SLFP woos old Left for LG polls:

UPFA allies left out:

Govt rushes to fix Ward Place damage

On the evening of December 22, 2012, nearly two weeks ahead of Sri Lanka’s seventh Presidential election, a students’ protest was held in front of the University Grants Commission (UGC) at Ward Place, near the Colombo Town Hall. A phalanx of Police personnel was deployed in and around Ward Place to ensure public security and the anti-riot squad was on stand-by.

Suddenly, a clash broke out between the Police officers and protesters and it took an ugly turn with Police mercilessly beating some of the university students who refused to leave Ward Place. Teargas and water cannons were also used to disperse the protestors and the area turned into a mini battlefield, literally.

The photographs and video footage of the ‘mini battle’ between the Police and university students were widely used by the campaign of the common opposition which was in full swing at that point. A photograph in which a policeman was seen kicking a female university student went viral in the social media space, especially among the supporters of the common opposition. Its video footage was used for election ads and promotional videos supporting Maithripala Sirisena who challenged the tyrannical rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In its election campaign advertising, the common opposition pledged to usher in an era that does not stifle the voices of university students.

It was due to such promises that young voters and civil society movements extended their support to the campaign of the common opposition, led by the UNP and several other political parties. In fact, the citizenry had increasingly become disappointed with the manner in which the Rajapaksa regime dealt with public protests in Katunayake, Chilaw and Rathupasvala where unarmed protesters were killed due to government-orchestrated violence unleashed by law enforcement authorities.

Such incidents were key reasons behind the downfall of a ‘war-winning President’ who ruled the country for nearly ten years.

Police assault

The Police brutality unleashed on a protest by university students on Thursday afternoon strongly resembled the state of affairs under the Rajapaksa regime. A group of students from the Higher National Diploma in Accountancy (HNDA) carried out the protest in front of the UGC premises demanding immediate solutions to their grievances and the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) backed it. The protesting students blocked Ward Place and the vehicle movement in and around the Town Hall came to a standstill.

At this point, the Police had to intervene and disperse the protestors who pledged to carry out their demonstration until the authorities addressed their grievances.

Apart from using teargas and water cannons to disperse the protestors, the Police officers who were present at the scene also physically assaulted the protestors without any self-restraint. Their primary targets were the students who were at the forefront of the demonstration.

Even after the students retreated, some Police officers chased after the protesters and assaulted them with batons and bars. Several female students were mercilessly beaten by Police officers in full view of hundreds of people on the streets of Town Hall junction, the heart of the country’s metropolis.

It was a brutal display of power by the Police and their behaviour, needless to say, drew parallels with the incidents at Rathupasvala and Katunayake which took place under the previous regime. Fortunately, no student was critically injured as a result of the Police attack in last week’s incident.

Seven students, including three female students, were admitted to the Colombo National Hospital following the incident and a Police constable was also injured. Police took 39 students into custody, including three bhikkhus and five female students, in connection with the attack and they were accused of triggering the clash.

Impact

The unrestrained behaviour displayed by some Police officers during the protest on Thursday reflected badly on the yahapaalana government which came to power with the promise of not resorting to violence against the citizens of the country.

Adding salt to the wound, a senior Police officer of the Western province, speaking to reporters on Friday, claimed that the Police did not assault female students, but attempted to help some of them who were lying on the pavement!

Eye-witnesses, video footage and numerous photographs taken at the protest clearly showed the manner in which several Police officers assaulted female students who were running around to protect their eyes from teargas. Some fleeing protesters were attacked after they fell down on the street. In this context, there is no way that the Police can justify the ‘minimum force’ they exercised on the university students last Thursday afternoon.

Police media spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekera, who spoke to reporters in Colombo on Thursday, also tried to justify the unrestrained behaviour of his officers.

The Spokesman said the police had used the least possible force, using batons to disperse the protesting students.

At the time Gunasekera made this statement, the injured university students were receiving treatment at the Emergency Ward of the Colombo National Hospital, demonstrating the impact of the ‘least possible force’ of the Sri Lankan Police.

“Police can use minimum force to disperse an illegal gathering or any demonstration which disturbs the peace. First they use batons, and if they still can’t control the situation they can use tear gas or water cannon,” Gunasekera said.

However, the spokesman refrained from commenting on Police officers chasing behind fleeing protesters and baton-charging them.

‘Needed force’

Western Province Senior DIG Pujith Jayasundara gave another twist to the controversy by saying the Police had sought the assistance of State intelligence units to identify the students who led the protest in front of the UGC.

“Police suspect that this protest was organized by a subversive group,” the DIG said. “The students who participated in this protest blocked all main entrance and exit points of the Colombo city, including Liptons Roundabout, C. W. W. Kannangara Mawatha, Maradana junction and Deans Road. The Police did not intervene as their protest was peaceful. But, these groups had on earlier occasions used various ruses to mislead the Police,” he said.

“That is why we informed our groups who were on the scene to be on alert. When they came to the Higher Education Ministry, we tried to contact senior Ministry officials responsible for student issues.

But, we weren’t able to contact these officials at that point in time and we informed the students about the situation. Then they tried to forcibly enter the ministry premises compelling the Police to use minimum force,” the Senior DIG said.

“Actually, this cannot be defined as the ‘minimum force’, this is ‘needed force’,” DIG Jayasundara added.

According to the Senior DIG, Police chief IGP N.K. Illangakoon has also called for a report on the incident, which has already been handed over.

“We have enough details and evidence to produce, if any one needs to conduct an investigation on this incident. We are also ready to face any person or organization, such as, the Police Commission and Human Rights Commission, if any student or their organization makes a complaint against the Police.”

“I contacted the Prime Minister’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake and informed him about this issue. He agreed to have a discussion with the students. But by the time he agreed, everything had already happened,” DIG Jayasundara said.

Disrepute

The sudden explosion of unrestrained police violence against students has prompted speculation in some circles whether police bigwigs favoured by the previous regime are returning those favours by deliberately encouraging a harsh response against the demonstrators.

Senior Police officers, including Senior DIG Jayasundera, must surely be aware of the fact that the ‘minimum’ or ‘necessary force’ does not allow policemen to chase behind university students and break their ribs.

Some observers even dubbed the Police’s behaviour on Thursday as a well-orchestrated plan to bring the new government into disrepute. It is common knowledge that some top brass members of the Police establishment reached positions of power during the tenure of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and at that point they had close links with the country’s executive.

Stern action

The government soon realized that the incident would tarnish the image of ‘good governance’. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe instructed Thilak Marapona, Minister of Public Order who oversees the Police, to look into the matter and present him a detailed report. A highly placed source from the Prime Minister’s office said Wickremesinghe would take ‘stern action’ against those officers found going beyond their brief in dealing with the protest.

Minister of Highways and Higher Education, Lakshman Kiriella issued a hastily prepared statement claiming that the HNDE students did not have a reason to protest as his Ministry, during a meeting held on Thursday morning, had agreed to resolve their problems.

“The HNDA students have informed their problems to officials a long time ago, but no action has been taken. So, it is unfair to engage in the demonstration when all these decisions have already been conveyed to the authorities,” he said.

Interestingly, Thursday’s incident took place just a few days after the National Police Commission (NPC) was formed under the provisions of the 19th Amendment. In fact, the National Police Commission’s first official duty was to look into the incident which sent shockwaves across not only the political circles, but also civil society.

National Police Commission

In fact, on Friday morning, a day after the incident, the National Police Commission was uncertain as to whether it should conduct an inquiry or not. The National Police Commission’s main problem was that it had not received any formal complaint with regard to the incident. When asked by media, members of the Commission said they did not want to probe into the matter in the absence of a formal complaint by the relevant parties.

This requirement, however, was fulfilled when the highly respected Hongkong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) lodged a formal complaint with the NPC with regard to the incident. As a result, the newly appointed National Police Question launched an inquiry into the incident on Friday afternoon.

The inquiry into the assault on university students will be the litmus test for the National Police Commission. If the Commission conducts the investigation in a credible and transparent way, the public faith will be restored in the law enforcement system.

Meanwhile, Secretary of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Samanthi Jayamanna Paranagama told the Sunday Observer that the board of the Commission on Friday decided to commence the investigation even without receiving a complaint.

However, Paranagama said that the Commission had received a complaint from the students who were subject to the police attack on Thursday.

“The Commissioners had already decided to conduct an investigation irrespective of the fact that it received a complaint or not,” she said.

Although three investigations are already under way into the incident – namely the Prime Minister’s office, Police Commission and Human Rights Commission - there is a dire need to expedite proceedings as such investigations, in the recent past, took an extraordinarily long time to come up with their findings.

Rajapaksa’s amnesia

Meanwhile, former President Mahinda Rajaaksa, who appeared before the PRECIFAC on Friday in connection with non-payments of bills for his election advertisements run on ITN, did not hesitate to share his opinion about the police attack on university students.

The former President claimed that such things “never happened” during his tenure as the President.

“Once, a group of protestors wanted to come towards Temple Trees. I gave them food and milk. I never treated them like this,” the former President said. Rajapaksa’s statement is not likely to elicit much more than a derisive response as to whether he suffers from amnesia!

It was under his rule that public protests were brutally suppressed in Chilaw, Katunayake and Weliveriya, allowing the Police and the Army to use ‘unrestrained force’ to disperse protestors. As a result, a Free Trade Zone worker died in Katunayake and a fisherman died in Chilaw, speaking volumes of the level of democracy that prevailed under the Rajapaksa administration.

The most shocking incident occurred in Weliweriya where the Army was permitted to open fire at unarmed protestors who only demanded clean drinking water. Due to the government-directed attack on the protest, a 17-year-old student, who was preparing for his Advanced Level examination, died under tragic circumstances.

A few months after the attack, Brigadier Deshapriya Gunawardena, the military officer who led the operation in Rathupaswala, was given a diplomatic posting at the Sri Lankan mission in Turkey. It was all done with the consent of the former President who is now playing the innocence card.

SLFP Ministers

After the Cabinet meeting last week, a group of SLFP MPs who hold ministerial positions under the national unity government had a discussion with President Maithripala Sirisena over issues faced by the ‘SLFP ministers’ of the present government.

The first minister who voiced his concern was Highways Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva who said SLFP ministers faced difficulties when presenting Cabinet papers. Minister S.B. Dissanayake, who was also present at the discussion, affirmed Minister de Silva’s claim. Their main complaint was that they were turning into ‘second class citizens’ at the weekly Cabinet meetings.

The President listened to their concerns patiently and promised to address the matter at the next Cabinet meeting itself.

President Maithripala Sirisena also made another important statement this week saying he would lead the party’s campaign at the forthcoming Local Government election. The President conveyed the same idea to a group of SLFP MPs who met him informally, two weeks ago, to discuss the party’s plans for the Local Government election.

By offering to lead the campaign for the Local Government election, President Sirisena indicated that the ‘Rajapaksa factor’ would not come into play at the next election, as it did with the last Presidential election.

SLFP woos Old Left

Although the SLFP was earlier inclined to contest the Local Government election separately, it has now decided to form an alliance with parties that can work together with the SLFP. According to sources from the party headquarters, the SLFP is exploring the possibility of forming an alliance with the Lanka Sama Samaaja Party and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka.

“The main stakeholders of the UPFA alliance at present are the LSSP, the Communist Party and the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP). The MEP, Weerawansa’s National Freeedom Front and Vasudeva Nanayakkara’s Democratic Left Front only had agreements to contest elections on the UPFA ticket. They were never inner circle members of the alliance. I believe the party will proceed with the UPFA inner circle members at the Local Government election,” a senior party spokesman who wished to remain anonymous, told the Sunday Observer, explaining the party’s position on the Local Government election.

Such a scenario will leave the National Freedom Front, the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, the Democratic Left Front and the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna out of the UPFA coalition at the next election. The four parties are strong critics of President Sirisena and they are not in a position to field their candidates under the leadership of the President who is also the Chairman of the SLFP.

However, uncertainty still looms large over the time-line of the election as seniors of the SLFP are pushing for its postponement citing internal power struggles within the party. They are of the view that the party will play into the hands of the group supporting former President Rajapaksa by holding the LG election in March.

Meanwhile, Local Government Minister Faizer Mustapha, who is also a member of the SLFP, said last week the government did not intend to postpone the Local Government election for any reason.