Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
03
July 2019
Sri
Lanka has become International due to Easter Bombings?
[On Monday, the attorney general’s department
said in a letter to acting police chief CD Wickremaratne that it had ordered
Fernando and Jayasundara to be named as suspects and produced before a court
because a presidential commission of inquiry found grounds to charge them with
dereliction of duties and criminal negligence.
The letter said crimes the officials were
suspected of having committed fall within “grave crimes against humanity” under
international law.] Associated Press
report headed ‘Sri Lanka
bombings: police and defence chiefs held on negligence charge’
Tamils
whose loved ones were killed in the ethnic war are awaiting the very UN declaration
that the current Attorney General has made against these two officers. UN is
duty-bound to use International law. Not so the above mentioned officers – Fernando
and Jayasundara.
If
indeed these officers are being charged under international law – why were
their parallels not charged under the same law for negligence that resulted in crimes being committed
against Tamils during the 30 year ethnic war? Is it all a drama to fool the
public?
The
following is relevant in identifying with the mind-order that produced these
outcomes:
[Fernando told the committee Sirisena was not
easily accessible for discussions. Jayasundara said Sirisena asked him after
the blasts to take responsibility and resign and said he would be cleared in
any subsequent inquiry.
Jayasundara also said Sirisena had asked him
not to attend national security council meetings since last October, when
Sirisena fired the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, in a power struggle
that triggered a seven-week political crisis.
Wickremesinghe was subsequently reinstated by
the supreme court.]
In
other words, as per the above one is entitled to conclude that the Easter
Bombings happened due to the disconnection in the flow of Due Processes that
the government was duty-bound to follow. Instead of explaining himself to the
foreign diplomats – should Mr Wickremesinghe not be taking legal action against the President
– stating the Attorney General as the Respondent? This has been provided for in
the Constitution through article 35(1):
[35. (1) While any person holds office as
President of the Republic of Sri Lanka, no civil or criminal proceedings shall
be instituted or continued against the President in respect of anything done or
omitted to be done by the President, either in his official or private
capacity: Provided that nothing in this paragraph shall be read and construed
as restricting the right of any person to make an application under Article 126
against the Attorney-General, in respect of anything done or omitted to be done
by the President, in his official capacity: Provided further that the Supreme
Court shall have no jurisdiction to pronounce upon the exercise of the powers
of the President under Article 33(2)(g).]
[126. (1) The Supreme Court shall have sole
and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question relating to the
infringement or imminent infringement by executive or administrative action of
any fundamental right or language right declared and recognized by Chapter III
or Chapter IV.]
Why
did Mr Wickremesinghe not take action through the very process that reinstated
him as Prime Minister? Was that negligence a confirmation of ingratitude to the
Judicial process? The best way to say ‘thank you’ while we are active in a
position is by doing our duty through the very process that protected our
rights and thereby facilitated us to be active in that position. Beyond law we
are always protected by truth. Practice of law through legal action strengthens
our Administrative processes – especially in relation to those who are
outsiders to us. The outcomes delivered ought to be secondary to this deeper
value of common mind-order.
The
October 2018 political crisis confirmed to the People that the judicial process
in Sri Lanka was more reliable than the political process. Why did Mr
Wickremesinghe not activate this process and invoke the blessings of our judicial
ancestors? Article 14A of the Constitution covers the right to ‘intelligence’
as follows:
[14A. (1) Every citizen shall have the right of access to any information as
provided for by law, being information that is required for the exercise or
protection of a citizen’s right held by:-
(a)
the State, a Ministry or any Government Department or any statutory body
established or created by or under any law;
(b)
any Ministry of a Minster of the Board of Ministers of a Province or any
Department or any statutory body established or created by a statute of a
Provincial Council;
(c)
any local authority; and
(d)
any other person, who is in possession of such information relating to any
institution referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) (b) or (c) of this paragraph.]
The
intelligence/information that the
President has gained is the property of
Common Sri Lankan. To the extent the Prime Minister needed to access it
to protect that Common Sri Lankan’s right to manifest her/his religion, he had the duty to take action against the
President by stating the Attorney
General as respondent. Article 14(1) (e ) is of particular significance in the
case of Easter bombings:
14. (1) Every citizen is entitled
to – (e ) the freedom, either by himself or in association with others, and
either in public or in private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship,
observance, practice and teaching;
We
are often discouraged from activating such judicial processes in an unreliable
system. But to the extent we are genuine – it regulates our minds and helps us
to find completion in areas where we are queens or kings as well as citizens.
The
ruler’s work is incomplete until there is an heir. The heir happens naturally when the ruler and the citizen become one. The
further away that heir is physically – the wider the coverage and hence
confirmation that the experience tends towards being global.
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