DailyMirror
Criticizing the police for its inactiveness and ineffectiveness, SLFP (M) leader Mangala Samaraweera announced yesterday that a special unit named ‘Polls Watch’ would be set up to handle election related violence shortly.
This is expected to be launched from March 1 this year and will go into action during the coming General Elections.
Samaraweera told a news conference that the opposition candidates face a great problem during election time as the police often do not accept complaints by the opposition candidates at times and they fail to take appropriate action even if they do accept. “Polls Watch is a solution to this situation,” he said.
He said “Polls Watch will accept complaints and will take appropriate action such as taking up matters with police headquarters or helping the candidates to seek legal redress.
Samaraweera said the police today have become servants of ruling party politicians rather than law enforcement officers. “The prestigious image of the police of being the best police force in Asia has diminished today with politicization,” he added.
Referring to the attack on the house of the Matara Mayor Upul Nishantha on Sunday, Samaraweera said a ruling party politician had phoned Nishantha and had accepted the despicability for it. He said all information had been given to police on the attack but no action had been taken to date. Samaraweera said no investigation had been done on the attack of his house and vehicle earlier this year.
He said they hope to file Fundamental Rights petitions against these attacks.