SRI LANKANS  NEED PTA

This morning, I received the communication regarding Mr Wigneswaran’s speech in Sri Lanka’s National Parliament. It was published under the heading ‘On 22^nd March, 2022 at 2 pm

Amendment Bill to the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act No.48 of 1979

Speech by Justice C.V.Wigneswaran M.P.’

 

Just before then my attention was drawn to the report headed ‘WATCH : President apologizes to Ranil over Cabraal’s comment’ at

WATCH : President apologizes to Ranil over Cabraal's comment - NewsWire

 

I admired the wisdom demonstrated by Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe who disciplined the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka  over  Mr Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s statement at the All-Party Conference. In essence Mr Wickremesinghe took the position of ‘Senior’ above Mr Cabraal, in that governance group. More interesting, was the knowledge that  President Gotabaya Rajapaksa extended his apologies to former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Reading the essence of the above, I concluded that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, as a civilian, was respectful of the Separation of Powers between Politics and Administration. As an individual he did not need the PTA.

But as the leader of a nation strongly driven by brawn power he needs the Military as the third arm of the government. The need was endorsed by the LTTE which opposed through the Military path.

 

In his speech, Mr Wigneswaran demonstrated insight into how the Judicial system prevented injustice through delayed justice:

 

[Often Judges grant conditional bail to persons detained for long periods without charges or indictments being filed, advising the Police or AG’s Department to file cases when they are ready. More often such cases are not filed.]

 

If Tamil Judges also did this, in North & East, then we would learn that the Judiciary is senior to the Executive. Yesterday, I wrote as follows  to the Judicial Services Commission of Sri Lanka under the heading - COMPLAINT AGAINST COURT ADMINISTRATION IN NORTHERN SRI LANKA’:

 ‘During the latest discussions we learnt that the Registrar has collected the monies from the banks as if  the Registrar were Administrator  pendente lite, as provided for by Section 539A of the Civil Procedure Code:

 

[539A.  Where   any   legal   proceeding touching  the  validity  of  the  will  of  a deceased  person  or  for  obtaining,  recalling or  revoking  grant  of  probate  or  letters  of administration  is  pending,  the  court  may, either  on  the  ground  of  undue  delay  or otherwise, grant letters of administration to the   estate   of   the   deceased   to   an administrator  limited  for  the  duration  of such  proceeding;  such  administrator  shall be subject to  the immediate control  of the court and act under its direction,  and shall not have the right of distributing the estate]

A copy was sent to the concerned Registrar.  From our previous actions along similar lines, we learnt that we were ‘educating’ the Registrar. The ‘right’ outcomes may or may not be delivered by the Northern Judiciary – but our actions would lead to higher knowledge when shared, would transform us into a more orderly society.

 

If the majority Northern Tamils had had knowledge of the PTA – it is highly likely that the LTTE would have failed in its attempt to ‘influence’ them that ‘separation’ was better than multiculturalism which is represented by Colombo. We need the PTA to discipline extremists from both sides.

The reality in Northern Sri Lanka is that majority have no faith in the law but use greedy lawyers to fulfil their desires. Unlike Colombo Judges known to Mr Wigneswaran, Northern Judges seem to lack the wisdom to delay the punishment and thus uphold Justice.