Talawakele, Embilipitiya, Kolonnawa,
Rathupasvala, Katunayake . . .
In addition to, perhaps,
unseasonal heavy rains (thanks to global warming), the towns referred to
in the title of this Sunday's editorial comment all have another thing
in common in recent times - reported brutality against the public by the
guardians of law and of national security.
In Talawakele last week, thankfully, no one died. But in Embilitiya a
week earlier, one young father got killed tragically. Whether he fell or
jumped off a building fleeing a police charge or, whether someone in
uniform pushed him off is yet to be established. And, in Katunayaka and
Rathupasvala too, people were killed during action by law and security
personnel in crisis situations.
Hearteningly, in addition to the regular police inquiry, other public
watchdog bodies such as the Human Rights Commission are also probing the
incident in Embilipitiya and the general public may take some assurance
that what actually happened to that citizen will be clarified.
The general citizenry may be forgiven, however, if they remain
somewhat sceptical as to whether, after all the investigations, those
responsible for the tragedy will be actually prosecuted and punished.
After all, those responsible for far greater tragedies in this country -
both human, political and socio-economic - are yet to be prosecuted
despite the full weight of investigative and judicial action brought to
bear and, the glare of news media focus.
The incident in Talawakele last week has added to the, by now, a very
long list of places in Sri Lanka where uniformed law officers or
security officers have been accused of being involved in brutal action
against citizens without the provocation of violent resistance of arrest
or other forms of illegal behaviour. And these brutal actions are not
part of the less publicised, but far more violent, incidents related to
the overlapping 'dirty wars' of insurgency and counter-insurgency during
which thousands of civilians of all ethnicities have been killed or
disappeared seemingly at the hands of law and national security
personnel.
Those large scale incidents of political violence remain to be
investigated, at least as part of the mandate given by the UN Human
Rights Council. But the recent incidents of relatively small scale
violence involving State personnel as the alleged perpetrators do not
need the kind of additional forensic expertise and, investigative and
judicial resources, required to deal with this country's gory recent
past.
What is required in these cases are a new vigour and political will
to ensure speedy, non-partisan and transparent action to redress these
minor societal crisis points.
After all, for all those who recently came to governmental power -
and privilege - on the wave of regime change, it is a challenge to prove
their commitment to democracy, good governance and justice. If the
prosecution of the large scale past criminality in government is slow in
coming, the least that can be done to retain public confidence in the
new regime and new order of freedom and reasoned governance is to act
swiftly to bring redress to these immediate flashpoints.
The new regime has won too many kudos for good governance already
from both within the country and internationally for it to wilfully
throw away those credentials and, so soon after coming to power, too! To
avoid a descent into the chaos of the past and a loss of credibility,
therefore, absolute vigilance and ruthlessly efficient action is
essential. Pandering to loyalties and allegiances of any sort will only
open the floodgates of the old culture of impunity.
The official response to these contingencies is profoundly and
refreshingly different under the new national unity government unlike
under previous governments.
The very fact that the national political leadership overseeing these
official responses is one that has inspired the citizenry in the process
of democratic regime change, will go to reassure the nation that the
outcome of the official response will not be the pathetically
hypocritical posturing and duplicity that was the hallmark of Rajapaksa
governance.
The problem is clear: despite the changes at the top, however
inspiring or, at least, reassuring, they might be, at the middle and the
bottom rungs of government and, law and order, the personnel are the
same and, after a decade of nurturing by a mediocre autocracy, the
culture of arbitrary and brutal rule remains. That police personnel
apparently actually dared to snatch the notebooks of journalists
reporting the Embilipitiya inquiry process in what appeared to be crude
attempt at cover-up, betrays the extent of the problem. Clearly, one
year of 'Maithri' rule can only make a dent in this ominous
dispensation.
Certainly, the making of a new constitution is part of the long term,
comprehensive, solution. The re-making of a civilised culture of
governance and administration begins now and does so with Talawakele,
Embilipitiya, Kolonnawa . . .
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