Ceylon Today Editorial

Police and students need to be disciplined

Wednesday 04th November 2015

 
Last Thursday many became the unwitting witnesses to a horrendous police onslaught on a demonstration organized by the Students Collective of the Higher National Diploma for Accountancy. In a matter of minutes, the university student activists who were beaten red by police batons became heroes for their juniors, while the general public managed to make a fool out of the Police Department.

Police Department on several occasions asserted that none of the student activists were assaulted in their [police's] necessary use of minimum force to disperse the 'unlawful assembly' which caused massive traffic jams in the Colombo City and the surrounding areas. But what we witnessed was something completely different to their claims.
Time has come to establish discipline in the Police Department although they denied claims of assaulting the students in last Thursday's events despite the video proof and the thousands of eye witnesses. What we saw in the video footages of the event was not police officers running to disperse or to rescue anyone, but police officers running to scare and attack whoever they could lay their batons on. And, there is no denying that there is a major contrast between the police assaulting and rescuing an individual.

Whoever, who denies these allegations of obvious violations of fundamental human rights to organize a gathering under a common cause is blatantly attempting to reinterpret the law of the land to support his/ her/their own benefit. When Article 14 (1) (b) of the Fundamental Rights Chapter of the Constitution demarcates the freedom of peaceful assembly, (c) the freedom of association and (h) freedom of movement, the Police Department who denies these students of their rights must be a band of blind men to say otherwise.

Furthermore, the Police Department also said that the student activists had not informed the Police Department of organizing a demonstration. Regardless of this claim, Article 11 of the Constitution and also that Section 77(1) of the Police Ordinance do not make it an offence to take out or hold a procession on a public road in an urban area without a valid permit. Further it was held that the Police Ordinance does not require a permit or even permission to hold or take out a procession on a public road, and that all that is required is that notice either written or oral should be given to the relevant Police Officer-in-Charge.

Minister of Higher Education and Highways Lakshman Kiriella, responding to the events and what followed has asserted that the problems faced by the students were already solved and that the government had agreed to meet their demands. He had said that this was an unfortunate incident that followed after this reconciliation. In that case, the blame for this matter somewhat lies in the hands of the student activists as well.

As a student organization they should not have created a problem when there wasn't one in the first place. It would only put a black mark on their reputation among their own peers, not that it was there in the first place. More so, their actions now would become a media spectacle and a farce of a cause in the eyes of any beholder who is savvy of the actual truth. Actual truth is that these student organizations being brainwashed and fed incorrect information to create controlled anarchy among the populace. Oh, well.

The newly appointed National Police Commission spearheaded by a senior university lecturer Professor Siri Hettige has the immense responsibility to ensure that justice and fair-play. This investigation being the first official investigation of the Commission, all eyes will be on Hettige and his band of men to see whether they would uphold what the Commission stands for. The appointment of the three person committee is definitely a good deed and a baby step in the matter. However, despite the fact that our governments are known for establishing impotent committees, sub-committees and Courts of Inquiries, the general public sincerely hope this would not be the same case when it comes to the National Police Commission and their inquiries.

Author Alan Moore once wrote "The roots of the word 'anarchy' are 'an archos,' 'no leaders,' which is not really about the kind of chaos that most people imagine when the word 'anarchy' is mentioned. Anarchy is, to the contrary, about taking personal responsibility for yourself." Protests and demonstrations are the mildest form of anarchy which has been abused and overused by the politically abhorrent groups in our society. Anarchism in our country, after the overuse and clichéd use by leftist groups, has become a joke to our populace. And of course the police would flaunt the stupid of the student activists who doesn't know the meaning of anarchism.

A concept is a brick. It can be used to build a Courthouse of reason. Or it can be thrown through the window. What these student activists should learn is the correct concept and not how to throw their misguided concepts at everyone's window.

Daily Mirror Editorial

Daily News Editorial

Comments that boomerang

Comments that boomerang

Wednesday 04th November 2015

 

UPFA Parliamentarian and staunch supporter of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has excoriated the Government over the police action against HNDA students during the demo opposite the University Grants Commission last week. Terming the attack brutal and inhuman the former Minister said the incident represented the blackest episode in the history of student agitation in this country. He also said it was ironic that a government which has set up a Commission to tame and discipline the police had become the first accused in connection to the attack. He also called upon the newly established Police Commission to define and educate the members of the police force on the difference between minimum and maximum force.

The Police certainly went overboard in dealing with the student protest. It could be claimed in extenuation that the police was forced to act in this manner as a last resort when the protestors hurled stones and other missiles at them (a Policeman was injured and admitted to hospital). Television footage conformed this. But to single out this particular incident as an example of the Government's brutality and insensitivity to student demands is indeed strange to say the least coming as it does from Alahapperuma.

The whole country is aware how student protests were dealt with by the Rajapaksa Government in which Alahapperuma was a powerful Minister. There was a time when television news carried scenes of brutal attacks on student protestors almost on a daily basis. Even monks were tear gassed and baton charged. The former Minister talks as if this was the first time that water cannons were used against student protestors. Alahapperuma also offers his gratuitous advise to the Government to accede to the student demands in order to prevent such incidents.

One couldn't spot even a single member of the armed forces in the melee at Ward Place. This was not the case in the past. All protests, including student protests were dealt with by the military against all civilized norms democratic practice. The army is brought only as a desperate last resort. It is this same army that was sent to deal with people demanding drinking water at Rathupaswela. Alahapperuma who is today weeping buckets for the HNDA students we cannot recall making any noise over the death of two innocent students who were mere bystanders, shot by the army. Alahapperuma who has cultivated an image as a politician always supporting the cause of the underdog we cannot recall taking exception to the decision to send the army officer responsible for ordering the shooting on a diplomatic assignment abroad.

Interestingly the MP makes reference to a parala ena (rafter nails) case where two university students were alleged to have had nails drilled into their foreheads by a UNP politician following his defeat at the hands of Nanda Ellawala at the 1988 Ratnapura by-election. Alahapperuma one recalls was in the forefront demanding justice for the two students whose tortured bodies were dumped in a jungle. Later the self same Alahapperuma made the same parala ena reference in Parliament when the same UNP politician (both were MPs at the time) was on the run from the law for the alleged murder of Nalanda Ellawala, directly pointing the finger at the MP as the perpetrator of the act. However Alahapperuma had no qualms whatsoever to sit with this same UNP politician whom he accused for murdering his erstwhile colleague, in the Government benches, after that worthy did a political somersault and joined the Government.

People, especially politicians, should be careful when finger pointing, because it is bound to boomerang. Alahapperuma should do well to ponder on the instances where protestors were brutally suppressed by the Rajapaksa Government. Not just at Rathupaswela. Protestors were also killed at demos in Katunayake and Negombo, the victims being youth. He should also ponder as to how the army was brought in to quell protests by civilians, now that he has ample time to reflect on the past, relieved of the many portfolios he held.

None of this however is meant to exculpate the police from blame. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has already appointed a committee to get to the bottom of the matter. Similarly the newly established National Police Commission too has appointed a Committee to probe the incident separately. Tasked with enforcing discipline, it is hoped that NPC would act firmly against those men who used excessive force. This could well be the defining moment for the NPC to demonstrate to the public its willingness to act sans any political pressure. It will also be a test for the new Government who is confronted with the first major incident since being elected to office. Already the Opposition is in overdrive laying the blame at the door step of the Government. There are accusations that a political hand was behind the police attack. Hence it will have to clear the air in this regard.

Students on their part should also act with circumspection. The HNDA issue was certainly not of such a magnitude that warranted an agitation of the scale witnessed at Ward Place, giving credence to accusations that the demo was politically instigated. Negotiations should always be the first recourse.

The Island Editorial

Crocs weeping buckets

Wednesday 04th November 2015

 

There are said to be only two good politicians, one dead and the other unborn. But, one shouldn’t be so cynical. There are some good politicians among the living and they are in the Opposition; they are good because they are without power to be bad. And, today, they are weeping buckets for the victims of last week’s police brutality. In a turn of events replete with irony some of them have even called upon the National Police Commission (NPC) to hold an impartial investigation into the incident. Isn’t it they who voted for the 18th Amendment which eviscerated the NPC and other independent commissions?

The knee-jerk reaction of the government was to appoint some committees to probe the attack on protesting students. Whether anything will come of the ongoing probes is anybody’s guess. But, what matters is the government’s response. It has promptly ordered an investigation and allowed the NPC to initiate an inquiry of its own. These are, to give the devil his due, positive signs which need to be appreciated by one and all. Nothing of the sort would have happened under the previous government which most of the hypocrites shedding crocodile tears for the victims of last week’s police attack defended to the hilt. None of those worthies had the strength of character or love for democracy to condemn police and military crackdowns on the Rathupaswala villagers protesting against a factory which allegedly contaminated groundwater in the area, fishers and workers fighting for their rights. (A wag says they were so scared of the Rajapaksas that they were wary of opening their mouths even to brush their teeth!)

There were numerous instances where students, workers and Opposition activists were savagely assaulted under the Rajapaksa government. Pro-UPFA thugs armed with clubs, bicycle chains etc openly operated alongside the riot police to crush Opposition protests. The police, questioned by the media, tried to defend the criminals by claiming that they may have carried clubs to ward off stray dogs in the city!

Even the faded Red Shirts are waxing eloquent on people’s democratic rights and condemning police attacks on student protests. But, they turned a blind eye to the LTTE’s crimes against children such as abductions and forcible conscription, and opposed military action against northern terrorism.

A youth from Embilipitiya has authored a book on a group of schoolchildren killed by the then UNP government and buried in a mass grave at Suriyakanda during the second JVP uprising (1987-89). He told this newspaper on Monday that he had invited the leaders of all political parties to the book launch to be held shortly but none of them had accepted his invitation. So much for their concern for students who become victims of state terror!

The present government is behaving, compared to its predecessor and responding to public opinion not because it is full of democrats. Some of those who provided the Rajapaksa government with underworld figures to attack the then Opposition protests have joined the present administration! The incumbent dispensation is not trying to bulldoze its way through because it is not equal to that task thanks to the outcome of the last parliamentary election where people exercised their franchise wisely––for once. Strong governments have the propensity for abusing power and resorting to violence to suppress dissent.

People may trust politicians and parties of their choice with power, but it is a fatal mistake for governments to be given steamroller majorities under any circumstances. The problem with power is that it goes to the head of the wielder thereof and drives him or her mad.

It is said that when a government fears the people there is liberty and when the people fear a government there is tyranny.