The Island Editorial

Forgotten body parts

07 September 2016

 

Pirates and buccaneering politicians have many things in common. The former plunder sailing vessels and the latter the ship of state. Besides, they believe that ‘dead men tell no tales’ and resort to violence to neutralise enemies, both real and perceived.

But, as for the murder of ruggerite, Wasim Thajudeen, one may doubt the validity of the aforesaid saying, the origin of which is usually traced to pirates. The story of his tragic end has now become known to one and all.

There is one thing Sri Lankan politicians do properly when they are ensconced in power; they cover their tracks effectively after committing various crimes. That was why nobody got caught following the change of government in 1994 though many grandees of the previous regime had carried out numerous killings and robbed the state coffers for 17 years. A similar situation has occurred following the Jan. 08 2015 regime change. Those responsible for killings and amassing ill-gotten wealth have not been brought to justice yet. This may be the reason why those investigating the Thajudeen’s death are also going around in circles.

The present government would not have cared two hoots about the famous ruggerite’s murder if the suspects had been within its ranks or they hadn’t been its political rivals. What may be termed as ‘cadaver politics’ or the use of corpses to gain political mileage, however, is not of recent origin. There have been many instances thereof during the past several decades.

The UNP once shed copious tears for Premawathie Manamperi of Kataragama and other youth killed during the first JVP insurrection in 1971 and the SLFP politicians dug up the Suriyakanda mass grave containing the remains of a group of students killed in the late 1980s, when the JVP took up arms again. The TNA is doing likewise, using as it does the war dead to achieve its political end though it did not make a whimper of protest when the LTTE went on killing sprees.

Whatever the government’s real motive is as regards Thajudeen’s death, somebody has to pay for that crime. Let that be the bottom line.

Meanwhile, the Thajudeen killing and allied matters have given rise to an interesting legal argument as we heard on Monday, when retired Judicial Medical Officer Prof. Ananda Samarasekera’s anticipatory bail application was taken up by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court. Senior State Counsel, objecting to the doctor’s request, maintained that the body parts under investigation and review by the court could be categorised as public property and bail refused under the Public Property Act, which the present government invokes liberally to ensure that its rivals are remanded indefinitely.

We don’t intend to examine the state counsel’s argument, which was challenged by the bail applicant’s lawyer. That, we believe, is best left to the learned Magistrate. Instead, we wonder why no governments cared to conduct investigations when public roads used to be strewn with body parts, and categorise them as public property by causing them to be under review by courts so as to arrest and remand the perpetrators of mindless violence. They conducted only a few probes very selectively for political reasons. An all-out attempt to do so was conspicuous by its absence even in situations where investigations were possible. Instead, the body parts were given mass burials and the victims forgotten. Their killers went scot free.

Those who caused roads and waterways to turn red with blood through either terrorism or counter terror in the southern parts of the country are currently cohabiting for all practical purposes. Surprisingly, not even UN Chief Ban Ki-moon, who was here recently to renew his call for a probe into the war-related accountability issues, made any mention of the body parts churned out by terrorist groups and state agents outside the war zone. Who will mourn for those victims and call for justice?