A welcome slap

Editorial-June 11, 2014

The police have got a rap on the knuckles from Puttalam Magistrate and Additional District Court Judge Ranga Dissanayake. Remanding a politician who had been released by the police in spite of his involvement in an attack on a constable, the judge rhetorically asked how the public could expect protection from the guardians of the law who let down their own kind.

The police arrested the politico recently for assaulting the constable who had seized a tractor transporting sand, but later succumbed to pressure from a mob which staged a protest demanding his release. This is in sharp contrast to the manner in which the police deal with other protests. They liberally use tear gas, truncheons, water cannon and rubber bullets—even live ammunition in some cases—to crush university students’ and workers’ protests, but shiver in their boots before powerful politicians and their goons.

Tough-talking police bigwigs should hang their heads in shame. If they do not stand by their subordinates who suffer injuries and indignities at the hands of hoity-toity politicians what moral right do they have to order them to carry out their duties and functions without fear or favour?

The Puttalam Magistrate is to be highly commended for censuring the police most of whom turn tail and run away when confronted by politicians. But, that won’t jolt the police top brass into plucking up the courage to stand up to violent politicians on the wrong side of the law.

Policemen who don’t have anyone to turn to when they get roughed up are left with no alternative but to emulate their superiors and grovel before politicians or even aid and abet their rackets. This may explain why the police have become putty in the hands of powers that be.

Flogging weathermen

Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has faulted the Meteorological Department for making misleading weather forecasts. On a previous occasion, too, he took the weathermen to task. There may be lapses on the part of the Met Department as the minister argues and, if so, let him look into them and adopt remedial measures. The question, however, is whether weather forecasts are one hundred percent accurate even in technologically advanced countries. The weatherman is said be a person everybody listens to but nobody believes.

The Met Department was held answerable when a large number of fishermen perished in a storm last year. It was asked to explain why no severe weather warnings had been issued. Stock excuses were trotted out. The buck was passed and the issue forgotten. Ironically, it now stands accused of making misleading forecasts which prevent fishermen from setting out to sea!

Weather forecasting has improved significantly over the years thanks to vast strides the world has made in science and technology. But, we still have villagers capable of making more accurate weather forecasts than the Met Department. They will look at the sky, listen to animal sounds and tell you what the weather will be like tomorrow. Prior to the Asian tsunami in 2005, Jarawas of Andaman Islands, it may be recalled, read nature’s early warnings and left the littoral immediately. None of them died in the disaster. In this country, thousands of lives were lost. It looks as if we had a lot to learn from those tribesmen as regards Mother Nature’s disaster warnings.

Unpredictable as the weather may be forecasters should not be allowed to sleep on the job or give the public a false heads up and cause panic when there is no threat of disaster. The government, however, should be fair by the Met Department, which is experiencing a chronic shortage of personnel. Minister Amaraweera, who is hauling the Met Chief over the coals for inaccurate forecasts, ought to urge the government to recruit more meteorologists urgently.