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.
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.
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.
External powers and internal undemocratic activities
It is welcome that the external powers interested in a solution are looking past Prabhakaran’s extremism to the anti-democratic conduct of the Chandrika government. The American Deputy Secretary of State has gone beyond refusing to recognise an Eelam state to saying his government wants free and fair elections and protected freedom of expression.
පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයක් ජනමත විචාරණයක ද
Ivan expects the government to try to avoid the parliamentary election due by October, fearing defeat after setbacks in the North. With many MPs unsure of renomination, he sets out the seat numbers and shows it would need only 19 opposition votes for a two-thirds majority to extend Parliament through a 1982-style referendum, explains MPs’ pay rises and land grants in that light, and predicts such a referendum could fail.
Against whom are the draconian laws?
The government has declared military rule with a parliamentary election due before the end of August. Conditions in the coming period may be worse than they are now, and the government still cannot, under any circumstances, refrain from holding the election.
Tactics to ensure parliamentary power
The PA government is locked in a dilemma there is no easy way out of. Even a very satisfactory result at the coming parliamentary election would leave it with fewer seats than it holds now, which is why the electoral system itself is what it wants to change.
Way to peace is found within
Norway has come forward as a facilitator to help Sri Lanka find a way out of the ethnic crisis. Will the Norwegian intervention lead to a solution? Ivan’s answer turns on what both Sri Lankan leaders have already shown they will trade for Prabhakaran’s neutrality.
Is history repeating itself?
When a ruling party acts undemocratically it falls to the official opposition to enlighten its members and the public and turn them into an active force against it. What happens when the opposition cannot or will not is the subject — and the case Ivan works from is the SLFP of the 1980s, read through Mick Moore.
Political solutions or political opportunism
Making a constitution implies that the people of a country reach a consensus on the kind of government that suits them. In Sri Lanka it is being done behind their backs: they do not know what is proposed, and the document looks likely to reach them for discussion only after every agreement has been struck.