The bigger picture

Friday, 27 July 2012 00:56 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The standoff between law authorities and politicians has reached a new high with the order for Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen to appear before court on charges of threatening a judge in Mannar.

There are several points that need to be considered in this instance and while the incident is played out in the eye of the media, the contention between the fishermen that gave rise it seems to have become overshadowed. It will be remembered by readers that the incident was the climax of tension between resettling Muslim fishermen and the in-situ Tamil Catholic fishermen of Joseph-Vaz-Nagar in Mannar District, over access to and use of a jetty to which both groups claim historic rights – the Muslims from prior to being evicted by the LTTE in the ‘90s; and Tamils who have long been settled during the interim period.

This historical background, the justice conundrum, and concern for appropriate legal and institutional mechanisms to deal with title and usage rights after war and displacement, are all issues that crop up time and again. How this standoff will be resolved has received scant attention despite the livelihoods of hundreds of fishermen and ethnic harmony of a region being on the line.

The focus instead was squarely on the affront to the courts, consequent to a Minister being accused of attempting to influence the magistrate, and then instigating an attack on its premises. This is not to say that alleged attempts to threaten a magistrate is a lesser issue but there is a need for law enforcers and policy makers to consider the background to this conflict and find solutions to the problem that would result in the needs of both communities being met. Sri Lanka unfortunately has seen several such instances sparking off and resulting in violence, thus it is surely essential that wider discussion and solutions are implemented so that this instance is taken forward as a positive lesson rather than something to be glossed over. Political interference in undermining the judiciary is a serious problem in Sri Lanka and should be treated with the gravity it most often attracts but in this instance one must remember that there is more than two people involved.

Conflicts split along ethnic lines are one of the reasons that there are strong property issues in Sri Lanka, particularly in the north and east, which has prompted the Government to consider a Land Commission as part of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) Action Plan. Property conflicts and rights of access are complicated and often time consuming but essential in forging long term reconciliation. If anything, this incident highlights the challenges to sustainable reconciliation caused by inadequate legal safeguards and political involvement, aspects that should be kept away if real justice is to be achieved. There is real danger that with the media attention firmly focused on Bathiudeen the real cause of the issue might be relegated to the background. As such, it is up to the relevant stakeholders to provide an equitable and sustainable solution so that such ethnically divisions can eventually become a thing of the past for Sri Lanka.