A time for action

Tuesday, 10 April 2012 00:31 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The recent alleged abduction of Premakumar Gunaratnam, which was reported by his family and party members together with the leader of the women’s wing of the party, Dimuthu Attygalle has stirred diplomatic relations and human rights activists while throwing a challenge to the Government to implement the law.

Gunaratnam was to have been officially voted in as leader of Sri Lanka’s newest political party, Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) last morning during the party’s first convention. However his disappearance has raised concerns about the growing number of abductions in Sri Lanka with Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe pointing out in a statement that there have been 56 such incidents in 2012 alone.

This is a shocking number and while it can be acknowledged that many of these disappearances can be for personal reasons or links to the underworld the fact that many of them remain unsolved does not look well for the Government or Sri Lanka as a whole.

Readers will remember that two activists operating in the north for the JVP have also been missing for many weeks with the Government making contradictory statements over their disappearance. Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella went so far as to remark that they were in government custody before subsequent events put the disappearances on the backburner.

Meanwhile it was reported that the Australian High Commissioner Robyn Mudie has appealed to the Sri Lankan Government to take action over the alleged abductions and quoted Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa denying any government wrongdoing. He had also gone a step further and demanded that the Australian High Commission prove that Gunaratnam is indeed residing in Sri Lanka blatantly dismissing much publicised comments from his family and party members.

Be that as it may the Australian Foreign Office has told wire services that they await clarification on the matter and what the Sri Lankan Government will do to uncover those responsible.

The elusive nature of Gunaratnam and his connections to the JVP no doubt will create much conversation regarding the culprits behind the possible abduction but what cannot be denied is the importance of showing that Sri Lanka is capable of dealing with the situation in a transparent and responsible manner.

In the aftermath of the UN Human Rights Council resolution and the government’s own pledge to promote and implement law and order this situation presents a golden chance to test the genuineness of the State’s intentions. Denying that the serious situation exists in terms of a breakdown of law and order is worse than doing nothing and top politicians would do well to peruse media reports to show shocking examples of how criminal activities are on the increase in this sun dappled isle.

Arresting the numbers of disappearances is directly linked to taking a stronger view on implementing justice. This means that the courts of law have to do a better job at making sure wrongdoers are punished and political interference is minimised. This will also go a long way to re-instating public faith in the judiciary system.

Without such actual results on the ground it will take a long time for Sri Lanka to reach real development.