We have witnessed many false dawns, with self-proclaimed messiahs winning elections purportedly to put the country right and subsequently reneging on their solemn pledges in keeping with the Machiavellian maxim on promises.

One of the key campaign promises of the ruling JVP-led NPP was to restore the rule of law, which had been undermined by successive governments. The public reposed their trust in the NPP, expecting it to honour its promise and straighten up the legal system. But its pledge has gone unfulfilled, and government politicians and their supporters remain above the law, which is enforced strictly only when transgressors happen to be Opposition politicians and their cronies. The police, who even use force against ordinary people and the political rivals of the government over minor transgressions, unashamedly baulk at arresting the NPP politicians who commit serious offences.

No sooner had four Buddhist monks and five others been remanded, on Thursday, for allegedly violating coast conservation laws by putting up a shrine in Trincomalee than it was reported that the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) had sent a strongly worded letter to the Chairman of the Galgamuwa Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) over illegal soil excavation in some forest reserves in the PS area. The GSMB’s letter is a damning indictment of the NPP. It has revealed that a group of ruling party politicians and their supporters obstructed a team of GSMB officials during a raid on an illegal soil excavation site and forcibly secured the release of seven tractors and their drivers taken into custody. The police, who were present on the scene, just looked on. The GSMB has reminded the PS Chairman that its officers are legally empowered to conduct raids in any part of the country to prevent illegal activities.

How would the police have responded if a group of Opposition politicians and their backers had obstructed the GSMB personnel and the police during a raid? They would have been arrested immediately and hauled up before court, and perhaps the police would have held a special media briefing to announce the arrests.

No action has been taken against those who carried out illegal soil excavation in Galgamuwa and obstructed the GSMB officers and the police. One may recall that the police lost no time in arresting Chairman of the Matugama PS Kasun Munasinghe (SJB) recently over a mere allegation that he had obstructed the PS Secretary. There is irrefutable evidence that the NPP politicians and their supporters obstructed the GSMB officers and the police in Galgamuwa. Has the current government adopted the credo of the pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm and decreed that all politicians are equal but the NPP politicians are more equal than others? Breathalyzers mysteriously disappear from police stations when an NPP MP causes a road accident allegedly under the influence of alcohol, and the CID resorts to dilatory tactics, such as seeking the Attorney General’s opinion unnecessarily, when they are required to arrest government politicians charged with forgery. Police officers who raid cannabis plantations that allegedly belong to NPP politicians or their relatives are arrested and transferred or suspended from service.

Ven. Balangoda Kassapa Thera, one of the four Buddhist monks remanded on Wednesday, reportedly launched a fast on Thursday. Those who are supportive of the shrine project in Trincomalee have demanded to know why the police and the Department of Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management have not removed the unauthorised business places, etc., in the coastal buffer zones in Trincomalee and elsewhere.

The police and the Coast Conservation officials owe an explanation. They have steered clear of many unauthorised structures in Trincomalee and other parts of the country. The western coastal buffer zone is dotted with illegal constructions including restaurants and hotels. Political interference and corruption have prevented their demolition. The NPP government has failed to be different from its predecessors which earned notoriety for the selective enforcement of the law.

Saturday 17th January, 2026

The police headquarters has released an AI-generated image of a suspect wanted in connection with a fatal shooting incident in Dehiwala on 09 Jan., 2026, and sought public assistance to arrest him. AI has made the task of creating facial composites much easier. The public no doubt must cooperate with the police and help combat crime, but much more needs to be done to neutralise the dangerous underworld gangs.

Two notorious criminals and a female suspect arrested in Dubai were brought back yesterday. Dubai has become a haven for Sri Lankan criminals, and everything possible must be done to arrest all of them there and repatriate them here to stand trial for their crimes.

There have been several shooting incidents so far this year, and a couple of lives, including that of a teenager, have been lost. Last year saw more than 100 incidents of gun violence, which claimed scores of lives. One can only hope that the police will be able to bring the situation under control this year. Hope is said to spring eternal.

Underworld gangs have amply demonstrated their ability to strike at will anywhere although some of their leaders have been arrested. The police swing into action after shooting incidents and go hell for leather to arrest the shooters; in some cases, they succeed in their endeavour. Crime prevention is apparently not their forte.

Last year, a much-advertised campaign was launched to crush crime syndicates involved in drug dealing, killings and gun running. It yielded some discernible results, but very little is heard of it these days. Has it gone the same way as the past anti-crime operations?

Identikits, manually created or A-generated, could be deceptive in some cases however useful they may be in tracking down criminals on the run. This is a fact investigators should bear in mind lest they should arrest the wrong persons and torture them in the name of interrogating them.

It was alleged last week that the police had put a man to the question simply because he resembled a suspect in an identikit released to the media. The victim has claimed that he went to a police station in Colombo of his own volition after realising that there was a striking similarity between him and the suspect composite in question, only to be beaten mercilessly and asked to make a confession to a crime that he had not committed. The police have denied his claim. A thorough investigation must be conducted into the alleged incident.

Cases of mistaken identity are not rare in Sri Lanka, where the police make arrests hastily and consider suspects guilty until they are proven innocent. They have earned notoriety for acting according to their whims and fancies or at the behest of their political masters in arresting suspects. This is one of the reasons why the conviction rate remains extremely low in this country. It is between 4% and 6%. Some studies have even placed it at 2%.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) must not be made to conduct politically motivated investigations, which prevent it from carrying out its duties and functions efficiently. Its raison d’etre is probing crimes, but successive governments have reduced it to a mere appendage of the party in power. Today, the situation has taken a turn for the worse, with government politicians rushing to the CID at the drop of a hat, demanding investigations. This practice must be brought to and end.

Friday 16th January, 2026

Never a dull day in Sri Lanka, where controversies abound. As if the ongoing political war on the government’s hurriedly introduced education reforms were not enough, there is a dispute over a religious symbol, of all things, The Opposition has taken exception to an image in a newly crafted learning module. SJB and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa insists that the symbol described as the Dhamma Chakka in the textbook is in fact the Ashoka Chakra. He took up the issue in Parliament last week, demanding an explanation from the government. Several other Opposition politicians have expressed similar views.

Responding to Premadasa’s argument, Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr. Harini Amarasuriya told the House that the Buddhist symbol in the school textbook, introduced under the new education reform programme, looked similar to the Ashoka Chakra, but it was the Dhamma Chakka approved by the Ministry of Buddhist Affairs, the Advisory Council on Buddhist Affairs and the Maha Nayake Theras of the Asgiriya and Malwathu Chapters. However, the debate over the symbol in question is far from over; the Opposition politicians and their propagandists continue to castigate the government. The Chakka issue has left the public confused.

There have emerged two schools of thought over the Buddhist symbol in the school textbook. Differences between the Dhamma Chakka and the Ashoka Chakra are not limited to their distinct shapes alone, according to the critics of the symbol at issue. They have pointed out that the Dhamma Chakka symbolises the Noble Eightfold Path and moral law or Dhamma while the Ashoka Chakra represents law and justice (or dhamma in a civic sentence), movement, progress, good governance and discipline, and therefore in today’s context it is secular and not religious, as such. The Dhamma Chakka is found in Buddhist temples, stupas, manuscripts and religious art while the Ashoka Chakra is mostly in the Indian national flag, government emblems and currency and official seals. The rival school of thought insists that the symbol in the textbook is the real Dhamma Chakka and what the Opposition has taken up is a non-issue.

The ongoing debate is of immense interest in that the traditional Dhamma Chakka is known as a sacred Buddhist symbol of spiritual law and the path to liberation. The Ashoka Chakra has become a modern national symbol of India; it has been inspired by the Dhamma Chakka but used mostly in a secular context. The question is what prompted the government to use a symbol other than the traditional Dhamma Chakka in a school textbook, and thereby spark a controversy unncessarily.

Ironically, the NPP government drawing criticism for using a symbol that is confused with the Ashoka Chakra, a national symbol of India, is led by the JVP, which once launched a violent anti-Indian campaign and even gunned down traders who sold Indian onions or local varieties that resembled them. The government finds itself in a dilemma. Its critics maintain that the Dhamma Chakka in Sri Lanka’s state emblem is different from what the government calls the real Dhamma Chakka approved by the Ministry of Buddhist Affairs, the Advisory Committee on Buddhist Affairs and some Maha Nayake Theras. How can this glaring discrepancy be rectified? There cannot be two different Dhamma Chakkas—one in the state emblem and the other in school textbooks or elsewhere, according to those who want the government to stick to the traditional Dhamma Chakka.

It is imperative that the government, the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, the Opposition, the Maha Sangha, Buddhist scholars and other stakeholders address the Chakka issue urgently and clear up public confusion.