Cost of blind plunges

May 12, 2013, 8:37 pm 

When Leader of the Muslim-Tamil Alliance Leader Azath Salley was arrested recently under the much-dreaded Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), we were told by the government spokesmen that he was a threat to national security as he was inciting the Muslims to violence against the state. In a bid to justify the use of those draconian laws, they cited as evidence an interview he had given to a South Indian magazine and claimed that a statement therein was tantamount to a call to arms! There was high octane performance on the part of the CID, which arrested him and obtained a detention order in record time. (If only the police acted so efficiently in dealing with suspects connected to the government as well, this country would be a much better place!)

But, no sooner had Salley submitted an affidavit denying what was attributed to him in the aforesaid interview than President Mahinda Rajapaksa released him. Why on earth did the government plunge feet first into using the PTA to deal with Salley without first ascertaining the veracity of the allegations against him? It put the cart before the horse obviously for political reasons. Would anyone in his proper senses planning an armed uprising against Sri Lanka have gone around giving press interviews and revealing his intentions? Salley also erred. He should have met the CID, which says it sought an appointment with him to obtain a statement and put the record straight instead of having himself arrested and staging fasts. He has failed to act responsibly.

Welcoming Salley’s release, UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has bragged that the government has buckled under pressure from the Opposition. If so, the question is why Salley submitted an affidavit to the President without continuing to hold his ground and fast until he was released unconditionally. If the Opposition thinks it is so strong as to mobilise the public to the extent of taming the government, will it tell us why it pathetically failed, in spite of its public protests, to secure the release of former Army Commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka unconditionally and thwart the impeachment of Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake?

Real threats to national security emanate not from those who fight for democratic rights of the people but from those who resort to aggression and violence against others of different ethnicities and religions During the war, the Muslims in the North and the East bore the brunt of LTTE terror and today they are suffering at the hands of a bunch of racists among the Sinhalese. Minister Wimal Weerawansa got it right—for once—the other day when he lambasted an outfit ‘with external links responsible for attacks on the Muslims’. He stopped short of naming that organisation but flayed it for what he called furthering the interests of some foreign powers and the LTTE; he claimed that the on-going hate campaign against the Muslims might lead to a situation where they were compelled to change their position on the demerger of the North and the East and join forces with the separatists striving to re-merge the two provinces. However, it is not the fear of the Muslims supporting a possible re-amalgamation of the North and the East that should prompt one to oppose the on-going anti-Muslim frenzy but one’s sense of justice and fair play.

Now that Minister Weerawansa has talked the talk, he has to walk the walk, so to speak. He should take on, with might and main, the lunatic fringe of the UPFA support base carrying out a hate campaign against the ethno-religious minorities, who should, for their part, isolate fanatics among them. Extremism, in all its forms and manifestations, needs to be defeated if national reconciliation which continues to elude us is to be achieved.

The government swung into action against Salley under the PTA plunging the country into political turmoil in the process simply because it chose to take what had been published in a magazine seriously. But, unfortunately, there are no laws available for the public to move courts against politicians on the basis of what is published in election manifestos which contain promises such as the abolition of the executive presidency and restoration of democracy and the rule of law. How sad!