Hulftsdorp Hill

26th July 1998

The disappearance of the Rule of the Law

By Mudliyar

The facts are...

During the last insur gency the Rule of Law was buried. It was the most turbulent time after independence. People shudder at even the thought of having lived through such agony, where no one knew whether they would be alive or dead the next day; when the darkness crept in together with a JVP curfew where people were not allowed to light even a match stick.

The retaliation by the Armed Forces was equally brutal. The peace loving people of this country were sandwiched between the terrorists of the JVP movement and the terrorists of the Armed Forces.

The Rule of Law became dumb in this situation. But the Government carried out a campaign against its own citizens who had resorted to arms, and when the war drums were beaten the law became silent. The Law of the Jungle prevailed over the Rule of Law.

After nearly four years of civil strife, anarchy, and the loss of nearly 100,000 people the law seemed to appear in the distant horizon.

In 1971, when the JVP took arms against a newly elected government of Ms. Bandaranaike, it is alleged that nearly 12,000 to 15,000 youth died. And after six years of Governing this country Ms. Bandaranaike was defeated and the UNP came into office with a landslide majority.

One of the main reasons for the defeat of the United Front Government was the massacre of the youth by the Government forces.

Similarly the main reason for the defeat of the UNP Government was the massacre of the youth from 1987 to 1989 uptil the death of Rohana Wijeweera.

The Government Forces used similar methods to destroy the rebellious youth. In the 70s insurrection it was the rivers that brimmed with flowing dead human carcasses. This was replaced with tyre pyres.

Even today with every single promise given in the PA election manifesto broken; with economic deprivation, soaring unemployment, factories closing, the majority feels that there is no one knocking on the door when they go to sleep to be taken out never to be returned again.

The sense of freedom this Government has established is the greatest relief people had yearned for a number of years. It is the greatest strength the PA Government pivots on.

But gradually and at an alarming rate, this sense of freedom is disappearing and the dark days are slowly descending on the unfortunate populace of this country.

Whenever human rights are violated and the Rule of Law is not adhered to in the North and East, the vigilant Tamil citizens expose these violations and the human rights activist agitates to protect his human rights record the Government moves in the correct direction.

But it is most unfortunate and tragic that in the rest of the country the goon squads of the PA politicians and the underworld protectors of the VVIPs and corrupt police officers become one entity wielding terror against innocent citizens whose political views are different from those of the Government.

Slowly but surely the Rule of Law is disappearing from the rural areas where political murder has become the object and the ultimate goal that ensures the perpetuation of the Government in those areas.

No human rights activists have taken these matters to any international forum.

For them only the killing of the Tamil population by the Armed Forces becomes a dastardly and heinous crime. It is these revelations that bring them money and glory from the vested NGOs.

The killing of a political opponent by the Government goon squads is for them a personal strife and the Police are quite adept to show that there are no political overtones but a private feud that resulted in such murders.

On the other hand the main opposition party, the United National Party, against whom these attacks are directed at are silent except for an occasional wreath placed at a bier, or a funeral oration condemning such massacres.

Unlike the PA which was then in the Opposition, the UNP has become ineffective in trying to bring these matters in to the attention of international agencies and other countries which keep a close track on our human rights record.

They seem unable to get over their horrendous past, and seem to be writhing in pain at their own human rights record, and are unable to fight for the re-establishment of the liberty of the citizens and the re-emergence of the Rule of Law as against the Law of the Jungle.

Chamil Erathna was a young gem merchant who within the shortest possible time had made tremendous advances in the gem business.

He was a close associate and supporter of Mahinda Rathnathilake before the murder of Nalanda Ellawala.

After the killing of Nalanda Ellawala the whole of Ratnapura was engulfed in a reign of terror and anarchy. The wrath and the grief of the crowd that came into Ratnapura after the murder, was directed at the UNP supporters and the destruction of property.

After this incident the DIG who went to the scene of the shooting tried to control the crowd, and having failed to do so ordered tear gas to disperse the unruly crowd. He was later interdicted.

After this incident the entire Ratnapura police area was and is being reportedly controlled by a politician who has the power to order the Police in the manner in which it should conduct its affairs. Law and order have become the privy of this politician.

Chamil Erathna and the members of his family lived in fear, as they did not know at what time a mob would attack them.

The tension was prevalent long after the funeral of Nalanda Ellawala. For his own safety he had always had about nine people with him and had given strict orders not to open the doors after six o'clock.

He was feeling uneasy as there was something in the air that threatened his very existence .When darkness descended he felt that he was re-living the dark and gruesome days of the JVP.

He had one brother who is also a medical student and he had been a member of the UNP Youth League of the area. Erathna would have never thought that his brother, who was the most educated in the family would in some way be connected with the gruesome incident that took place on that fateful day.

On the 25th of November, 1997 at about 8.30 in the night someone knocked at the door having entered through the gate. The inmates of the house felt that there was something amiss. They did not want to open the door without identifying the intruders.

Then someone called out saying that they were from the Police and when the inmates peeped through a window they saw someone similar to the medical student, near the window. It was dark outside and they could not make out whether they were from the Police or not.

Thinking that the gem merchant's brother the medical student had come with the Police they opened the door.

Then six men armed with guns, pistols and hand grenades entered house. There was an equally large crowd present outside. They came into the house and wanted to know who the gem merchant was. When the gem merchant identified himself, the other inmates were hauled into one room and their hands were tied and the room closed.

Only the gem merchant and his mother were left outside. Then they took from the gem merchant his bunch of keys which was hidden in the waist, and when he refused to divulge where the gems and money were, they slashed his right arm and threatened him to divulge where the gems and money were kept.

Then a person went out of the house and spoke to a person called Nimal and got clear specific instructions where the gems and the money were kept.

It was such a smooth operation that they did not ransack the house but only opened the drawers and almirahs where the gems and money were kept and took away money and gems conservatively estimated at Rs. 60 lakhs.

When the robbers were looting the house, the gem merchant was ordered to be seated with his mother in the drawing room, and one of the robbers while going out of the house stabbed the gem merchant in the chest and abdomen three times.

When this happened the mother started weeping, and the others also came out of the house and started yelling. Their close relations came out. One of them too was stabbed and the other went towards the vehicle and smashed the windscreen and the windows. Then they saw the informant who was hiding under a bush running away.

Similar incidents to this episode I have related to you have happened a number of times in this country and would go down in criminal record books as grave crime, and as there was an eye witness who saw and identified the informant the suspects would have been arrested and remanded and the loot recovered.

Nearly seven months have passed and not a single suspect has been arrested. The eye witness' statement had been recorded giving the name of the person who was present at the scene of offence.

The informant was arrested after a week and was questioned by the Police.

Police sometimes terrorize even complainants when they go to make a statement. But the informant was questioned in a very light hearted way and he said that he was watching the famous teledrama 'Kopi Kade' on that day and recounted some scenes.

The police were so impressed with the alibi that he was not even produced before an identification parade, and two other suspects who were arrested at Kirulapone were not produced before an identification parade and were discharged.

Inspector Lukshman who recorded the statement of the informant who could have unearthed the mystery was suddenly transferred to Nugegoda.

Though the deceased and his family were supporters of the UNP, Vasudewa Nanayakkara, M.P, Attorney-at-Law was appalled by the inaction of the Ratnapura police and sought to write a personal letter in his own hand writing to the IGP requesting him to take immediate action to solve this mystery.

When petitions were sent by the family to persons in authority, complaining of the inaction of the Ratnapura Police, the Ratnapura Police used to summon the members of the deceased's family and would give strange reasons as to why they kept so much of money and gems at home, why they did not use firearms on the gang, why they did not ask through Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara to establish a Police Station near their house.

The situation has become so tense that members of this family do not sleep at nights, and the medical student who is in Colombo is being constantly threatened that he would be killed if he refuses to lie low.

It is believed that the Police have failed to take action and properly interrogate the informant.And failed to call the finger printing bureau or immediately take action to apprehend the Fargo van in which the robbers travelled. The van had been attacked and windscreen and windows broken. The police action was allegedly because the informant was looking after the gem pits of a prominent PA politician of the area.

The other reason they attribute to the inaction of the Police is that a refusal of the Police to call the CID or other independent investigation teams was due to the fact that the Police were allegedly major shareholders of this crime, or is that the Supreme Commander of Ratnapura decrees what the Police ought to do and has refused to grant assent to this investigation.

I believe the President is unaware of the actions of the PA politicians or the Ratnapura Police with regard to this murder and robbery. The other gem merchants who had some association with the UNP are living in fear as any time this gang could appear and rob and kill them and there would be a scant investigation.

This is only one of many incidents where the Rule of Law has taken a vacation, and the Rule of the Mob had taken over, thus bringing back the memories of the dreaded days of the JVP.

Like all right thinking people who commend the Government for the speed with which it acted to apprehend the killers of Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, we would only hope that if it acted with even the pace of a tortoise it would have by now rounded up the suspects of this gruesome murder.

The Rule of Law and the scales of justice should be held evenly, irrespective of political colour or other considerations, then only can we proudly state that we live in a society where the Rule of Law, human rights and the righteous is respected and not limited to rhetoric uttered at seminars for the benefit of international observers.

The facts are...

When Mr. B. Sirisena Cooray's writ ap plication came before the Supreme Court where the Bench comprised of Justice Mark Fernando, Justice Dr. Asoka de Z. Gunawardene and Justice L.G.H. Weerasekera, Justice Mark Fernando observed that as a member of the Judicial Service Commission he (Justice Fernando) had been critical of the conduct of the 1st Respondent Mr. Tissa Dias Bandaranayake and if the counsel (Mr.Wijedasa Rajapaksa) had the slightest objection, he would not be a member of the Bench. (Daily News of 21st July, 1998)

*"The docket was submitted to me (Justice Mark Fernando) by the Registrar. By my minute of 11.1.96 I asked him to obtain clarification from you on certain issues, as that was necessary before I could take any action on his minute.

On inquiring from him, a few days ago, what your response was, I found that Bandaranayake, J. had been asked for his observations and that on 31.1.96 he had made a series of false and malicious allegations and insinuations which make it necessary for me to set the record straight.

*As a general observation on such attacks, I would respectfully follow the example of Lord Buddha. When a man abused him, he listened in silence, and then asked, "If a man declined to accept a gift offered to him to whom would it belong?" the man replied, "To him who offered it", whereupon he was told, I decline to accept your abuse, and request you to keep it for yourself."

"Bandaranayake J. has consistently resented my endeavours to exclude political influence and other impropriety. One instance, which I am sure you will recall, was the JSC decision of 8.10.1993 for the sudden transfer of the Gampola DJ (Mr. Mervyn Wijetunga, presently the senior most District Judge and the Magistrate, Fort) with effect from 1.1.94.

"I enclose copies of some of the relevant documents for convenience of reference. These documents demonstrate that Bandaranayake J. wanted that DJ transferred because he was alleged to have made offensive remarks against the then President, (Mr. D.B. Wijetunga). That nevertheless when that DJ was questioned (mainly by Bandaranayake J) on other matters on 8.10.93 Bandaranayake J. deliberately refrained from mentioning that allegation; however after expressly telling the DJ that he was allowed time to make his observations about the two specific complaints on which he had been summoned that day, as soon as he left it was decided, by a majority decision to transfer him to Teldeniya and to transfer the Teldeniya Magistrate to Gampola. Bandaranayake J. insisted upon an immediate transfer claiming that he had "reliable" information-the source of which he never disclosed - that this DJ had made remarks about the then President from the Bench.

"The DJ was never informed of the real allegation against him, nor allowed to defend himself. The place of transfer was later changed to Matale.

"By my letter of 13.1.1993, I appealed to the then President (Mr. D.B. Wijetunga) to inform the JSC officially whether he had made any complaint against this DJ; from the fact that His Excellency did not say that he had made any complaint, I assume that he had not.

"Thereafter a question was asked in Parliament by Lakshman Kiriella, M.P. about this transfer, and the Prime Minister's Office requested information from the JSC. During my absence abroad, a reply was sent stating that the transfer was due to the exigencies of service, and implying that this was perhaps because he had requested a station closer to Kandy.

"Pursuant to certain proceedings in Parliament further observations of the JSC recorded on 25.11.1993, were forwarded to the then President.

"In both these documents, the facts were not fully disclosed, the real allegation, and even the matters on which the DJ was questioned on 8.10.93, were not mentioned; even the minute of 8.10.93 was not sent.

"When I learnt of these matters after my return to Sri Lanka, I wrote to the then President on 30.11.93; and also to Bandaranayake J, and yourself on 6.12.93 pointing that if a different ground of transfer ("exigencies of service") was subsequently being relied on, the transfer should be cancelled as that was not justified.

"However, the JSC by a majority refused to cancel that transfer, again upon Bandaranayake J's insistence.

The JSC minute of 17.12.1993 shows beyond any doubt that in fact the majority decision was not on account of "exigencies of service".

Some of his reasons were that, "there is a clear duty on the Commission to discipline this maverick.

Jungle Telegraph

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