Is there a hidden hand?

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

Rarely do we congratulate our police, finding the flimsiest excuse to ridicule them though in recent times they have demonstrated their efficiency. At times, we find in the UK mirror-images of what happens in Sri Lanka. Soon after an Inspector of the Sri Lankan Police got rid of his lover in the most gruesome manner, a police constable, attached to the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command unit of the London Metropolitan Police was charged with the kidnap and killing of a 33-year-old marketing executive, who was walking home from a friend’s place, along a main road, in South London.

In spite of the embarrassment of a crime committed by one of its own, the swiftness with which our Sri Lankan police solved the crime, with the help of CCTV footage, is commendable. In contrast, the better equipped Met took over a week to apprehend the culprit. The manner the demonstrations, to highlight the dangers women face in the streets of London, was handled did not give much credit to the Met. Admittedly, it was a tough ask for the Met as the demonstrators were in breach of Covid-19 regulations but it could have been handled without brute force.

Whilst UNHRC was in sessions, social media were buzzing with the news that a journalist had been abducted by the government with the slogan, “Gota and white vans, again”! Fortunately for the government, police were able to locate the ‘abducted’ journalist in double quick time. They were able to obtain a confession that the abduction had been stage-managed and find, at his residence, the spoon with which he had self-inflicted ‘Gota’s burns’! Going even further, by analysing CCTV footage they found the journalist had visited the office of a former MP whose father got involved in a similar incident previously. Sinhala newspapers are buzzing with cartoons referring to this self-appointed ‘Suva Pathi’ as the ‘Boru Pathi’, one showing two crocodiles shedding tears asking why he had deserted them!

Shortly before Gota’s election, two false-bearded men were paraded before the press by the former ‘Suva Pathi’ when they dropped a bombshell. They claimed on Gota’s instructions they had abducted people, who were then fed to crocodiles in a lake, which was later found to be without any crocodiles! Fortunately, voters knew whom to trust. All credit to the police for getting at the truth.

Shortly after Gota’s election, an employee of the Swiss Embassy claimed to have been abducted, causing an international furore, stirred up by the Swiss. Again, the police were able to establish, with the help of CCTV footage, that it was most likely a staged abduction, and legal action has been taken against her. But human right’s warriors tarnish CCTVs as a great threat to privacy! That is another story! However, the true nature of the Swiss was badly exposed as they did not have the decency to offer an apology. Perhaps, I am asking too much from a country that smuggled an errant police officer out of Sri Lanka!

Is there a hidden hand behind all these stage-managed incidents to discredit Gota?

I do not wish to defend the environment conservation policy of this government, which is appalling due to the large number of corrupt politicians in it, out to make a fast buck, it is obvious some incidents are exaggerated. Doctoring of photographs seems a commonly adopted tactic. Some with little knowledge seem to speak with authority. However, this does not help the government absolve itself of responsibility. It must formulate a policy for conservation, starting with the Sinharaja Forest as so emphatically stated in the editorial “Sinharaja in danger” (The Island, 20th March).

Another sinister development is the subtle transformation of a quiz programme into a political show. Media outfits have their agenda and what happened in this programme may not have any relevance to the incidents described previously. However, the common factor in all these is the poor response from the government, whatever the controversy. There does not seem to be any coordinated government strategy for communication, with each politician putting in their two cent’s worth!

It is high time government members started speaking with one voice as the hidden hand, has succeeded in undermining their credibility.