හිරවූ තත්ත්වය
The Supreme Court ruling on the 19th Amendment has created a sense of instability, but the editorial argues that neither side can prevail: the President can obstruct the government but not topple it, and with the Tamil alliance’s 16 MPs the government has 130 seats, not 114. It urges both sides to use the deadlock to reach consensus on the executive presidency, national policy, the peace process and minority rights.
ආණ්ඩුව ගන්නා පියවර දෙස විමසිල්ලෙන් බලා සිටිමු
Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered the new Inspector General of Police, T.E. Anandarajah, to investigate an attack on journalists at a Samurdhi officers’ protest in Medirigiriya, allegedly by thugs linked to the United National Front. The piece welcomes the order but doubts it will be followed through, citing inaction over election violence and over MPs Ranga Bandara, Dilip Wedaarachchi and Ranjith Aluwihare, and over incidents involving ministers Vajira Abeywardena, Arumugam Thondaman and Mahinda Wijesekera.
19 වැනි සංශෝධනය
The government seeks a 19th Amendment to remove the President’s power to dissolve Parliament after one year, while the President resists. The editorial supports the change, citing France, but warns against repeating the hasty 17th Amendment and lists further defects to fix: the President’s right to hold cabinet portfolios, presidential immunity and the distorted Constitutional Council. It urges a transitional programme that does not make the opposition fear a two-thirds majority.
අධිකරණ සේවයෙන් ලෙනින් රත්නායක පිටමං කිරීම
After more than five years, the Judicial Service Commission has decided to remove magistrate Lenin Ratnayake, whom a three-judge inquiry had found guilty on four serious charges but who was meanwhile kept on compulsory paid leave. The editorial recalls that he had been dismissed from the Insurance Corporation for fraud before joining the judiciary and was accused of sexually abusing two women connected to cases before him, and holds Sarath N. Silva responsible for shielding him. It calls for wider judicial reform beyond removing the Chief Justice.
ඒකාධිපතියන් රටට අවශ්ය නැත
The editorial accuses the President of abusing her powers under the distorted 17th Amendment. She has kept Priyani Wijesekera, the most senior and qualified candidate, as only acting Secretary-General of Parliament despite the 14-day limit on acting appointments, and passed over Justice Mark Fernando, whose ruling that presidential immunity ends with the term of office she resented, when naming an acting Chief Justice. It calls on all parties to correct the amendment.
17 වැනි සංශෝධනය ඔළුවෙන් සිටුවීම
The idea of a Constitutional Council, advanced by professional bodies and backed by pro-democracy and media groups, was meant to take appointments to key posts out of the head of state’s arbitrary hands. The editorial argues that the version of the 17th Amendment drafted with JVP mediation reverses this, leaving the President to nominate and the Council merely to approve, a distortion it attributes to the President, the Chief Justice and Jayampathy Wickramaratne, with the UNP assisting through carelessness.
කොටි තහනම ඉවත් කිරීම
The editorial welcomes the government’s decision to lift the ban on the LTTE as necessary to the peace process despite some opposition. The ban was imposed to placate the public after the attack on the Temple of the Tooth and made no difference to what the LTTE did. It notes that the ceasefire is holding and that public support for a settlement is strong, and urges both sides to look beyond past wrongs.
කටයුතු සිදුවෙමින් තිබෙන ආකාරය ඛේදජනකය
The CID found Rs 50 million in treasury bill certificates in one bank locker of a former powerful minister, reportedly holding Rs 1 billion in such securities, and earlier probed Rs 450 million linked to a former service chief. Questions also surround Rs 540 million allocated to a rubber company project on the President’s cabinet paper, whose chairman is her close associate. The editorial rejects her claim of immunity from inquiry and urges the government to enforce the law against large-scale plunder.
ව්යවස්ථා සභාව කොයිබට ද?
Long after its appointment, the Constitutional Council has not set up a single independent commission. The editorial criticises its demand for immunity from fundamental rights suits, reminds it that it is publicly funded and exists to make key institutions independent, and says members should give up political roles, including acting as advisers to politicians, and that appointments to it should face public scrutiny.
ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ භූමිකාව
The editorial says the JVP aims to ally with favoured SLFP figures, derail the peace process with the President’s help and use the resulting disorder to form a government it can steer, much as Sirimavo Bandaranaike and N.M. Perera did in 1964, with Mangala Samaraweera as go-between. It argues the JVP offers the SLFP little beyond votes, and warns that the power struggle may push Prabhakaran to prepare for war or to claim that only a separate state is left.