A thorough investigation should be launched to ascertain the actual culprits behind Thursday’s violence opposite the private residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at Mirihana.
Indications are that there was a mysterious hand behind the violence that continued till the early hours of Friday, taking undue advantage of what was initially a peaceful protest by a few hundred ‘imported’ residents.
The presence of a TV crew of a private channel at the scene well before the violent acts were unleashed also added credence to the belief that this was not just a spontaneous act of people protesting their day-to-day hardships but indicative of a much larger design perhaps guided by political motives.
A private bus transporting Army personnel was set on fire and completely destroyed and so was another bus transporting a riot police contingent. The Police Post at the entrance to Pengiriwatte Road leading to the Presidential residence too was torched.
Two Police jeeps were also damaged by the stone-throwing mob while several private residences in the vicinity too were damaged.
Five Police personnel and a soldier were also injured in the attack, along with two journalists from print media and two from electronic media - the victims of stone throwing.
These acts, cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be attributed to a set of peaceful protestors but the doings of organised groups bent on destabilisation with the intent of effecting a regime change, taking advantage of the present economic crisis.
According to Police Spokesman Nihal Talduwa, 54 suspects have been taken into custody and their interrogation is bound to reveal the inside story of the Mirihana mob violence and shed light on the conspiracy behind the whole affair.
No stone should be left unturned in getting to the bottom of Friday’s incident. There will be peaceful protests in the future as well - as liberally permitted by President Rajapaksa and witnessed in the peaceful demonstrators and candlelight vigils held almost daily by ordinary folk.
Law enforcement should be prepared to look out for saboteurs and sift the chaff from the grain. This will give the law enforcement an idea about whom to look for when peaceful protests suddenly turn violent.
There is no question of supporting legitimate protests, which is a democratic right. The President has never intervened to stall any such protest. The Police too had acted quite well as they did in Mirihana refusing to respond to even the gravest provocation by the mob.
No attempts to overthrow Governments by violent means in this country have succeeded, nor will they ever succeed in the future. By and large, the Sri Lankan public still has faith in the democratic process through which means Governments have been changed. A Presidential Election is three years away and there is no provision in the Constitution to hold a General Election any time soon.
Who will buy Sajith’s story of a promised two-year oil shipment from three Middle Eastern countries under a Government led by him? He has not offered a solution on how he will end the Dollar crisis. Ditto for AKD.
This is not a time for political one, upmanship. The Catholic Bishops Conference has enjoined all politicians not to indulge in senseless rhetoric but to be truthful and realistic. This should be food for thought for all concerned.