2023-02-06
As Sri Lanka celebrated its 75th anniversary of Independence on 4 February, the general reaction of the people around the country this year was one of despondency, with serious criticisms about the failure of governance in the country.
The need for thinking through some of the more difficult problems relating to the rule of law and human rights has been a long-felt need of all parties concerned over the situation that has been developing in Sri Lanka which has become more complicated due to the current economic collapse, the political crisis, and the serious threat posed to the administration of the justice system in Sri Lanka with the severe undermining of the policing and criminal justice system and the ever increasing abuse of the law for the suppression of the freedoms of assembly, association, and expression, particularly through the abuse of arrest and detention, the denial of the right to a fair trial, and in general, the disregard for the due process of the law.
In a recent judgement, seven judges of the Supreme Court (SC) found that former President of Sri Lanka, incumbent Opposition MP Maithripala Sirisena and a few former high-ranking State officials, including Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Hemasiri Fernando, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara, Chief of National Intelligence retired Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Sisira Mendis, and Head of the State Intelligence Service Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena, have failed in their obligations to guarantee security and protection for the people of Sri Lanka, and that this has resulted in one of the most devastating security lapses which killed over 270 persons and injured an even larger number in several bomb blasts directed particularly towards places of worship on the Easter Sunday of 2019.
Observing this situation, the SC noted: “We must express our shock and dismay at the deplorable lack of oversight and inaction that we have seen in the conduct of affairs pertaining to security, law and order, and intelligence. There are glaring examples of a lack of strategic coordination, expertise, and preparedness that need a critical examination regarding the way forward. The failures that eventuated in the Easter Sunday attacks and the concomitant deaths and devastation have left behind an indelible blot on the security apparatus of the country, and this country which is blessed by a multi-cultural and multi-religious polity cannot be left to the vagaries of these follies and made to suffer, leading to violence, fear, apprehension, and uncertainty. These events must recede into oblivion but they remind us starkly of the necessity to effect legislative, structural, and administrative changes.” (SC Fundamental Rights 163/2019).
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