Ananda De Costa

It is heartening to learn that the president met the parents of the youths murdered by police. His surprise visit and the good gesture made towards the grieving parents is truly commendable. We can also believe that the justice will be done regarding this brutal murder case. This a very Buddhist act by the president and we can be proud of it.

The same cannot be said on the other two great injustices of the recent past, baby smuggling and the NipunaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s case. There is no fear in the policemanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s wifeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s face and poor elephant babies are still without their mothers. Lost lives cannot be brought back but babies can be returned to mothers. Similar gestures of goodwill can be offered towards (living) Nipuna and his parents. The wife of the policeman should be treated similar to any other criminal arrested. In both police thuggery cases we did not see policemen interdicted, they were simply transferred. This is not acceptable.

Police investigation into two dead estate girls in Colombo also seems to be improper. One wonders why the president of the country needs to intervene in every case handled by the police. Owners of the house in which the two girls were kept as servants should also be questioned and this case too needs a proper investigation. Mothers are still weeping in Sri Lanka, how can one be happy celebrating victory ?

In one of the victory speeches given by the president, war against drugs and underworld was declared. But this was not a licence to kill. This war should be carried out in a similar manner to LTTE war with professionalism. Every citizen shall be treated equally and presumption of the innocence until criminality is proven, as in the past, should be reinstated, even for the underworld thugs. The police have the right to use weapons if threatened, to evade getting injured or killed, but these thugs should be caught, interrogated for information on the criminals who hired them, similar to KP. Otherwise, suspicion arises that these killings continue because of some police officers and politicians too are involved with the underworld and therefore silencing them now. This is not good for the country.

Without doing the right act one cannot be a Buddhist. Performing of rituals is not Buddhism, it belongs to Hinduism. India, once a great Buddhist country, was gradually converted to Hinduism by South Indians. Giving preference to rituals over good deeds will make us South Indians, not Sri Lankans. What is so proud of being a South Indian warrior king ? Only South Indian Hindus are proud of their warriors. Emperor Asoka is a king the whole world can be proud of, because he understood the agony and suffering that a war could brings. He understood the saying,

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Yo sahassan sahassena sangame manuse jine

eekan cha cheiyya aththanan sa che sangamajuththamo.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

(Though one may conquer a thousand times a thousand men in battle, yet he indeed is the noblest victor who conquers himself)

Without establishing law and order, a country cannot be developed. A police without law and order is only a lethal criminal force. We have seen plenty of incidents in Tamil Nadu, where law students beat the fellow students to death using poles while police were watching. This is because rituals and blind beliefs of Hinduism is deep rooted in Tamil Homeland and cannot be changed unless the people there are properly educated.

Any part of Sri Lanka is no more Tamil Nadu. Loss of law and order created by LTTE should not be allowed to continue. Police are seems to be behaving like LTTE lately. One wonders whether the police were trained in South India. This must be stopped at any cost.