Dear editor,

On Friday, September 1, Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared Mount Salem and its environs in St James as the first Zone of Special Operation (ZOSO) in the government’s crime mitigation strategy.

In addition, the Justice Minister Delroy Chuck said that there will also be an amnesty in each zone, allowing residents to hand over illegal guns and other contraband within 24 to 48 hours of the start of the operation.

It is to my surprise that the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) is against the ZOSO stating that it will infringe on citizens’ rights, liberty and freedom of movement.

The Bill was passed in Parliament in July and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)-government made every effort to carefully plan and implement this stabilising operation, while consulting and partnering with all stakeholders in order to make it a success.

While the government was training all stakeholders, including the Jamaica Defence Force and the Jamaica Constabulary Force, in human rights procedures so as not to breach citizens’ rights, the PNP were busy beating the drum saying that the launch of the ZOSO was taking too long.

Based on documented facts, the PNP were initially against ZOSO, then they were now for it, and they went a step further stating that the Government was taking too long to implement it.

Fast-forward to today and the PNP has made it known that they have activated a telephone line for people to report any abuses by the security forces.

Please note that there is already a telephone number in place set up by the government to report abuses. By launching a telephone line of their own, the PNP will create confusion and railroad the process, putting Jamaica back ten steps.

The Opposition should not object just for objecting sake; and that is exactly what the Opposition leader Peter Phillips and the PNP are doing.

It appears that they don’t want this ZOSO to be successful. One has to ask, where was the PNP efforts to set up a phone line for citizens in Payneland and Rockfort while they were having undeclared civil war in these communities?

Thus, this is a clear signal that they are trying to undermine the ZOSO.

In order for this ZOSO to work we need all stakeholders to come on board, including the PNP. They should stop fighting against Jamaica’s future.

Patrick Callum