In the Name of Assaulted HND

Students

Picture courtesy Hirunews

by Kusal Perera - on 11/03/2015

The police treated them most inhumanely when they marched to the
University Grants Commission with their grievances on October 29. Photos
and video clips of this ruthless and inhuman police attack on HND and
university students stole the day on both traditional and social media, and
suddenly jolted the Colombo middle class from their comfort zones. Since
electing a new President and government they expected them to be at least
decent and civilised in their rule.
The demand now is to have an impartial inquiry and punish those who are
responsible for this intolerable police action. To find out who is responsible

for the order to have riot police out in Ward Place and go after the students
in a savage way. In the chaos, the Minister of Higher Education made
certain he was no different to his predecessor, who also hails from the
Kandy district. For him it was an unnecessary protest. He claimed he met
with student leaders and agreed to have their demands met, implying, such
unwanted protests are destined to meet with police repression. Challenged
by the student leaders, who denied any meeting with the minister the
Higher Education Minister was on a mission impossible two days later,
trying to salvage his tattered image. An official was made a scapegoat this
time. Had the official informed students of the Ministers decision to remedy
the error in the Higher National Diploma certification, that unnecessary
incident could have been avoided, the Minister said. No more claims of
meeting student leaders, but he condemned the police attack instead.
This irresponsible attitude of the political leadership promoting the concept
of Yahapaalanaya leaves much to be desired even if inquiries are held.
This is no different to what we have been hearing during the Rajapaksa era,
with calls for impartial inquiries and reports handed over to President
Rajapaksa, and then the next tragedy investigated the same way. The
string of brutal attacks on protesters and agitators during the Rajapaksa era
include the deaths of Roshen Chanaka in Katunayake, Anthony
Warnakulasuriya in Chilaw, and three including one student in
Rathupaswela between 2011 May and August 2013. In between, many
protests and agitations were ruthlessly suppressed on the streets of
Colombo, at times even using men with rods and poles, wearing civilian
clothes. Dozens were treated for injuries each time. The police
spokesperson went on record a few days ago to justify all such excesses as
within the law, with journalists merely copying what was said.
It goes to prove this is an issue that needs very serious and far reaching

reforms and not just inquiries, reports and scapegoats to tell the public that
the students were served justice. A statement issued by university
academics and artistes thus stressed the need to conduct these
investigations impartially and make their findings public and that police
officers, and those who issued orders to the police to act the way they did,
are held publicly accountable. The statement also required the President
and the PM to reveal their stance on how the government plans to deal
with dissent and public protests in future and explain to Sri Lankan society
how they plan to prevent incidents like this from being repeated.
The government is clearly disturbed, not so much over the police attack,
but over widespread outcry for justice. Especially when urban groups who
backed them on two consecutive elections announce they feel let down. We
thus have the Foreign Minister issuing a statement condemning the police
attack while suggesting it could well be a conspiracy. We also have the
Police Commission, the Human Rights Commission and a Prime Ministerial
committee consisting of 5 members investigating the police attack, with the
Minister in charge of the police department billed to make a special
statement to Parliament. Too many Commissions taking over investigations
into just one incident and throwing out conspiracy theories shows the
government is not seriously into investigations.
The sincerity of that statement signed by academics and experts expecting
some decency in governance notwithstanding, this alone will not end
impunity and repeat instances, for the issue is far more complex. In
addition, the factors contributing to the heavy decay of the law
enforcement system are far too deep rooted for an incidental cure. Multiple
inquiries and solemn pledges from this government to bring an end to
police excesses and brutality would therefore end as cosmetic treatment of
an elephantiasis limb.

Leaving aside reservations on this hybrid governments sincerity and

commitment, this country needs disciplined, efficient and responsible State
agencies before everything else on democracy. The police department
comes out ahead of all others in needing far reaching reform. From all that
we have seen in the media, the past few months alone prove that this
police department is a heavy burden and an unwanted intimidating weight
on the people. If one reads news reports from end to end, police inaction in
delivering a decent, efficient service has resulted in unending torture,
coerced statements, fabricated evidence, unjust detention, custodial and
contract killings, accompanied by quite lavish bribes and extortions. This
brutality of the attack on HND students is therefore nothing new to the
police and only the latest incident until the next breaking news alert in a
long endless list of such reported ruthless attacks on protests, on
individuals, on both Sinhala and Tamil detainees, on women and even on
mentally handicapped youth.
The major reason is that the police department, which is meant to, and
indeed has to function as a civil department is no more. The police
department has moved away from its social responsibility in functioning as
a civil department. Since the 1970s this growing deformity was evident and
society has to take blame for not intervening early enough. Socio-political
life in the 45 years since the failed JVP insurrection in 1971 left the country
to operate under lengthy periods of Emergency rule. All governments were
happy ruling with Emergency powers rather than without them. While the
North-East was gradually slipping into armed politics, the South dominated
national politics. The socially powerful organised Sinhala society in urban
life and its representatives never took emergency rule as one that had to be
opposed. Not just Rajapaksa but all governments justified emergency rule
among the majority Sinhala constituency by projecting the armed conflict
with Tamil separatist rebels gradually turning them into Eelam terrorists
waging a violent war against the (Sinhala) State.

Sinhala dominance in all political decision making therefore allowed the PTA
to be included in law enforcement. When the Rajapaksa regime transferred
powers from emergency regulations to the PTA after the war was declared
over, that too was not challenged in Sinhala society with the then
opposition UNP pandering to the Sinhala majority vote. In short, over the
last few decades, Sinhalese society accepted all extra powers the police
were vested with in the name of national security and as against Tamil
separatism. With that the police department was turned into an auxiliary
force that assisted the security forces fighting a separatist war.
We thus have a civil department that should police society instead acting
and behaving as a para- military force. Unlike the security forces, that
police department over the past decades have been heavily politicised to
the extent local politicians decide transfers and promotions. Every single
employee now serving in this decayed and degenerated police department
has joined the department during the past 45 years that allowed all this
chaos. They have been trained and posted to serve in a gradually dying
service. Emergency powers and the PTA are what they know of and have
got used to wielding in their job. Impunity for them is part of their job
description, coupled with a political establishment that believe it should be
so. It is therefore now about a common psycho that has nothing to do
with law and order, ethics and morals but one that consents to using
physical power the way they (the police) wish.
This was briefly touched upon by Kishali Pinto Jaywardne in her ST column
Focus on Rights on 01 November (2015) where she rightly says, What Sri
Lanka needs now is well thought out structural reform of deeply corrupted
systems and institutions, including most importantly, criminal justice reform
encompassing the three institutions of the police, the Attorney General and

the judiciary. We need those structural reforms to have the police

department back again as a civilised and efficient law enforcement agency.
Again the big question is, can the Independent Police Commission stand up
to such responsibility and are they mandated for such work?
Despite wishful thinking that all should go right now with the Police
Commission in place, I beg to differ. The Police Commission is only there to
look after administration; appointments, promotions, transfers and
disciplinary work. Therefore requests for complaints should not be
interpreted as complaints that could ask for reforms. Nay, they are
complaints any one could have made to the IGP or to a senior SP against a
police constable or an officer, even before the 17A was in place. The only
new thing is that complaints can now be made to a Commission that is
expected to be independent. Yet this government is not in any way
serious in having them operate as independent and efficient. There is not
even a permanent Secretary General appointed to a Commission that to
date has no secretarial staff and an office, no website or an official email ID
for communication. The very approach and commitment of establishing
independent commissions by this supposed Yahapalaanaya promoting
government smacks of Rajapaksa flavour and should be challenged too.
Therefore it is time to use this savage attack on HND students to go beyond
demanding inquiries and reports and in a loud collective voice ask for well
thought out structural reform that would take up the whole justice system
including that of the police department. For the police department alone
cannot be reformed and certainly not by the Police Commission on its own.
Posted by Thavam