වයඹ ඡන්ද පෙත්සම්වලට සිදුවූයේ කුමක්ද
Ivan examines the dismissal of all petitions on the 1999 North Western provincial election at the preliminary objection stage for failing to show specific effects on the petitioners. He notes that K.N. Choksy and H.L. de Silva argued the reverse positions from the 1988 presidential petition, argues that the court should have treated the case as one of popular sovereignty, and faults the Elections Commissioner, who annulled nine polling stations and knew of 236 stuffed boxes, for not seeking a fresh poll.
A society without a conscience
What Sri Lanka faces is a crisis of conscience. The things that separate a man from an animal are the ability to think independently and the conscience — and the organisations that exist to exercise both have gone quiet at exactly the moments they were needed.
අවසානයක් නොදුටු ඝාතන සංස්කෘතිය
Ivan details the political crime network behind the killings of Satana editor Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam: gunman ‘Moratuwa Saman’, associates sheltered by a cabinet minister’s residence and an Urban Development Authority flat, and links to Beddagane Sanjeewa of the Presidential Security Division. He describes police interference, the reversal by investigator Shaw Wickramasinghe, a failed first attempt on Rohana Kumara, and the car and pistol used, concluding that small-scale state-backed killing continues.
පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණය කල් දෑමීමකට ඉඩ නොතැබිය යුතුය
Despite the President’s assurance, Ivan says the government still hopes to extend Parliament’s term, a practice begun with the 1972 constitution and taken further by J.R. Jayewardene in 1982. He calls on the government to hold the election under an independent elections commission and to accept the European Union’s offer of observers, and urges citizens to act rather than watch.
හෘද සාක්ෂියක් නැති සමාජයක්
The editorial says Sri Lanka’s crisis is one of conscience. Intellectuals who spoke out under Jayewardene and Premadasa are now silent or defend injustice, and the Civil Rights Movement founded by S. Nadesan fell silent over the North Western provincial poll, as have peace, rights, professional and religious bodies and the Bar Association. It lists basic wrongs, from extending Parliament to judicial interference, that organised society should publicly oppose.
Prabhakaran is not our only threat
An answer to the problem of Prabhakaran can be found only if the collapse running through the whole political system can be stopped and the country’s political spirit revived by a successful reform. The threat named in the headline is not the one the country talks about.
මැතිවරණයට පෙර සර්ව පාක්ෂික සාකච්ඡාවක්
Ivan argues that dealing with Prabhakaran requires first arresting the decay of the whole political system. Public trust in leaders and institutions has collapsed, the executive has captured legislative and judicial power, and even the Elections Commissioner and Auditor General fail in their duties, as the unauthorised gas company compensation shows. He proposes an all-party dialogue before the election to agree on reform principles binding whoever wins.
පොන්නම්බලම් ඝාතනයේ ඇත්ත යටපත් වීමට ඉඩ නොතැබිය යුතුය
The editorial recalls that Ravaya named the criminal ‘Moratuwa Saman’, arrested on 6 April, as Kumar Ponnambalam’s killer and linked a reserve police constable holding the victim’s phone. Senior police officer Bandula Wickramasinghe first blamed the LTTE and now says the constable ordered the killing, apparently to close the case. It demands that police identify the political hand behind the murder and the Rohana Kumara killing.
Election under a commission
The ban on meetings and demonstrations has been lifted, and so has the censorship of foreign news — but publishing in the local media what the foreign media print about the war is still forbidden. The world outside has been given the right to know the truth about the war in the north.
සම්මානය සහ අධිකරණයේ අර්බුදය
Ravaya received the Editors’ Guild’s Sepala Gunasena award for defending judicial independence. Ivan recounts the background: his and W.A.B. Jayasekera’s petitions to disbar Attorney General Sarath N. Silva, Ravaya’s exposure of magistrate Lenin Ratnayake and district judge Upali Abeyratne, the Bar Association’s call for inquiries that found both guilty, the lenient penalties, and the protests by lawyers and MPs before Silva was made Chief Justice in September 1999.