The beefing up of the S.T.F. to combat the increase in crime will, on the contrary, have the opposite effect with that body being the principal perpetrator.
Their dismal record in the Eastern Province is common knowledge and the bestial Diyawanna Oya murders with its pathological overtones are etched indelibly in the Tamil consciousness.
We take note that they will serve in Amparai and the ‘Tea Estates’ Provinces. Will it be a case of the mixture as before? The LTTE will be lighting crackers in Killinochchi. For those youth who do not disappear, will end up there.
The increase in crime, the wanton killing and the gang warfare are all spin offs from the brutalisation of politics by successive Governments, where Tamil baiting was a sport for the uniformed services following closely on the heels of the party ‘Goondas’. First encouraged and led to attack the peaceful F.P. Sathyagraha on Galle Face Green in 1956. That was the thin edge of the wedge. Now it is an accepted norm and part of the Police culture, affecting Sinhala citizens as well.
But the choice of the districts they will serve in is tell tale and ominously so.
G. Sivaraja,
Hendala.
