Editorial-June 17, 2014
Life is limping back to normal in Aluthgama and Beruwala following communal clashes which left two persons dead, many injured and dozens of houses and shops destroyed.
The situation had remained volatile in Aluthgama, where violence erupted on Sunday, for several weeks following a child abuse case which resulted in an arson attack on a shop in the area. The trigger for Sunday’s communal disturbances was an attack on a monk on Poson Poya Day. Had precautions been taken, disaster could have been averted.
The police are known for their high octane performance when they deal with protests by the Opposition, undergraduates and workers. They go hell for leather to obtain court orders to ban anti-government demonstrations or use maximum force to scuttle such events. It was only a few weeks ago that they cracked down on a university students’ protest march, injuring some undergrads, on the grounds that protesters had defied a court order. Their brutality was such that the Fort Magistrate asked them not to seek court orders to prevent student protests ever again. But, that kind of urgency was sadly lacking on their part in Aluthgama and Beruwala. They should have realised that they were sitting on a powder keg of ethnic tensions and refused permission for a Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) rally. They could have easily obtained a court order for that purpose. (Yesterday, they moved courts against an alleged move by the BBS to hold a meeting in Mawanella!)
What was the much-publicised special police unit recently set up to deal with religious violence doing? Sunday’s disaster came within weeks of its grand opening. It should have swung into action when the first incident occurred on the Poson Poya Day in Aluthgama. True, the suspected assailants were arrested, produced before courts and remanded. But, it was obvious that some troublemakers were all out to set Aluthgama ablaze, so to speak, and the police should have taken precautions to keep them at bay. The Police Spokesman, in a recent television discussion, waxed eloquent on ‘proactive policing’. But, it was conspicuous by its absence in Aluthgama and Beruwala.
Sinister elements abused the social media to disseminate false rumours and stoke the flames of racial hatred. Government efforts to suppress the truth worsened the situation. An unsubstantiated claim that a Buddhist monk had been killed went viral on the Internet. A rumour monger with a smart phone could be as dangerous as a mad monkey wielding a sharp knife.
Each and every community has its share of extremists. What they are capable of we have just seen in Aluthgama and Beruwala. Now that legal action has been instituted against the youths who allegedly assaulted the monk those who masterminded Sunday’s violence must be dealt with in a similar manner. Let the government be urged to launch a thorough probe into the incident and get to the bottom of it.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has, in a statement from Bolivia, where he is attending an international summit, promised stern action against those who took the law into their own hands. We hope he will get cracking. His government has incurred much international opprobrium for the recent incidents which have also tarnished the image of the country. It is a grave danger to one and all to allow bloodthirsty lunatics to rise above the law and indulge in mindless violence on the pretext of defending their race and faith. Deterrent punishment is called for.
The success of the government’s efforts to bring about national reconciliation hinges on its ability to keep extremists on a tight leash or preferably behind bars. Some of them, in our book, are sickos needing institutional care.
