{"id":93485,"date":"2013-06-30T00:01:57","date_gmt":"2013-06-29T18:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=93485"},"modified":"2013-07-03T13:35:16","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T08:05:16","slug":"a-climate-of-fear-verging-on-hysteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-climate-of-fear-verging-on-hysteria\/","title":{"rendered":"A Climate Of Fear Verging On Hysteria"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Emil van der Poorten<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Emil van der Poorten<\/p><\/div>\n

A short while ago, I documented the attack launched by lorry-loads of goons accompanied by two members of the local police, on Vesak Day no less, on residents of my neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

The second chapter of that little saga was when six of those Tamils resident on the informal colony adjacent to the land on which I reside were sentenced to pay fines of, I understand, three thousand rupees each for being inebriated (in their own homes on land they have occupied for a significant amount of time).\u00a0 While there seemed little doubt that these men were inebriated at the time and place concerned there appeared to be some significance to the fact that not one member of the three lorry-loads of marauders, allegedly from the North Western Province bailiwick of a Cabinet Minister with a known propensity for violence, were charged with any offence whatsoever!\u00a0 I am sure that the fact that the former were Tamils and the latter Sinhalese had nothing to do with this turn of events!<\/p>\n

You\u2019d have thought that, unjust and unfair as all this was, that would be that.<\/p>\n

However, the fall-out from lunacy that is perpetrated in this manner can go in directions that cannot be anticipated by those generating it.<\/p>\n

In my continuing (and unsuccessful!) attempts to regulate an expanding waistline, I embarked on my usual \u201cconstitutional\u201d fairly late one recent evening.\u00a0 A short distance down the rough and lonely track that passes for a \u201cmotorable road,\u201d I met a group of about a dozen youth accompanied by an adult, none of whom were familiar to me.\u00a0\u00a0 I asked, in the manner that is the practice in these parts, where they were bound and received the response that they were \u201cgoing for a walk.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Our access road is not exactly a hiking trail and the imminent stormy weather wasn\u2019t exactly conducive to an evening\u2019s stroll without benefit of raincoat or umbrella.\u00a0 However, given the fact that none of the group fitted the traditional appearance of village \u201cchandiyas<\/em>\u201d and appeared completely sober and unarmed I was reassured and continued on my way with my \u201cguard dog,\u201d all 10- kilograms of her, engaged in her usual barking at and chasing after assorted monkeys and giant squirrels.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The next person I encountered was one of our Tamil neighbours, much the worse for wear in the matter of having celebrated well but not too wisely.\u00a0 However, he was coherent enough to exchange the usual pleasantries and he continued up the hill while I kept going down.<\/p>\n

Soon after I\u2019d begun to retrace my steps from the point at which I usually do, I was overtaken by another young man who greeted me (in English which was obviously not the language in which he usually communicated) and who, briskly, proceeded on his way to join his friends.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the miracle of the mobile phone, \u00a0I phoned home to acquaint my \u201cother half\u201d of the volatility of what might develop given the fact that an inebriated Tamil could well encounter a group of Sinhalese youth after, only a short time before, being subjected to significant violence dished out by people of the same ethnic and age profile.<\/p>\n

I suggested that the gate at the entrance to our home be closed and we both kept our fingers crossed, literally and metaphorically!<\/p>\n

A couple of hundred metres up the road, I see a young Tamil woman proceeding in the opposite direction.\u00a0 Again, I know who she is and the fact that she is as \u201cashen-faced\u201d as her very dark complexion would permit is cause for concern.\u00a0 I ask her whether she\u2019d met the group of young men and she answers in the affirmative, saying that they were on the side of the road, a few bends farther on.\u00a0 Reluctant to extend the conversation, she continues on her way in the manner traditionally reserved for the metaphorical \u201cscalded cat!\u201d<\/p>\n

I keep walking and meet up with the group again, all stationary, on the verge of our \u201cjeep track.\u201d\u00a0 I again ask them from where they were and get what seems like a very evasive reply.<\/p>\n

I keep going and, with the rain beginning to come down, cover the 150 metres to my home as quickly as I can.<\/p>\n

There I discover that my (inebriated) Tamil friend had already phoned my home suggesting that given the presence of a gang of young strangers on our road, I could be at significant risk!\u00a0 And the employees still on the premises appeared to have been on the verge of launching a \u201crescue\u201d operation on my behalf, the outcome of which I can\u2019t but shudder to contemplate!<\/p>\n

Subsequent investigations, via the usual (local) sources revealed that the group was a completely harmless bunch of young men from a neighbouring heavy-equipment training centre accompanied by their instructor and inquisitive about our sign-posted paying guest operation.\u00a0 They had, obviously, lost their nerve when asked what brought them to our neighbourhood in rather unusual circumstances.<\/p>\n

However, what is most disturbing is the potential volatility of absolutely harmless behavior thanks to the climate of fear and mistrust in what\u2019s left of the Rule of Law in our area.\u00a0 And mind you, that lack of trust in what exists in the way of law and order is despite an officer-in-charge of the local police that I\u2019ve previously described as trying to practice the closest thing to \u201ccommunity policing\u201d that I\u2019ve seen in this country.\u00a0 It was only thanks to cooler heads prevailing, that a totally unnecessary and potentially violent confrontation was avoided that evening.\u00a0 However, in the absence of the rule of law, particularly in rural Sri Lanka, the climate of fear and uncertainty, particularly for \u201cidentifiable minorities\u201d will continue with the attendant risk of very serious consequences.<\/p>\n

The picture that accompanies this bit of writing depicts one immediate outcome of the state of affairs that prevails in our neighbourhood:\u00a0 two of my Tamil neighbours parking their little truck and a three-wheeler in my front compound in the belief that they would be safer from attack there.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the Debacle of Asia!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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