An Open Letter to the Honourable Speaker and Members of the Parliament of Sri Lanka calling for a parliamentary debate on rule of law issues [2]
Mr. W.N.J. Lokubandara,
The Honourable Speaker,
Parliament of Sri Lanka,
Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte,
Sri Lanka.
Fax: +94 11 2777564
To: The Hon. Speaker and all Honourable Members of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
SRI LANKA: The AHRC Open Letter to the Honourable Speaker and the Members of Parliament calling for a parliamentary debate on rule of law issues
I am writing this letter on behalf of the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong.
The subject matter of this letter is the murder of an entire family at Delgoda, said to be related to a civil dispute over a piece of land, the subsequent arson of three houses by a large number of people and the shooting to death of two suspects after they were taken into custody by the police.
All three incidents taken together reveal the breakdown of the rule of law in Sri Lanka. These three incidents, the family murders, subsequent mob violence and the killing of the suspects in police custody present a situation of a very rare nature. To our knowledge no similar incidents have been reported, purely on a civil dispute in any other country in Asia in recent times.
If the law was enforced even to a minimum degree and if civil society had intervened in the events around its social environment to a reasonable degree, this incident would not have happened. If the police and civil society in the neighborhood had made the normal interventions that are usually expected it is most likely that this great tragedy would not have occurred.
For a civil dispute over a piece of land to evolve into the massacre of an entire family could not have been a spur of the moment action; such a crime would have involved a chain of many events before it ended in this horrific tragedy. Under normal circumstance if the law enforcement in the country and civil society reactions functioned in a normal manner it is quite likely that this incident would not have happened. It is a normal habit among the people to seek the help of the police by the making of complaints on such disputes at an early stage.
Though land matters are civil disputes there are many other aspects of such disputes which may have possibilities of evolving into crime and these are the matters on which people under normal circumstances seek the assistance of the police. The modes of seeking such assistance are statements to the police and the making of complaints. As long there is a basic confidence in police action the people resort to their help. If no such help has been sought in this particular incident, or if, despite of seeking such help the incident has happened regardless, that demonstrates a breach of confidence of the people regarding the very process of policing.
Similarly, under normal circumstances in the time period between the initial dispute and the family massacre the neighbours and others such as relatives of both parties to the dispute would have made many interventions to prevent such a dispute reaching maturity and ending as a crime. The very fact that there had not been such a decisive civilian intervention also demonstrates a type of abnormal alienation on the part of the civil society in the neighbourhood. Such abnormal withdrawal of the civil society is also a manifestation of some deep transformations that are taking place with civil society itself.
The combination of the absence of the normal resorting to police interventions and the absence of the normal interventions of civil society has resulted in this grave crime. The reports of many other incidents from around the country also manifest the twin phenomena of policing inaction and civil society alienation. A while ago there was the report of a prisoner returning from prison and killing an entire family over a family dispute. Before that killing neighbours had complained to the police of the family unrest but there was no decisive intervention on the part of the police. The killing of the high court judge, Sarath Ambipitiya and the torture victim Gerard Perera who was prevented from giving evidence before court by his killing are also two well known incidents symbolically reflecting the same phenomena.
Immediately after the murder of the family it is reported that a large number of people gathered and burned three houses in the neighbourhood. This reflects the anger and the frustration of the neighbours of their own inability to prevent such a horrendous crime occurring. Such powerlessness of the people, giving vent through such acts of violence also reflects the extremely abnormal levels of frustration and self infliction of violence on themselves. Such actions are reflections of extremely abnormal behaviour on the part of communities that feel the loss of their constructive capacity to intervene in their society to prevent great social evils.
The third event to follow is the arrest of two persons alleged to have been involved in the commission of the crime and shortly thereafter the shooting of these persons while in police custody. The police story is that they tried to escape and were shot in self defence. However, stories of similar killings after arrest are now very common. Perhaps by these summary killings the police tried to appease the disturbed neighbours by creating the impression that justice has been done in some manner. If this was the motivation that too demonstrates an extremely desperate situation. What is worse is that by such killings judicial intervention into this incident has been prevented. Judicial intervention into grave crimes is an essential ingredient to maintain social sanity and stability. Summary killings are the extreme expression of the psychopathic behaviour of an abnormal society. It contributes to the greater alienation of the people and the greater reinforcement of the sense of powerlessness within society.
The family murder, the subsequent mob action of burning the houses followed by the police killing of the suspects taken together present a very disturbing picture that the august assemble that you represent should not ignore. To do so would be to imperil the rule of law even further and the stability of the whole society.
The Asian Human Rights Commission suggests that the wiser course for Parliament is to avail itself of this opportunity to take some decisive action by intervening in this matter. How you can make such intervention by using the powers available to you is best known to you. However, we would take this opportunity to suggest some basic steps on an urgent basis.
- To immediately hold a parliamentary debate on this issue and evolve an enlightened approach to deal with perhaps the country’s most pressing problem which is the maintenance of the rule of law.
- Using the powers of the Parliament to appoint a group of mature and reliable persons to make a study into the incident forthwith and to submit a report to your august assembly within the shortest possible time.
- To create a parliamentary sub-committee for evolve a strategy and an urgent action plan to deal with the law and order situation in an enlightened manner.
The Asian Human Rights Commission has been constantly observing and studying the rule of law situation in Sri Lanka for a long period of time. We are of the view that had the Constitutional Council and the commissions created by the 17th Amendment were in operation the situation such as the Delgoda incident may have been avoided. The 17th Amendment was the minimum remedial measure that has so far been created by the Parliament to deal with the desperate collapse of the basic institutions that are needed to protect the basic stability of Sri Lankan society. The wiser course that is open now is to make it possible for the Constitutional Council and the related commissions to function as soon as possible
Over a number of years the Asian Human Rights Commission has written to several executive presidents in Sri Lanka and other authorities of what it describes as an exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country. We sadly note that no action of any significance has been taken in a positive direction to deal with this problem. Therefore we appeal to your august assembly, the Parliament of Sri Lanka, which is the last resort that the people have. All your strategies and actions directed to resolve the issue of the rule of law will assuredly generate enthusiastic support from the people. You will also have the strong support of the international community for any action you will take to avoid great tragedies such as that which took place at Delgoda.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Basil Fernando
Executive Director,
Asian Human Rights Commission
[2] This was issued as an Open Letter of the AHRC-OL-016-2007 on May 25, 2007
