{"id":57877,"date":"2016-08-21T16:38:57","date_gmt":"2016-08-21T23:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=57877"},"modified":"2016-08-21T16:38:57","modified_gmt":"2016-08-21T23:38:57","slug":"omp-bill-duly-passed-and-legally-valid-says-the-speaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/08\/21\/omp-bill-duly-passed-and-legally-valid-says-the-speaker\/","title":{"rendered":"OMP bill duly passed \u00a0and Legally valid says the Speaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charles.S.Perera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

OMP Bill is a reactionary piece of legislation that should not get into the legal system of Sri Lanka. OMP, \u00a0without getting into a legal and intellectual analysis could be stated as a dangerously bad\u00a0 Bill as much as the\u00a0 bad 13 Amendment or even worse. It is bad from the mere fact it comes from Prince Ra\u2019ad Zeid Al_Hussain\u2019s report adopted and included by the USA in its resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN HR Council in Geneva.<\/p>\n

One cannot imagine how any intelligent man who has an iota of love to Sri Lanka, resurrected from the grip of\u00a0 a tenacious ruthless terrorism after thirty years of suffering, would sponsor along with USA,\u00a0 the most vicious resolution \u00a0like of which\u00a0 no one had passed against any other country which had perpetrated most intolerable crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

We as Sri Lankans for generations will never \u00a0pardon the traitors Mangala Samaraweera and Ranil Wickramasinghe for making it possible to have allowed USA to get the UNHR Council in Geneva adopt such a devastating resolution against Sri Lanka which carried out a difficult war against all odds to eliminate terrorism and bring back peace and security to Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

It was the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka, without fearing the risks they were taking, that saved Sri Lanka their motherland from terrorism, for which heroism the Maithripala Sirisena- Ranil Wickramasinghe duo has allowed the USA prompted by the Tamil Diaspora to take our Armed Forces\u00a0 before a tribunal and meet out punishments by enacting the OMP Bill in the Parliament.<\/p>\n

They have trapped the personnel of the Armed forces by cutting all routs of escape as they could be arrested in any country outside Sri Lanka even if they are in those countries on a \u00a0visit officially or as tourists. But what are the offences that our soldiers have committed that deserve such intolerable treatment in the hands of foreign governments. Our Armed Forces \u00a0have committed no offence against their motherland Sri Lanka in eliminating terrorism. They had done their duty as soldiers in any armed force of any country would do to defend their country against its enemies.<\/p>\n

Why has the USA and the UN Human Rights Council selected the Armed Forces of our country for punishment where as countries which really committed and commit criminal offences against civilians in other countries are left out ? It is\u00a0 the Commissioner of the UN Human rights Commission that should be brought before a tribunal to answer why\u00a0 he should not be punished for allowing USA and the UN bring a resolution incriminate the Armed forces of Sri Lanka which carried out an armed offensive against\u00a0 a ruthless group of terrorists to eliminate them, in carrying out their duty of protecting their country and its people.<\/p>\n

Some try to minimise the effect of the Bill for the setting up of an Office for Missing Persons in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Strangely the persons who are actively participating in encouraging\u00a0 and writing hosannas\u00a0 about the OMP Bill are Tamils.\u00a0 The\u00a0 well known anti Sinhala Tamil NGO Pakiasothy Saranawanamuttu the Executive Director of the\u00a0 Centre for Policy Alternative\u00a0 writes a guide to the\u00a0 draft legislation for the establishment of the OMP.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.cpalanka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/A-Brief-Guide-on-the-Draft-Legislation-to-Establish-an-Office-on-Missing-Persons.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bill as presented as a brief guide,\u00a0 seems simple and innocent.\u00a0 But even so if read carefully it shows where dangers\u00a0 lie. However, the OMP Bill has been signed by the\u00a0 Speaker of the House\u00a0 Karu Jayasuriya making \u00a0the infamous bill to punish the personnel of our Armed Forces, law of the land.<\/p>\n

On the face of it, without going into details, \u00a0it appears that the Yahapalanaya cronies with the bill on the OMP have opened a pandora\u2019s box, because the Brief Guide on the Draft Legislation to the Establishment of the OMP begins by stating , In 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the consensus Resolution tilted \u2018Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka\u2019 which provided a framework for transitional justice in Sri Lanka, including the establishment of four specific mechanisms. The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) is to be the first.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means that there are more mechanisms envisaged,\u00a0 which depend on the initial Bill on the project is accepted by the Parliament of Sri Lanka,\u00a0 for other bills to be presented in the Parliament on the same issue..<\/p>\n

In reality this resolution has no right to have been passed at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, let alone presenting it to be passed in the Parliament of Sri Lanka.\u00a0 It happened because of the two cronies of the Yahapalanaya Government Ranil Wickramasinghe and Mangala Samaraweera.\u00a0 They are really foolish men who\u00a0 are gleeful, happy and acclaim victory for themselves for having been able to pass a bill which is virtually to hang the war heroes and open the doors for other nefarious interventions by the USA and the West.<\/p>\n

The President of Sri Lanka who talks like a thug rather than an intelligent national leader seems to have no idea what Sri Lanka is in for with his executive\u201d Prime Minister taking the upper hand in the Administration of the country. We knew that appointing Ranil Wickramasinghe as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka portend danger and ill luck to Sri Lanka and its people.<\/p>\n

We cannot understand why some say that the Prime Minister is a clean man, when all know that his hands are bloody with the tortures he inflicted on the Sinhala Buddhist youth in Batalanda and other torture camps he had set up, and he has also swindled the country having appointed Arjun Mahendran as the Governor of the Central Bank.<\/p>\n

The FCID has not still investigated into what happened to the Billions of Rupees\u00a0 involved in the Central Bank Bond Scam.\u00a0 Where did that money go ? Who benefitted from it ? Was any part of that\u00a0 defrauded money go\u00a0 to Sirikotha ? Even the President want initiate action for an investigation as he is Prime Minister\u2019s buddy. The President probably knows where that money went, but he is also a clean man !!<\/p>\n

People have experience with Ranil Wickramasinghe who thinks that \u00a0any thing coming from the West are worthy of acceptance. The CFA prepared by Eric Solheim of Norway which he signed along with Prabhakaran is one such foolish act that cost the lives of thousands of soldiers and innocent people of all Communities, and lost a great foreign Minister the Late Laxman Kadigamar. It was thanks to a great man like Mahinda Rajapakse to have removed that disgusting\u00a0 agreement, the hated CFA.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka has to be more careful in accepting proposals presented by the USA , the West and India. Because USA , the Western countries, or India do not want Sri Lanka develop as an independent Sovereign State. They want Sri Lanka\u00a0 to be one of their subject states, as they do not admit\u00a0 that Sri Lanka has intelligent men and women , who can administer the country,\u00a0 or judges\u00a0 intelligent and competent\u00a0 enough to run an acceptable judicial system. <\/strong><\/p>\n

If the UNP had intelligent and competent people with foresight as Ministers, MPs, and Political advisors, they would not have introduced into our Constitution and legal System, the 13 Amendement or now the Bill for BMP.\u00a0 There are worst things to follow-the ETCA, Bridge Connecting Tamil Nadu Sri Lanka, building a Sita Temple at Divurumpola in Sri Lanka by India for which Sri Lanka Government has already given its approval, leasing the oil Tanks in Trincomalee to India, giving six acres of prime land in Colombo to USA to put up buildings probably for a military base to collect intelligence covering China, Russia and other countries in the neighbourhood, and to lease the Tricomalee Port to USA.<\/p>\n

These matters should be openly discussed in the Civil Society, before they are even placed before the Parliament where it should again be discussed before it becomes law. Though some Sri Lankans, institutions and\u00a0 the media \u00a0are very critical of the former President Mahinda Rajapakse and give credit to him only for the elimination of terrorism, \u00a0as Mahinda Rajapakse \u00a0has done nothing else which had been beneficial to Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

These proposals made by foreign countries may look inoffensive, and the apparent dangers could be explained as nothing to be concerned,\u00a0 but it is only when they are\u00a0 being implemented that the complexities, surprises and dangers become evident, as it was with the CFA and the 13Amendment. It would then\u00a0 be too late to change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sunday 20th<\/sup> August Editorial of the Island states, \u2026..Mahinda Rajapaksa promised the masses a bright future of suba anagathayak. He, to his credit, eliminated terrorism, but his second term turned out to be a disaster. It was characterised by corruption, nepotism, abuse of power, violent suppression of political dissent and near lawlessness. Maithripala Sirisena vowed to make a difference and usher in yahapalanaya or good governance\u2026\u2026..\u201d.<\/p>\n

But if looked objectively ex-President Mahinda Rajapakse\u00a0 had not committed any of those enumerated offences\u201d.\u00a0 It appears that those accusations are \u00a0made in order not to earn the disapproval of the government in power.<\/p>\n

These media which writes to please those in power , rather than fearlessly write\u00a0 for the \u00a0benefit of the country, do not give credit to the former President for his most able and commendable service to Sri Lanka protecting it from the unfriendly foreign Countries. \u00a0Sri Lanka was protected and secured under the former President Mahinda Rajapakse.<\/p>\n

It is\u00a0 very good to have very cordial relations with all countries, \u00a0but not if it results in them trying to dictate terms,\u00a0 pontificate on actions being taken, give unasked for advice on how to run the country, interfere with the internal affaires of the country\u00a0 putting one community against the other and causing utter confusion and political disaster.\u00a0 Mahinda Rajapakse knew this and he managed to keep them away from causing mischief in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Today Sri Lanka is quite different from what it was before the 8th<\/sup> January, 2015. The Present government has only shown its incompetence to rule Sri Lanka as an Independent Sovereign State. The new friends of the Yahapalanaya Governmenrt the USA and the West have made inroads into Sri Lanka Government\u2019s internal affairs, by offering\u00a0 to re-organise the Armed Forces, participate actively in the process of reconciliation, attending to the political affairs of \u00a0the North trying to separate the North from the rest of Sri Lanka, and even \u00a0participating in the writing of the \u00a0Constitution for Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

All the proposals the USA and the West and India make should be carefully evaluated before they are even presented to the Parliament. The Constitution of Sri Lanka is an important document that should be honoured and respected without desecrating it by introducing into it any legislation proposed by\u00a0 any foreign government.<\/p>\n

But the Sirisena and Ranil Wickramasinghe are not respectful of the countriy\u2019s Constitution. They had\u00a0 acted in breach of the Constitution of Sri Lanka from the day Maithripala Sirisena was elected President of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Today the 21st<\/sup> August, 2016, it has been announced that the offensive Bill\u00a0 introducing OMP has become law. If the Speaker was independent he may have allowed further time to discuss the bill in the Parliament by bending the rules in favour of the opposition , but as he\u00a0 seems to be under Prime Minister\u2019s control he has become automatized to sign on orders.<\/p>\n

The danger that Sri Lanka runs in passing this Bill on OMP has already been written by many learned persons, and heard discussions on it in TV, therefore, it is now for us to wait and see how the country with this impossible government would face the challenges.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charles.S.Perera OMP Bill is a reactionary piece of legislation that should not get into the legal system of Sri Lanka. OMP, \u00a0without getting into a legal and intellectual analysis could be stated as a dangerously bad\u00a0 Bill as much as the\u00a0 bad 13 Amendment or even worse. It is bad from the mere fact […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}