ටෝනි නිදහස ලැබීම
Tony Fernando has been freed after serving the one-year sentence for contempt imposed by a bench headed by the Chief Justice, telling supporters his only offence was reading a constitutional provision in court. Ivan alleges the Chief Justice orchestrated the assault on him in prison. Further sections report Param Cumaraswamy’s Colombo lectures criticising the Bar Association under Ananda Wijesekera, a Dinakara article defending the Chief Justice by Nelson Perera, and new evidence of Tilanga Sumathipala’s links with Dhammika Amarasinghe.
නීතියේ පාලනය කථාවට පමණද?
The piece notes that the IGP attended a drug dealer’s birthday party, the Telecom and Cricket Board chairman Tilanga Sumathipala is accused of close links with contract killer Dhammika Amarasinghe, the Public Trustee took a bribe, and the Chief Justice faces impeachment charges, yet none has stepped down. Sections detail Sumathipala’s alleged role in sending Amarasinghe to the 1999 World Cup on a false passport, Dinakara’s use of religion to shield him, the IGP’s explanation, and the rivalry between Anura Bandaranaike and Chandrika Kumaratunga.
ජාතික දේශපාලනයේ දි පාතාල ලෝකයට ලැබී තිබෙන වැදගත්කම
Following underworld figure ‘Bada Mahinda’ Godage’s confession to the CID, Ivan describes how Beddagane Sanjeewa, a presidential security officer blamed for Rohana Kumara’s murder, was killed on the orders of Dhammika Amarasinghe, with Tilanga Sumathipala also accused. Drawing on personal encounters, he outlines a repression apparatus of security officers and contract killers behind attacks on Lasantha Wickrematunga, Kumar Ponnambalam, Anoja Weerasinghe and others, and blames politicians and the media for letting Sri Lanka become ruled by hired killers.
අපරාධකරුවන් රජ කරන රටක්
The editorial blames the collapse of law-enforcement institutions for the rise of violent crime, noting that suspects flee abroad on bail, that people linked to the killing of Satana editor Rohana Kumara and to Kumar Ponnambalam’s murder have fled or been mysteriously shot, and that Dhammika Amarasinghe, suspected of some 50 killings, enjoys freedom and a mobile phone in remand. It argues that human rights laws were introduced without modern investigative methods, leaving police lax, and calls on the Interior Minister to act.
Bribery, Corruption and Politics
In this article, Victor Ivan highlights the systemic political corruption in Sri Lanka and the ineffectiveness of the Commission of Inquiry into Bribery or Corruption. Recounting an exchange at a Transparency International seminar, Ivan criticizes the Commission’s Chairman for protecting a former minister accused of misusing state funds via a credit card, arguing that the Commission acts as a shield for corrupt politicians rather than a deterrent. The author contends that bribery and corruption have become the very foundation of Sri Lankan politics and political funding. Because both major political parties depend on illegal wealth generation and crony capitalism for their survival, neither President Chandrika Kumaratunga nor Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe genuinely wants an independent Bribery Commission, as true accountability would result in many politicians facing imprisonment.
යුක්තිය පසිඳලන ආයතන ක්රමයේ බිඳවැටීම
Ivan likens the judiciary to a cancer patient: the President planted the disease by appointing a corrupt Chief Justice and the present government has let it spread. Further sections mark Mark Fernando’s early retirement and his rulings on presidential immunity, a petition by 22 professionals asking the Tyronne Fernando select committee to hear the charges against Sarath N. Silva, rising Muslim unrest in the East and the demand for Muslim police recruits, and a presidential commission on crime that ignores presidents’ own use of criminals.
ඉදිරි පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණයේ ගමන් මග
Ivan weighs the President’s plan to test her strength in early provincial elections, comparing the 2001 parliamentary results with the later local government polls, in which the JVP fell from about a million votes to under 600,000. Recalling vote-rigging by the UNP from 1977 to 1994, the 1982 referendum and the PA’s North Western Province poll, he argues that all three main parties prefer a ‘thieves’ system’ of election plunder, and reads the President’s remarks to editors about using thuggery as a sign of a looming fight to the death.
ආරක්ෂෂාව සඳහා පිස්තෝල ඉල්ලීම
PA members of the Southern Provincial Council are reported to be seeking pistols from the President. The editorial notes that Sri Lanka alone arms its legislators, a practice begun during the 1989–90 JVP insurrection and never stopped, and argues that it cheapens representative democracy and fuels violence and crime by MPs’ guards; protection should come from the police, and the promised disarming of MPs has not happened.
නීතිය අකුරටම ක්රියාත්මක කරන රාජ්ය නිලධාරින් රටට අවශ්ය නැද්ද?
The editorial laments that officials who apply the law strictly go unprotected: a customs officer was murdered after pursuing a politically connected businessman’s duty fraud, an audit officer was blinded after exposing fraud in the Central Provincial education ministry, and now a wildlife officer has been killed. It contrasts the lack of compensation for the blinded auditor with the large sums paid when political leaders die.
රැලේ සාමාජිකයින්ට පිස්සු නටන්නට ඉඩ හැර බලා සිටීම
The editorial credits Ranil Wickremesinghe with opening roads, keeping calm in the face of the President’s outbursts and internationalising the peace effort, but faults him for failing to discipline his team. It lists reports of ministers and MPs assaulting police, freeing detained supporters and demolishing a Matara sports club building, with endless inquiries and no action, and warns that repeating the lawlessness tolerated under Chandrika Kumaratunga would be ruinous.