If the 16 people who are detained for allegedly plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and three of her cabinet ministers are released today, the backlash could fall on the Government and police intelligence. So said political scientist Dr Bishnu Ragoonath yesterday in response to questions on the credibility of the Government if the 16 were released without charge. Held under detention orders, they would have to be freed when the state of emergency is lifted at midnight today if they have not been charged with anything. "The backlash will fall, to some extent, on the Government and, more importantly, to intelligence," Ragoonath said.
"The Government and the police will come out with egg on their faces. "There will be some degree of embarrassment for the Government. "The extent of the embarrassment will depend on how much the Government takes and how much they put on the police." The political scientist recalled that during a recent session of the commission of enquiry into the 1990 attempted coup, a witness said information that something was imminent was passed on to the then government, which ignored it. He said the Government's spin doctors (PR people) could use that to reason that the Prime Minister had to act on a report of an assassination plot brought to her.
"I have heard the National Security Minister saying that the report of the plot came from the Commissioner of Police who brought the intelligence to him," Ragoonath said. "This clearly suggests that the police have some questions to answer if no evidence is found to charge the 16." He said, however, if there's any truth in the initial report, he would expect the security forces to continue to monitor the them and arrest them again if they find sufficient evidence. Ragoonath shied away from commenting on the security evaluation report Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley found in his mailbox, dismissing the plot as highly speculative. The report, parts of which were carried in a daily newspaper yesterday, had no source. Ragoonath said: "I don't want to comment on the report because I don't know the source, who compiled it, whether it has any security concerns."