2ND LEAD

Imelda accuses police, prefers military

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 January 2011, 18:49 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Police has failed in its duty to arrest killings, abductions and anti-social activities in Jaffna, Imelda Sugumar, the Sri Lankan government agent in Jaffna accused on Monday. In a press meeting at her office, she briefed the journalists about her preference to induct the occupying SL military to police the situation further in Jaffna. The police are corrupt and no ‘development’ work is possible in the district under the current circumstances, she claimed. Two weeks ago, while meeting a section of Tamil politicians, the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa was also vocal about his preference to the military than the police in running the affairs of the Tamil land. He said this in reply to the visiting politicians when they expressed concern about SL military cantonments in the country of Eezham Tamils.

The Sri Lankan military is not ‘visible enough’ in handling the situation, was the worry of Mrs. Imelda Sugumar.

Drug abuse has escalated, government buildings are used for abuses in the night times, outsiders are largely responsible for brining in drugs and women are unable to move around freely in the evenings, the government agent complained.

The police are corrupt and they care for only making money through bribery. The police refuse to cooperate and don’t take any action, she further said, citing several complaints reaching her.

She was advocating more policing responsibilities to the military and said that she would be convening a meeting of the military commander and the police chief in the district to discuss the arrangements soon.

Political observers in Jaffna commented that a situation is being engineered to further institutionalize military rule in the densely populated Tamil district.

Meanwhile, SL Inspector General of Police, Mahinda Balasuriya, while releasing a book written by him, "The Rise and the Fall of the LTTE" on Sunday said: “In the 21st century, Sri Lanka is the only country in the world to root out terrorism”. The book was an abridged and revised version of his PhD thesis at the University of St. Petersburg, Russia. Mr. Balasuriya told The Hindu that he would publish the book in India too.

Receiving the first copy of the book, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa advised all senior officers in the military and the police to write books on the hardships and sacrifices they made to 'liberate the country from terrorism’. Sri Lankan ‘terrorist expert’ accommodated by Singapore, Rohan Gunaratne, was also scheduled to be present on the occasion.

Sri Lankan state is a unique entity in the edification of the world in recent times on how to rule civilians through military when a State is incapable of running its police, commented a civil society activist in Jaffna.

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