CHAMIKARA WEERASINGHE- Courtesy The Daily News

The current wave of destabilization of the Courts system and the move to create a rift between the judiciary and the legislature, is being engineered by two foreign powers using their missions in Colombo, the Daily News reliably learns.

The two foreign powers have been in direct liaison with Sri Lankan NGO operatives and so-called civil society activists, funding and otherwise assisting their destabilization campaign.

According to our sources, one well-known NGO personality, who is also a lawyer at the forefront of the campaign to promote the current destabilization effort through Hulftsdorp, at one time had booked scores of rooms in city hotels, to accommodate those participating in the sinister campaign.

Meanwhile, Activists of Certain Non Governmental Organizations based in Sri Lanka and abroad and pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora fronts, in a more collaborative footing, have unleashed a sinister programme to cause all-out civil unrest in the country, even as the impeachment debate on Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayaka takes place in Parliament.

These groups have reportedly unleashed their operations through local link-persons, to fan the flames of public agitation to achieve their objective. They are engaged in an exercise to destabilize the country by creating a rift between the judiciary and the legislature over the situation surrounding the impeachment of Chief Justice Dr Bandaranayaka, sources at the External Affairs Ministry said.

According to ministry sources, they have launched many disinformation campaigns against the government across the globe, especially in the Western world, to discredit Sri Lanka over the issue of impeachment.

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-They are using their media networks for this purpose. External Affairs Ministry sources said two foreign countries are also behind this conspiracy,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ sources added. The countries will be named at the appropriate time, they said.

LawyersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ protest, a damp squib

Priyanka Kurugala

Despite attempts by a group of lawyers to scuttle the proceedings in courts, a vast majority functioned without any untoward incidents, sources said.

Provincial sources said courts in a majority of cities functioned without inconveniencing the public. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Many courts islandwide functioned as scheduled without any incidents despite attempts by a few to scuttle work,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ the Sri Lanka Freedom Lawyers Association (SLFLA) said yesterday.

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The planned boycott of court work by a group of lawyers yesterday was a flop due to the majority not supporting them,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ SLFLA members told the media.

The association also found fault with the writ order issued by the Supreme Court quashing the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) findings.

Addressing a press conference at the Mahaweli Centre in Colombo yesterday, SLFLA sources said the lawyersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ attempt to boycott was unsuccessful. The SLFLA said many NGOs are in the background of these incidents. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-We request them not to damage the glory of the court,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ they said. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-This is the first time in world history a court issued a writ order against Parliament,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ the sources said.