Welcome moves on emergency

It was the worst of times. Twenty one years ago today, some 600 surrendering policemen were summarily, cold-bloodedly and brutally massacred by the LTTE in Eastern Sri Lanka.

On this page we carry a first-hand account of this most horrifying and distressing episode from the annals of Lankan Police history, by a top-ranking police officer of the times who was well known for his conscientiousness-Tassie Seneviratne, Among other things, his record of events throws light on the degree to which the political decision-makers of those days were implicated in the gruesome happenings under scrutiny.

Thanks to the bold and spirited action against LTTE terror which was taken by the administration headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, we live in much more peaceful and stable times now.

Compared to those worst of times, we now live in very promising times. No more has a citizen of this country to worry himself sick about his safety and that of his near and dear ones, virtually all 24 hours of the day.

The spectre of terror no longer stalks this country and the people are now free to visit the areas of this country which were at one time under the brutal diktat of the terrorists. Nightmarish scenes of lacerated and limbless bodies do not any longer outrage the sensibilities of our essentially peace-loving citizens.

This being the case, the question often occurs to the man of the street as to why security measures which were at one time considered imperative and inevitable are continually persisted with even in these relatively peaceful and stable times. Why cannot Sri Lanka be completely brought under the normal law of the land?

After all, the LTTE is no more and the normal liberties of the citizen could be allowed fully once again. Why should the vestiges of our dreadful past in the form of some extraordinary security measures be allowed to persist and trammel our mobility, for instance?

This anxiety is now being addressed by the state in the form of the news that the emergency would be gradually reduced and dismantled. This is as it should be and we hope there would be a progressive reduction in these emergency measures in view of the fact that states of emergency and democracy do not usually happily co-exist.

The complete dismantling of the emergency would be a sure sign that this country is putting its past firmly behind it and is turning a new leaf of national rejuvenation, prosperity and stable peace.

However, one has to agree that emergency regulations cannot be summarily or hastily done away with. The LTTE rump is very much active abroad and its every move must be watched by the Lankan state if national security is to be perpetuated.

There is no denying that it could be having a capacity to unleash terror and cyber terror is a possibility that cannot be wished away. Nevertheless, the emergency must be done away with gradually and the state is obliged to do this in the name of increasing democratization.

This will to persist on the path of democratization should be paralleled by an earnest attempt to bring relief and succour to all sections that are in need of assistance to get on to their feet and it is gladdening to note that the state is also addressing the issue of bringing relief to detainees.

Apparently, many of these detainees are not hard core LTTEers and these persons must be released as soon as possible.

In fact such relief measures, implemented progressively and steadily, could be one of the soundest ripostes to criticisms, both local and international, that the state is slow-footed in restoring normalcy. Besides, these steps could debunk some of the allegations contained in the Darusman Report.

Some of these detainees are being speedily rehabilitated by the state and this is very comforting to those who would like to see normalcy being established gradually but steadily.

These persons must be inducted once again to civil society and given another chance to live and lead useful lives and this is a major measure in the direction social justice, which is, of course, a guarantor of stability.

Finally, it could be seen that there is no getting away from the need of permanently nourishing and establishing communal harmony in this country. We cannot ‘look back in anger’ although many an innocent life was lost in the conflict and tens and thousands of lives shattered.

Fortunately for Sri Lanka, the ‘silent majority’ constantly says ‘no’ to strife and disharmony. We should not forget the past and the lessons it offers, but the future needs to be built on a new national development paradigm as it were, where there no longer would be any hardness of heart, born of hatred, unforgiveness and intolerance.