Drug Menace and the Police
Despite repeated expression of acute concerns by all concerned, the drug trade continues to flourish. While regional and international efforts are crucial in the drive against trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs, local authorities at government level have the primary coordinating and enforcement obligation in executing control measures.
The most prominent and significant cause for the drug trade to thrive in Sri Lanka is the nexus between the police officers and the drug traders. It was not long ago the personal mobile phone number of a high ranking senior police officer was found in the diary of a drug king pin who is in custody. The explanation given by the police top brass was that the senior officer had given his private mobile number to the drug dealer, in view of the safety of the latter. Also the enquiry ended up by shelving the particular diary into a safe place.
Taking bribes, desisting from investigations and recording statements, profit sharing are a few to mention in the list of unwarranted events that take place as a result of this affinity. If not for this, many drug related crimes either could not be committed or if done so would soon be exposed; with this kind of connections, most of these offences are readily committed and become almost impossible to expose.
Hence, any determined and down to earth efforts to prevent this menace must address this nexus as its primary cause. A concerted effort across the nation is imperative to obliterate this scourge in order to eradicate our portion of this global problem. It is still not too late for the authorities to mobilize and effective police force fo fight this menace for us to have a country with a narcotics free young generation.
K.R.Pushparanjan
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Authorities driven mad ?
The saying goes that those whom God wants to destroy are first driven mad. Is this what the authorities appear to be going through now?
Without comment, I give below two extracts of news items, which appeared within the space of a week with regard to the controversial Maths paper of the recent GCE O/level examination. The allegation was that it was badly set, placing the candidates in a position of disadvantage giving rise to a demand that the paper be held again.
“No controversy in Maths paper, says committee
The committee has concluded that there has not been any controversy in the question paper as it was prepared according to the new syllabus, according to Commissioner General of Examinations Anura Edirisinghe. However, Mr. Edirisinghe had said that if there is any controversy regarding the time frame for the paper the Examinations Department was ready to do the grading in favor of the students. This committee that probed the issue comprised the Education Ministry Secretary, the Commissioner General of Examinations and his deputy, Directors of the National Institute of Education and several mathematics teachers.
The Education Ministry has informed the Commissioner General of Examination to conduct the G.C.E. Ordinary Level new syllabus Mathematics II examination again. A date will be notified later. Students, teachers and parents recently protested against some controversies that had arisen over the question paper.”
How come, it became necessary to go back on a decision taken on the recommendation of a high powered committee - mind you, appointed on the intervention of none other than the President within a couple of days?
Failure to take a well-considered decision after the fiasco occurred shows absolute idiocy and ineptitude. But that is only the issue of post operative care. The muddling at the stage of setting and printing of the paper itself highlights several very pertinent questions.
Are not the well-established practices of moderating a question paper by a person other than the setting examiner, and the final clearance of a question paper by the Chief Examiner of the subject existent now? This is not the first instance of bungling with question papers. Instances of grammatical howlers, MCQ questions not providing the right answer among the multiple answers, lack of basic proof reading have come to light in the recent past. The miscreants are not suitably dealt with; possibly shielded by politicians. If the Government does not take notice of the deterioration and take drastic corrective action, it is on a dangerous slide to self-destruction.
Cyril Ruberu
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Law Enforcement, Corruption And Political Interference
Among the many rights enjoyed by the people in any country, one of the most significant is the language Right - the right of a particular community to communicate with the state in the language they speak and understand. When you take the Tamil people in this country, they face many problems and arc placed at a district disadvantage. They are subjected to hardships and face embarrassing situations every day. Most of them are unable to have dealings with the authorities of the state in their own language. It is a fact that language rights of the Tamils are guaranteed in the constitution. The Sinhala and Tamil languages have been made the official languages in the constitution. What is the use of this “official” status when an ordinary Tamil cannot make a complaint at a police station in his language? When he goes and gives a statement in his own language, he is confident about his version of the story. When his complaint is translated, there could be errors and possibly misinterpretations most of the times.
The other difficulty they have is getting their necessary documents for various purposes. A Tamil cannot register instances like birth, marriage and death in his language. Copies of all these vital documents are written in Sinhala which he is unable to read and understand. So, too, with destination boards of buses.
Consider the plight of a Tamil in a hurry unable to read it because it is in Sinhala. All buses, both state and private owned that ply in the length and breadth of the country, do not have Tamil destination boards, although the use of this language is enshrined in the constitution.
As far as the writer sees it, the government has not made satisfactory arrangements to implement the language policy. What is the use of official status for the language when they cannot transact their daily business in their mother tongue?
The matters pinpointed above greatly affect our Tamil brethren since the Tamil language policy of the government has not been effectively implemented so far to their detriment. On the other hand, there are other laws in the statute which have not been enforced for one reason or another.
It is disheartening to observe that laws, passed with good intentions, are relegated to the dustbin in a country that has become notorious for passing laws which are never implemented. The best example one can point out is the law on death penalty which has gathered cobwebs in the Mother Hubbard’s cupboard for a long period of time. Every government has fought shy to implement it. Even the 13th Amendment to the constitution has not been fully implemented for the last twenty years.
M.Azhar Dawood
dailymirror.lk
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