By Gamini Abeywardane
The need to
curb acts of communal violence including attacks on places of business
establishments belonging to Muslims came up for discussion before the cabinet
of ministers this week.
Following the cabinet meeting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
in a special statement said that the Government would bring in new laws to stop
religious and ethnic violence, if needed. He said this would be done in line
with the policy of the current government and the pledge given by President
Maithripala Sirisena when he was elected to office in 2015.
That was a direct reference to the policy of
reconciliation, an idea that received wide support from all communities at the
time the new government was voted into power. Communal violence of any form
would be quite contrary to the idea of reconciliation which is a sine qua non for the economic
development of the country.
He said that the police have been asked to take action
against those who have attacked Islamic places of worship and business
establishments belonging to Muslims, and also to arrest those who are engaged
in religious and ethnic violence.
If we are to stop repetition of the incidents that culminated
in a bitter ethnic war which put our country behind by several decades
economically, it is important to stem this type of tendencies right now. Bodu
Bala Sena and various such organizations have been accused of incidents of
arson and mayhem particularly against the Muslim community. These organizations
have denied any involvement in these incidents, but it is up to the law
enforcement authorities to find the real culprits whoever they are and take strict
action against them.
The genesis of these organisations lie in the post war
euphoria and the attitudes developed along with that. Buoyed by war victory
those with communal inclinations would have thought that we have taught a
lesson to the Tamils and shouldn’t we now teach a lesson to the Muslims as well.
They were blissfully ignorant that despite the presence
of Islamic terrorist groups like IS, Hamas or Al Qaeda, elsewhere in the world,
Muslims in Sri Lanka have been a peaceful lot traditionally concentrating on
trading while younger generations have moved into higher education as well.
One thing that is clear is that after end of the war the
country has been free of terrorism while in most other countries including
Britain, the US and France there have been devastating acts of terrorism
undermining day to day life as well as discouraging tourism and investment.
After many years of war and terrorism we are starving for
foreign investments while tourism has just begun to pick registering
satisfactory levels of growth over the last few years. Despite many other
issues, both political and economic, one positive thing in or country is
absence of terrorism and the prevailing peace.
In this context any person or organization that engages
in any acts leading to destruction of that peace will be indirectly helping to
breed terrorism and in the long run will be working for destruction of our
country. Therefore, despite whatever claims of patriotism, people who act in a
way to destroy amity among communities will be an obstacle in the way of
reconciliation as well as the progress of the country.
Whenever accusations are levelled against these extremist
elements in the south for their racist acts, they in turn make similar
accusations against racists in the north and call for legal action against them
as well.
Quite strangely Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and Tamil National
Alliance (TNA) despite their characteristic differences seem to have much in
common. This became clear some time ago when some draft legislation was
prepared by the government to ban hate speech. Both groups argued that the
proposed legislation would be contrary to freedom of speech.
The two anti-hate
speech draft bills presented in Parliament at that time sought to amend the
Penal code and the Criminal Procedure Code criminalising by interpretation
anything said that could allegedly instigate communal violence and disharmony.
BBS lodged an
official protest at the Human Rights Commission against these proposed laws on
the ground they violated freedom of expression recognised by the constitution.
TNA had reportedly called for the withdrawal of the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill,
placed on the Order Paper, citing that its provisions were identical to those
of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Whatever is their
opinion on this matter one thing that is clear is that both parties seem to
represent some extreme views to suit their own politics. Right thinking people however,
believe that such hate speech that instigate violence and create religious,
racial or communal disharmony should not be allowed in a modern civilised
society. We in our country have enough examples of such speech leading to
violence in distant past as well as in recent times.
Freedom of speech
like every other freedom recognised by law should have exceptions. The best
example is that just because we enjoy freedom of speech and expression, the law
does not allow one to use it in a way that will defame or harm the reputation of
another person or use abusive language to cause mental harm to another.
Although in our
country hate speech has not yet been banned many countries in the world
including the US, most of Europe, India, South Africa and Singapore have done
so. Such legislation is of paramount importance to ensure peace and harmony
particularly in multi-religious and multi-racial countries like ours.
The International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which is a multilateral treaty adopted
by the United Nations General Assembly states that "any advocacy of
national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to
discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law".
Realising the importance of peaceful co-existence among
different ethnic groups for the future economic development of the country the
new government immediately after coming into power placed much emphasis on
reconciliation. A special unit functioning under the guidance of former
President Chandrika Kumaratunga has been working towards achieving these goals
and the reemergence of communal and racial violence can be the biggest
impediment to this exercise.
In this back ground anti-hate speech laws
become much relevant as we are getting ready to find a lasting solution to our
ethnic issue through constitutional means. After all having a peaceful country is far
more important than having all sorts of freedoms that would destroy such peace.
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