Editorial-January 21, 2014,
Tangalle PS Chairman (UPFA) Sampath Vidanapathirana, the main suspect in the Khuram Sheikh murder case, has been absconding since Jan. 09. The police, groping in the dark, claim to have deployed special teams to arrest him, but their investigations have drawn a blank. One is not surprised at their failure. Success is something they cannot afford when they deal with ruling party politicians and thugs.
The government has at its disposal about 70,000 policemen, 200,000 soldiers, 50,000 sailors, 50,000 airmen and 40,000 home guards. It unflinchingly deploys the army and the Special Task Force to help the police crush protests either on streets or in prisons. But, it skirts such tough measures in dealing with criminals loyal to it. This is a country where two dangerous, evasive terrorist leaders in hiding were hunted down and killed. So, the government has no way of justifying its failure to have an absconding PS chairman arrested.
The police have apparently got their priorities mixed up. They are busy doing political work for powerful politicians and generating income for a cash-strapped government to the neglect of their duties. Traffic policemen are reportedly ordered not to return to base without raising enough funds for the state coffers by way of spot fines etc. They no longer try to prevent accidents and traffic offences by patrolling roads; hiding behind trees and lamp posts they wait till offences are committed so as to impose fines or have their palms sufficiently greased to let culprits off the hook. Cynics say the day may not be far off when the police overtake the Customs in boosting the revenue of the government notorious for its enormous appetite for taxes and fines.
If a poor villager steals a bunch of bananas, he is trussed up, bundled into a police vehicle and made to regret the day he was born. Young lovers who smooch in public parks and on beaches are rounded up and paraded on streets before being taken to police stations where they are subjected to various indignities. But, regrettably, this high octane performance on the part of the so-called long arm of the law is conspicuous by its absence when the need arises for arresting politically connected, dangerous criminals who have become a law unto themselves. What a shame!
The Tangalle PS chief has gone into hiding, the police have said. But, pro-government fugitives from justice usually do not face the hassle of going underground to evade arrest. Why should they? They and their masters are ‘more equal’ than others. The police are too impotent to act against them. Wanted men are seen moving about freely in the company of prominent politicians with the police looking on. It is only the Executive President who enjoys legal immunity according to the Constitution, but, in reality, all ruling party big guns and their goons are above the law. When they commit crimes, the police wait till they give themselves up through lawyers. Some of those anti-social elements have made a mockery of the law by getting away with criminal offences such as cheque frauds by paying state costs. So much for the rule of law in this country!
The police keep telling us that they will arrest the absconding PS chief before long. But, their promises are not to be taken seriously. Lily-livered, weak-kneed and irresolute, they grovel before their political masters in spite of rhetoric they bellow for public consumption. Let them be told to fish or cut bait and, most of all, urged to ensure that other suspects in the Khuram Sheikh murder case will not run away. Anything is possible in this criminals’ paradise.
