{"id":126627,"date":"2014-06-22T00:17:34","date_gmt":"2014-06-21T18:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=126627"},"modified":"2014-06-28T00:17:07","modified_gmt":"2014-06-27T18:47:07","slug":"the-igp-must-resign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-igp-must-resign\/","title":{"rendered":"The IGP Must Resign!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

These are days of frayed tempers, perceived grievances, real threats and real fears that can cloud and blow away reason.\u00a0 This is the hour or the rumor-monger.\u00a0 This is the hour of the extremist.\u00a0 This is the hour of the passionate and irresponsible.<\/p>\n

The word on the street is \u2018Aluthgama<\/span><\/a>\u2019.\u00a0 Indeed it is the word on every street where matters of yesterday, today and\u00a0tomorrow, matters of the nation and its destiny, matters of unrest and fear and other related matters are discussed.\u00a0 Aluthgama moved from the Kalutara district to Colombo and Badulla.\u00a0 \u2018This is 83-July<\/span><\/a> all over again,\u2019 some said.\u00a0 Not true, but we could get there.<\/p>\n

There were arguments over who threw the first stone, as though it justified throw-return and more.\u00a0 After all it is hard to pin it down to first stone cast when there were only a handful of STF men to \u2018protect the (BBS<\/span><\/a>) procession\u2019 in Dharga Town.\u00a0 STF personnel were clearly confused because their orders were specific.\u00a0\u00a0 One source explained thus: \u2018The Muslims keep saying that the STF sided with the mob.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t.\u00a0 We were acting on our orders which were specific and were about protecting the procession.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Inspector<\/a>It was not, let us repeat, not a peaceful procession.\u00a0 There were anti-Muslim slogans, there was whipping of hysteria, there was undisguised inciting of violence against Muslims in a Muslim majority area by people who had petrol cans and carried weapons.\u00a0<\/b>Literally minutes after that \u2018first stone\u2019 Muslims and Muslim-owned premises were attacked and torched in Adhikarigoda, Aluthgama and the interior of Dharga Town.<\/p>\n

Most of all, it is hard to pin it down on first stone when Buddhist monks torched a shopping complex in Aluthgama\u00a0more than a month ago\u00a0<\/b>over an alleged molestation of a Buddhist child by a Muslim, the relative of the shop owner, when in fact CCTV evidence disproved the allegation. The shop was torched only several days later.<\/p>\n

Blaming first-stone-thrower is therefore a joke.<\/p>\n

There are questions which are not funny, though.\u00a0 If Azath Salley<\/span><\/a> was arrested for \u2018hate speech\u2019, why is Rev Galagodaaththe Gnanasaara<\/span><\/a> still free?\u00a0 Why did the Police not prevent the BBS rally despite many pleas to do so from many quarters (a planned \u2018BBS\u2019 rally in Mawanella was stopped, after all)? \u00a0Why was the STF not ordered to maintain peace but instructed only to \u2018protect the procession\u2019?\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t the police stop armed mobs scurrying around with clubs and violent intent (not just in Aluthgama\u00a0on Sunday\u00a0but elsewhere too thereafter)?<\/p>\n

Most importantly, why did the Inspector General of Police N.K. Ilangakoon state that a Buddhist monk had been assaulted when he had no evidence to support the claim?\u00a0 The Judicial Medical Officer\u2019s report which would have either proven or refuted the said monk\u2019s claim (as of\u00a0Friday) has not been issued.\u00a0\u00a0Highly placed sources at the Attorney General\u2019s Office could not confirm that the monk had indeed been assaulted.<\/p>\n

If there was convoluted justification of last Sunday\u2019s violence and if justification spurred further violence the blame falls squarely on the IGP for making the following (irresponsible) statement: \u2018Three Muslims in a trishaw assaulted the driver and the Buddhist monk. The Buddhist monk was in hospital receiving treatment for two days and then discharged. \u00a0He was to be taken to the temple in a procession when the incident occurred.\u2019<\/p>\n

The IGP offered speculation as fact. That\u2019s incompetent and irresponsible. Yesterday the Muslim-owned \u2018No Limit<\/span><\/a>\u2019 outlet in Panadura was torched.\u00a0 While it is not clear how it all happened, it is clear that the sequence of events prompt people to connect dots and reach conclusion, wrong though they may be.\u00a0 Tinkering with the truth and lying outright causes friction, throw out sparks and cause infernos that are hard to put out.<\/p>\n

It is wrong to blame it all on one person, but it is equally wrong not to point out those who provided fuel and matchstick, tossed in extra firewood and refused to douse it even though they had all the water necessary to do the job.\u00a0 We have to take issue with the IGP.\u00a0 He must resign forthwith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nThe IGP Must Resign! - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-igp-must-resign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The IGP Must Resign! - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-igp-must-resign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-21T18:47:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-27T18:47:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-igp-must-resign\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-igp-must-resign\/\",\"name\":\"The IGP Must Resign! 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