There have been many reports of violence and killings in different parts of Papua New Guinea. The regularity of it speaks badly about the country, begging the question; Why are there killings just about every week?

These days we regularly hear and see many reports of violence and killings in different parts of Papua New Guinea. The regularity of the violence and killings that take place speak badly about our country, no doubt. So I ask myself: Why are there killings just about every week in our beautiful country?

We are a nation of islands on the edge of the world’s biggest ocean; a region the early explorers found the environment and its people to be at peace and called it the “Pacific” (peaceful). Later observers of the Pacific have called our region a peaceful paradise. Tourism promoters continue to carry this message.

We are in this peaceful paradise, compared to other parts of the world who have experienced deadly wars, racial and religious bigotry and associated violence throughout the centuries. For Papua New Guinea, our status being part of the the peaceful “Pacific” island nations and territories is constantly being put to the test with the continuous reports of violence and killings.

Our people are doing this to ourselves. We ask ourselves as Papua New Guineans: Is this fair? That some of us have to exert violence on our own kind and even kill them?

The regularity of deaths of individuals or groups of people at the hands of fellow human beings is worrisome in our corner of the Pacific paradise.

The killings are taking place often at the end of violence meted out by an individual person to another or a group of people against another group. A number of these deaths have taken place after an ambush and kidnapping or a kangaroo court followed by torture and killing as in the case of those accused of practicing sorcery.

The troubling part is that some of the people being killed are police officers, who are supposed to be respected as enforcers of the law and peace keepers in our communities. As I said last week, irrespective of a restitutive circumstance that may exist, a police officer should not be attacked by surprise and killed as a means of payback for some prior misdeed.

The police officers killed so far have been through surprise attacks and not as a result of them (police officers) being caught up in a police operation. If civilians kill a police officer in the midst of a police operation, then we can understand that the death occurred in a normal police function.

The violence and killing tend to be largely as a result of people not willing to address grievances in a lawful and peaceful manner. Our indigenous communities have wonderful non-combative ways of addressing grievances or issues through negotiation and mediation. These non-violent means have been time-tested and passed down to us throughout the generations and they were at the foundation of our indigenous communities surviving. Yes, there was incidences of violence, but these have been as last resort or some individuals acting abnormally not being able to control their emotions.

Today, there is nothing “indigenous” or “traditional” or “kastom” (as in Tok Pisin) about someone inciting his friends to mete out violence and cause death as a means of “payback” for a prior misdeed. It is not “kastom” to torture and kill a female child or mother after accusing her of practicing sorcery or witch-craft that has allegedly caused the death of another person.

This latter crime of sorcery-accusation related violence (SARV) and killings are have become common in the last two decades. Before that, people respected the introduced modern rule of law and teachings of the Christian churches and did not take the law into their own hands even though they did accuse someone of practicing sorcery. The actual torture and killing of a person accused of practicing sorcery has become common only in the last two decades.

One of the disheartening socio-cultural phenomenon nowadays is the practice of some individuals or groups of people ganging up against another person or group of people in violent confrontations every time there is a grievance or if someone is hurt or killed. You look around us today and you will witness people resorting to violence in the first instance as a means of restitution. We are seeing that in many PNG families nowadays.

There are stories of sons hacking their fathers or mothers to death in some parts of the country over family disputes that can be addressed peacefully as used to be the case in the recent past. There is no need to kill someone as a payback for the prior death of another person or as a means of expressing disappointment. Our indigenous restorative justice and mediation processes are there.

These non-combative processes are greatly supported by the modern law and justice system. We must always allow this non-violent means to be used in the first instance an issue or grievance arises. We must not take the short-cut to engage in violence that may lead to unnecessary killings.

The unnecessary killings should not take place if people do not take the short-cut to take revenge or consider it (violence) as means to seek restitution. Violence and death are not methods of restitution or getting even with another person in the 21st Century. We must never forget this: violence begets violence. So we must not go there in the first instance.

In whatever we do, we must always remind ourselves of the implications of our action. As it is now, I think we have a national dilemma with all the violence and killings that are going on. We ask ourselves:

Why are there many killings in our country in peace time? We must all find the right answer to this question and stop the wanton killings from taking place in our beautiful country that God rightly placed in the peaceful Pacific.

END.