{"id":99477,"date":"2020-02-29T15:55:02","date_gmt":"2020-02-29T22:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=99477"},"modified":"2020-02-29T15:55:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-29T22:55:02","slug":"justice-delayed-is-justice-denied-justice-bullied-is-justice-buried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/02\/29\/justice-delayed-is-justice-denied-justice-bullied-is-justice-buried\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice Delayed is Justice Denied-Justice Bullied is Justice Buried!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Aurelius<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Under-reported and nearly unnoticed was Gotabaya\u2019s\nkeynote address at\nthe 2020 National Law Conference, held in Negombo on 14th<\/sup> February\nthis year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The address began with Gotabaya paying banal\ncourtesies to the Judiciary, making that inevitable reference to Laws delays\nand pontificating about \u2018Separation of Powers\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was then that Gotabaya dropped a bomb! \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many at the gathering were caught unawares\nwhen, throwing caution to the wind, Gotabaya cast aside his velvet gloves and\nmenacingly bared to everyone present a deadly iron fist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Threatening the Judiciary, Gotabaya hissed, Considerable\nharm could be caused to democracy by the judiciary needlessly interfering\nin the functioning of the executive and legislative branches of the\ngovernment.  It is therefore important that the judiciary does not\nobstruct the development efforts undertaken by the executive to ensure the\nwell-being and prosperity of the people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the classic words of tinpot dictators who\nhave blotched the global stage of history, time and time again. Gotabaya had\nthe impudence to utter these words in the precincts of the legal\nfraternity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is coaching Gotabaya to mouth such drivel? Is it\nMoragoda and his pack of Weeratunges, Goonetillekes and Colambages, whom the\nAmericans have unleashed to keep Gotabaya in line? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 It was the Americans who portrayed Gotabe as a\ndictator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now, are the Americans setting Gotabaya up to make\nsuch statements, making him believe, that by making such statements, he\nprojects himself as a fearless leader? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Gotabaya not realise that by making such\nstatements he is augmenting the image the Americans have created for him? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Gotabaya not realise that such conduct makes him\nextremely unpopular with the people and that he is being manoeuvered into a\ndangerous collision course with the Judiciary and the people? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal fraternity in the audience appeared\nshell-shocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The politicians present at the event, including front\nseaters like Wickramasinghe, Karu and Siripala, seemed unfazed; indeed, visual\nimages of the event gave the impression that they were pleased as punch to hear\nwhat they were hearing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question being asked by many is, Why is Gotabaya\nbeing led by the nose and doing exactly what the Americans want him to\ndo?\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it that they have some \u2018dirt\u2019 on him and he is\nbeing blackmailed to do their bidding or is he, as increasing number of people\ndescribe him, a crypto-American, working in tandem with the Americans on the\nMCC plan?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to what Gotabaya suggested by innuendo, Sri\nLanka boasts of a Judiciary which works within the framework of the\nConstitution; the judiciary and the legal fraternity have, time and time again,\nsaved the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and safeguarded the fundamental\nRights of the people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, that space is fast shrinking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Members of the legal fraternity who had the will,\ninclination and the skill to present in Courts, arguments against the MCC, have\ngot prestigious appointments in the Government sector. Consequently, many of\nthem do not have now, the time or inclination to pursue action against the MCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is in the context of the MCC threat to the\nintegrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka  that Gotabaya\u2019s threat to the\njudiciary and the legal profession, has to be viewed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Considerable harm could be caused to democracy\nby the judiciary needlessly interfering in the functioning of the executive and\nlegislative branches of the government.\u201d   – G Rajapakse<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Sri Lanka\u2019s experience, the instances of the\nJudiciary interfering with the instruments of the Executive and the\nAdministration has been, if not never, very rare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The corollary however is true where the Executive and\nthe Administration have both attempted to interfere with the workings of the\nJudiciary and the Legal system<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The threat issued by Gotabaya is a clear example of\nthe Executive attempting to interfere with the Judiciary. As Gotabaya himself\nhas pointed out when one arm of Government interferes with another arm of Government,\nDemocracy is imperiled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a NEED <\/strong>for the Judiciary to intervene\nwhen the Constitution is violated, when the people are being robbed of their\nsovereignty and when the fundamental rights of the people are under attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does Gotabaya mean by \u2018Needless\u2019 interference?\nThe judiciary is there to interpret the law when called upon by the people to\ndo so. There is nothing needless about it; interpreting the law is their\nbusiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is ample and conclusive evidence to successfully\nargue in a Court of law the many pitfalls in the draft MCC Agreement, some of\nwhich are given hereunder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • The draft MCC Compact is Unconstitutional.<\/li>
  • The draft MCC Compact contravenes the laws of the\n country.<\/li>
  •  The draft MCC Compact surrenders the country\u2019s\n sovereignty<\/li>
  • The draft MCC Compact is incompatible with\n International Law.<\/li>
  • The draft MCC Compact physically divides the country\n into two.<\/li>
  • The draft MCC Compact is the strategical plan of the\n US to establish a \u2018beachhead\u2019 in Sri Lanka.<\/li>
  • The draft MCC Compact is a trojan Horse.<\/li>
  • The clear nexus between the draft MCC Compact, ACSA,\n SOFA, the US Indo-pacific strategy, the militarisation of the Bay of\n Bengal, the \u2018Pivot-to-Asia\u2019 policy of the US and the takeover of the\n country by the US.<\/li>
  • The draft MCC Compact will result in
    • Degradation of the environment without any\n degradation assessment plan or degradation impact-plan. <\/li>
    • A robbery of our mineral resources without any\n knowledge on our part of what is being made available to the robbers.<\/li>
    • Wiping out of historical and religious sites without\n maintaining any record of what is being erased forever.<\/li>
    • Approximately 4 million people being made landless\n and homeless.<\/li>
    • The establishment of a terrorist caliphate in the\n Eastern Province which has the potential to destabilise the littoral\n states and shipping, in the Bay of Bengal<\/li>
    • Large areas of Sri Lanka being taken over and owned\n by US and US allied countries.<\/li>
    • Laws within Sri Lanka being replaced by foreign law.<\/li>
    • Sri Lankan Courts being replaced by foreign Courts<\/li>
    • Sri Lankan lawyers, judges and professionals being\n replaced by foreign, lawyers, judges and professionals<\/li>
    • A private company, set up by the MCC, replacing\n Parliament in the control of State\n Funds       <\/li>
    • And many more that will reduce the country to a\n colony.
      \n
      \n
      \n <\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Gotabaya is\naware that the Judiciary is Sri Lanka\u2019s only hope that could possibly save her\nfrom the MCC menace. The draft MCC Agreement would never see the light of day\nif taken to Courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Gotabaya\u2019s\nplan was simple; crudely attack the Judiciary and the Legal profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      After his tirade, would the Judiciary continue to have the same courage and resolve to act independently? Would there be lawyers available to argue cases against the MCC?

      \u00a0
      Speaking to this writer, Saman, a run-of-the-mill tut-tut driver said, There is no place for the MCC in Sri Lanka. The judges and the lawyers need not worry; a 6.9 million people are a one-hundred percent behind them. The lawyers who have been given \u2018positions\u2019 by the Government must resign as a mark of protest\u201d.

      \u00a0
      The reason for Gotabaya\u2019s outburst is clear. The only way forward for the MCC is by attempting to influence the Courts and the lawyers.
      \u00a0
      And, Gotabaya did exactly that. \u00a0

      Did\u00a0 Gotabaya’s conduct\u00a0 that day in Negombo border on criminality?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      It is therefore important that the judiciary does not\nobstruct the development efforts undertaken by the executive to ensure the\nwell-being and prosperity of the people.\u201d – G Rajapakse<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

       What is Gotabaya attempting to convey to the\nJudiciary? Is he saying,  \u2018Do not give an opportunity to the people to\nchallenge the MCC draft Agreement in Court?\u2019 Or, is he implying, \u2018Misinterpret\nthe Law and allow him to implement the MCC programme of the US, unchallenged?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This coercion is being applied by one arm of the\nGovernment – the Executive – to another arm of the Government – the Judiciary\n-. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In the Republic of Sri Lanka Sovereignty lies with the\npeople and this sovereignty includes the powers of Government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In the context of the Executive Power of the people,\nit is exercised by the President; in the context of the Legislative Power of\nthe people, it is exercised by the Legislature; in the context of the Judicial\nPower of the people, it is exercised by the Judiciary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Powers thus delegated to the Executive, the\nLegislature and the Judiciary remain the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Powers\nof the people.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      It is highly preposterous for one arm of the\nGovernment, \u2018The Executive\u2019 in this instance, to advice\/threaten another arm of\nGovernment, \u2018The judiciary\u2019, about what they should or should not do. Each of\nthe three arms of Government has got its power from the people and each arm of\nGovernment is responsible to the people and not to each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      It is the people who have all the right to challenge\nthe workings of the three arms of Government, to whom they have delegated their\npower. The President has no such authority; indeed, if Gotabaya does attempt to\ndo so, he is culpable of abusing his power and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      As the temporary custodian of the Executive power of\nthe people, a President is required to do, during his period of office, what\nthe people required him to do and what he promised the people, he would do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Any Economic plan the President, may wish to execute\non behalf of the people has to be within the framework of the Constitution and\nwithin the framework of Sri Lanka\u2019s laws. If such economic plan does not\nconform to the Constitution or the laws of the Country, he has no right to tell\nthe judiciary \u2018to look the other way\u2019 or \u2018do not interfere unnecessarily\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      If these so-called Economic plans transgress the\nConstitution and the Country\u2019s laws the people have delegated authority to the\nJudiciary to use their power and NOT permit the Executive to execute these\nUnconstitutional and illegal plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      These checks and balances are written into our\nConstitution to safeguard the rights of the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      If the Executive has threatened the Judiciary, it is a\nmatter of grave concern; by so doing, he has threatened the people and the\nnecessary judicial measures laid out in the Constitution need to be taken\nagainst the Executive.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Gotabaya would do well to remember that he is only a\ntemporary Caretaker and Protector of the Rights, Privileges and Assets of the\nPeople. He is required, on behalf of the people to uphold and protect the\nConstitution which guarantees the security of our unitary State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      A President may not therefore do anything which falls\nshort of that guarantee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      A President is NOT empowered to act in a manner which\nexceeds the mandate given him by the people; if he breaks faith with the\nsovereignty of the people, he makes himself culpable for a range of issues. His\ndictatorial tendencies pose a threat to Democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      To expand on Alice Wells\u2019 allegory that Sri Lanka is a\npiece of real estate in the Indian Ocean, Gotabaya could be described as\nbeing  employed by the owners of the estate as the \u2018hewarala\u2019 or watcher\nof this estate. The previous watcher was dishonest and sacked when it was found\nthat he was trying to sell the estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The owners were surprised when they found that the new\nwatcher too is dishonest; they discovered that he too is trying to sell-off the\nestate to the same buyer, and vanish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

       Caught red handed, the hewarala is now\nthreatening the owner. And, there are indications that he is ganging up with\nthe watcher who was sacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      -Justice Bullied is Democracy Buried –<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      By Aurelius Under-reported and nearly unnoticed was Gotabaya\u2019s keynote address at the 2020 National Law Conference, held in Negombo on 14th February this year. The address began with Gotabaya paying banal courtesies to the Judiciary, making that inevitable reference to Laws delays and pontificating about \u2018Separation of Powers\u2019. It was then that Gotabaya dropped a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judiciary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99477","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=99477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}