Security for all

Monday, 10 August 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

One of the key wrongs committed by the previous Government was enabling a culture of impunity. This license to ride roughshod over the lives and rights of others resulted in an unprecedented culture of fear because those at the top were protected and aided by a complex system of security that operated in the shadows. Perhaps nowhere was this more evident that in the army, police and the Presidential Security Division or PSD.

The latter was custom built, trained and provided exceptional resources to protect the VVIPs of the land. Under the previous Government this usually meant the Rajapaksa family and its inner circle. The top powers enthusiastically used the PSD, irrespective of whether they deserved it or not, and eventually the PSD became a feared instrument of the powerful.

So much so that even average taxpayers who, technically speaking, footed the bill for the extravagances enjoyed by those at the top were relegated to the bottom of the pile and had to be careful around the very people who had been appointed to serve them.

It is true that VVIPs require and in some cases deserve security. They are after all important people. But their lives do not matter more than the average man and as such the average man should also be treated with respect.

The breakdown of accountability meant that no one had the power to question or demand transparency about the expenses and facilities freely handed out to VVIPs on the taxpayers’ sweat. There was no parliamentary committee to transparently assess and report the funds that were paid out year after year even when the war had ground to a brutal halt.

Such a situation was allowed to continue until last week when the PSD was hastily disbanded after its involvement in criminal activities. Instead the Special Task Force (STF), the commando arm of the Police, will now be responsible for the security of President Maithripala Sirisena. The first assignment was providing close protection at a Kandy event which President Sirisena attended over the weekend.

The role of the 5,000-strong PSD became the subject of a string of investigations by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The first was after an Army commando entered a venue in Angunukolapelassa with a loaded pistol. If it slipped the attention of PSD personnel, Police personnel on duty outside became suspicious and made the detection.

Two weeks later, a second security lapse occurred at Pepiliyana near Nugegoda. President Sirisena, who declared open a Vesak pandal had got into the official vehicle of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe instead of his own. PSD personnel at the scene, it came to light, did not guide him to his own official vehicle.

More sinister links to crime have begun to circulate as well with many reports alleging PSD personnel were involved in the murder of former rugby player Wasim Thajudeen. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Namal Rajapaksa has denied any involvement by his family while Rajapaksa senior has insisted Thajudeen was a family friend.

While letting official investigations take their course parallel steps must also be taken to put checks and balances on the functions of the PSD to end its conversion to a glorified gang to please powerful politicians. It is only when the PSD and other security divisions are run as professional bodies can all citizens feel safe.