ස්වාධීන කොමිෂන් ගැන ජනාධිපතිනියගේ වැදි බණ
The President has lectured the Constitutional Council that commission members must be honest, impartial and free of corruption charges, while objecting to some nominees and saying Human Rights Commission members she appointed stay until March 2003. Ivan contrasts this with her own appointments: an acting Elections Commissioner during her own election, Sarath N. Silva as Chief Justice while under inquiry, Harry Jayawardena and Sripathi Suriyarachchi. He proposes a parliamentary committee to hear objections, criticises Faiz Mustapha’s conduct as HRC chairman, and argues the old commissions lapsed under the 17th Amendment.
සහජීවනය කොයිබටද?
Ivan welcomes talk of cohabitation between the President and the Prime Minister but says it must rest on principles. The 1978 Constitution breeds conflict when power is divided, the President has refused to respect the new mandate, and the UNP still covets the presidency. He rejects the idea of forgetting her alleged killings, PSD violence and the vehicle purchases, and points to South Africa’s truth commission, which examined abuses by both sides.
නරක සංඥාවක්
A young monk who led the Motherland Protection Movement was reportedly abducted, beaten and dumped in a village near Hungama. The editorial says only the government or those it protects could do this, and insists that however mistaken the movement’s views, it must be free to protest within a democratic framework and be answered by argument. Those responsible must face the law.
ජනාධිපතිනියත් නීතිය ඉදිරියට පමුණුවාලිය යුතුය
Ivan argues that presidential immunity assumes a leader will not commit crimes, and that one who does must face the law. He questions how Chandrika Kumaratunga funds her lifestyle, calls the Air Lanka sale to Emirates, brokered by her friend Chandana Silva, corrupt, and links her security forces to the killings of Kumar Ponnambalam and Rohana Kumara, the attack on singers Rookantha Gunathilake and Chandraleka, the burning of Anoja Weerasinghe’s house and body parts sent to Ravi Karunanayake. He urges an impartial commission.
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.
ජයග්රාහකයා පරාජිතයා නොපෙළිය යුතු ය
The editorial condemns post-election reprisals in areas such as Anamaduwa, Pathadumbara, Nawalapitiya and Hiriyala, where PA figures had behaved like local warlords with police and presidential backing. It says the paper had long warned that such violence would provoke a backlash, and calls on the new government both to stop reprisals and to prosecute those responsible for earlier election violence.
ලෙනින් රත්නායක, උපාලි අබේරත්න පරීක්ෂණ වාර්තා ගැන “රාවය” කර්තෘගෙන් අගවිනිසුරුට ලිපියක්
In a letter dated 27 August 2001 to Sarath N. Silva as chairman of the Judicial Service Commission, Ivan asks for the reports of the two committees that found Magistrate Lenin Ratnayake and District Judge Upali Abeyratne guilty. He sets out the history: Ravaya’s 1997 reports of a rape by Ratnayake and his earlier dismissal for fraud, Silva’s 1998 confidential report to G.L. Peiris, the Abeyratne divorce case, the Bar’s past presidents’ intervention, his disbarment complaint, and Silva’s appointment and the impeachment, and says he needs the reports for a case in Geneva.
මෝඩකමට බෙහෙත් නැත
Justice Minister Batty Weerakoon objected when the UN Special Rapporteur on judicial independence, Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy, asked through the Foreign Minister that Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva stand aside until the impeachment is resolved. Ivan explains Sri Lanka’s obligations under the ICCPR, its 1997 accession to the Optional Protocol, the 1985 UN principles and the 1997 Beijing Statement, recalls Cumaraswamy’s earlier objection to Silva’s appointment over pending complaints and seniority, and calls the People’s Alliance era the darkest in the judiciary’s history.
අධිකරණයේ අර්බුදය ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය
Ivan argues that an independent judiciary must protect citizens, not the government, when popular sovereignty is threatened, citing Kuldip Singh’s court under Indira Gandhi. Under Sarath N. Silva the Supreme Court has become the executive’s tool: he packed the bench on the electoral bill, blocked Karu Jayasuriya’s media petitions, reversed the growth of fundamental rights jurisprudence by assigning cases to himself, and dismissed over twenty judicial officers. No reform or ethnic settlement is possible until this is remedied.
රාජ්ය පාලකයන්ට රතු සංඥාවක්
During the President’s visit to the Netherlands, a lawyer for Tamil refugees sought a court order for her arrest under the Convention against Torture; the Dutch court rejected it only because it was not properly framed. The editorial draws the lesson that rights violations, attacks on democratic rights and plunder of public money are increasingly treated as international crimes, limiting where rulers can travel or flee.