Editorial

14th February 1999

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Wayamba run

The Elections Commissioner has followed in the footsteps of the President by going abroad in the face of mounting criticism of the country's electoral process in the aftermath of Wayamba.

Having allowed Wayamba to severely damage the country's image as a democracy, the Elections Commissioner in an awkward twist to what's going on, as if to add insult to injury, fixes April 1st as the date for the next round of elections. On a largely jocular note, it immediately raises thoughts about all fools but on a more serious note it happens to be the Holy Thursday on the eve of Good Friday while Muslims also are concerned about polls violence on their day of prayer.

The Elections Commissioner, whose actions were severely criticised by the Supreme Court recently, is now in Kathmandu attending a South-Asian Election Commissioners' meeting under the auspices of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies.

One could question the propriety of such a senior officer of the state attending a seminar of this nature sponsored by an NGO.

While we have no real quarrel with the ICES it might be asked if it is prudent for the Elections Commissioner to accept invitations from NGOs, especially in the face of government criticism of NGOs in the post-Wayamba carnage or calamity. These NGOs earlier had the blessings and support of the Government but now they are bad guys because they exposed the clumsy attempts by some elements of the PA to rig the polls wholesale.

This brings us to the post-Wayamba syndrome and what happened at Pannala recently, when a personal dispute over the non-payment of a hotel bill was allowed to boom into the proportions of a communal clash.

While who did what in the clash is yet being investigated, the fact that even the police were attacked with grenades by the villagers, is an indicator to what depths the police have sunk to in the eyes of the citizenry.

But what else can we expect? During the Wayamba polls politically backed goons held pistols at uniformed policemen and asked them to keep away from doing their duty. We saw several instances where the police constable was reduced to a level lower than a second string security guard.

Crime has escalated to fearful proportions, with last Wednesday's massacre of a whole family at Hokandara leaving Sri Lankans in stunned disbelief as to how such brutality could come from a country where four great religions are preached every day. Colombo is like Chicago in the 1930s with a senior DIG confessing that several officers including Inspectors and ASPs are known to be in the pay or pawns in the hands of underworld gangs.Anybody who is somebody, knows of the existence of a Gestapo style secret police within the police that is doing the dirty work of the politicians in power while a lawyer recently exposed how the CID works.

As for the IGP where is he and what is he doing as public faith in the Police reaches breaking point. Politicians throughout the years have reduced the once proud Police Service to that of a disgrace. In this situation we call for urgent action with all-party support for the appointment of an Independent Police Commission to save the police and the nation.

We hope that the proposed new independent election commission would have not only the power, but also the courage to stand up for the principles of democratic elections.

From bomb to bus

Ten months after the nuclear blast and counterblastsentIndo-Pakistanties and the Asian sub-continent plunging to the brink of a nightmare, we welcomed the practical steps taken by both countries for a rapprochement which is vital for the political and economic stability of South Asia.

Like how ping-pong diplomacy helped President Nixon and Henry Kissinger to cut through the bamboo curtain for détente with Mao's China, it seems that cricket diplomacy has once again helped India and Pakistan to come together despite Hindu fundamentalism in several Indian states and the possibility of Sharia law looming over Pakistan.

With the brinkmanship of the nuclear bomb now being defused with the cross-border bus ride by Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee, we hope it will open new frontiers between the two countries and a new era of co-operation in South Asia.

Political Column

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