A plea for justice

Friday, 17 February 2012 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A fisherman was shot dead allegedly by the law enforcement authorities during protests in Chilaw on Wednesday. While this finally pushed the Government into giving fuel subsidies for the fishermen, a graver problem has opened up with fishermen continuing to protest – for justice.

It has been reported that several eyewitnesses saw Police and Army firing at unarmed fishermen. This brings to memory the death of another protestor who died as the people revolted against the Government’s proposed private sector pension bill. When one looks at the two incidents there are alarming similarities.

In a sense both decisions were taken without consulting the people and understanding the backlash that would result from the Government’s policies. While it must be admitted that the fuel price increase was necessary, there were ways to reduce its impact by planning and implementing practical procedures to dispense the subsidies before the fuel hike was officially announced. Not only would that have lessened the protests from the fishermen, but it would have saved thousands of commuters from being stranded on Monday due to the bus strike. Forty-six people would not have had to be arrested and the country would have functioned free of tension.

The Police are at least in some ways responsible for crowd control. That fact that they might have fired live bullets into an unarmed crowd is disturbing on several fronts. One is that rubber bullets and tear gas could have been used to disperse the crowds and two, the use of excessive force may have led to the death of this father of two.

Wednesday’s events have the disturbing effect of reducing trust in the Police even more. People have a right to protest and express their dissent of Government policy – that is democracy. The fact that people are actively prevented from doing this means that the Government either does not care about the people or that the people’s voice is stifled. Technically speaking, a government is duty bound to take care of the people that appointed it, this means that shooting them while they are unarmed is a big no.

While it is true that the circumstances may have warranted it and in any case it is too late to save the fisherman, the Government now has the hefty task of ensuring that the matter is fully investigated and the law implemented. Blaming an individual Policeman does not achieve justice. There is a broader discourse that must take place here about how Government policymaking should be sensitive to the needs of the public. If a monthly fuel pricing formula is introduced, then politicisation of the matter would be reduced and if the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation was finally cleaned of corruption, then Sri Lanka as a whole would benefit.

There are many other points that the Government and policymakers can implement to ensure that people do not need to die in public protests to have their voice heard. The need for a more independent Police force, transparent policymaking and empathic governance all need to come together to achieve justice.