Are we a civilised country anymore?
Sunday 18 November 2012
This editorial is not meant to be a discourse on civilisation but we hope it would serve as an eye opener to the public, whose indifference is fuelling a cycle of brutalisation of our very society. We have been indifferent to the plight of the ‘other;’ we looked the other way when our neighbours were abducted in white vans. We tend to justify it in the name of national security, when 300,000 Tamils were herded to the Menik farm and are now being let to languish in temporary huts for nearly three years. We have brought the value of the human life and human dignity to an abysmal low.
That may be why, we, the Sri Lankans, were quick to erase the memory of the bloody mayhem in the Welikada prison, which took place last week, even before mourning relatives buried the slain inmates. No one in the corridors of power or the so called independent institutions mandated to protect the fundamental rights of citizens seem to question the controversial circumstances under which 27 inmates were killed. Prison officials and an increasingly incongruous Police spokesman presented their version of the event, which raise more questions than giving answers. However, the nation, at large, and the media, in particular, swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
Subsequent revelations by both prison guards and inmates paint an extremely disturbing picture of summary executions of inmates, who had been taken out of their cells and shot dead by authorities, after the military took the control of the prison. However, such exposures appear to have no bearing on those in the corridors of powers, whose indifference, and to a certain extent, complicity, in the deterioration of fundamental rights of the citizens of this country is alarming shocking and unbecoming of any functioning democracy.
Even the country’s national Human Rights Commission, which had its international accreditation downgraded for its politicised appointments, postponed an official inquiry into the incident pending the conclusion of two inquiries initiated by the CID and the Minister of Prison Reforms. The fact of the matter is that it is the law enforcement agencies themselves that have been accused of summary killings of prisoners, which questions the credibility of the two investigations to be conducted by the same authorities. It is in this context that the conduct of the national Human Rights Commission is belittling of the very principles enshrined in its Charter.
It is equally disturbing that some quarters among an increasingly apathetic public tend to believe that the prison inmates, some of whom are hardcore criminals themselves, got their own medicine. It is simply shocking that extra judicial and arbitrary killings are perceived as a necessary evil by some sections of our society.
That may however be a yet another pointer to the shallowness of our times and the increasing brutalisation of our society.
A nation which fails to follow the due process of the law in its dealings with its citizens – irrespective whoever they are – would leave its citizens at the mercy of the powers that be.
Sri Lankans have experienced this predicament in recent years and seem to have decided to live with it, rather than challenging the status quo. Those attributes of our society open up some pertinent questions: Are we a civilised country anymore?
Are we a nation, which is governed by the rule of law, or are we a nation whose rules are bent at the whims of the powers that be?
Is every citizen of our society entitled to due treatment of the legal process or do we tend to think some people are more equal than others?
Do we as a nation believe authorities should have the liberty to put away some lives, that are inconsequential or a public nuisance? If it is not the case, how do we explain the controversial circumstances under which 27 detainees were killed?
There is one last question for the media: Are we a bunch of ‘kept’ reporters? If we are not, would one of us please justify our increasing penchant to feed on official press releases of the state apparatus and to present that as the universal truth.
Sunday 18 November 2012
This editorial is not meant to be a discourse on civilisation but we hope it would serve as an eye opener to the public, whose indifference is fuelling a cycle of brutalisation of our very society. We have been indifferent to the plight of the ‘other;’ we looked the other way when our neighbours were abducted in white vans. We tend to justify it in the name of national security, when 300,000 Tamils were herded to the Menik farm and are now being let to languish in temporary huts for nearly three years. We have brought the value of the human life and human dignity to an abysmal low. That may be why, we, the Sri Lankans, were quick to erase the memory of the bloody mayhem in the Welikada prison, which took place last week, even before mourning relatives buried the slain inmates. No one in the corridors of power or the so called independent institutions mandated to protect the fundamental rights of citizens seem to question the controversial circumstances under which 27 inmates were killed. Prison officials and an increasingly incongruous Police spokesman presented their version of the event, which raise more questions than giving answers. However, the nation, at large, and the media, in particular, swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
Subsequent revelations by both prison guards and inmates paint an extremely disturbing picture of summary executions of inmates, who had been taken out of their cells and shot dead by authorities, after the military took the control of the prison. However, such exposures appear to have no bearing on those in the corridors of powers, whose indifference, and to a certain extent, complicity, in the deterioration of fundamental rights of the citizens of this country is alarming shocking and unbecoming of any functioning democracy.
Even the country’s national Human Rights Commission, which had its international accreditation downgraded for its politicised appointments, postponed an official inquiry into the incident pending the conclusion of two inquiries initiated by the CID and the Minister of Prison Reforms. The fact of the matter is that it is the law enforcement agencies themselves that have been accused of summary killings of prisoners, which questions the credibility of the two investigations to be conducted by the same authorities. It is in this context that the conduct of the national Human Rights Commission is belittling of the very principles enshrined in its Charter.
It is equally disturbing that some quarters among an increasingly apathetic public tend to believe that the prison inmates, some of whom are hardcore criminals themselves, got their own medicine. It is simply shocking that extra judicial and arbitrary killings are perceived as a necessary evil by some sections of our society.
That may however be a yet another pointer to the shallowness of our times and the increasing brutalisation of our society.
A nation which fails to follow the due process of the law in its dealings with its citizens – irrespective whoever they are – would leave its citizens at the mercy of the powers that be.
Sri Lankans have experienced this predicament in recent years and seem to have decided to live with it, rather than challenging the status quo. Those attributes of our society open up some pertinent questions: Are we a civilised country anymore?
Are we a nation, which is governed by the rule of law, or are we a nation whose rules are bent at the whims of the powers that be?
Is every citizen of our society entitled to due treatment of the legal process or do we tend to think some people are more equal than others?
Do we as a nation believe authorities should have the liberty to put away some lives, that are inconsequential or a public nuisance? If it is not the case, how do we explain the controversial circumstances under which 27 detainees were killed?
There is one last question for the media: Are we a bunch of ‘kept’ reporters? If we are not, would one of us please justify our increasing penchant to feed on official press releases of the state apparatus and to present that as the universal truth.
