Violence erupts as the rule of law takes a beating in the absence of independent commissions

The tragic events of last week where violence broke out all over the country underlined the need once again to revamp and strengthen the institutions of governance in the country. It took several deaths, injuries and destruction of private and public property to bring home the truth that such strengthening of institutions was imperative if the breakdown of the rule of law was to be averted in the future.

Politically motivated attacks on peaceful and unarmed protestors at Galle Face, a surge of violence where Government politicos and their property was torched and razed to the ground, and the failure of the law enforcement agencies to take preventive action all pointed to a complete breakdown of the rule of law.

With the country faced with a political and economic crisis and a paralysis in governance resulting in untold suffering to the citizenry, the outbreak of violence that took place is another blow that the country can ill afford.

The sequence of events preceding and following the catastrophic violence last week needs to be examined to understand the true ramifications of the incidents that took place.

On May 6, the Government declared a state of emergency ostensibly to ensure public security, public order and the maintenance of essential services despite the absence of any real threat to law and order or security.

The Government did not heed a call from the Bar Association of

Sri Lanka, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and human rights organisations and diplomats based in Colombo that the declaration of emergency was unwarranted and should be repealed.

If the intention was to ensure public security and public order, the events of May 9 showed that the Government had not taken any action to translate such intention into action.

The meeting at Temple Trees on May 9, to express solidarity with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, after he had been asked by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa a couple of days before to step down, was attended by several Government bigwigs and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) supporters.

Conspicuous by his absence was Basil Rajapaksa. His absence was all the more significant because he draws his strength in the SLPP from the provincial council members and pradeshiya sabha members and therefore his presence was only to be expected.

In fact the allegiance of these members of provincial councils and local bodies with Basil Rajapaksa is so strong that the first meeting he called after becoming Finance Minister was not with ministry officials but with provincial councillors and local body representatives.

What happened at the Temple trees meeting is the subject of investigations but it was clear that the crowd present at the meeting marched out with clear intentions. There first stop was MainaGoGama where they beat up protestors who had pitched camp in front of Temple Trees.

Thereafter the mob marched with clubs and other crude weapons towards GotaGoGama at Galle Face and attacked the peaceful and unarmed protestors and their encampment in the most brutal manner.

While all this was happening there was no serious attempt by the law enforcement agencies to prevent the mayhem that took place.

This was in complete contrast to the actions of law enforcement agencies in the recent past. Long before the Galle Face protests began they were in the habit of putting up barricades as a preventive measure to stop various groups from marching towards the Presidential Secretariat. They took similar preventive measures near Parliament too in the past weeks.

But strangely no such action was forthcoming from the law enforcement agencies when the mobs were marching towards GotaGoGama after wreaking havoc at MainaGoGama, despite the area being a high security zone. Clearly a few answers are called for.

Another strange feature of the happenings at Galle Face was the violence that erupted almost on cue, all over the island within minutes of the attack on Galle Face.

The visuals on television screens showed houses and properties of Government politicos burning but hardly any pictures of the inhabitants of those premises being present nor of those who were engaged in such destruction.

Another striking feature of the violence that broke out was the absence of any law enforcement officers near the scenes of attacks to repel such attacks. There had been earlier reports of people protesting outside residences of Parliamentarians which should have placed the authorities on alert.

Two such specific instances were the protests that took place outside the residences of State ministers Shantha Bandara and Siripala Gamlath last week. Both of them should have been given protection by the law enforcement agencies. However there was no sign of the presence of any Police officers when both their houses were attacked on May 9. The failure of law enforcement agencies to take preventive action even when a state of emergency was in force certainly merits investigation.

The 19th Amendment set up the independent Police commission, apart from other such commissions, to depoliticise and professionalise the Police service. The process of retraining and reorienting the Police to act professionally and independently was in its early stages when the independent commissions were scrapped as a result of the repeal of the 19th Amendment.

It is unlikely that the Police, left to themselves, would not have known what to do in the situations they faced last week. Several years ago the late Prof. Bellanwila

Wimalaratne Thero told Police officers in Moratuwa who had apprehended the suspects in a gruesome murder case within a couple of days, that they were able to do so only because there had been no political interference in the investigation. This would generally be true of the Police.

Another surprising but welcome development was the prompt action taken by the Attorney General’s Department to move the Magistrates Court and obtain orders restraining several politicians from travelling abroad on the basis that their presence was required for the investigations.

Recently the Attorney General’s Department has come in for a great deal of flak with regard to its conduct in relation to several cases against Government politicos. The current action of the Attorney General’s Department should help in the process of restoring its image as an independent institution.

While current political conversations in the country advocate the repeal of the 20th Amendment as one step in the process of resolving the political stalemate, the reviving and strengthening of the independent commissions will greatly enhance the quality of governance as well.

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