From all around Sri Lanka there are constant reports of widespread thieving in the country, particularly around suburban town centres. This has gone so far as to affect even the dressing habits of women traveling in buses or three-wheelers. Although it has been customary among women to wear gold chains or other valuables, now on a large scale this habit is changing due to the widespread snatching of such items while commuting. Now more women wear artificial bangles and other such items and there are thousands of women who will tell of the unfortunate events that have faced previously. On almost all such occasions hardly any police inquiry takes place and there are not even a handful of resolved cases out of many such complaints.
Meanwhile, the habits of people are also changing in terms of the locking of their houses and the times that they spend away from their houses. In place of a onetime carefree attitude, people put additional locks on their doors and avoid traveling at night. The anxieties about family members who have not arrived home at specified times have also increased. The mothers are often seen running behind their children, particularly if they are young girls. Almost everyone expresses a sense of anxiety and insecurity and a siege mentality prevails.
In essence this problem is one about policing. The completely failed policing system is now incapable of guaranteeing even the most elementary services of providing security for persons at home and those who have to commute. Despite of everyone admitting the problem of the failed policing the government has done nothing to improve the situation. In fact, the civilian population no longer believes the government is either willing or capable of dealing with this issue.
The problems of the failed institutions were recognised unanimously in parliament when the 17th amendment to the constitution was adopted. This amendment created a body of eminent persons empowered with the participation of all political parties to have the task of selecting suitable persons for posts of importance in some of the most important public institutions. These included the police, the judiciary, public service and the Department of Elections. The commissioners who were to have the power of appointment, promotion, transfers and disciplinary control of all who belong to these institutions were themselves to be selected by a Constitutional Council on the basis of their merit alone. Thus, the strategy contained in the Constitutional Council was to counteract the strategy of arbitrary selections through politicisation by selecting persons who were to hold responsible positions by merit alone.
The National Police Commission (NPC) which was appointed on the basis of the 17th amendment functioned up to 2005. During the short period of its functioning there were considerable developments within the police force creating greater security in the officers of various ranks that their destinies will not be decided by politicians who exercise arbitrary power over them. Had the NPC continued the initial achievements of its first three years the police service would have considerably improved. Then there would have been a greater possibility that this virtually collapsed institution may have started to rebuild itself and develop its capacity to enforce law and order within the country.
The Rajapakse regime which now rules discontinued the pursuit of the 17th amendment. That was a deliberate move as the schemes of power manipulation and the ever-increasing corruption was incompatible with the existence of a Constitutional Council which was independent and mandated to ensure the selection of persons on merit. The new regime regards meritocracy with contempt and open power manipulation and blatant corruption are the order of the day. In order to continue to rule in this manner the regime required the discontinuation of any serious attempts to maintain law and order.
The governments scheme to displace the 17th amendment was couched with all sorts of excuses which made a mockery of the constitutional process. One excuse was that there was a delay on the part of the minority parties to agree on a candidate. The primary obligation of a head of the state to intervene to resolve the issues of constitutionality was mockingly ignored. However, after almost two years the minority political parties put forward a common candidate and named the former auditor general who had the courage to expose various forms of audit irregularities by the government as the proposed member for the Constitutional Council. Now the mocking game still continues with various spokesmen for the government trying to give excuses as to why still, the appointment of the Constitutional Council is being delayed.
The stark fact is that the reactivation of the Constitutional Council is a threat to the political order or the political disorder that prevails in the country now. The deliberate sabotage of the law is needed to maintain the type of misrule that is taking place in the country.
The price for maintaining a climate of lawlessness by sabotaging the only process through which the policing in the country can be improved, that is the implementing of the 17th amendment, is being paid by the people. Every citizen is a victim of the deliberate sabotage of law and order by the government. The widespread thieving in the country is only just one manifestation of such lawlessness. In many previous statements, for several years now the AHRC has exposed the widespread lawlessness within the country. It has now reached a point when every day traveling poses a threat to the lives and liberty of persons.
