It’s now or never in wake of Prime Minister’s apology
By Major General Lalin Fernando (Retd)
Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake in an unprecedented act of contrition for a ruling party Sinhalese Minister apologized sincerely to the Tamils on behalf of the Government for evicting 376 of them from their lodgings in Colombo on June 7, 2007. By apologizing he went a long way to remove the shame that reflected ultimately on the Sinhalese majority, taken unawares, that elected the government.
He accepted without reservation that the act which was one of monumental and crass stupidity was wrong. It was also uncaring but not calculated cruelty. He stated unequivocally that the state bore the responsibility for it as well as for the killings, abductions, disappearances that have been taking place recently. He promised that those responsible would be made to answer for their actions and that such acts would not be repeated. By his action, which was given in his usual forthright sincere and rollicking manner, he limited the damage done to the reputation of the nation.
This is the best time as any for every Sinhalese politician to apologize in a similar manner for all the wrongs done to the Tamils since independence, when they pandered to the majority to capture power. The wrongs include the violence in the racial riots of 1956, 1958, 1977, 1981 and 1983, the opposition to pacts which would have resolved the differences that kept the Tamils from sharing state power such as the B-C and the D-C pacts, the declaration of ‘war’ on the Tamils in 1977, the burning of the public library in Jaffna in 1981 and finally the excesses in the ongoing 25-year-old conflict which largely have gone unpunished and unacknowledged by the state, resulting in institutionalizing abuse of power including murder, rape and abductions.
While it is well known that misdirected state power is abused by those entrusted to keep the peace, it has also been directed at all communities indiscriminately at all times with an aura of impunity because the government in power gave protection to the wrong doers.
This was often done by looking the other way when abuses took place; especially when the victims were not government supporters. There was no discrimination by community. This eviction was the first time that deliberate action was taken in response to suicide and other bombings in Colombo. Unfortunately it was aimed stupidly, pathetically and hopelessly at the itinerant Tamils who had flooded the city basically to escape from the fighting in their home areas and to savour the multifarious benefits of a pampered but terrorist targeted capital.
It is now up to the Government of Sri Lanka to deliver on its promises to punish the wrong doers. To prove its sincerity it must not spare those at the top, especially those responsible for the killings and the abductions. It is clear that these reprehensible actions have been done by professionals either with underworld or with military backgrounds.
They are definitely not serving members of the forces or the police. Too many ex-servicemen and ex-policemen have become hired guns protected by politicians. The notorious execution squads of Black Cats of the 1988/89 period must still be around. Having committed countless murders and thereby forfeiting their lives, they have no scruples to promote their evil ways as those who hired and are hiring them know.
Especially now that the ransoms are in hundreds of millions, it is strange that the insurance companies are not offering their services to offer some protection as they did when the high profile kidnapping of a well known businessman occurred near the Colombo Golf Club some time ago. Small arms distributed copiously without control to politicians and their erstwhile catchers in 1988/89 are still in circulation and obviously being put to criminal use with and without the knowledge of those who obtained them.
A few security companies have special highly skilled dangerous men who are also not without work in the present scenario. They gain a foothold at elections, being hired by politicians who if they are on the winning side continue to keep to their criminal agenda.
The criminals amongst them have their own agendas as they are immune to arrest. It starts with ballot stuffing and rigging. Big security companies and even small ones have been guilty of such nefarious activities as politicians who hire them and the state know.
The proliferation of small arms and the help of former friends and relatives serving in the forces and the police are used to aid and abet in criminal activities. If the politicians who want to stop this spate of criminal activity are sincere, they must collectively agree to the confiscation of weapons from every one outside the forces and the police as in Singapore; the example of a state they never tire to uphold to promote their objectives but without the sense of discipline and probity of that state.
That would be the first step to immediately cull these criminal organisations if the state is to keep to its promises. By its own admission the state will now be not only responsible, but also guilty for the crimes that have and are being committed if they are not able to bring the offenders to book rapidly.
There can be no next time as the Premier said. Thank you and well done Premier. I join you in apologising to the affected Tamils and bless them for forgiving us by returning, even if they may not forget.
