Arrest and end lawlessness

In a most welcome development President Mahinda Rajapaksa has directed the IGP to arrest and bring to justice those responsible for the most condemnatory recent attack on the Judicial Services Commission Secretary, and this is the way to go in confronting and containing lawlessness. We hope there would be no delays in bringing the wrong-doers to justice because it is the country which suffers as a result of uncurbed lawlessness and violence. This, Sri Lanka should be knowing fully well by now.

It would not be only in the interests of this country but of civilization too for the judiciary to be respected and permitted to function unhindered. We hope there would be no quibbling on this point in any quarter. Democratic wholeness and robustness is fostered and sustained when the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary act in unison and in harmony and are symbiotically linked in the great cause of strengthening good and responsible governance.

They are analogous to the vital organs of the human physique. Inasmuch as the harming of one such organ could debilitate the human person and render her ineffectual, the harassing of the Judiciary could undermine the democratic ethos of a country.

Therefore, no one should, ideally, incline to the self-defeating and parochial view that attempts to undermine the standing of the Judiciary of this country could in some devious fashion accrue to the good of this country. If this unsettling opinion is adopted by anyone, to that degree is democracy harmed and emasculated. Rather than cling to these dangerous notions, we call on the total local body politic to respect the Judiciary, inasmuch as they should respect the Executive and the Legislature, and thereby help in maintaining the country’s democratic health.

It should have been increasingly evident to all responsible sections that attacks on important public officials are on the rise in this country. We cannot ascertain how lawlessness could in any way help Sri Lanka, particularly at this juncture when the country is making some strides in the direction of national rejuvenation, following the defeat of LTTE terror which tore this country apart for 30 long years.

Coming amid these positive national trends, violence and lawlessness could only take this country back to that benighted past when evil reigned supreme. Is anyone or any section laying claim to sanity and balanced thinking hankering after that brutal past this country has left behind?

Therefore, there could be no choice but to arrest and end all forms of lawlessness. We urge that all responsible sections fully enthrone the Rule of Law which is substantially instrumental in keeping the democratic process ticking in this country. The law enforcement authorities should lose no time in bringing to justice those elements which are perpetrating violence against responsible persons and institutions under the dangerous illusion that might is right.

The reprehensible intolerance that has been manifesting itself in the form of brutal assaults on responsible sections is in no way new and one would have expected some invaluable lessons to have been learnt from these dark episodes of the past. We do not intend to elaborate on these ignominious incidents of the past but suffice it to know that democracy in this country suffered irreparably as a result of them. Accordingly, successful efforts need to be made to reverse these disastrous trends, on the part of all responsible sections.

Our body politic needs to realize that this country is on the mend. We need to continue on the path of reconstruction, rehabilitation and development. Besides, there are ample critics, both local and international, who are on the ready to denigrate this country for every conceivable lapse. Sri Lanka cannot afford to play into their hands by permitting social mayhem.

Therefore, we have no choice but to make the Rule of Law reign. We have to be steady with the task of seeing an end to criminality and lawlessness because collective defeat awaits that country which proves weak-kneed in consolidating the institutions of justice and social peace.