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ජනාධිපතිනිය තමන් වැටුණු බොරු වළට විපක්ෂය කැඳවීම
Victor Ivan
Ravaya
Ivan argues that President Kumaratunga, trapped in a pit of her own lies, wants to lure Ranil Wickremesinghe in with the premiership and a national government, climb out on his back, purge the rebels in her own camp and then discard him. He urges the opposition to build an all-party
Will the JVP, which is trying to supply oxygen to a weak government, get what it is asking for, the five independent commissions among it? The probationary programme has good things in it and things that could make the crisis worse.
Power cuts have grown from one and a half to two and a half hours a day, adding to the political darkness, but were suspended on nights of cricket and presidential speeches. The editorial recalls the 1996 promises that there would be no more cuts, accepts that opposition to the
In a letter dated 27 August 2001 to Sarath N. Silva as chairman of the Judicial Service Commission, Ivan asks for the reports of the two committees that found Magistrate Lenin Ratnayake and District Judge Upali Abeyratne guilty. He sets out the history: Ravaya's 1997 reports of a rape by
The President is in a trap she cannot get out of, and is now trying to drag the leader of the opposition into it with her. Parliament reconvenes on 7 September, and if she delivers the policy statement the constitution requires, the opposition means to vote it down.
Justice Minister Batty Weerakoon objected when the UN Special Rapporteur on judicial independence, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, asked through the Foreign Minister that Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva stand aside until the impeachment is resolved. Ivan explains Sri Lanka's obligations under the ICCPR, its 1997 accession to the Optional Protocol, the
Ivan likens the President to a man who, unable to climb out of a pit, digs deeper. Jayewardene had a five-sixths majority and Premadasa a comfortable one, but Kumaratunga, with a thin base, tried to rule like Jayewardene, trusted only a few sycophants and humiliated ministers who then conspired against
The editorial says the President is playing with the country's survival as political instability speeds economic collapse. She cannot govern without Parliament, which holds the legislative and financial powers, and had no right to prorogue it to avoid a no-confidence debate. With the opposition now in the majority and a
The UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges asked, through the Foreign Minister, that the Chief Justice be prevented from sitting while the impeachment was under way. The Justice Minister has protested that no power may interfere with the judiciary, which under our constitution is independent.
Ivan says the Katunayake attack has badly damaged a weak economy, yet the parties behave like crabs dancing in a warming pot. The crisis stems from the prorogation to block the no-confidence motion; the Speaker put his sister ahead of Parliament and the JVP's factional approach wrecked the chance of
The attack at Katunayake has brought down a large part of an already weak economy, and neither the parties struggling for power nor the public seems to grasp how serious it is. They behave like the crab that dances in the pot until the water boils. One more such attack
Ivan says the government treats its crisis as a simple numbers problem that Sarath N. Silva or the JVP's ten votes might solve, while the UNP and JVP resemble a jockey clinging to a bolting horse. With the referendum postponed to 18 October, he sets out the President's options, warns
The editorial recalls Ravaya's protest when Sarath N. Silva was appointed Chief Justice while facing complaints before the Supreme Court, and says the aim was to bring the court under the President's control. It faults the opposition for its slow move to impeach him after the 17th Amendment episode, notes
Consumer prices are rising fast, trade is shrinking, manufacturing is collapsing, foreign investors are leaving and the stock market is falling, yet the government and parties are absorbed in the political crisis. The piece says the President, as Finance Minister, is ignoring the economy while Parliament stays closed, and that
The President prorogued Parliament to escape a no-confidence defeat and then postponed the referendum to escape another. Ivan quotes the Presidential Secretariat's claim that the postponement allows consensus on a new constitution, with a fresh referendum on 18 October if none emerges, and says that keeping Parliament closed seals off
Ivan argues that loss of a majority does not destabilise a country; clinging to power does. After Rauff Hakeem's group crossed over, the President should have let the opposition form an all-party interim government pledged to constitutional reform and peace. Instead she prorogued Parliament and called a referendum. He rejects
Under pressure from civil society, the opposition and forces within the government, the referendum is being dropped. The editorial notes that a stubborn minority in government wants Parliament prorogued again, and urges the President instead to let Parliament choose a Prime Minister and form an all-party interim government to legislate
Ivan examines President Kumaratunga's 22 July racecourse speech calling the 1978 Constitution a death trap and citing Abraham Lincoln as a leader who acted outside the constitution to end slavery. He argues the referendum is a ploy to avoid a no-confidence vote; that crossing the floor is lawful and was
The editorial says the President prorogued Parliament while an impeachment motion against the Chief Justice and a no-confidence motion against the government were pending, while the Chief Justice stays in office despite serious charges. She is holding a referendum on a new constitution without first obtaining Parliament's approval or publishing
The political turmoil is shaking not only the government but the opposition parties and the other groups. What could be made of the referendum the President has called is the practical question — and what Ivan wants made of it is a vote of confidence.
