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.
විය යුත්තේ කුමක්ද?
Opposition to the ceasefire is growing: the JVP wants the LTTE destroyed militarily, and the PA, including Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, joined a protest against Ranil Wickremesinghe’s ‘treacherous pact’. Recalling the JVP’s violent response to the Indo-Lanka Accord, the editorial argues that the memorandum’s flaws should be debated, not used to return to war, that neither side will give up readiness to fight overnight, and that the country needs a policy of untangling the knot.
දැන් වියහැකි දේ කුමක්ද?
Ivan tests the JVP claim that a JVP–People’s Alliance coalition could have formed a government on 2001 results, pairing the UNP with its Tamil and Muslim allies against the PA, JVP and EPDP, and noting the collapse in both parties’ votes at the 2002 local elections. Policy differences and public fear of renewed war make a lasting alliance unlikely, so an early election is improbable; he urges civil society to widen the government–LTTE talks into a broader state reform.
හදිසි ආණ්ඩු පෙරළියකට තිබෙන ඉඩ
With Parliament a year old, the editorial weighs the President’s options. Anura Bandaranaike says she can dissolve it once a pact with the JVP is reached, but an election soon after the last one could anger voters and the JVP is a poor partner in government. Counting seats, it shows the People’s Alliance and allies cannot reach 113 without UNP defectors, and argues that a coup would anger the international community and not serve her aim of amending the constitution to stay in politics.
17 වැනි සංශෝධනය ඔළුවෙන් සිටුවීම
The idea of a Constitutional Council, advanced by professional bodies and backed by pro-democracy and media groups, was meant to take appointments to key posts out of the head of state’s arbitrary hands. The editorial argues that the version of the 17th Amendment drafted with JVP mediation reverses this, leaving the President to nominate and the Council merely to approve, a distortion it attributes to the President, the Chief Justice and Jayampathy Wickramaratne, with the UNP assisting through carelessness.
ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ භූමිකාව
The editorial says the JVP aims to ally with favoured SLFP figures, derail the peace process with the President’s help and use the resulting disorder to form a government it can steer, much as Sirimavo Bandaranaike and N.M. Perera did in 1964, with Mangala Samaraweera as go-between. It argues the JVP offers the SLFP little beyond votes, and warns that the power struggle may push Prabhakaran to prepare for war or to claim that only a separate state is left.
සාපරාධී අපහාස නීතිය හා විමල් වීරවංශ
Parliament repealed criminal defamation unanimously, though some PA and JVP members clearly opposed it. Replying to Wimal Weerawansa’s attack on Ravaya during the debate, the editorial says Ravaya lost faith in Chandrika Kumaratunga long ago, alleges that Mangala Samaraweera arranged a Press Council ruling for the JVP through its chairman Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, and challenges Weerawansa to answer questions on killings and assaults, the Malimbada shooting and corruption allegations against the President.
තහනම සාකච්ඡාවලට බාධාවක් කරගත යුතු ද?
Campaigners demanding that the LTTE ban stay in place would, the editorial argues, wreck the proposed talks and push the country back to war it cannot afford. The Tigers fought before and after the ban, which was imposed to placate the public after the attack on the Temple of the Tooth. The JVP too was once banned, and a ban lifted can easily be reimposed if the LTTE breaks its commitments.
අධිකරණය ගඳ ගැස්සවීම
A short note on Anura Bandaranaike’s meeting in London, with Nimal Siripala de Silva, with JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe to bring the JVP into the People’s Alliance. Ivan calls the two alike in everything but oratory, says Anura’s aim is to overtake Mahinda Rajapaksa as the PA’s next presidential candidate by replacing the pro-peace LSSP and Communist Party with the JVP, and ironically wishes him success.
මැතිවරණ ප්රතිඵල වලින් පෙන්නුම් කෙරෙන දේශපාලන උපනති
Ivan analyses the local election results in the Colombo municipal area, Kesbewa, Ratnapura and Galle against the 2000 and 2001 parliamentary polls. The UNP held or gained ground while the PA’s vote collapsed by a third to over half and the JVP also fell sharply. He concludes that voters rejected the PA and JVP’s nationalist claim that the peace effort meant dividing the country, backing peace despite the soaring cost of living.