Dr Kamal Wickremasinghe-Courtesy The Daily News

Parliament

The now concluded impeachment trial of the Chief Justice (CJ) was remarkable for the ridiculous nature of the theatrics staged by the defendant and her legal advisors. It also stood out for the more significant reason of typifying and demonstrating the key elements of a widely used template devised by Western intelligence agencies to create unrest in post-colonial countries. Though the operation failed, they tried.

A careful analysis of the major steps staged by the local ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”supportersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ who campaigned against the impeachment shows that they came straight out of a US ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Training Manual for Unconventional WarfareƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, Training Circular -TC- 18-01 of the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Centre and School (TC). The TC lays out instructions for the US Special Forces on how to exploit another nationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s political, military, economic, and psychological vulnerabilities by developing and sustaining resistance groups to accomplish US strategic objectives, formalising the neo-colonialist model of subversion that has afflicted developing countries attempting to gain political and economic independence since the 1950s.

The strategy outlined is based on co-opting and directing local ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”instrumentsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ such as opposition political parties, NGOs liberally funded by the West, ethnic and religious minority groups and the English language media in a targeted country to manufacture an ongoing low intensity internal conflict. The ultimate objective of subversion using these instruments is to install a proxy government controlled by them, and is amenable to their aims.

The attempts to manage the key stages of the impeachment trial by the CJ, her legal team and her ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”civil societyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ support groups provides a case study of the TC in operation, albeit a failed one.

More drama than Jasaya and Lenchina

The situation that gave rise to the impeachment proceedings, the rift between the executive and the judiciary, is the substance the subversivesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ dreams are made of. Even though it was the CJƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s intransigence on the matter of a simple courtesy call to the presidentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s office that created the rift, matters of propriety on the issues involved was largely irrelevant for the purposes of the subversives operating under diplomatic cover.

DR KAMAL WICKREMASINGHE

Chief Justice, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake

Nor did the fact that the matter essentially went down to the personality of the particular individual occupying the august position of CJ, rather than any attempt by the executive to influence the impartiality of the judiciary, was of importance to them: all that mattered was there was a chance to subvert. The strategy emanated from there.

From the time the impeachment idea was mooted, there was rumour, innuendo, conspiracy theories and other disinformation designed to add a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”viciousƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ spin to the situation, designed primarily to influence public opinion, to create suspicion, that there was something ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”beneath the surfaceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to the issue.

The level of support the CJ received showed that such propaganda clearly failed to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”biteƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ beyond the already converted Colombo middle classes of the Pidgin English speaking kind.

International ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”pressureƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢, one of the most important elements of the strategy came in the form of a statement by the United Nations ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Special RapporteurƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ on the independence of judges and lawyers. The young lady reminded us that international standards require that judges be removed ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”only in exceptional circumstances involving incapacity or gross misconductƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢.

She ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”warnedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ against the misuse of disciplinary proceedings as a reprisals mechanism against independent judges.

The winsome Special Rapporteur failed to mention any grounds for her suspecting such hidden agendas, and more importantly, the source of imprimatur for such forceful intervention by her in the domestic affairs of a member country: it could not have been from the UN because Article 2 (7) of the UN Charter explicitly states that the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-United Nations has no authority to intervene in matters which are within the domestic jurisdiction of any StateƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.

It was no coincidence that another ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”high levelƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ UN delegation visited Sri Lanka during the impeachment hearings, purportedly ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-to examine the implementation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations as well as other post-war developments.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

The TC-18-01strategy requires that the concocted vicious rumours be put out in the public arena in great volumes, repetitively: this task was duly performed by two daily newspapers with family connections to opposition groups and the multitude of subversive web sites operating from within Sri Lanka and from beyond the shores.

Independent judiciary

The attempted ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”high flownƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ comment published through these sources questioned the legality of the impeachment process, consistently failing to mention that Section 107 of the Constitution provided for the impeachment of judges on the grounds of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”misbehaviourƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The legal argument concentrated on the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”validityƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of the Standing Order that gave the Speaker of Parliament the powers to appoint a select committee and the powers of that committee. The discussion on Standing Orders failed to mention once, the fundamental fact that they derive legality to lay down parliamentary procedure from Article 74 of the 1978 Constitution.

The cohorts ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”in bedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ with their foreign masters included some paid and disgruntled groups who turn up for all such ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”protestsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and purely envious middle class groups who seem to be frustrated by their inability to bring out the dawn of a Sri Lankan Spring, due mainly to lack of interest on the part of the general public.

The maximum they could gather for any rally was a several hundred people, denoting the low ranking the issue of impeachment received among the larger public.

They appeared to simply ignore the fact that the ParliamentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s move was based on a request by 117 members, as provided for under Section 107 of the Constitution. The strategy appeared to have been to portray the impeachment process as a grave encroachment by the executive of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”holy territoryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of an independent judiciary. The message was repeated umpteen times, but without achieving the expected reinforcement.

The hearing itself produced more drama by the CJ herself and her legal team. The dramatic walk out clearly appeared pre-planned, especially following damning evidence by a fellow female judge, to show at the end of the trial that the process was ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”not fairƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The walk out of the four opposition MPs was designed to add to that perception. Following the walk out, there were photographs of CJ at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, probably to remind the public of the early remarks of the prelates (who did not appear in the photos).

As with all conspiracies of this nature, incompetent and mumbling members of the team can harm the credibility of the whole operation. The legal representations following the walk out were of such farcical proportions that it bore out the lack of prospects for countering the evidence against: after reiterating the innocence of their client (several times), her lawyerƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s letter requested the Speaker to suspend the current PSC proceedings and to appoint an independent ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”external panelƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to examine the charges.

This absurd request showed that the legal team had failed to notice that the Standing Orders do not empower the Speaker to appoint such a panel.

The Western Corporate media, in cohort with paid local operatives in the Western government financed NGOs, the corrupt members of the local English language media and some members of the university teaching community, is trying their best to transmit a message to the world that Sri Lanka is going through a number of Constitutional, political, and economic crises. This message is disseminated within the context of Western mediaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s narrative of the desirability of the fabled British, US, and increasingly French, advocacy for human rights, democracy, and rule of law, the pretext for aggressive neo-colonial subversion, and long-term political and economic control.

These moves to subvert have acquired an additional dimension after China began to develop mainly economic relations with many developing countries which they perceive as a challenge to the hegemony of the US. In theatres like Sri Lanka, the traditional colonial power Britain and the inheritor of the empire, the US have accelerated subversive efforts and intensified aggression, partly directed against China, resenting their strong friendship with Sri Lanka. Internationally, they take the same approach against Russia, currently re-discovering its strength as a global power.

The intent of these subversive efforts is to exploit the countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s political, economic, and psychological vulnerabilities by developing and sustaining resistance forces to accomplish Western strategic objectives.

These operations are designed not to achieve immediate success with a particular operation, such as this particular one, but to attack and degrade the current Sri Lankan governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s morale, cohesion and operational effectiveness gradually. Their strategy is to separate the population from the government over time, portraying it as corrupt and incapable of effective governance, creating the conditions for popular rebellion.

There are other reasons too: the US system has carefully nurtured a political and administrative system based on a constitutional culture that effectively undermines majority preference, and indeed majority rule.

The US judiciary, stacked at every level with political appointees, clearly intervene strategically in cases with social and economic policy repercussion and political developments.

One of the clearest examples of crucial judicial intervention in the operation of democracy was in the 2000 Presidential election contest between George Bush and Al Gore, the closest ever: Al Gore, the Democrat, received 50,988,442 votes; George Bush, the Republican, received 50,449,494. Bush was declared the winner by the Supreme Court by rejecting GoreƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s challenge to the errors of machine counting that disadvantaged him. The Supreme Court ruled that there is no right to vote for President under the Constitution and effectively stopped the vote count when Bush had a 300 vote lead in Florida.

The message the subversive elements are trying to convey is clearly aimed at people unfamiliar with Sri Lanka, its people and politics but have a passing interest in international affairs.

Anyone who is familiar with Sri Lanka or has spent time on the island will easily see that the country they know is different.

The problem this subversive movement is facing is that the largely contrives ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”issuesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ they keep harping on are not felt by the general population and the public does not appear to be concerned by them. But the government needs to take care to monitor their activities, particularly of the local collaborators.