R.M.B Senanayake
Photo credit: Dinidu De Alwis
Hundreds of Tamils temporarily resident in Colombo in lodges were summarily bundled into buses and forcibly taken to the towns in the North & East. The Supreme Court has however issued a stay order on such evictions as they are a violation of the Fundamental Rights of the victims. The IGP tried to make out that the victims had gone of their own volition. But the Prime Minister has denied it and accepted the government’s responsibility for this gross violation of human rights. We commend the government for owning up and apologizing to our fellow citizens.
They cannot be looked upon as LTTE supporters merely because they are Tamils. Such a prognosis smacks of racism. Western journalists may well draw a parallel with the actions of Idi Amin who issued an ultimatum to the Indians in Uganda to leave their country because they were not native Africans although long standing immigrants. Some may even compare such action to that of Hitler who bundled thousands of Jews into trains and dispatched them to Concentration Camps in Poland. The civilized world does not accept such actions. We have a 2500 year civilization and hence cannot accept such racist actions.
How would such ‘deportation ‘resolve the problem of security in any case. Don’t a large number of Tamils live in Colombo and in the South in general? In fact the JHU and other Sinhala chauvinists refute the claim that there is an ethnic problem by pointing out to the large Tamil population that lives peacefully among the Sinhalese in the South. This is correct. But the discrimination against the Tamils has always been directed by the state rather than by the people. The state has from time to time been captured by Sinhala chauvinists who vociferously claim to speak on behalf of the silent Sinhala majority. The pogrom against the Tamils in 1983 was carried out by rogue elements in the state. It is the weakness of democracy that rabid orators with their virulent rhetoric can move the people to win votes on issues which are detrimental to the long term interest of the people. They then use state power to commit atrocities. The problem is as old as Athenian democracy. The ancient Athenians devised their own solution which was “ostracization†and involved the exile of populist demagogues. The modern solution is to uphold human rights of everybody, to maintain the Rule of Law and outlaw the use of hate speech to create racial or religious disharmony.
The IGP’s arbitrary action will no doubt leave a deep scar with the victims. It will only harden the resolve of those who believe that the two ethnic groups cannot live together and that the Tamils should be allowed to run their own state of Eelaam. Immigration to the City from rural areas is a common phenomenon in development throughout the world. The USA is battling to stop illicit immigrants from Mexico. The EU is facing the same problem. None of these countries resort to draconian measures despite their right to deport such immigrants under their domestic laws.
We understand that the security of tenure of the post of IGP and the post of Attorney General are guaranteed to the holders of such offices by an Act of Parliament passed a few years back. So there is no valid excuse for the IGP to succumb to undue influence or pressure from higher-ups and to have done what he did. He is given powers under the Police Ordinance and the Criminal Procedure Code to act in terms of the law and not arbitrarily. He is accountable under the law to the Courts and to Parliament. In countries where the Presidential form of government is practiced the Parliament is vested with the power to impeach any official. So Parliament must consider passing a law to appoint a Special Prosecutor responsible only to Parliament to carry out politically sensitive prosecutions. Such a Special Prosecutor could also prosecute those faulted by COPE. Every person who exercises power should be accountable to the Judiciary and the Parliament.
Editorial in the Catholic Messenger which appeared on 17th June 07, edited byRev Father Felician Perera.