Since the death penalty (DP) was suspended without actually abolishing the law, dozens of readers have demanded that it be re-implemented in view of the phenomenal increase in murder, drug trafficking etc. committed in broad daylight using high tech weapons and high-powered get away vehicles, but these pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

While politicians are provided with maximum security at enormous cost, the ordinary man who foots the bill is exposed to maximum danger at the hands of criminals with political patronage. He is not safe at home, on the road, at the work place, or even in hospital or a court room. Today there is no fear of suicide bombs but the people are not safe from the killers in the south.

The JVP and the LTTE are said to have used the underworld to carry out killings in the south and now private individuals and politicians seem to employ them for the same purpose.

The human rights lobby, apologists for the criminal, will start protesting if the DP is re-implemented. The President who was not bothered about their protests when they opposed the continuance of the anti-LTTE war, need not bother about them in this instance too. He must rule the country according to the wishes of the people who put him in office and the needs of the country.

All peace loving people expect that the DP will be re-implemented immediately as a means of containing the crime wave. If, for any reason whatever, he is averse to it like his predecessors, he must abolish it immediately leaving the ordinary man totally to the mercy of blood thirsty killers and also withdraw all the security given to politicians so that they may realise what it means to be exposed to danger.

Enforcing the law as laid down in the statute books does not constitute a sin. Even in the time of the Buddha there were harsh punishments to deal with criminals.