Deflecting game, or what

By?N Sathiya Moorthy

Ruling JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva may have over-stated his case when he recently declared that former IGP Deshabandu Thennakoon was on the run only because his party Government was not protecting him (as used to be the case under previous dispensations). There?s no doubt that Presidents and Governments misused and abused the uniformed services, and the leadership of the latter too played ball. But there?s more to it than Tilvin may now want to acknowledge.

As may be recalled, the Matara Magistrate?s Court had ordered the arrest of eight persons, including former officers of the Colombo Crimes Division on 28 February, over a shooting incident in front of a hotel in Weligama, on 31 December 2023. Prima facie, Thennakoon might have had nothing much to fear from this incident ? or, maybe he did, going by the way, he is running away from the law. Or, does it owe to his apprehension that once in custody, he would be probed for other crimes, too, possibly involving those above him at the time — those that Tilvin Silva dubs his ?protectors?.

Economic refuge?

Before the time of JVP-NPP President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, you have had the case of the Supreme Court slapping hefty compensation amounts on a predecessor Maithripala Sirisena, former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, ex-IGP Punith Jayasundara and other top police officials, to be paid to the ?Easter blast victims? in 2019. If they murmured their protests, they were not heard. Instead, those murmurs were drowned in the simultaneous applauding for the SC verdict from human rights groups from across the world and commoners nearer home, cutting across political, caste and religious lines.

There were no complaints at the time that the Government of President Ranil Wickremesinghe tried to hide the wrong-doers from court action. If there were other police officers who had jumped the coup, though unconnected to the Easter blasts, a foreign embassy in Colombo had supposedly helped him.

Inspector Nishantha Silva was probing the Rajapaksas for acts of crimes committed during President Mahinda?s two terms (2005-15) when younger brother Gotabaya?s 2019 election as President made him feel unsafe. Was it so, was it like the Nishantha types using the possible alibi of ?political victimisation? nearer home to obtain ?economic refuge? overseas, as Sri Lankans were wont to do even then? Post-Aragalaya their numbers and self-justification have only increased, but there are not many foreign embassies that want to help. Or, so it seems.

Fishing expedition

It is anybody?s guess why the police should raid the Matara home of President Ranil?s Chief of Staff, Sagala Rathnayake, looking for the missing IGP. If the police had any specific ?actionable intelligence? in the matter, it?s fine. But if they were launching a ?fishing expedition?, that?s just not on. Or, was it to prepare a ?political narrative? for the present-day masters, for use in the campaign for the upcoming local government elections, nation-wide?

In the meantime, Deputy Minister of Public Security Sunil Watagala has declared that the government, under the law, would freeze movable and immovable properties of IGP Thennakoon if he continued with his hide-and-run game. Already, there is speculation that he might have escaped from the country and from the very police force that he had once headed. ?If there is any truth in the matter, the police can be expected to extend its net overseas, too.

It is anybody?s guess that Thennakoon could continue to evade arrest, which itself is another offence of its own. Even if a court does not find him guilty in the Matara hotel case of 2023, his avoiding arrest, as per a court order, tantamount to ?contempt of the court?, which itself is a punishable offence. Then there may be criminal cases against him for the very act of ?absconding?. His lawyers cannot even come up with the flimsy argument that he did not know the law, or feared untold harassment if he gave up to the police.

Amused, bemused

In the interim, the question arises if the ruling party and its leadership is using instances like the ?Great Escape? (?) of IGP Thennakoon to deflect public attention from the pressing demands on the job, home and income fronts? It is for these reasons that the people voted them twice in as many months or so, first in the presidential poll and later in the parliamentary election.

Truth be acknowledged their electoral victories, rather the elections in which they won, was only evidence to the resilience of the nation?s faith in democracy and the democratic processes, however faulty they be. There is no guarantee that the very same voter would not use the very same method to send out a different message than in the past, to the present-day rulers.

The JVP-NPP strategists have to see the nation-wide local government elections as much a burden as they are an opportunity for them. It?s an opportunity that they cannot afford to miss, afford to fail. After all, they still do not have a strong support-base across the Sinhala South, and certainly not a solid vote-bank as reflected in the twin electoral victories.

The high vote-count for the JVP-NPP in the presidential and parliamentary polls were ephemeral at best, and they will have to do a lot more to make it permanent. Their current time in government is an opportunity to do that, not by force, not by deflection but by living up to popular expectations and aspirations, which alone has made them the rulers now.

The voter, at best, may be amused and bemused by the antics of the Thennakoon kind. They have seen it all in the past, and do not want to see any of it ? not certainly, the deflecting games that the political bosses play, exploiting such situations. They want solid performance and even more solid results that they could touch, feel and use.

The JVP-NPP rulers are still far away from the people?s goals in the matter, however less ambitious and achievable. They may have broken the electoral hegemony of the ?others? but they have to prove that they are worthy of the voter?s choice. That does not seem to be happening, and that is not seemingly felt in quarters that matter.

(The writer is a Chennai-based Policy Analyst and Political Commentator. Email: sathiyam54@nsathiyamoorthy.com)