S. Akurugoda

According toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  media reports, governing party members of the Sri Lankan parliament handed in a motion to the Speaker requesting for the appointment of a select committee to probe into UNP MP Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena. The motion was said to be signed by 78 governing party members and has called for a select committee to probe Dr. JayawardenaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s alleged involvement in anti-government protests.

The select committee is to investigate whether Dr. Jayawardena has violated the oath taken by legislators where they says they would not support any act that would promote separatism, as per the said reports.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Under Article 157A, Prohibition against violation of territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, of the constitution of Sri Lanka, no person shall, directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.

Under the said Article, no political party or other association or organization shall have as one of its aims or objects the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.

The Article 157A, among many other things, has clearly laid down the steps that have to be taken against those who violate the constitution including the Members of Parliament.

Although the Sri Lanka government had taken steps to confront the terrorist outfit militarily, not enough attention had been made to counteract the effect of false propaganda machinery of the LTTE, both in and outside the country. As a result the unarmed separatists have gone wild and intensified their propaganda campaign since they areƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  fully aware that the only way-out to save their existence is to provide the moral support to the desperate agents of the Anglo American oriented so-called internationalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  community (who are openly exhibited their indisputable relationship with the Tamil Tigers and their terrorism and determined to make a regime change to install aƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  puppet regime) by intensifying the use ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”war crimes and human rights sloganƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ against the government and its security forces.

Despite the fact that the mass murderer Prabhakaran and his gang of military leaders of the terrorist outfit is no more, we still have political parties, associations and organizations that directly or indirectly support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage and advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.

Although the above Clauses were introduced as an amendment (6th amendment) to the constitution in 1983, quite surprisingly no action has been taken, as per the constitution, against those who violate the said article of the Constitution up to now. Thus it appears that Sri Lanka may be the only country in the world managed to defeat a terrorist outfit militarily while feeding the terrorists and keeping the doors open to those who provide amenities and justify terrorism within its own soil.

During the 30 years of war against terrorism, the personnel including parliamentarians, political parties, some media groups, NGOs and INGOS who support the outfit for personal, monetary and political gains, have established their positions both in and outside Sri Lanka. These pressure groups were doing a great service to Prabhakaran at the expense of lives of the innocent civilians in the South and those of the security forces. There is no necessity to pinpoint each and every perpetrator on individual basis, since the general public is now fully aware of those promoters of separatism.

Publication of diversity of views is an essential factor when maintaining democratic norms. However, some of the statements made by personnel against the country advocating separatism are in violation of the above provision.

The recent speech made by a so-called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”ultra leftwingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”anti neo imperialistƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ party leader addressing the gathering at Tamil Naitonal Remembrance Day in London is a case in point.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Incidentally, we remember, the said three wheeler party leader once called upon the Tamil Tigers to join hands with the working masses in the country and abroad to fight together to liberate the country from global capital and national oppression while addressing a public meeting in Eastham, organised by the Tamil Information Centre, Tamil Community Forum and World Peace Organisation in East London.

The majority of the people in Sri Lanka do not consider this miserably lost politicianƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s call as a serious one, but the appearance of his speeches in favour of Tamil separatism in international media could add some weight in supporting the claim for racist separatism.

We, as ordinary citizens, are fully aware of the role Dr Jayawardena is playing while extending his one hand to Buddhism and extending the other to the LTTE. The parliamentarian had been invited to attend the midnight Christmas Pontifical Mass celebrated by the Holy Father Benedict XVI on 24^th December 2006 at the Vatican. It is said that such invitations are not given to any and every Catholic merely because he/she is a Catholic. Such invitations are given to devotees, as an appreciation of their services and loyalty to the Catholic Church.

We remember how Dr Jayawardena flew to Oslo , Rome , London etc very often to participate in conferences arranged for the benefit of the LTTE.

The LTTE frontline activist Vaiko addressed one of the conferences held in Oslo under the title ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Peace and Reconciliation in Southeast Asia” which was said to be mainly attended by the Tamil Tiger sympathisers. After meeting the LTTE men in Oslo, it was reported, Dr Jayalath Jayawardena had secret meetings with the LTTE men in London too.

We can understand the politicianƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s behaviour towards religions since we have seen many political leaders in Sri Lanka behaving in that fashion, although not to the same extent as Dr Jayawardena. However, his honesty and sincerity is in question when we see an ardent Catholic pretends to show-off as an ardent Buddhist while having secret meetings with ardent Terrorists.

Apart from above personalities, the crushing defeat of the LTTE, no doubt, would have caused serious concerned to the bogus ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-peaceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-rightsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ activists and other interested parties whose survival depends upon the continuation of conflicts and terror, though they appear in public as the saviours of peace.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  They were extremely busy supplying the necessary amenities to their pay masters of the West to save Prabhakaran up to the last moment, appear to be not active (in public) as before, but will do whatever possible to maintain their stance at any cost.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

The Tamil separatist war targeted civilians killing and injuring thousands since its inception Are not these people contributing indirectly those lives lost and wounded due to indiscriminate targeting of civilians by a blood thirsty separatist group, by justifying the separation of Tami Eelam?

The right decision at the right time without fear and prejudice will lead to right result. For example, prior to abrogation of the CFA, Sri Lanka appeared more or less as a colony of so-called Co-Chairs led by Norwegians and any attempt to abrogate the Agreement was seen by the pressure groups as a negative step towards peace and declaration of war against Tamils. The LTTE was considered by the treacherous CFA and Co-Chairs, including the US, as the sole representative of Tamils. The getting rid of direct interference of Co-Chairs, biased Norwegians and Monitoring Mission of Scadinavian etc could be considered as great achievements. Above all the right decision taken at the right time to crush the LTTE terrorism militarily is a case in point.

Thus, it is time to take necessary steps under the Article 157A of the Constitution in order to prevent the repetition of what had led to the cancellation of the lecture scheduled to be delivered at the Oxford Union by the President on 2^nd of this month.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  If the Article 157A is not found adequate to dealt with such people who made statements against the country advocating separatism, the Sri Lanka government should introduce new laws to meet security requirements and should go all out against any local element promoting separatist sentiments regardless of political, social or religious affiliations, since the country could not afford to make way for terrorists once again.

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