I was reminded of these words of Shelley when I read in the papers that the IDPs recently settled in Jaffna have been ordered to report to the Police every month. When dealing with these people, it is essential to bear in mind that every one of them can say, "I fall upon the thorns of life, I bleed!"

The need to be in touch with the resettled is beyond question. It is undoubtedly a security imperative. What is in doubt is the method chosen to exercise that supervision. In the first place it is only a Court that can order reporting to the Police under normal law. Even if that requirement may be overcome under the draconian provisions of emergency regulations, it would be wiser to seek a humane solution to the problem.

It does not need much insight to imagine that in the bitter background of their past, the loyalties of the displaced may be heavily strained. The need of the hour is to win them back to the fold. That calls for foresight and benevolence and not regimentation and rough handling, on the part of those in authority.

The very idea of having to report to the Police is loathsome to an average citizen. When such an order is issued on the resettled only, they are bound to suffer pangs of alienation under a ‘Prisoner of War’ syndrome. That runs counter to the Government’s anxiety to embrace them with open arms. Thus the good intentions of the Government are defeated ab initio.

There is a far more civilized way to exercise supervision over the recently resettled. That would be for the Police to go to them rather than getting them down to the Police. The mandated visits are only once a month but the Heads of the Police stations in charge and their assistants may be passing the concerned spots several times in a day. If one of them drops in at these places as convenient there is bound be far greater personal supervision.

Such courtesy would make a virtue of necessity. The IDPS themselves will feel honoured and cared for, to have a casual personal visit by their OIC. Such imaginative contact would move the newly settled faster towards reconciliation, than having to queue up at the Police Station once a month.