giving such
orders nor did it ever conduct inquiries into such killings. Thus, this heinous
criminal activity began to be accepted as a legitimate activity by the armed
forces, police and the paramilitary.
Later,
the causing of enforced disappearances was practiced on a much larger scale in
the south, north and the east. In relation to the JVP uprisings from 1987 to
1991, the number of persons who were made to disappear was around 30,000,
according to the statistics given by the commissions of inquiry into
involuntary disappearances. Many are of the view that the numbers are much
larger.
As
for those who have been made to disappear from the north and the east from the
early 80s to May 2009, no records have been made but obviously they would
outnumber the enforced disappearances from the south. Once again, no government
has ever expressed any regret about such killings and no attempt has been made
to conduct any inquiries or hold anyone accountable. In fact, to demand
inquiries into these enforced disappearances is considered treachery and an act
which favours the LTTE. The simple issue of the protection that should have
been afforded to an arrested person is no longer taken for granted in Sri
Lanka. The principle that is really in practice is that after arrest, if the
particular agencies so wish, a person could be extrajudicially killed or made
to disappear altogether.
A
complete transformation has taken place in the basic norms regarding crimes.
What was universally considered a crime may not be considered a crime in Sri
Lanka if, for some political or practical reason, the government wishes to
treat them as not being such. Thus, the idea of crime has been relativised and
the choice as to whether to treat even a heinous crime as a crime or not is now
in the hands of the government in power.
It
can be said that no other government in the region regards crimes in as much of
a casual manner as is done in Sri Lanka. There are countries in which, due to
certain historical reasons, there has been the collapse of their legal system
and they have ignored basic norms of legality and illegality. Two such
countries that are known to face such situations are Cambodia and Burma.
However, even these countries have not gone to the extent of ignoring the criminality
of an action to the extent that it is being done in Sri Lanka now. Even in
situations like those of Cambodia and Burma, there is still protection for a
person who has been arrested and taken into custody.
In a
country where lawlessness has gone that deep, the illegal impeachment of a
superior court judge, ignoring universally accepted norms regarding the removal
of such judges, is merely a logical extension of the overwhelming disregard of the
law.
The
law now is that whatever the government does is correct and that the
correctness will be demonstrated by the use of the mob under its control. Any
kind of behaviour that a law abiding nation might consider illegal or even
vulgar may go as decent and right in Sri Lanka under the present circumstances.
This
is a bewildering situation and the implications are beyond comprehension. Both
the rights of the individual, as well as property rights, will fall foul of
this situation. Anyone who has the will to defy the law and has any connection
with the government would be able to do whatever they like. Each individual
citizen will learn about it when his or her rights are directly affected by
this situation. There are already tens of thousands of people who have had that
experience.
If
the people thought that they might have some recourse to the courts and find
some solace as in the past that too will prove an illusion more and more. In a
country where the Chief Justice herself is helpless before lawlessness how
could any other citizen expect the protection of the law?
 It is clear by now that the attempted impeachment is being do...){kind=link}