Editorial - The Island
In the aftermath of last Saturday's gun battle where presidential advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra was killed and UPFA MP Duminda Silva critically injured, an underworld figure was arrested with 16 firearms! How many lethal weapons other criminals working for the UPFA politicians have in their possession is anybody's guess. Maybe thousands among them!
The security forces and the police are looking for the LTTE's arms caches in the former war zone and they have so far unearthed thousands of lethal weapons and tons of ammunition and explosives belonging to the northern terrorists. Why they are not allowed to conduct such operations in the southern parts of the country to recover illegal weapons in the hands of criminals is the question. The government launched a much advertised anti-crime drive but it was throttled for some unknown reasons. Was it to protect the UPFA’s dangerous underworld pets?
Now that the war is over, there is no reason why politicians should be issued with firearms or allowed to have private bodyguards with or without weapons. Only a few political leaders deserve extraordinary security. Others must be stripped of their arms as they are a threat to others.
Walls around police stations are coming down and we were told a few months ago that the policemen would be prevented from carrying firearms on patrol. After all, the government boasts that the country is so safe that even President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in a position to enjoy leisurely strolls in public without much security, doesn't it? So, why should the lesser politicians be given armed escorts? There are no threats to their lives from outsiders; it is they who are killing themselves over intraparty rivalries. (If they really cannot resist the urge to gratify their beastly desire for fratricidal violence, the government may consider creating a special secluded zone for gun battles so that they can have the pleasure of eliminating one another without troubling the public!)
Besides unleashing internecine violence, government politicians continue to wreak havoc on public roads with their security vehicles speeding and overtaking on the wrong side or shoving off others menacingly. What those armed fools basically do is to boost the king-sized egos of vain politicians by surrounding them to make them feel important and to clear congested roads for them to travel at breakneck speed to do nothing. What these licensed thugs subject the ordinary people to, is nothing but highway terror. Hapless, law-abiding road users suffer in silence without resisting, for fear of physical assault at the hands of political goons.
The onus is on the government to prevent these thugs and their political masters from harassing the ordinary public. One is reminded of what the New Delhi High Court told the Indian politicians using armed security as a status symbol, in Oct. 2007. The learned judges asked politicians to confine themselves to their homes and offices if they felt threatened by citizens!
If President Mahinda Rajapaksa continues to suffer violent fools in the UPFA gladly, let him be warned that he is asking for serious trouble. With such rowdies as lawmakers, advisors or supporters, he and his government need no enemies! Having defeated terrorism, he must realise that the time has come for him to liberate the country from the clutches of dangerous thugs in the garb of government politicians and their guards. They are, in our book, no better than terrorists. The President should also be wary of according violent elements killed in shootouts state funerals and elevating them to heroes. That honour must be reserved for outstanding citizens who depart, having lived peacefully and done this country proud!
What we were made witness to in Mulleriyawa last Saturday was not a battle of saints––it was a bloody underworld turf war, which must be treated as such. All those involved in it must be arrested and prosecuted for criminal activity. And fast!
