Editorial Courtesy The Island

October 1, 2019, 8:20 pm 

IGP Pujith Jayasundera, currently on compulsory leave, was arrested, yesterday, for having manhandled a lift operator at the Police Headquarters, in 2017. One may wonder why on earth the police took so long to take action against the police chief for that incident in spite of the availability of irrefutable evidence against him. A video of the attack went viral on the Internet. But our judicial system is so efficient that no sooner had he been taken into custody than he was released on bail.

Ironically, IGP Jayasundera, who flew into a rage and pounced on the elevator operator, undertook to train the police personnel to exercise patience and be at peace with themselves as well as the world at large; he made it mandatory for them to observe sil every morning. He himself should have practised meditation and learnt to control his volatile temper. One may recall that in 2013, Jayasundera, who was a senior DIG then, made all the personnel, attached to the Kattankudy police station, kneel as it had been brought to his notice that one of the traffic cops had taken a bribe. Sadly, he failed to maintain law and order in the area, where gangs operated freely. Kattankudy became a hotbed of extremism and the home turf of Zaharan and other terrorists responsible for the Easter Sunday carnage.

Jayasundera should kneel, in public, by way of penance for his deplorable conduct and failures, which are legion. It has now been revealed that he did not properly act on the intelligence warnings of impending Easter attacks, which destroyed more than 250 lives. He shamelessly allowed politicians to use the police as a malleable tool. The CID is doing full-time political work. So is the FCID, which has turned a blind eye to the biggest ever financial crime in the country—the 2015 bond scam. Had some political rivals of the government been involved therein, the FCID would have lost no time in arresting the suspects and their family members as well. Billions of rupees have gone down the gurgler owing to an imported milch cow racket, where some politicians and bureaucrats lined their pockets. No action has been taken against these crooks.

The government claims to have restored law and order. If so, the IGP should have been arrested in the act of manhandling the hapless lift operator. The incident would not have come to light but for the fierce rivalries among senior police officers who are jostling for promotions. The officer who leaked the CCTV footage at issue, obviously, wanted to ruin the IGP’s career.

The police were recently looking for a person who had videoed an incident where two novice Buddhist monks were assaulted. The guardians of the law said that he had to be brought to justice for having videoed the assault without intervening to save the victims. By the same token, legal action should be instituted against the police officers who were present when the aforesaid lift operator was attacked but did not intervene to save him from the IGP on the rampage. It will be interesting to see what the National Police Commission has got to say to this.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has drawn heavy flak for the appointment of Arjuna Mahendran as the Central Bank Governor. It was on his recommendations that President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Mahendran to that post. Mahendran is now a fugitive from justice, having got involved in the bond scams and fled the country. President Sirisena was blamed for the appointment of I. H. K. Mahanama as his Chief of Staff, following the latter’s arrest for taking a bribe. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is still being raked over the coals for having appointed rogues to high posts while he was in power. So, the blame for the appointment of the incumbent IGP, who has become a disgrace to the Police Department and the country should go to the Constitutional Council, which picked him at the expense of a better qualified officer. 

Wednesday 2nd October, 2019