IS MINISTER G.L. PEIRIS
DOING DOUBLE TALK?
L. Jayasooriya
It has been reported in the media that the minister has said and I
quote the Island of 25th January 2002 "The meaning of fair and
revered peace would be peace established, completely safeguarding the
territorial integrity of the country and its sovereignty. The government's
stand is devolution of power within one country". In the same statement
he says "The system of devolution of power is a Federal system".
He then goes on to say that while it is important that there cannot
be two armies in one country the situation with regard to the police
force is quite different. What he did not say about what is quite different
is quite clear to us.
One does not have to be a professor of law to know that there can
be no devolution within a unitary state and when a university professor
talks of federalism within a unitary state the people have the right
to conclude that it is a calculated attempt to insult them by misleading
because the constitution says that this country shall remain a unitary
state.
I like to ask the minister who is a professor of law as to whether
he agrees with the famous American judge who said "This
country is a government of laws and not of men". If
he disagrees on the principle of that statement then he owns us an explanation
but if he agrees then we like to ask him whether everything he has done
while he has been the custodian of the rule of law for the last 9 years
has conformed to the law? Can he say that the MoU which was signed by
the government and everything that was done in pursuance of it was in
conformity with the existing constitution? If he cannot defend it on
a platform of law in front of the world, then all what has been deliberated
under the MoU including the peace talks at Oslo and Thailand where the
75% of the population, namely the Singhalese were not represented, are
unconstitutional and hence is illegal. It would have been illegal even
if the Singhalese had been represented at the talks because the MoU
on which the talks were based and are based is unconstitutional.
The professor knows that the only legal way to override any entrenched
clause in the constitution is not only to obtain a two-third majority
in parliament but also that decision will have to be ratified at a national
referendum. The people are now aware of the government intentions. Any
talk of a regional referendum to override an entrenched clause in the
constitution is something that the people will not tolerate. Today on
the 25th , the anniversary of the day the LTTE bombed the Dalada maligawa
the government has attempted to shamefully whitewash the LTTE and absolve
it from any blame for the attack, in a large ceremony using "pichcha
flowers" but a foretaste of what the Singhalese think of the government
can be seen today all the way from Kegalle to Kandy and in Kandy itself
in the form of posters that are far more deadly than all the government
controlled media put together.
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