An unbelievable collapse of confidence in law enforcement

By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

Alongside a picturesque stretch of coastline between Akkaraipattu and Pottuvil in Sri Lanka’s East Coast, a tire burning brightly in the centre of the road is etched starkly against crisp morning light. Given Sri Lanka’s history, when bodies burning on top of tires were once a common sight across the country, this was an unsettling reminder that the past is inclined, more often than not, to repeat itself. This time around, the burning tire was no commonplace accident. It was a deliberate sign of civil unrest, pointing to mystifying encounters that frightened villagers have had with ‘grease devils’ or men who were repeatedly attacking homes and stabbing women, particularly young girls and drawing blood from them. Categorical dismissals of government explanations That area, including the villages of Komari and Urani were in uproar this Friday. A day before, at Thirukovil in Akkaraipattu, an angry mob had stormed the police station demanding that effective action be taken against these ‘grease devils’. They wanted five suspects in the custody of the police to be handed over to them as they did not trust the police to bring the suspects before the law. In the melee, one person died. Juxtaposing the truly surreal with the farcical, angry and fearful villagers of the hamlet of Urani had caught more ‘grease devils’ Thursday night and were not mollified by loud protestations of the authorities that these were officers of the Wildlife Department trying to conduct the elephant census. As one grizzled old farmer sipping morning tea at a wayside boutique said categorically ‘what were Wildlife officers doing on the top of trees in the middle of the night and with black masks on?’           read more..     ====================================== An unbelievable collapse of confidence in law enforcement Sunday August 14, 2011 At next month's UNHRC sessions Lanka's fate unknown External Affairs Ministry misguided President on the incident and further damaged Lanka's relations with the US By Our Political Editor Reports that a squadron of carrier-based fighter jets from the United States Navy had intruded sovereign Sri Lankan territorial air space jolted the government last week. The fear that the world's only remaining super power was taking liberties with tiny Sri Lanka was the talking point after the front-page lead story in the Sunday Times last week. It was also posted on the newspaper's website, Timesonline (www.sundaytimes.lk), where there were an unprecedented number of 'hits' for this story from a worldwide readership. The purported detection had been made by the 3D (three dimensional) radar atop the Pidurutalagala peak, the country's tallest mountain, by the Sri Lanka Air Force. Posted atop the peak, an SLAF detachment which monitors air traffic within the country's Flight Identification Region (FIR) (also referred to as Flight Information Region) had reported just days earlier on what it perceived as an intrusion by a squadron of ten US fighter jets into Sri Lankan airspace. Though unconfirmed, they are believed to be F/A 18 Hornets. The fighter jets had appeared as ten blips on the long range 3D radar indicating the presence of the fighter squadron in the skies over the deeper seas off Galle. This radar provides three dimensions including elevation as against 2D radars which give only direction and distance. read more..