DON’T PRONOUNCE – UNP IS DEAD!
Posted on June 13th, 2013
ByƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Gomin Dayasri
UNP is not dead: shows sign of being alive-at least breathing though not kicking-to bring forth an imitation ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-constitutionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ for the country. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Call it a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”constitutionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢-that is a misnomer. More – a policy statement, designed to attract other political parties to come into its fold. ThatƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s the success line-got something for everyone if the address is urban. Scripted by Colombo for Colombo ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”their lies the weakness.
Hardly sufficient to move the common- man [not his cup of tea?] unlike J.R.JayewardaneƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s bag of cereals (Eta ata) or PremadasaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s family pay-package. For sure -13th Amendment remains on the scorecard deceptively retained, for better or worse, on a comeback or stay-put trail for the Party. Yet, there is movement-shake of a head or more, a raise of an eyebrow, in a body long thought dead: pins the hope of a nation desperate for an opposition.
DonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t write off the UNP -itƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s a worthy relic that needs preservation for antique value, a museum piece for the moment, with necessary reconditioning, still remains the party of return of the future. Taken for a token setback in 1988, has a permanent air a quarter centaury later in 2013: except in the minds of a few high spirited greener than grass stalwarts ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” living in the hope of a home coming; not projected on the radar on a reading of recent election results. That is not all.
It has sturdy frontier men capable of taking any set back, lie low, bide time in the wilderness and surface gracefully to safeguard the grand old party in the hour of need unlike the Dead Old Left, deserted by the membership surviving on the rent of a once mighty party office, whose present leadership presented with high office will sing for their supper forgetting their principled comrades who made great sacrifice for a cause.
Those men of character in the UNP will not desert the green elephant as bondage is in their blood stream and will remain in the wild like the nomads and emerge when UNP returns to understand the mood of people from whom the present policy makers are distancing by wiping its true character of a broad based provincial party of the past. The party of the SenanayakesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of Botale Waluwe lost its way to wind up at Ward Place Colombo 7 in the Jayawardane household to collect the Colombians from the garbage dump and take over over the great party of Gamini Jayasooriya, M.D.H Jayewardane, M.D, Banda, U.B. Wanninayake, R, Premadasa, E.L.B.Hurulle and Gamini Dissanayake who had their roots in the back beyond. How many of the true-blooded evergreens are in Parliament, Provincial Councils and Pradesheeya Sabhas?
With his many deficiencies Ranil Wickremasinghe with stout integrity stands out in the forefront in a party of many mediocrities and still lesser minions except for a few exceptions among the younger set and appointed MPs that make an occasional credible sound.
Indeed strange when UNP has a rich vein of talent in the wings of the professional and business community. Sajith Premadasa carries an iconic name of a revered father still a force among the common man unlike J.R.Jayewardane discarded universally.
Hidden strength UNP possesses is in the weight it carries with the popular private media- with which the hierarchy is often engaged in unnecessary conflict. UNP defeats itself most time by its own stupidity: UPFA that can by own folly bring its downfall rather than being grounded by the UNP. That does not augur well for either party in the selection of the lesser evil by the people at an election.
Call it by any name- whither national constitution, policy statement, party manifesto, guiding principles ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” it is unable to impress on the much needed personal economic revival of the individual or a touch a cord of patriotism in a society conditioned after a 30 year war, necessary to bring forth the required genie for the revival spirit; badly needed tonic in an rapidly evolving society. An inevitable lapse when the constitution is printed published and presented in staid Colombo.
The purported constitution has the ingredients to please a stratum that does not generate sufficient votes touching base with Civil Society and Colombo Forum instead of attracting the Rural Folk and Outstation Intellect. It pleases those that service both the 13th and 17th Amendments and will prevent jumping fish to sway from party to party and treat the rule of law with greater respect. It will get an encore from the NGO Community and Embassy Street.
Its opinion to change the constitution by a referendum is brilliant. If so the same principle can be adopted to revise the 13th amendment? Is the UNP estopped from going to court to challenge it or raise issue over it in Parliament? A fast come back would be to challenge the government why recourse is not made to a referendum to change the 13th amendment if it so serious about it!
UNP needs to think beyond its present borders. It has to out reach where votes count. UNP pioneersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ learnt the lay of the land and knew the way of its inhabitants. Premadasa was born to it; JRJ shrewdly adopted it; Dudley happily merged into it; Sir John miffed it while DS engineered it. Poor Wijetunga overdid it. Modern UNP travels with an ipad in hand that shows the way on a GPS from the comfort of a luxury vehicle far removed from the land and the people, being un-earthed to ground. To gain proximity UNP has a great distance to cover on foot.
UNP into its twenty-fifth year on loosing occupancy of the presidential palace celebrates the silver jubilee by bringing forth a proposed new constitution for Sri Lanka to regain its past glory. ItƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s a small step to reach a comfortable footrest, from where a giant leap has to to be taken to hit summit? UNP must first live up to its name in being ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-unitedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”genuinely and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-nationalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚- truly: as a party. Presently instead of projecting unity – focuses on disparity, instead of being national – gives the appearance of being more international. It has to change its ways otherwise it will be forever a rebelsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ haven.
UNP amended the national constitution 16 times in office. Therefore amending the introduced proposed constitution (or policy statement) speedily is no hard task and relate it to issues closer to peoplesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ aspirations. UNP need tap for source material from outside its panel of lawyers. Lawyers are necessary to amend but a vision of a broader perspective is required to attract people. UNP has a wealth of talent from different disciplines at its disposal untapped. Look beyond Colombo for the vote that floats?
June 13th, 2013 at 1:25 pm
විපක්ෂ නායක හූ සංග්රහය-විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා ජන හතුරෙක් ද? නැතහොත් විහිළුකාරයෙක් ද?-දිනමින කතුවැකිය
ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී රාජ්යයක විපක්ෂ නායක යනු තවදුරටත් රාජ්ය තාන්ත්රික මට්ටමේ පුද්ගලයෙකි. ඔහුට රට තුළ මෙන්ම ඉන් බැහැර ලෝකය තුළ ද බලවත් පිළිගැනීමක් හා ගෞරවයක් පවතී. එහෙත් ශ්රී ලංකාවේ විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා සම්බන්ධයෙන් සලකා බලන විට එම පිළිගැනීම හා ගෞරවය ගැටලුකාරී තැනකට ප්රවේශ වී ඇත.
ගෙවී ගිය දින දෙක තුළ රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මහතා මුහුණ දුන් අකරතැබ්බ වලින් ම ඒ බව සනාථ වේ. බලපිටියේ ධීවර මළ ගෙදරක ගිය වික්රමසිංහ මහතා ඇතුළු පිරිසට ප්රහාරයක් එල්ල විය. මග්ගොන තවත් ස්ථානයකට ගිය එතුමාට බරපතළ හූ සංග්රහයක් භුක්ති විඳීමට ද සිදු විය. විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා ජන හතුරෙක් ද? නැතහොත් විහිළුකාරයෙක් ද?
බලපිටියේ සිද්ධියෙන් පසු වික්රමසිංහ මහතා කියා ඇත්තේ අපට දැන් මළ ගෙදරක යෑමටවත් බැහැ කියා ය. ඔහු ඉන් කුමක් අදහස් කළේ දැ’යි අප නො දන්නා අතර තවත් මතයක් කරලියට පැමිණියේ විපක්ෂ නායක මළ ගෙදරක හැසිරීමටවත් නො දන්නා පුද්ගලයකු ලෙස ය. රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මහතා බලපිටියට ගොස් එහි ජනතාවට ලබා දී ඇත්තේ ආධාර, සහයෝගය වැනි දේ නොව විවේචන ය. මෙබඳු විපත්තිදායක අවස්ථාවක දී ජනතාව අපේක්ෂා කරනුයේ සහනාධාර, කරුණාව, දුක බෙදා ගැනීම වැනි ගුණාංගයන් මිස කර්කශ විවේචන නො වේ. ආණ්ඩුව විවේචනය කළත්; ඉන් ජනතාවට ලැබෙන සෙතක් නැත.
වික්රමසිංහ මහතා ගේ බලපිටිය ගමන මුළුමනින් ම දේ්ශපාලනික ය. ඔහු බාල ගණයේ දේ්ශපාලන වාසියක් ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා මේ ගමන යොදාගෙන තිබේ. විපක්ෂයක් දේශපාලන වාසි ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා ක්රියාත්මක වීම සාමාන්ය තත්ත්වයකි. එහෙත් රටේ ජනතාව බලවත් විපතකට මුහුණ දුන් අවස්ථාවක එලෙස කලදුටු කල වළ ඉහ ගැනීමට යෑම පරිණත දේශපාලකයකුට තරම් නො වේ. මෙබඳු හැසිරීම් හැඳින්විය හැක්කේ බාල වැඩ ලෙස ය.
ජනතාව බෙහෙවින් සංවේදී වූ අවස්්ථාවක ආණ්ඩුව සමඟ එක් ව ජනතාවට සහන ලබා දීම සඳහා ක්රියා කිරීම බුද්ධිමත් විපක්ෂ නායකයකුගේ පිළිවෙත වේ. මෙහි දී වැදගත් විය යුත්තේ ජනතාව මිස දේශපාලනය නො වේ. පළමු ව ජනතාව දෙවනුව දේශපාලනය යන තේමාව විපක්ෂයට වැදගත් ය.
සමස්තයක් ලෙස ගත් කල වික්රමසිංහ මහතා ගේ හැසිරීම මේ රටේ ජනතාවට මෙන්ම දේශපාලන සම්ප්රදායට ද ඒ හැටි ගැළපෙන්නේ නැත. ටික දිනකට ඉහත දී ඔහු කියා සිටියේ ධාතුසේන, මහසෙන්, මහා පරාක්රමබාහු යන නරපතියනට වඩා ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා ශ්රී ලංකාව තුළ ශ්රේෂ්ඨ නායකයකු බව ය. ජේ. ආර්. මහතා පළමු කී නරපතියනට වඩා ශ්රී ලංකාවේ වැව් තැනූ බව ද ඔහු කියා තිබේ. එක් අතෙකින් මෙය ඉතිහාසය විකෘති කිරීමකි. තව අතෙකින් එය අපේ උරුමයට අපහාස කිරීමකි. මේ රටේ ජනතාව අපේ උරුමය පිළිබඳ අභිමානයකින් ජීවත් වෙති. ඊට පහර දෙන හා ගරහන අය ද්රෝහීන් සේ සලකති.
දේශපාලකයා නිතැතින් ම රටේ ජන විඥානය හඳුනාගත යුතු ය. ඉතිහාසය හා ශිෂ්ටාචාරය පිළිබඳ හැඟීමකින් කටයුතු කළ යුතු ය. කොටින් ම ඔහු ජනතාව ගේ හෘද සාක්ෂ්යයක් ලෙස පැවැතිය යුතු බව කියනු ලැබේ. එහෙත් මෙරට විපක්ෂ නායක රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මහතා වෙතින් එබඳු හැසිරීමක් දක්නට නො ලැබේ. වරෙක ඔහු අපේ ගොවියාට බෙල්බොටම් ඇන්දවීමට යෝජනා කළේ ය. තව වරෙක අපේ තරුණ පරපුරට බ්රෙස්ලට් දෙන්නට යෝජනා කළේ ය.
රටේ ජනතාව ගේ සිතුම් – පැතුම් හඳුනාගෙන කතා බස් කිරීමටවත් වික්රමසිංහ මහතා දන්නේ නැත. ඔහු මුළුමනින් ම විහිළුකාරයකු බවට පත්ව සිටී. එය අප ගේ දේ්ශපාලනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් නරක ආදර්ශයෙකි.
ඕනෑම රටකට විවිධ විපත් පැමිණේ, ගං වතුර, සුනාමි, නාය යෑම්, භූ කම්පන, දීර්ඝ නියඟ ඕනෑම අවස්ථාවක ආරම්භ විය හැකි ය. එය බලයේ සිටින ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ වරදක් හෝ රටේ ශාපයක් ලෙස සලකන්නේ නම්; එබඳු අය බුද්ධිමතුන් ලෙස සැලැකිය නො හැකි ය.
මෙබඳු අවස්ථාවල දී සිදු විය යුත්තේ ජනතාවක් ලෙස ඒකාබද්ධ ව විපතට මුහුණ දීම මිස එකිනෙකා දෙසට ඇඟිල්ල දිගු කොට විවේචන ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම නො වේ. වික්රමසිංහ මහතා කියා ඇත්තේ ආණ්ඩුවේ වරදක් නිසා ධීවර ජනතාව විපතට පත් වූ බව ය. සැඩ සුළඟට හසු වූ ධීවරයන් බේරා ගැනීම සඳහා මෙරට ආරක්ෂක අංශ ක්රියා කළ ආකාරය වික්රමසිංහ මහතාගේ අවධානයට ලක් වී නැත. කවදත් ශශ්රී ලංකාවේ ආරක්ෂක අංශ කෙරෙහි පැහැදීමකින් කතා නොකළ ඒ මහතා මෙවර ද ඔවුනට අපහාසයක් කර තිබේ.
විපක්ෂ නායකතුමාට ප්රහාරයක් එල්ල කළේ කවුද? ඔහුට හූ කිව්වේ කවු ද යනා දී ප්රශ්නවලට නිශ්චිත පිළිතුරු අප ළඟ නැත. එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය ඒවා හඳුන්වා ඇත්තේ මැර ප්රහාර ලෙස ය. මැර ප්රහාරයක් එල්ල කිරීමට නම්; සංවිධානාත්මක පිරිසක් සිටිය යුතු ය. එබඳු සංවිධානාත්මක පිරිසක් හෝ මැර පිරිසක් හෝ බලපිටියට මුළුගැන් වී සිටි බවක් දැන ගන්නට නැත. වික්රමසිංහ මහතාට ප්රහාරයක් එල්ල කරන්නට ඇත්තේ බලපිටියේ සාමාන්ය ජනතාව ම විය යුතු ය.
විපත් පැමිණි නිවෙස් වල සිටි ජනයා වික්රමසිංහ මහතාගේ ප්රකාශ වලින් කෝප ගැන්වෙන්නට ඇත. ඔහු පැමිණ ඇත්තේ උදව් කිරීමට නො ව ඡන්ද සටනක් කිරීමට බව ද ජනතාව දැන ගන්නට ඇත. එහි ප්රතිඵලය පහර දීමක් දක්වා ගමන් කර තිබේ.
මීට මාස ගණනකට ඉහත දී රජ රට ගොවි උද්ඝෝෂණයකට ගිය වික්රමසිංහ මහතා මෙබඳු ම ඉරණමකට මුහුණ දුන්නේ ය. එදා වික්රමසිංහ මහතා ගොවියන් ගේ උද්ඝෝෂණය මැදට ගොස් පිකප් රථයකට නැඟ දේශනයක් කිරීමට සැරසුණේ්ය. ගොවියෝ හූ කියා වික්රමසිංහ මහතා පළවා හැරියෝ ය. මේ සිද්ධියේ දී ද ඔහු කළේ දේශපාලන වාසියක් ගැනීමට උත්සාහ කිරීම ය. එහෙත් ඔහු ගේ උපාය මාර්ගය මුළුමනින් ම අසාර්ථක වී ගියේ ය. රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මහතාට එක්කෝ දේශපාලනය තේරුම් ගැනීම අපහසු ය. එසේ නැතහොත් පක්ෂයේ ම පිරිසක් ඔහු නොමඟ යවනවා වෙන්නට ද පුළුවන.
මේ රටේ ජනතාව රැඳී සිටින ආස්ථානය තව ම එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය තේරුම් ගෙන නැත. එම පක්ෂය තව ම ඉබාගාතේ යන ස්වරූපයක පවතී. ශශ්රී ලංකාවේ බහුතර ජනතාව ඉතිහාසය අමතක නො කරති. රට අගාධයක පැවැති අන්දම ද තීරණාත්මක අවස්ථාවක දී මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මවු බිම ත්රස්ත ග්රහණයෙන් මුදා ගත් බව ද ජනතාවට මතක තිබේ. නූතන ශ්රී ලංකාව අලුත් සංවර්ධන ගමනක් ආරම්භ කර ඇති බව ද බොහෝ දෙනා දනිති. එම යථාර්ථයන් තුළ බොරු කාරයන් තව දුරටත් ගුටි කනු ඇත.
June 13th, 2013 at 1:43 pm
I agree UriNePee is dead.
But look at their success compared to UPFA.
UNP CHANGED the constitution 16 times. This govt. still CAN’T change 13 amendment!! How long are they bickering?
June 13th, 2013 at 1:44 pm
U N P NOW TRYING TO CHEAT SINHALESE BY SAYING THAT THEY LIKE “”ekiya raajjaya”” That is like their DHARMISHTA RAAJJAYA” ALL BULL SHIT. THEY WILL DEVOLVE POWER TO BREAK THE COUNTRY IN TO PIECES
June 13th, 2013 at 1:53 pm
NO HOPES . CABINET DIVIDED.. SHAME
June 13th, 2013 at 1:55 pm
“With his many deficiencies Ranil Wickremasinghe with stout integrity stands out in the forefront in a party of many mediocrities and still lesser minions except for a few exceptions among the younger set and appointed MPs that make an occasional credible sound.”
NONSENSE! “Stout Integrity” is not something I would assiciate with Ranil Wickremasinghe in my wildest dreams.
This guy has sold out his motherland many times over to Sri Lanka’s internal and external enemies. He is RESPONSIBLE for much of Sri Lanka’s PAIN and the FAILURE to defeat the LTTE in a TIMELY WAY.
His SOLE OBJECTIVE is to PROPEL himself at the head of the UNP into power, so he can CONTINUE to PROTECT and FOSTER the Anti-National Elements who support him.
Ranil’s agenda has NOTHING to do with PROTECTING ALL of the People of Sri Lanka and their Motherland.
The grand old party of my long-dead honored father …. the UNP …. will begin to regain the People’s trust, and resurrect itself as the party that fought for Sri Lanka’s independence and led it into a new era as a Sovereign Nation in 1948 …. ONLY when it DITCHES Ranil Wickremasinghe and works as a PATRIOTIC Party again by rejecting the Anti-National elements who currently control its political agenda.
I say to all PATRIOTIC UNP-ers …. join with the UPFA Government to REPEAL the 13th Amendment and DISSOLVE the Provincial Councils.
Rise Up … O Patriots of Mother Lanka …. Your Motherland Needs you NOW to get rid of this FOREIGN BALL & CHAIN that SHACKLES Mother Lanka into a subservient vassal of India!
June 13th, 2013 at 3:59 pm
Let me put it BLUNTLY: Holding NPC elections and devolving power to the Provincial Councils will lead to an UPRISING AGAINST the Government and its TOPPLING in Sri Lanka by Patriotic Forces OPPOSED to Devolution of Power to UNREPENTANT SEPARATISTS.
The current UPFA Government was returned to Power in the last General Elections in a LANDSLIDE VICTORY because it REUNIFIED Sri Lanka and SECURED the safety of its ALL of its citizens. The UPFA Government CONTINUES to enjoy that support even today based on that ACCOMPLISHMENT, and the VISION of transforming Sri Lanka into the New Wonder of Asia as ably articulated by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
However, that LOYALTY is given to by PATRIOTS only to PATRIOTIC LEADERS who continue to Defend and Protect the Nation … not to those who fail to do so because they fear PERSONAL CONSEQUENCES and DODGE their DUTY to PROTECT.
Ultimately, it is NOT THE SURVIVAL of the LEADERS that is at stake here; it is the SURVIVAL of the NATION and its PEOPLE.
The GOSL should HEED THE WARNING in the Cries of the Patriots: that if it Devolves Power to SEPARATISTS, it will FALL from Power just as RAPIDLY as it ROSE to Power on the Adulation of the Vast Majority of citizens of Sri Lanka.
There is NO ISSUE of GREATER IMPORTANCE to Sri Lanka’s SURVIVAL than REPEALING the 13th Amendment and DISSOLVING the Provincial Councils, PERMANENTLY RIDDING Sri Lanka of this FOREIGN IMPOSED BALL & CHAIN that threatens to sow Civil Discord and Communal Divisions in Perpetuity!
Instead of DISINTEGRATING the Country into a Patchwork Quilt of Racist Apartheid Fiefdoms, INTEGRATE the country into ONE Indivisible Nation, of ONE Inseparable People, sharing ONE Indomitable Destiny, based on EQUAL RIGHTS for ALL of Sri Lanka’s people, under ONE system of National Laws, irrespective of Communal Considerations!
Sow the Wind with any other seed, and we will Reap the Whirlwind!
June 13th, 2013 at 4:22 pm
IF UNP really wants to come back to power it should agitate to SCRAP 13 amendment.
Otherwise no chance.
IF UPFA wants to STAY in power it should SCRAP 13 amendment.
Otherwise no chance for Basil or Namal to EVER become president.
June 14th, 2013 at 5:15 am
(1) Right now, the Leader of Opposition wants the 17-A implemented (see news item below) :
* Sri Lanka Opposition Leader asks to restore 17th Amendment to Constitution
Thu, Jun 13, 2013, 07:50 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 13, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Opposition Leader and leader of the United National party (UNP) Ranil Wickremasinghe today requested the government to take measures to ensure a free and fair of the Northern Provincial Council scheduled to be held in September this year.
In a letter addressed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa Wednesday, the Opposition Leader asked the government to immediately implement several measures prior to announcing the elections to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC).
Among the measures suggested were the immediate restoration of 17th Amendment that was replaced by the 18th Amendment in 2010, immediate replacement of the Governor of the Northern Province by a civilian and an invitation to a team from Commonwealth to monitor the NPC election.
Wickremasinghe in his letter said the opposition parties and civil society have called for the immediate implementation of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution of 21 March 2013 relating to the holding of elections to the Northern Provincial Council.
He said the Sri Lankan government would be commended if the resolution is implemented genuinely and also it will not be a contentious issue at the 25th Session of the UNHRC.
Wickremasinghe recalled that his party and other opposition political parties have, in Parliament, consistently referred to a number of incidents in the Northern Province where the “Government machinery has been utilized to intimidate members supporting opposition political parties.”
He said the situation is further aggravated by the open friction between some of the military authorities in the North and opposition politicians and resulted in a loss of confidence in the ability to conduct free and fair elections in the Northern Province.
The Opposition Leader therefore asked the President to take immediate steps to restore the 17th Amendment to the Constitution by repealing the relevant provisions of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution.
He requested the government to include an additional provision in the amendment restoring the 17th Amendment to the Constitution to strengthen the Police Commission on the lines of the LLRC recommendation that “Such a Commission should be empowered to monitor the performance of the Police Service and ensure that all police officers act independently and maintain a high degree of professional conduct.”
Wickremasinghe called for the immediate replacement of the Governor of the Northern Province. Instead of a retired military officer, a civilian accepted by all parties should be appointed to the post, he pointed out.
He called for an invitation to a team from the Commonwealth to observe the elections from the day of nominations to a week after the declaration of results.
Further, the Opposition leader requested the President to schedule a meeting for a delegation headed by him to discuss the measures he suggested.”
(2) And this is the slow motion, due process Democratic next step by GoSL re the 13-A. Note that Parliament yesterday (13 June) approved REVISIONS to the 13-A, not REMOVAL of 13-A. Folks, this is going to be a slow motion process as required by a practicing Democracy, so be prepared for that.
“Sri Lanka government to appoint parliamentary committee to discuss changes to 13th Amendment
Fri, Jun 14, 2013, 10:10 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
June 14, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Cabinet on Thursday approved the revisions to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and asked the Parliament Speaker to appoint a parliamentary select committee (PSC) to study the issues regarding the legislation.
Accordingly the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa will appoint a PSC next Tuesday (June 18) to discuss the proposed changes to the 13th Amendment and submit a report within a stipulated time period.
Cabinet spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told media that the Cabinet has approved the deletion of the provision in the 13th Amendment that gives power to the president to merge two provinces as it was done in July 1987with the Northern and Eastern provinces which remained merged until the Supreme Court de-merged them in October 2006.
He added that the amendment that repeals the clause that empowers the President to merge two provinces will be brought as an urgent bill in parliament soon.
However, the Cabinet has decided that other issues such as land and police powers need to be resolved through the proposed PSC as certain cabinet ministers were opposed to diluting the powers vested in the 13th Amendment.
The Cabinet Spokesman said the parties of the ruling alliance had divergent views on the changes to the 13th Amendment but all were in agreement that the 13the Amendment which was formulated by India and thrusted on Sri Lanka should be changed to fit to current situation after the end of the war.
The Cabinet was of the view that a PSC would give an opportunity for all parties to express their views on the 13th Amendment.
Coalition partners of the government, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), the Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (EPDP) and the Leftist Lanka Sama Samaj Party (LSSP) were opposed to any changes in the 13th Amendment while another coalition partner Jathika Hela Urumaya wants to abolish the Amendment.
Rambukwella said the government will try its best to reach solutions through the PSC before the proposed Northern Provincial Council poll, confirmed to be held in September”.
June 14th, 2013 at 9:51 am
no wonder unp and ranil want 13a when so called patriotic s l f p members want it . All knows u.n.p ers are traitors . But it is a shame that S.L.F.P ers cheat us