Editorial-July 8, 2014,
Kalutara District UNP MP Palitha Thevarapperuma vowed to resign from his parliamentary seat the other day, claiming that his call for the IGP’s resignation over police inaction during Aluthgama violence last month had fallen on deaf ears. The MP was injured while trying to save a group of victims in full view of a large number of police personnel who, he has said, did nothing to prevent the mob attack.
Politicians usually don’t resign. They cling on to their positions like limpets until they drop dead. MP Thevarapperuma is reported to have said he has changed his mind because the party leadership does not want him to resign. Nobody took his vow seriously.
Thevarapperuma is certainly not in his party leader’s good books. In fact, he has been accused of having insulted and even lunged at the latter at a parliamentary group meeting over a nomination dispute. The UNP contemplated disciplinary action against him. The party leadership would have been more than willing to accept his resignation over any other issue. But, it would have been too embarrassing for the UNP to let him resign owing to a row with the IGP.
The real issue, however, is not Thevarapperuma’s vow to resign or his volte-face. Instead, it is the serious allegation he has leveled against the police. Did the police personnel including the STF look the other way while he and the victims of ethnic violence were being assaulted? The onus is on the IGP and the government to find an answer to this question by conducting an impartial probe without going into the denial mode. There are witnesses including an Opposition lawmaker and it may not be difficult to identify the personnel deployed at the location where the alleged incident took place. The government ought to get cracking for two reasons. Firstly, it is duty bound to ensure that justice is done by taking stern action against dereliction of duty, if any, on the part of the police deployed to stop ethnic violence. Secondly, action against errant officers will have a deterrent effect on the police.
MP Thevarapperuma’s resignation letter is also an indictment of the Opposition, which failed to crank up pressure on the government to investigate his allegation. One expected the UNP to go on flogging the issue until the government gave in. But, nothing of the sort happened.
Police chiefs never resign unless they have ambassadorial ambitions as we have argued in these columns previously. (The one who willingly hung up his boots over a crackdown on a workers’ protest at Katunayake a few years ago must be watching FIFA World Cup matches in the host country.) The police are an institution where praise and credit for achievements always go to the top brass and the blame for lapses and wrongdoing is invariably pinned on lower rankers. MP Thevarapperuma’s consternation is understandable and his concerns need to be appreciated, but he was being extremely naïve when he said: "Either IGP or I will have to resign." If MPs were to resign because the police chief does not heed their calls for his resignation we would be left with no Opposition before long!
Suspects are still being arrested over the Aluthgama mayhem, the police tell us. The violent elements responsible for those savage attacks must be brought to justice. But, those who incited ethnic violence and errant police personnel who allegedly gave rioters free rein must also be dealt with in a similar manner. This, we reckon, is the point MP Thevarapperuma has sought to drive home with the help of his resignation letter and other theatricals. He deserves to be heard.
