The grave problems regarding the lack of credible investigations into human rights violations in Sri Lanka continues as the government makes threats to expel foreign diplomats who call for such inquiries as persons meddling in the internal affairs of the country. Whether the government itself has caused such violations is not the issue. The key issue is the governments failure to carry out its obligations to cause credible investigations as required by law.
Meanwhile another minister, the Minister of Finance, has denied the existence of human rights abuses in any form under the present government (Human rights were violated in 1988-89 not now Bandula – Lakshmi de Silva The Island April 19 2007). And yet others have concentrated their attention on vilifying Amnesty Internationals campaign for all parties in Sri Lanka to play by the rules. Amidst such propaganda stunts by the government what they have failed to address is as to how inquiries are being conducted into serious violations of rights including serious crimes which have allegedly taken place throughout the country.
Are all these diversionary tactics in the propaganda sphere a result of the actual incapacity of the government to cause investigations into alleged abductions and disappearances, extrajudicial killings and other abuses of human rights? In the past it was the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) of the Criminal Investigating Division (CID) that would have been mobilized in order to investigate serious crimes including serious violations of human rights. Is this unit now in a functional state to be mobilized effectively in order to cause professionally competent investigations into the abuses complained of? If the answer from the government is in the affirmative and if it is capable of demonstrating that the CID in fact is capable and willing to do its job then the accusation based on non-investigation into serious abuses will cease to be valid. If the government wants local and international voices calling for serious action against abuses of rights to be replied to with a serious answer then the only way out is to get the CID cracking on the job.
However, it is open to question as to whether various actions taken in recent times to interfere with the working of the CID have so drastically reduced its capacity to investigate into all these abuses complained of. To cite a few examples some senior officers who have held high positions have been removed for reasons perceived as political rather that professional. The CID has also been undertaking more actions which appear to be political like the arrest of the Mawbima publisher, Dushyantha Basnayake and a journalist, Munusame Paraeswari, who was released after three months of detention when it was found that there was no basis to sustain any charges against her. Also the former Minister of Ports, Sripathi Suriyarachchi, is being held in remand, once again for reasons which are perceived as political. Earlier there was also the threat of arrest of the editor of the Sunday Leader for which orders had been received. However, due to conflicts within the CID itself the orders were not carried out. There is also talk about some well known killings such as that of the Tamil Politician, Nadaraja Raviraj, about which the investigations were compromised by the accusations that state agencies might be involved in the killing. (Such speculation gains strength when for months no one is arrested for the murder). To this list large numbers of forced disappearances and abductions and allegations of a similar nature may be added. Above all this the only constitutional body that has the necessary powers to stop politically motivated actions within the police, that is the National Police Commission, is now dysfunctional as the commissioners have not been appointed in the manner required by the constitution.
The simple option open to any government is either to investigate allegations about such serious crimes by its own agencies or allow some other body to conduct such investigations. It is not an option open to the government to not investigate such serious violations and also to not allow anyone else to do so. The appointment of various commissions is no alternative to proper professional investigations into crimes by criminal investigators as required by the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) of Sri Lanka. No commission can be a substitute to the operation of investigations into crimes in terms of the CPC. No amount of propaganda diversions will help to overcome the fact of non-investigation into crimes in terms of the CPC. Such propaganda and inaction will only demonstrate that the government is not only incapable but also unwilling to deal with the issue of carrying out its obligations as a state to investigate crimes.
It is not an attribute of the sovereignty of a state to opt not to investigate into allegations of serious crimes. To claim this as an attribute of sovereignty would mean the complete misunderstanding of the very meaning of statehood itself. The basis on which diplomats who have shown concern about the human rights situation in the country are threatened with expulsion is that they interfere in the sovereignty of the state. This is baseless in the face of the failure of the state to carry out its own basic functions to investigate crimes.
Threats of expelling diplomats and threats to journalists for reporting abuses only adds fuel to the dissatisfaction in the country and outside caused by the neglect of the state to do what, as a state, it is obliged to do which is to investigate into all allegations of crime.
