පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණය කල් දෑමීමකට ඉඩ නොතැබිය යුතුය
Despite the President’s assurance, Ivan says the government still hopes to extend Parliament’s term, a practice begun with the 1972 constitution and taken further by J.R. Jayewardene in 1982. He calls on the government to hold the election under an independent elections commission and to accept the European Union’s offer of observers, and urges citizens to act rather than watch.
ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදයට සීල් තැබීම
Ivan argues that freedom of expression is the gateway to democracy and that modern practice allows only narrow, court-imposed limits for national security. He criticises emergency regulations used to seal the Jaffna paper Uthayan and the Leader group, including Irida Peramuna for a story it never carried, for six months though emergency powers lapse monthly. He places this beside earlier sealings of Aththa, Davasa and Eelanadu and ties it to plans to extend Parliament.
තීන්දු ගැනීමේ ක්රියාවලිය සර්ව පාක්ෂෂික කළ නොහැක්කේ ඇයි?
The editorial argues that a crisis threatening the country’s survival demands that opposition parties share in decisions, not merely be briefed as at the 15 May all-party meeting. It calls for a temporary all-party administration, criticises concealment of events in the North, and notes the double standard by which cartoons of the President are banned while state media ridicule opposition politicians.
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.
රට ඇත්තේ විනාශයක එළිපත්තේ ය
Ivan says Prabhakaran’s offensive on Jaffna has evaporated the government’s plans to extend Parliament or win an election through constitutional change. A defeat in Jaffna could topple the government; any election would exclude the North. He notes MPs’ retrospective pay rise, doubts the new Sinhala nationalist party can offer a practical answer, and warns that the war could move south and force the whole country into bunkers.
Hatred: barrier for fruitful talks
Will the Ranil-Chandrika dialogue change the political picture? Will it produce even a consensus on the ethnic crisis that has gone on destroying life? Not, Ivan argues, while the hatred each side has cultivated for the other is the one thing both of them still hold in common.
Ranil’s googly: Presidency out or not out?
The opposition leader’s statement is complicated, but what it says is that despite its reservations his party will not obstruct the draft constitution if the government thinks it has no other course. Whether that is a concession or a googly is the question the column turns on.
ඊළගට වෙන්න යන්නේ කුමක්ද?
Ranil Wickremesinghe has signalled, if awkwardly, that the UNP will not block the People’s Alliance draft constitution, a ‘googly’ to the President. Ivan explains that the draft would force her to give up an executive presidency that answers to neither Parliament nor the courts for a premiership open to criticism and defeat. Refusing would expose her before the public, her own party, minorities and the international community.
ගෙදර ගියොත් අඹු නසී, මග හිටියොත් තා නසී
Ivan finds the government trapped after its presidential win. S.B. Dissanayake has become one of the few steering the state, while Sarath Amunugama has displaced Mangala Samaraweera on media and failed to deliver UNP defectors. Party-crossing and a referendum to extend Parliament’s term are both fraught, the President’s health raises questions, she is unlikely to trade the presidency for the premiership, and on the ethnic question she is likely to lean towards war.
Thwarting the people’s will can be disastrous
On the eve of the August 1994 parliamentary election, Ivan warns of a plan to use the President’s power over the choice of Prime Minister to name Sirimavo Bandaranaike rather than Chandrika Kumaratunga and split the People’s Alliance. He calls on Mrs Bandaranaike to speak, and predicts the tide against the UNP cannot be stopped.