An attack on democracy

Editorial-April 18, 2014, 8:51 pm 

It was with shock and dismay that we watched a video footage of some UNP MPs being attacked in Hambantota on Thursday following their visits to the Mattala airport and the inland port. Attackers hurled rotten eggs and stones at them and the bus they were travelling in suffered considerable damage. It was an act of terrorism which must be condemned unreservedly by one and all.

The Opposition parliamentarians' tour was, no doubt, politically motivated. The UNP has consistently maintained that the two projects are total failures. And they were on a fact finding mission to bolster that argument and make some political capital. But, they cannot be faulted for doing so; that's the name of the game in politics. As people's representatives tasked with controlling public finance, parliamentarians, regardless of their political affiliations, have a right to inspect government projects without let or hindrance. The UNP MPs had, in fact, obtained permission for their visits.

The attackers were government goons. Else, the police would have intervened to stop them. One of the pictures we carried yesterday shows some police personnel looking on while attackers are throwing eggs at the UNPers. In another picture, a UPFA politician is seen brandishing a pistol. He has claimed he rushed to the rescue of the UNP MPs on hearing that they had come under attack. Have the ruling party politicians taken over constabulary duties? What are the police there for? Has the protection of the Opposition lawmakers been outsourced to the government politicos?

The ruling party thugs responsible for Thursday's unprovoked attack must be brought to justice forthwith. A complaint against them has been made to the IGP himself, we are told. Will the police chief order their arrest and prove that the rule of law is not dead? Let no lame excuses be trotted out.
 

Help forgotten IDPs

Minister Rishad Bathudeen has countered the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) allegation that he was instrumental in illegally acquiring land in the Wilpattu National Park to settle some Muslim families there. Addressing the media on Thursday he stressed that he had done nothing illegal and anyone who thought there had been a transgression of the law could go to courts.

Most of the Muslims driven out of the North by the LTTE at short notice nearly twenty five years ago have become permanent IDPs in various parts of the country. It is some of those hapless people Minister Bathudeen has come forward to help. He is duty bound to do so as he is one of them besides being a parliamentarian elected by them to look after their interests. The Wildlife Department should be thanked for disputing the claim in some quarters that squatters have encroached on the Wilpattu National Park.

The BBS should, instead of vilifying Muslims and desecrating the Holy Quran, take the matter to Courts if it is confident that it has irrefutable evidence to substantiate its allegation against Minister Bathudeen. Demonstrations in front of mosques and venomous outpourings won't do.

Now that the plight of the northern Muslims languishing in temporary shelters has come to light once again, the onus is on the government to ensure that these forgotten people will be resettled without further delay. They lost everything they had before 1990, when the LTTE ethnically cleansed the North completely. They were chased away at gunpoint and allowed to carry only a few clothes with them. Their gold jewellery was snatched by marauding Tigers who also removed little girls' ear studs with pliers. They were relieved of all their cash and reduced to paupers overnight. No human rights group has championed their cause and there is no one to represent them in Geneva, where even the widows of LTTE leaders who perpetrated those crimes against civilians are invited to deliver lectures on human rights. It is nothing but a crime for anyone to try to deny those Muslims their right to be resettled or at least be accommodated in temporary shelters pending resettlement.