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Increasing social unrest: A crisis-driven tinderbox?

25 Jun 2022

 
  • Govt. and ruling party failures could lead to unmitigated violence: Uyangoda
  • Says let people elect a new govt. they have faith in
  • Extreme economic conditions pushed people to ‘kill or be killed’: Nanayakkara 
  • Says anger against Police is unprecedented 
  • Police officers act according to law regardless of circumstances: SSP Thalduwa
By Skandha Gunasekara Experts last week warned that increasing social unrest and clashes between public, protesters, and law enforcement personnel have heightened the risk of violence across the country. The number of deaths while waiting in queues for fuel and gas rose to 10 as of Friday (24), with reports of clashes between agitated members of the public and strained law enforcement officers also on the rise. Academic and senior political analyst Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, speaking to The Sunday Morning on the increasing social unrest, warned that the ruling party and the newly-appointed Government’s apparent lack of solutions to the economic crisis and the failure to offer quick relief to the suffering masses could lead to unmitigated violence. “The Pohottuwa (SLPP) is incapable of handling the crisis. The cohabitation Government has proved that it does not have the capacity to address the problem. So we have a fairly serious situation that is actually creating conditions for greater individual violence,” Uyangoda charged. Uyangoda said the current Parliament too had become redundant and was worsening the already unstable status quo, adding that Sri Lanka urgently needed a government that commanded legitimacy, had the confidence of the public, and was able to make effective policies while offering meaningful relief to the people. He argued that the current status quo was not sustainable and that early elections would help Sri Lanka not disintegrate into a worse situation where widespread violence was a strong possibility. He asserted that a Parliamentary Election was the only viable option available to quell the dissent among the masses. “One sure way of controlling the violence in the medium term is to let the people elect a new government; even if the Pohottuwa comes back with a majority, it will have an impact on the current sense that we are lacking a government. There are no magic solutions, but one democratic alternative is to allow the people to elect whatever Parliament they like. There has to be some kind of political legitimacy and elections will do that.” He added that while an election campaign might be tense, it would still provide help to pacify the masses. Loss of faith amid hardship Senior criminal lawyer Harshana Nanayakkara also alluded to the fact that people had lost faith in the authorities. “Constitutions and laws are mere pieces of paper. They have validity as long as the people trust the ruler. We remember how, when Gotabaya came into power, people were really committed to the change that he was supposed to deliver. But increasingly, the moment you lose trust in law enforcement and the powers of the day, people are likely to take matters into their own hands.” Nanayakkara charged that the extreme economic conditions had pushed people to follow their most basic instincts of survival where a ‘kill or be killed’ type of attitude would emerge. “Now they are getting exasperated because they feel firstly that the rulers are unfair and not treating the people right. Secondly, they feel that they are being lied to repeatedly – at queues for petrol, milk powder, whatever the product, it’s queue after queue after queue. In this situation even the most cultured and humane person will see their most primitive instincts of survival come to the fore. Then they will fight and struggle to keep themselves safe and to survive, maybe to get some kerosene, or petrol, or whatever it is that they need.” He said misleading information and broken promises of supply of essential items had further destroyed people’s trust in the Police and law enforcement authorities, while their clear bias and special treatment of the wealthy and powerful were making matters worse. “You can see a rapid increase in crime rates. There are two reasons for it. One is poverty – people have to commit crime in order to survive. The second reason is, even at petrol sheds and other queues, what you see is the Army and Police coming and telling the people to line up, that petrol will come and not to block the road. If it’s gas, they will give coupons and say gas will come. For well over a month the authorities have been doing this and now the people don’t trust the Police. They also see laws being applied differently to the rich and powerful, where they get petrol out of turn and out of queue.” He pointed out that the people’s anger with the Police and other law enforcement was unprecedented and indicated the sufferings and fury of the common man.  The lack of an alternative political party for the people to put their support behind means that any serious incidents of violence could escalate out of control. “In the past whenever you see the government of the day getting popular, you see on the other horizon another popular one coming and people rallying around that camp hoping that there’ll be a democratic change. But this time there is no such camp emerging, so people are frustrated and don’t know what to do next.” Referring to the Arab Spring revolt in the Middle East, Nanayakkara warned that Sri Lankan society was a powder keg waiting to ignite. He shared sentiments expressed by others for the need for an election to be held as a means to resolve the political and social turmoil, adding that early resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was unpopular, would also help pacify the masses. Police denies charges Meanwhile the Police Department refuted claims that people had lost faith in them and that it was merely a case of bad press. “I don’t know how people look at the Police when they say they have lost faith in the Police. As an institution the Police always carries out its responsibilities to society. If you compare the Sri Lankan Police with the Police of other countries in the region, our Police force has acted in a good way, so I don’t know if there is truth in the statement that people have lost trust in the Police. What we can say is that while there may be some people who have lost faith in the Police, there are more who believe in the Police,” Police Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa told The Sunday Morning. He said that while people were quick to point out the wrong, the good actions of the Police were not spoken of. The Police Spokesman added that if the people of Sri Lanka did not trust the Police anymore, then the department would take measures to earn back that trust and pointed out that it was always proactive in holding its own, accountable to any erroneous ways. “If society has lost faith in the Police, we will look into the matter and discuss what can be done to regain trust. But it must be noted that the Police Department is far more vigilant and proactive in identifying and penalising any wrongdoers within our ranks when compared with other institutions in the country. If people have truly lost faith, then why are they still coming to Police stations across the country with their problems?” When asked about the allegations made by Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage, who had recently accused the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), a branch of the Police Department, of acting in a biased manner with regard to Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon’s case, the Police Spokesman said that an opportunity would be given in court for the CID to provide reasons for its actions. “In response to the Judge’s statement that the CID may have acted in a biased manner, the CID now has the opportunity to present facts and show why it acted in the manner it did in SDIG Tennakoon’s case. I don’t know what the CID will present to the court or its finding, as I’m not aware of the internal workings of the CID.” Commenting on the use of force by the Police, SSP Thalduwa said: “Whatever the Police do, they must act in accordance with the law. So whatever the situation they face – whether it is a protest or a riot – there are legal provisions that must be followed and the Police must always act within the law.”

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