හිරේ සිටිය යුත්තේ කව්ද?
After a bench headed by the Chief Justice rejected Tony Fernando’s revision application against his one-year sentence for contempt, Ivan argues that the bench included judges Fernando had named as respondents, that the judgment identifies no contempt beyond raising his voice, and that it is Sarath N. Silva who belongs in prison. Further sections contrast the Constitutional Council’s published character criteria, drafted by H.L. de Silva, with the Chief Justice’s conduct and criticise delays in appointing the Judicial Service Commission.
නීතියේ පාලනය ඔලුවෙන් සිටුවීම
Eighty days after Tony Fernando was jailed, the Bar Association has done nothing despite Param Cumaraswamy’s appeal, though his case was raised at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and the Asian Human Rights Commission’s petition has gathered over 3,000 signatures. Ivan argues that the President cannot act because she appointed Sarath N. Silva to control the Supreme Court, and that responsibility therefore falls on the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
කෙළෙහි ගුණ දැක්වීම
Ivan notes that the President was met in London by Ronnie Peiris, who had helped her in exile after Vijaya Kumaratunga’s murder and has since grown rich, and says the UNP’s promised inquiries into such figures have gone quiet. Further sections note that she named Sarath N. Silva as a drafter of her constitution though he sat on the bench reviewing it, praise Anton Balasingham’s endorsement of Neelan Tiruchelvam’s 1996 devolution plan, and ask why no one has sought Tony Fernando’s release.
ඉරාක යුද්ධය
The editorial welcomes a Supreme Court ruling, on a Batticaloa voter’s petition over 55,000 people in an LTTE-held area being prevented from voting, which ordered compensation from the army commander and censured the Elections Commissioner, recalling that the President was allowed to vote from her residence in 1999. It argues that senior officials such as the Elections Commissioner and Attorney General, who served ruling parties and stood by during Tony Fernando’s jailing, have done more harm than politicians.
සිංහයා, වෘකයා, කැනහිලා හා නිලමැස්සා
Tony Fernando’s jailing and beating shocked the world but not Sri Lanka’s conscience. Ivan notes Param Cumaraswamy’s appeal to the Bar Association, the President’s refusal to pardon Tony, which he ties to her mutual protection pact with Sarath N. Silva, and the Prime Minister’s indifference. He attacks three newspapers backed by the President and Mangala Samaraweera for smearing Tony and Ravaya, recalls their defence of PA-era crimes, and ends with a fable of scavengers to rank their journalists.
සෙන්පතියන් ගොළුවීම
Ivan describes how a petitioner who appeared without a lawyer was jailed for a year for contempt by a bench including two respondents to his petition, just as the Attorney General was drafting a law defining contempt at the Editors’ Guild’s request, and asks why the Guild and most media stayed silent. Short items follow on arbitrary VIP death compensation, a study of LTTE tax revenue, and the JVP’s dilemma over the PA’s 2000 regional-council package.
නීති සමාජය ගොලුවීම
After UN rapporteur Param Cumaraswamy visited Tony Fernando in hospital and urged the Bar Association to speak up, Ivan condemns the silence of lawyers, human rights figures and most newspapers, and alleges that the Chief Justice uses an $18.2 million World Bank judicial reform loan to buy silence through consultancies and trips. He faults President Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe for tolerating the rot, questions the President’s claims about LTTE arms ships and an assassination plot, and criticises W.J.M. Lokubandara’s handling of the Public Trustee.
වඳින්න ගිය දේවාලය හිසේ කඩා වැටීම
The editorial protests that the Supreme Court sentenced a fundamental rights petitioner, an English teacher with a heart condition, to a year in prison for contempt without charge, legal advice or a chance to defend himself, on a bench that included the Chief Justice, a respondent in the case. It condemns the silence of the media, human rights groups and the legal community while international bodies react with shock.
බන්ධනාගාර වර්ජනයේ අරමුණ කුමක් ද?
The government has left Emmanuel Fernando in prison despite international calls for his release, though the Cabinet could ask the President to pardon him. The editorial suggests the Welikada jailers’ strike over the remand of two officers accused of beating him was instigated from above, notes his account of being assaulted by a plain-clothes officer and medical evidence of injury, and warns that ignoring problems centred on the Chief Justice will cost the government dearly.
ටෝනිට සිදුවූයේ කුමක්ද
Ivan traces Tony Fernando’s long search for redress after his employer refused to meet his private hospital bills following a workplace accident, through the Labour Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, Ombudsman, Speaker and Supreme Court, until the Chief Justice jailed him for a year for contempt and he was beaten in prison. He argues that Sarath N. Silva has placed close associates at the head of every institution of redress, including the human rights and bribery commissions, the Public Trustee and the prisons, forming an octopus-like net.