{"id":46143,"date":"2012-06-24T13:32:01","date_gmt":"2012-06-24T13:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=46143"},"modified":"2012-07-11T21:47:52","modified_gmt":"2012-07-11T21:47:52","slug":"thuggery-silence-amounts-to-consent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/thuggery-silence-amounts-to-consent\/","title":{"rendered":"Thuggery: Silence Amounts To Consent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

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

Julampitiye Amare is not an anomaly. And that is the definitive statement of the culture of immunity that describes thugs and thuggery, assassins and assassination in Sri Lanka over the past several decades.
\nThe court observed that the man had not been arrested despite dozens of warrants being issued.\u00a0 That\u2019s not news.\u00a0 What\u2019s news is that the Police had the gumption to say \u2018Only five warrants were issued\u2019, as though the smaller number somehow explain inability to arrest the man.\u00a0 It is clearly not only a case of the police lacking skills to track him down;\u00a0\u00a0 it is about the police having its hands tied.\u00a0 That\u2019s a political reality.\u00a0 And that\u2019s not something peculiar to this government.\u00a0 However, the crimes of omission and commission of previous governments do not confer license to follow suit.<\/p>\n

Where did Julampitiye Amare get the guts?\u00a0 To answer that we could consider the harassment meted out to Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri, President, Federation of University Teachers\u2019 Associations (FUTA).\u00a0 Dr. Devasiri has complained to the IGP that some strange men, claiming to be from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had made unwarranted inquiries from his neighbours.<\/p>\n

It is not uncommon for academics, journalists and NGO activists to concoct such stories as part of political strategy to demonize governments and open up avenues to \u2018flee\u2019 to greener pastures.\u00a0 Dr. Devasiri, even his most ardent ideological and political opponents will agree, does not belong to that despicable tribe.\u00a0 A simple man, with simple needs, he conducts himself in line with the decorum and decency one associates with civilized, democratic practice.\u00a0 His complaint has to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

What of the \u2018MoD\u2019, though?\u00a0 It is a claim, yes let us repeat, a claim, made by some shady characters.\u00a0 Does this mean the MoD is somehow implicated? No.\u00a0 What it means, however, is that a situation has been created where things are said and done in the name of the MoD and in all probability without the MoD having any inkling of what\u2019s happening and what\u2019s being done in its name.<\/p>\n

Turning claim into fact is big business and bigger politics.\u00a0 This too is known.\u00a0 What\u2019s most disturbing is the fact that the Government is doing little to help its case in these and related matters.\u00a0 Time and again, we\u2019ve seen thuggery go unpunished.\u00a0 Time and again persons directly associated with the government or close to high ranking ministers have acted as though they were above the law, and indeed the law, in its breach, has helped confirm that they were.\u00a0 Investigations into acts that could cause embarrassment to the Government have been painfully slow with little or no results to show for effort.
\nIt is in this context that some two-bit thug can legitimately reason thus: \u2018The bosses apparently don\u2019t mind.\u2019\u00a0 Others could reason, \u2018It\u2019s in the best interest of the boss, so it has to be considered a moral obligation\u2019.\u00a0 But what if it\u2019s not a minion\u2019s do-good ethic that\u2019s at work?\u00a0 What if the thug was under contract?\u00a0 When nothing is done and when nothing has been done for years, to stop the rot it would be silly for the Government to imagine that people will give it the benefit of the doubt.\u00a0 Make no mistake, the people, whether or not they\u2019ll howl in protest, will conclude: The government is behind this!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the signal, then, that Julampitiye Amare gives the radical youth of this country?\u00a0 He tells them, \u2018Look, democracy is old hat; it\u2019s gun-talk and nothing else!\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 Remember the 80\u2019s, when the then UNP regimes operated as though its sole intent was to give that very same message to the youth of the country?\u00a0 Remember what happened?\u00a0 A revolution? No!\u00a0\u00a0 We had a bloodbath, the regime emerged bruised but unbowed, and the country walked a couple of decades backwards.\u00a0 We cannot afford a repeat, but a repeat is what is looming ahead of us.<\/p>\n

The MoD, common sense tells, is not stupid to go around intimidating Dr. Devasiri.\u00a0 Someone was bold enough though and that someone was smart enough to pass the buck to the MoD.\u00a0 There are many \u2018someones\u2019 and much passing of buck, to the MoD and, more seriously, to the President.<\/p>\n

The longer the Government is silent, the more apparent the foot-dragging in bringing to book these thugs, the more the Government will incriminate itself.\u00a0\u00a0 It is this political sloth perhaps more than anything else that will convince people that the likes of Julampitiye Amare are but following orders.<\/p>\n

As for the police and the lame excuses that are being trotted out, it clearly shows that the general public as well as law and order have suffered and continue to suffer on account of the absence of a truly independent Police Commission.\u00a0 People don\u2019t trust the police and when that Police-Public connect is gone, it is open season for thuggery, theft, murder and indeed all manner of crimes.\u00a0 The finger will point towards the Government and umbrage will in the end be addressed to the President.\u00a0 Undeservedly, perhaps, at this point, but most certainly not without cause if nothing is done.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Nation Editorial<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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