Poor show

Those who read our front page story headlined “Police look on as gang abducts arrestees and vehicles,” Saturday would no doubt have been aghast and astounded. Nay they would have entertained deep fears about their own safety and security upon the realization that our law enforcement officers are but a helpless and ineffective breed when it comes to a real showdown with gangsters and lawless elements roaming among the public.

According to our story, 17 suspects arrested by Police along with nine tractors for illegal sand mining in the Mahaweli river in Dunawilpitiya were rescued by another gang at the very spot of the arrest. The report says there were 20 policemen in the raiding team and they were all reduced to mere onlookers as the gang that was part of the sand mining mafia made their move to bail out their colleagues.

Surely, the police team would have been armed since they were on a raid. There is no mention if the gang were also armed. Even if it was, it is the bounden duty for the police to act. For, its main task for which it is paid by the public purse is to combat lawlessness. IGP Mahinda Balasuriya should hang his head in shame to be in charge of such a Police Department.

He should apologise to the public for this abject failure on the part of his men to overpower a gang of common criminals or was there a VIP among the gang who carried out the abductions that left the police team flatfooted?

This possibility cannot be ruled since most of the illegal sand mining operations are today carried with political protection. This has been highlighted in the national press time and again. The construction boom following the war has led to a massive demand for building materials including sand. As such, there is large scale illegal and mining being carried out with impunity. Many were the cases involving sand mining that came up before the Supreme Court recently. Still though it appears that the business is thriving, it causes serious environmental damage.

The Government should take firm action to put a halt to all illegal sand mining and bring to book all those involved irrespective of their position or political status. But if the police are going to act the way it did when it stood still while the illegal sand miners were rescued under their very nose by another gang, the situation is very bleak indeed. Mind you, this from a police department which displays uncanny efficiency in breaking up legitimate political and trade union protests and in whose custody suspects die mysteriously. Further it is same police which do not hesitate to shoot to death suspects who attempt to escape from their custody whether it be while fleeing or travelling in police vehicles.

How then can one explain last week’s scenario? Here was a 20 member police team, for all intents and purposes well armed and on the alert. How come they permitted not only the escape of the detainees but what is worse, meekly submit themselves to a gang of thugs who made off not only with their arrested colleagues but also the tractors that were taken into custody - without a shot being fired?

Did not these officers even make an attempt to stop them? This indeed will go down as one of the most humiliating episodes in the annals of the Police Department and a severe blotch to its copy book. A far cry from the gallant and daring deeds of the police officers of the past whose exploits are still spoken about notwithstanding the meagre arms and resources that were at their disposal.

IGP Mahinda Balasuriya should order an immediate probe into this shameful incident and bring to book those officers who failed in their duty to resist the gang. For such acts hardly inspire the public who expect the police to play the role as their protectors and guardian. Cowardice and inaction on the part of members of Police Force when it comes to dealing with unlawful elements should be roundly condemned. Such acts as that which occurred in Dunawilapitiya can only encourage and embolden other gangs to the cock a snook at the law with impunity. This needless to say would lead to anarchy for which the police will be held responsible.

One would have thought that the war experience would have hardened and motivated the Police Force more in their peace time duties. But judging from what took place, this is farther from the reality. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa recently called the police force to revert to their previous role as a strictly law enforcement agency with the war now over. By this he meant to devote their time to protect the citizens not from terrorists any more but from gangs, marauders and unlawful elements in society.

Hopefully, the IGP will instill this edict into his men more vigorously after this shameful incident. If not, the public fear in the terrorists of the past would still manifest itself in a different from laying waste the efforts to achieve peace. The Police in its new peace time role has a huge role to play to allay fears of the public.What happened at Dunawilpitiya is not the right way to get about this task.