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The trivial manner in which such assassinations are being treated is reflected in the lack of belief that there will be any genuine investigations into these killings.
Meanwhile, there have been three assassinations in police custody already this month. Last year there were 17 such custodial deaths. The truism is that none of these killings -- regardless of who carried them out, for whatever purpose, whether for private or political motives -- will be properly investigated, nor will the offenders be prosecuted.
With the ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE abrogated, the killings will now increase. Where they will take place, who will be the victims and who will be the perpetrators, no one knows. But that there will be killings, more killings and even more killings is not only everyone's prediction but a sort of fateful expectation that hangs in the air.
Altering the social behavior that leads to murder is the central concern of any criminal justice system. It is also the central theme of ethical and moral discourse. In Sri Lanka, both in the area of law and in the area of ethics and morality, there is a bewildering lack of concern about the prevention of murder. When the legal system, as well as the ethical and moral discourse, loses interest in this core issue, on what foundation can the law as well as ethics and morality rest? The answer is none.
All those involved in public discourse seem to be blind to this central aspect of their society. It is as if something more than physical death had happened in this place; it is the death of the spirit or the soul. While some die from murder, almost everyone, particularly those persons belonging to the more articulate sections of society, appears to have acquired in their spirits the coldness and rigor that is associated with death.
Even the judiciary and its system of prosecution, organized under the Department of the Attorney General, suffers from this rigor mortis. And in this setup neither the intellectuals nor the religious leaders seem to be an exception.
One is reminded of the great novel "Anil's Ghost," by the Sri Lankan-born, now world famous novelist Michael Ondaatje. This tremendous story set within the background of the killings in the north and the south in the late 1980s leaves an impression of a tremendously psychopathic condition spread throughout society, where people do not trust anyone and even talk to their closest friends about sensitive issues in whispers. The situation has greatly deteriorated since then.
One is also reminded of William Golding's "Lord of the Flies," in which he demonstrated how human beings can degenerate when they abandon basic rules, the basic laws created to protect human life. As one of the characters in the novel said, rules are all we have. The Sri Lankan state and people seem to be unconcerned about this basic principle.
Under these circumstances, some concerned people are beginning to realize that re-establishing the basic rules of society is the key to the country's survival. This will decide the "to be or not to be" question for Sri Lanka. Only a movement committed to re-establishing the rules against murder can save not only the lives, but also the living spirit of the people of Sri Lanka.
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(Basil Fernando is director of the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong. He is a Sri Lankan lawyer who has also been a senior U.N. human rights officer in Cambodia. He has published several books and written extensively on human rights issues in Asia.)
