Bring Paanama killers to justice

"THE murderers should be brought to justice." This is the position on which almost everyone, whose opinion was sought by this newspaper on the massacre of 10 Muslim villagers in Pottuvil on Monday, agrees.

We who are most concerned about the strengthening of the Rule of Law in the country, join our voices to this demand. Indeed, the most urgent need is an impartial probe into the massacre and the acceleration of the relevant law and order procedures which would enable a quick and effective dispensing of justice by the State on the gory incident.

We are glad that the CID has already been assigned the task of investigating the killings. We urge that nothing be taken for granted on this issue but the legal process be taken to its logical conclusion.

On the face of it, though, the observer cannot be faulted for pointing an accusing finger at the LTTE over this massacre.

After all, ethnic cleansing is a speciality of the LTTE. Our minds go back to the Eighties when the Muslim community in almost the entirety of the North was driven out by the LTTE in a ruthless terror campaign.

This was followed by gory massacres of Muslim devotees in their hundreds in Eastern mosques, by the LTTE, in the early Nineties. The cruel logic was that the Muslim presence in the North-East should be reduced to zero. It was thought this would enable the LTTE to hold sway in the North-East.

The Paanama massacre is also, apparently, part of this ethnic cleansing process which began long ago. Besides, the LTTE strategy may have been to gain control over the water resources in the region by bringing the Paanama sluice gates under its control, in a re-run of the Mavil Aru crisis. Gaining control over a region's water resources is a sure way of rendering the population groups concerned, helpless.

This combined with control over land would enable the LTTE to enhance its diktat in areas where it has a presence.

However, the necessary law and order measures need to be implemented in the Eastern areas concerned to establish calm and ward off unrest of any kind. Besides, the relevant judicial procedures need to be carried out in full to establish the whole truth. Following the establishment of the truth, the killers should be brought to justice unhesitatingly.

As we have right along been observing in this commentary, the Rule of Law is supreme and the State has no choice but to enthrone it in this country. It is already doing this in the case of the killing of the aid workers in Trincomalee. Bodies are being exhumed to unravel the absolute truth. The same needs to be done in the case of the Paanama massacre.

The State should also look into the possibility of strengthening ethnic harmony in the country too. It would not do to be merely reactive to developments. The State needs to be proactively involved in strengthening ethnic and cultural amity.

No chances could be taken in the Eastern Province, where, in most areas, the ethnic balance is fine. Lawlessness which goes unchecked could disrupt ethnic accord and lead to serious law and order problems. The State and all right-thinking persons and entities have no choice but to strengthen peaceful living among cultural groups.

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