Protecting Parliament

Tuesday 11thApril, 2023

Parliament security personnel have recently undergone a special training in countering possible threats of chemical attacks, according to media reports. Proper threat assessment and the anticipation of possible attacks go a long way towards protecting vulnerable targets. In this day and age, everything can be weaponised; anything is possible and therefore nothing should be left to chance in protecting vital institutions such as Parliament.

Chemical weapons, even crude ones, are hard to come by, and only powerful terrorist organisations are equal to the task of acquiring them. But Sri Lanka is no stranger to terrorism, and therefore has to take all precautions.

Cynics may ask whether any terrorist outfit seeking to destroy a country will ever harm a bunch of failed politicians who have ruined the national economy and thereby diminished the state’s ability to safeguard national security. If Prabhakaran had not launched Eelam War IV, wherein he perished, perhaps he would have been able to buy the North and the East, given the incumbent regime’s desperation for dollars.

But the fact remains that the Parliament of Sri Lanka must be protected at any cost. Possible security threats thereto, if any, should be identified in advance and action taken to neutralise them. Last year saw attacks on two parliaments overseas. A person was arrested in connection with an arson attack on the South African parliament, and a group of unruly protesters set the Libyan parliament on fire.

We, too, would have witnessed something similar here last July but for a successful military operation. The lunatic fringe went so far as to try to march on Parliament. Some of the protesters were wearing Guy Fawkes masks. Initially, it looked like a walk in the park for them. If they had succeeded in their endeavour, perhaps they would have done to the Sri Lankan Parliament what Fawkes failed to do to the Palace of Westminster in the early 17th Century.

Thankfully, President Ranil Wickremesinghe acted decisively and ordered the military to hold the violent hordes at bay. If Parliament had fallen into their hands, the country would have descended into anarchy with protesters occupying the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office as well. Curiously, the masterminds behind the abortive bid to capture Parliament have not been brought to justice. Have they cut a deal with the government lest they should be arrested under anti-terror laws?

While taking action to protect Parliament against external threats, some of which may be real, the political party leaders and the Speaker should not lose sight of an insidious enemy causing irreparable damage to the national legislature; indiscipline is chipping away at the very foundation of Parliament. More often than not, parliamentary debates are like fish-market brawls; they are governed by Rafferty’s rules or no rules at all. Some MPs go on the rampage and hurl abuse and projectiles at their opponents liberally. They insult their female counterparts with impunity. There have been instances where the police had to move in to escort the Speaker to safety.

The police and the military may be able to protect Parliament against terror attacks, as they did for decades, but there is no defence against public resentment, which is palpable in the polity. It may be recalled that last year, protesters demanded the resignation of all 225 MPs, and even vowed to dislodge the parliamentary system. All the MPs who have incurred the wrath of the public are still there. They have not cared to mend their ways, and are exuding arrogance from every pore, and living the high life. Those who are savouring power have even gone to the extent of undermining the judiciary and summoning judges to Parliament over court orders that are not to their liking. They are inviting trouble.

Let it be repeated that there is no defence against public resentment, which, if allowed to build up, could become more destructive than chemical weapons; it is rocket fuel for popular uprisings.