පාර්ලිමන්ට් ජෝක්ස් නවතම රංගනය මැඩම් චන්ද්රිකාගෙන්
Reports say the President will attend the budget debate and that there is a question over where she will sit. Ivan notes that under Article 33 of the 1978 Constitution a President may enter Parliament only to present policy, make a special statement or preside at a ceremonial sitting, and only in the chair. She has already broken this by presenting a budget as Finance Minister and a constitution from a minister’s seat, unopposed by the UNP, and he warns the Constitution is becoming a comedy.
පැවැත්ම සමග කරන සූදුවක්
Ivan argues that the JVP is gambling its political survival by opposing Ranil Wickremesinghe’s peace effort as it once opposed the Indo-Lanka Accord. He recalls that the party called provincial councils a division of the country, killed people over them and then became their keen participants without apology, and now stays silent on the executive presidency and the President’s stalling of the 17th Amendment. Nationalism, he says, can wreck a settlement but no longer carries anyone to power.
උරුමයේ කරුමය
Ivan agrees with Anura Bandaranaike that the SLFP is a Bandaranaike family fiefdom in which Mahinda Rajapaksa is only a capable retainer, but warns that the country is not a fiefdom too. Further sections mock the ‘jobless’ President’s prison visit to her guards at Bogambara and her complaint that cabinet meetings drive her mad, note an unrevealed secret Mangala Samaraweera told S.B. Dissanayake, and describe how powerful remand prisoners end up in hospital rather than cells.
සාමයේ අනාගතය
As the President and the JVP line up against the government’s ceasefire memorandum of understanding with the LTTE, Ivan says Ranil Wickremesinghe misjudged her willingness to cooperate and failed to adapt the 1978 Constitution for cohabitation, as France did in 1986. He proposes constitutional reform giving domestic power to the Prime Minister, and urges that the chance for peace be seized after 18 years of war that neither side can win.
ජනාධිපතිනියගේ දෙබිඩි පිළිවෙත
The editorial argues that the President’s opposition to the government’s negotiations with the LTTE defies the majority who elected the UNF on a promise of peace talks. It holds that the 2001 result also cancelled her 1999 mandate, so she should either resign or let the new government govern, and warns that telling the world she backs peace while telling supporters she will resist a sell-out could do the country great harm.
අනුරුද්ධ රත්වත්තෙ අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම
The editorial welcomes the arrest of former deputy defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte on criminal charges as a necessary step, since the powerful commit crimes because they are never punished. It argues that the President’s security division has been used against opponents, that she shares the blame, and that presidential immunity should cover ordinary acts of government, not crimes.
ජනාධිපතිනිය පෙනය පිප්පීම ඇරඹීම
Ivan notes that Chandrika Kumaratunga presents herself abroad as a supporter of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s peace effort while telling supporters at Horagolla that the UNP owes its victory to the LTTE and she will resist any sell-out. He faults the Prime Minister for not reforming his uncle J.R. Jayewardene’s constitution as France did for cohabitation, and proposes curbing presidential powers and simplifying the impeachment procedure, which he calls unique in the world.
රැකි රක්ෂා සඳහා ජාතික ප්රතිපත්තියක් අවශ්ය යි
The cabinet has reportedly reversed, at the President’s intervention, its decision to cancel all state recruitment made between the dissolution of Parliament and the election. The piece argues that a caretaker government has no right to make such appointments, that correcting them is not revenge, and that in a country with high unemployment jobs must go on merit under a fair national recruitment policy, with a law banning hiring once an election is called.
ආනමඩුවට තලගොයි පාලනය අවසන් වී කබරගොයි පාලනයක් ලැබීම
Ivan describes how in Anamaduwa the violent rule of PA strongman D.M. Dassanayake, known as ‘Thalagoya’, has been replaced after the election by that of the UNP’s Ranga Bandara, a former policeman, with nine killings, 250 injured and over 150 houses burned, while the police and the Prime Minister look away. A second section welcomes a Supreme Court ruling ordering IGP Lucky Kodituwakku and others to pay compensation personally over biased police promotions.
කුමාර් පොන්නම්බලම් ඝාතනය
An investigative dossier on the January 2000 killing of Kumar Ponnambalam. It sets out a timeline linking the killing to the President’s televised attack on critics, and reports Mrs Ponnambalam’s accusation against the government and CID chief Bandula Wickremasinghe’s secret report naming Mahen Ratwatte as instigator. It reproduces the President’s two condolence letters (one wrongly dated), suspect Sugath Ranasinghe’s affidavit clearing Mahen Ratwatte, a lawyer’s letter for Ratwatte, and a transcript of Ranasinghe’s taped phone confession.