Daily News Editorial

Confronting the prisoner issue

20th October 2015

 

President Maithripala Sirisena's pledge to resolve the prisoner issue before November 7 has met with mixed reactions. There are those who contend that these prisoners, held under the PTA, are hardcore LTTE members responsible for many a massacre while others, particularly the Tamil politicians, maintain that these men and women kept in prison for over 20 years, with their cases dragging on interminably, had suffered enough.

Then there are also elements like Udaya Gammanpila who say that all prisoners should be treated equally and that the Government should not succumb to pressure from any quarter. Speaking to the Daily News Gammanpila said the President was duty bound to explain the reasons for his special treatment of prisoners held under the PTA.

The President has yet to come out with his solution and Gammanpila who revels in situations where the Tamils are granted any concession by the yahapalanaya Government so as to, use them as a handle to attack the Government, would do well not to jump the gun. Besides, the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya General Secretary would best know about special treatment granted to prisoners - not just for terrorists activity but foul murder. For, wasn't it his own boss, when he was Head of State, who granted a free pardon to the spouse of a Cabinet Minister, who was on death row, for doing away with the former's mistress? Why isn't Gammanpila talking about the special treatment that was been granted to terrorists such as Karuna Amman who it is well known masterminded the attack on the Dalada Maligawa and was behind the cold blooded massacre of 600 policemen, when he was the LTTE's Eastern Commander, not to mention the hacking to death of a bus load of Samaneras.

Leave alone being thrown behind bars and tried under the very PTA as with the current crop of LTTE suspects languishing in Welikada and other prisons, he was not only made a Cabinet Minister but also made an office bearer in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

Be that as it may, there has been no clamour for the outright release of these prisoners. The demand is for their cases to be fast tracked. Those found guilty would continue to serve their sentence while the others would be set free. This is in contrast to the blanket indemnity granted to many hard core LTTEers following the Indo-Lanka Accord, some of whom are even in Parliament today. There are indeed precedents in our own country where hardcore terrorists were granted official pardons by the state, the well know instance being the release of JVPers found guilty by the Criminal Justice Commission. Here too most of them ended in Parliament with some of them going on to hold Ministerial office.

They too were young men and women who rose against the state to overthrow a system. The difference with the LTTE is the latter demanded a separate state. In both uprisings large scale killings took place, the difference being only in their intensity. In 1971 the JVP fought with sten guns and home made gal katas while the LTTE used far more sophisticated weaponry a decade and half later. Naturally there were more killings by the LTTE and more mutilations as a result of the deadly suicide attacks.

There was no opposition among the public to the release of JVP suspects. In fact the release of Rohana Wijeweera by JRJ was received with great enthusiasm, the bearded Marxist drawing massive crowds at his post release maiden rally at the Vihara Mahadevi Park. This, for man who led an uprising that resulted in the deaths of thousands of youth.

Hence calls by politicians such as Minister Mano Ganesan to view both episodes on an even keel is justified to some degree. There will no doubt be rabid cries of betrayal of the forces by the likes of Wimal Weerawansa in the event of a reasonable solution being arrived at by the President and indeed if some of the prisoners are in fact released after their cases are disposed of. Already a new Opposition alliance has been formed to challenge the Government on the Geneva resolution. The release of a few LTTE prisoners will no doubt be grist to the mill for this campaign.

President Sirisena indeed will be in an unenviable situation. On the one hand he has to ensure that justice is meted out to the LTTE prisoners while on the other hand ensuring that the issue would not be exploited by bankrupt politicians to whip up nationalist sentiment in the South, particularly at a time when Local Government elections are round the corner. At the same time the President could reassure himself, going by the response from the electorate both on January 8 and August 17, that nationalist rhetoric had been rejected lock stock and barrel by the masses. The public will expect him to deliver a reasonable solution to the prisoner issue that will be to the satisfaction of all parties.