While the actions by the government to expel over three hundred Tamils from Colombo came under furious condemnation in the parliament, by political and civil society organisations in the country and also from the United States Embassy and other international groups, President Mahinda Rajapakse has done nothing to ensure that proper action is taken against the perpetrators of this expulsion.
Newspaper reports about the presidents reactions give the impression that he was unaware of the expulsions. However, among the eight respondents of the Supreme Court action filed against the expulsion, the eighth respondent is Gotabhya Rajapakse, Secretary of Defense and the presidents own brother. The other respondents are the Inspector General of Police, armed forces commanders and several OICs in the relevant areas. The president has not called for any explanations from these persons about the expulsions.
A few days earlier two Red Cross volunteer workers were abducted from the Colombo Central Railway Station and within hours, their dead bodies were found 40 kilometers away from Colombo. The governments reaction was that this was an act done to embarrass the government. However, to date, nobody has been arrested or charged in a court of law regarding these killings.
The president promised immediate inquiries and that if within seven days the suspects are not found he will call for foreign experts to investigate the matter. A similar statement was made when Nadarajah Raviraj, a Tamil MP was killed in Colombo in an area well guarded by the military on November 10, 2006. Despite of the presidents assurances to call for foreign experts to investigate the matter if the local inquiries failed to produce results, nothing has yet been done to ensure legal redress in this case. In the case of the killing of the 17 aid workers from Action Contra la Faim on August 4, 2006, no credible inquiry has been carried out and the neglect of this case has come under repeated international condemnation. These are just a few cases among several thousands of others which have not lead to credible investigations or prosecutions.
In the case of the killing of the monk, Ven. Hadungamuwe Nandarathene Thero, those who were associated with him blamed the killing on those who were known to the monk and who had threatened to kill him. However, the president attributed the killing to the LTTE and with that the possibility of any inquiry also came to an end. Just yesterday, (June 8, 2007) nine mutilated bodies were found in a dump near Wennappuwa about 50 kilometers away from Colombo. The governments reaction to that, according to reports, was that this was also an act done to embarrass the government. The effect of this will also be to discourage investigations.
The very minimum purpose of a functioning criminal justice system is to ensure competent and impartial inquiries into murders and other gross abuses of rights. Without such competent inquiries the criminal justice machinery ceases to function. Also the democratic machinery of accountability also ceases to function.
A president, as the head of the state has the duty to see that the law is obeyed. His primary duty is to see that the criminal justice system functions without hindrance. Justice is done not through public statements of the president or anyone else but through competent and impartial criminal investigations.
On the issue of the expulsions of the Tamils, the nine bodies found and the killings of the Red Cross workers, what is needed are credible criminal investigations. This is also the same regarding other grave crimes and gross abuses of human rights. If the head of the state cannot ensure that credible inquiries can take place the people have no way to ensure legal protection for themselves. It is a mockery of justice that humiliates the people more than anything else. Confining responses to grave crimes only through various public statements can only aggravate the present situation and make the lives of the people even more difficult.
