Eradicating crime

In a highly commendatory move, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has called on the relevant State agencies, including the Police, to act swiftly on the first and second interim reports of the Presidential Investigation Commission covering abductions, disappearances and civilian deaths by assault.

Quick probes of these incidents and the bringing to justice of the persons or groups responsible for such crimes constitute a paramount need of the Lankan polity. We call on the institutions concerned to act fast on these crimes because on such speed would depend the stability and the moral health of Sri Lankan society.

Grave crimes, such murders, disappearances and abductions are a certain sign that the Rule of Law is fast diminishing in a society. This is one of the worst tragedies which could occur in a society. The vanishing of the Rule of Law or the due process of law is synonymous with the unleashing of barbarism and lawlessness. That is, nothing would hold anybody back from committing the worst crimes: murders, rapes, robberies, abductions torture, to name a few.

Do we want this terrible fate to befall us, Sri Lankans ? Would we like to be compared to the worst of societies ?

We are certain that the majority of our countrymen would answer these questions in the negative. If so, those in charge of enforcing and upholding the law would need to scrupulously discharge their duties and responsibilities.

That is, investigations should be conducted stringently, suspects arrested swiftly and justice dispensed with the greatest sense of urgency. Unless and until these tasks are conscientiously carried out, Sri Lanka could not be piloted to a stable future.

Every public officer, therefore, is called upon to do his or her duty and that too very thoroughly. Foremost among these personnel are those attached to the law enforcement agencies but it applies to almost everyone dispensing public duties, including, of course, those discharging political functions.

There is an unfortunate tendency among many of those holding public office to serve only their short-term interests.

This is most unfortunate because the collective good of the country is lost sight of in this scramble for fleeting gain. Bribery and corruption, for instance, grows out of this frenzy for immediate appeasement.

It goes without saying that the highest among those holding public office should show the way in this important endeavour of putting things right in the land.

A self-sacrificial spirit and selflessness among those who are expected to lead would help greatly in encouraging the rest of the polity to place country above self and work tirelessly for the common good.