Daily News Editorial

Rajapaksa, and his take on the police

08th October 2015 

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is these days not seen on the temple circuit (with the elections over, this may now be a cumbersome exercise). Instead, he has taken to issuing media statements on selected topics. Predictably a lengthy media statement was released the other day on the consequences of the UNHRC resolution, on Sri Lanka. That salvo it appears has now lost its echo. Rajapaksa has now trained his guns on the police.

An English daily yesterday quoted the former President as saying that he was not satisfied with the ongoing investigations into the killing of five-year-old Seya. He said there are serious flaws in the investigation. Not stopping at that Rajapaksa has faulted the police for only netting in the sprats and letting the sharks get away. In the former Presidents own words: "the police only brought to book petty thieves, but those engaged in large scale robberies, extortion, murder, rape, drugs, ethanol etc. escaped from the long arm of the law.

The list mentioned by Rajapaksa sounds familiar. It is this list of offenses that resonated loudly in the campaign of the Common Candidate and perhaps largely contributed to the defeat of Rajapaksa. Hence, all these offenses in Rajapaksa's list is not a sudden phenomenon but had their origins under his rule.

Then what was the former President, who is now accusing the police of inaction and going for only petty thieves, doing at the time? Isn't this an admission that his Government had signally failed to combat the menace of drugs, murder, rape and ethanol. Nay, the ethanol racketeers were inside his Cabinet, as was common knowledge (there was at least one Minister who ran a private distillery). Then why did he not permit the police to go for the big fish at the time? Talking of the big fish, wasn't it Rajapaksa himself who personally led a procession to the residence of a politician known for his connection to the drug business, to get him off the hook, when the STF had surrounded his residence on information that a consignment of drugs was concealed in the house. And wasn't the STF personnel responsible for the raid sent on punishment transfers for their trouble?

There were a number of high profile murders under Rajapaksa's watch. Amongst the most prominent is the murder of Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickramatunga. Rajapaksa today says he is not satisfied with the investigation into the Seya's killing. What was there to be satisfied with the investigation into Lasantha's killing? Did not the former President ask the brother of the slain journalist for any names whom he (brother) suspect, at an Editors' meeting at Temple Trees? Wasn't this alone an indictment on how perpetrators of serious crime were protected and the cavalier attitude towards combating crime?

Was there anything to be satisfied with the way the Thajudeen incident was investigated at the time, considering the new evidence that is being unearthed and the police themselves clearing indicating it was foul play? Why was the police, who are today being accused of going only for the sprats, not allowed to carry out an independent investigation that would have taken them to the sharks? It was only the other day that MP Namal Rajapaksa blamed the police for failing to prevent the crime wave in the country attributing this to its obsession with the Rajapaksa family. Now his father, the former President, is blaming the police for not going for the big fish. How will one reconcile this conundrum?

Nay, the situation has aggravated today due to the police being kept under the thumb of the powers that be in the past. No investigations that involved persons of influence were allowed to take their natural course. The Thajudeen incident is a case in point. The Police investigators feared dire consequences if they pursued a hot trail. They had the example of the fate that befell the STF personal mentioned above, to go by. The police acted with alacrity only against the opponents of the Government as seen by the persecution of former Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake and Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka.

The police were discouraged in pursing high profile cases for other reasons. One is reminded of the pardon granted by the Head of State to the spouse of a former Minister, while on death row, for the murder of the mistress of the Minister. There were also other instances, one of which was where the Attorney General was compelled to withdraw a case against a former Colombo District politician arraigned for murder. Another notorious politician, also known for links to the drug business, had his rape case withdrawn after he crossed over to the Government. These acts of the rulers discouraged the police from going after the big fish and this mindset may still be ingrained among our police officers, as a carryover from the Rajapaksa days. The challenge before the Government and the IGP is to rid the police department of this ingrained fear and make it the independent and proud police force, harking back to the department's glory days.