India’s silent message on SL elections
Mayantha out: Can Harsha come back?
RW’s in crisis?
A well-known Tamil Nadu politician named Pasha Nedumaran released some highly contentious news to the media two weeks ago, and it has the potential to shake not only Sri Lanka but also India. He stated that Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE, is still alive and prepared to return when the time is right. The Tamil Nadu media’s reporting of this claim disturbed not only Sri Lankan politics but also Tamil Nadu politics, and the Army swiftly released a statement to formally state once more that the claim that Prabhakaran is still alive is untrue. However, because neither Tamil Nadu media nor the Indian government made many announcements about it, it appeared as though the news of Prabhakaran’s living had been kept quiet.
Prabhakaran once again?
However, last week’s release of an old photo of Prabhakaran by the Indian Tamil media brought this story of the fugitive king back to life. This was published by the “Vajira Media” website in Tamil Nadu. Additionally, it was discovered that ‘Venkatesh Kumar Ji’ had posted it. This image spread like a wave across India after it was published in the Tamil Nadu media. Prabhakaran quickly rose to the top of the discussion on Indian social media, with almost all of them taking action to publish this image. Due to the fact that the picture showed Prabhakaran as an elderly man, many people began investigating whether the picture was real or not at the same time.
Use of Face app.
Here, a website called “Fact Risendo” was crucial. The website examines the veracity and falsity of news reports posted on social media platforms. As a result, they began investigating this and took action to contact and leave a message through the “Vajira Media” Twitter account that had previously posted the pertinent image. They replied that it was a fake image created using an old photograph of Prabhakaran and a “face app” to demonstrate how the face changes with ageing. As a result, it was undeniably proven that the photo was fake.
That, however, is not the issue at hand. The LTTE are the issue. Even though the group has been listed as a prohibited organisation in India, Prabhakaran is still the subject of cryptic news reports. Although it is unclear why they are published or what their hidden meaning is, many people believe that suddenly a jargon-based debate has erupted throughout Tamil Nadu.
Mayantha mess !
Last week, one of the most controversial topics in the political arena was the move by the Secretary General of Samagi Jana Balavegaye, Mr. Mayantha Dissanayake, to take over the position of Chairman of the State Finance Committee as nominated by the government. Although the opposition had officially proposed Mr. Harsha de Silva, Mayantha accepted the position according to the government’s proposal, and it was seen how a crisis that did not exist within the party emerged. Since the opposition leader was on a visit to Jaffna at that time, he called Mayantha and took steps to inform Mayantha to resign from that position, and Mr. Laxman Kiriella, as the chief organizer of the opposition, had also informed Mayantha to resign from that position immediately.
But last week, we revealed how Mayantha attended the finance committee’s inaugural meeting despite not paying attention to either of them and despite the boycott of the SJB MPs. Additionally; we mentioned last week that Johnston Fernando and Vajira Abeywardena, two government members, were the ones who started the entire covert operation to convince Mayanta to accept the government’s proposal.
How is the operation..?
The “Rajya Rahas” colmn, however, received yet another fresh piece of information about this incident by last week. That is, this operation was also known to President Ranil Wickramasinghe. This was made public during the group meeting of the ruling party on February 8—the day the opposition abstained from attending parliament. The President first met Mr. Johnston Fernando in the MP lobby when he visited Parliament to attend this group meeting. Ranil greeted Johnny there and inquired, “How is the operation…?”
Johnny responded with a smile and said, “Everything goes well, sir,” knowing full well that the President was inquiring about the process to get Mayantha. The President concurred that Mayantha’s operation would be successful in light of this.
Mayantha confess!
But only until Sajith arrived in Colombo was everything good. When Sajith first got to Colombo, he called Mayantha and asked him to come to meet him. Sajith told Mayantha during the discussion that regardless of any disagreements or invitations, when the party took a decision, all MPs should stand together with the party’s decision. Sajith was asked by Mayantha to identify the factors that influenced his decision. If this isn’t done, Mayantha won’t be able to travel the political path with the party, Sajith explained to him.
However, Mayantha had made preparations to bring his letter of resignation to this discussion, and Sajith instructed Mayantha to make preparations to give the letter to the speaker. SJB has consequently decided to once more propose Dr. Harsha de Silva for the post of Chairman of the Parliament’s Finance Committee.
What Govt.’s Next Move
Accordingly, we have to wait patiently to see what the government will do next. There are three options left for the government. One of them is to find an opposition member to nominate for the chairmanship of the finance committee once again. Or, as Johnston said in the parliamentary group meeting, to suspend the standing orders of the parliament and nominate a member of the ruling party to the position of chairman of the finance committee. Or accepting defeat and handing over the chairmanship to Harsha de Silva of the opposition. We have to wait a few more days to see what the government will do with these three.
EC decided to postpone!
A week ago, the commission decided to postpone the election date due to interference by various groups related to the government for the local government elections planned by the Election Commission to be held on March 9th. The Commission clearly stated that the Ministry of Finance has not given the necessary financial support for the continuation of the election activities, and the vote cannot be held on the scheduled date due to the fact that there is no money to print the ballot papers related to the election.
We reported all that information under the ‘Rajya rahas column in a background where all the other English-Sinhala newspapers were publishing news that were trying to postpone the election and more or less working on the government’s agenda. There, we took steps to show with examples how some newspapers created lies in the hands of the government and how some officials acted according to the government’s wishes. While all the other media were silent, we highlighted one more special issue here. He said that if the government tries to postpone the elections by violating the democratic rights of the people in this way, there is a risk of massive international influence against the government.
What US Said?
Confirming the facts we have said, Mrs. Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs of the US State Department, who came to Sri Lanka a month ago, met the President and clearly said that local government elections should be held in March and the people should be given the opportunity to make a decision. Here, in front of the media and meeting the representatives of minor parties of the opposition, she said that the President had informed her that the election would be held on March 09. In addition to this, Rear Adm. Mrs. Eileen Laubacher, Senior Director of South Asia of the American National Security Council, who came to Sri Lanka, also met the President and informed that the local government elections should be held on time.
What India’s message about Election?
Also, India had informed the government on several occasions that the election should be held at a specific time, and the European Commission had also warned the government that if the election is not held on time, the people’s right to vote will be deprived. . A risk may also arise regarding the granting of the GSP plus relief to Sri Lanka
While we were consistently breaking these facts down one by one on the “Rajya Rahas” column, nearly every other media outlet was regularly putting out news and was telling a completely different story. International assistance is being given to the government. America has chosen to support the administration. India has chosen to support the administration. China has made the decision to assist Sri Lanka. These media outlets informed the nation that the world is practically always reaching out in friendship to Sri Lanka under the current president.
US Senate’s tweet
However, the most significant disclosure was made last Wednesday (01). That comes from the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. The committee stressed in a special tweet on Wednesday that the government should move quickly to hold the local government elections in a free and fair manner and that any action taken to silence the Sri Lankan people’s voice is undemocratic. That tweet also made clear that it was a violation of Sri Lankans’ rights, something that the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee had emphasised.
The US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee is a very potent organisation. This foreign relations committee makes decisions regarding the US government’s foreign policy. Our knowledge indicates that the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee did not decide to make this declaration regarding Sri Lanka suddenly. The Foreign Relations Committee had taken steps to hold a series of talks with several significant nations over a number of days in order to accomplish that. The United States issued this message as the first of many statements against the postponement of the elections as a result of that discussion.
Indian statement
Along with this statement from America, India also took action to make a special statement about Sri Lanka on the following day, Thursday (02). This announcement was by a Journalist named R.R.M. Delaney and it appeared in Indian media. It stated that this announcement was also made based on the announcement made by the United States and was published under the name of a journalist named Delaney. The announcement stated that India and the US will work together to strengthen cooperation in the Asia Pacific region, with a focus on the steps taken to improve Sri Lanka’s security situation.
The announcement had indicated that India provided nearly $04 billion to rebuild Sri Lanka’s economy after the last Covid season and due to the political crisis, and the United States also provided $3.4 million in aid during the Covid season, and a $70.9 million loan afterwards. It was also mentioned that it was given during the Covid season. Through that letter, it was pointed out that India and America had taken joint steps to develop the socio-economic situation of Sri Lanka.
Indian pressure for LG election
In addition, it was stated that America, India and Japan provided support to Sri Lanka even when China avoided providing support to rescue Sri Lanka from the economic crisis and even when they tried to disrupt the financial fund’s borrowing program.
However, the most important part mentioned here was the part where it was mentioned that India exerts a great influence on the local government elections in Sri Lanka. It also stated that India will pressurize the government to implement the 13th amendment and give land and police powers to the Northern Provincial Council.
US foreign relations committee
In addition, a special chapter on the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate has been included in this report. According to that chapter, this Senate committee was established as far back as 1816. The foreign policies of the US government, such as how the United States maintains relations with foreign countries, how to strengthen them, which countries should be influenced, etc., are prepared by this Senate committee.
HR and accountability
The American government also uses the recommendations given by this committee to prepare its foreign policy in almost every situation. And this committee helps the governments that run transparently without fraud and corruption. And those states should also respect human rights. The best example of that is the bill passed by this committee based on Sri Lanka in 2021. There, this committee decided to provide assistance to develop small and medium scale businesses in Sri Lanka, protect good governance policies, and build infrastructure, and it also took steps to impose a condition that human rights and accountability should be strictly enforced.
Independent CB
Also, in a recommendation issued by this committee in 2022, it was said that in order for Sri Lanka to receive support from the International Monetary Fund, independence of the Central Bank should be established. Accordingly, during those periods, the government also took care to implement those recommendations to the letter because they were well aware of the power of influence of this committee.
Accordingly, according to the announcement issued by the Senate this time, it is needless to say that if the government does not conduct the local government elections properly, the results will be very negative for the country. It should be mentioned here that Sri Lanka will be affected not only by America, but also by other countries including India.
Significant verdict by SC
The Supreme Court made a historic decision on Friday and moved to issue an interim restraining order to Ranil Wickramasinghe, the finance minister, and Mahinda Siriwardena, the secretary of the finance ministry, preventing them from withholding budgetary funds designated for the holding of the 2023 elections. The local government elections that were supposed to take place on March 9 have therefore been given a new date by the Election Commission.
That occurred during a unique conversation that took place at the Election Commission on Friday. The Election Commission’s refusal to give up on the task of conducting the election in the face of the various government obstacles, however, was a unique occurrence. Despite the fact that the election has been put off indefinitely, the chairman of the commission, Mr. Nimal Punchihewa, wrote to the speaker, Mr. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, last week to urge him to step in and make the necessary arrangements for the election through the parliament because the money power belongs to the legislature. The Speaker also took action to deliver this letter the following day to President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Minister of Finance.
Opposition meets with speaker
With the Commission sending a letter to the Speaker, the leader of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya, the main opposition party, Mr. Sajith Premadasa, also decided to unite all the parties as an opposition and meet the Speaker to discuss this matter. Accordingly, Sajith informed his Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Thisath Wijegunawardena to inform all the opposition party leaders in this regard.
Accordingly, Tisath also made phone calls to all opposition party leaders including JVP and informed that all opposition party leaders have decided to meet the Speaker and discuss the election and this discussion is scheduled to be held on Tuesday morning. However, on Tuesday morning, apart from the JVP, a large number of representatives representing all the other opposition parties came to the Parliament. Instead of coming to the discussion, JVP went to the Election Commission at the same time and took steps to negotiate with them regarding the conduct of the election.
Resolution to the parliament
However, Sajith decided to come to his parliamentary office on Tuesday morning to participate in this discussion. When Sajith came, the other party leaders of the opposition, G.L. Peiris, Dallas Alahapperuma, Chandima Veerakkodi, Charitha Herath, Laxman Kiriella and others engaged in a special discussion on the issues to be raised in the discussion. Here, 3 special things caught the attention of the group. The first of which was to inform the speaker that a resolution should be passed in the parliament to immediately release the money allocated in the budget for holding the elections in 2023.
As the second proposal, they discussed and decided that Mr. Mahinda Siriwardena, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, who failed to release the money for the election, should be immediately summoned to the Parliament and the necessary background should be created to question him about this.
As the third proposal, it was decided that a serious situation could arise in the country by not holding the election, so the parliament should be convened immediately to discuss the matter. It was decided to ask the speaker that the situation may become more serious in the future as one person has already died in the protests calling for the election, and to request the speaker to take immediate action against it through the parliament.
Insist on speaker’s verdict
In addition, Charita Herath called the group’s attention to a crucial issue. Since the speaker could claim that these proposals could be presented to the government and a response should be sought, he said, it would be best to press the speaker as much as possible to continue this conversation and find a resolution.
Accordingly, when Sajith and his group went to the speaker’s office to meet the speaker on time, Dylan Perera, Professor Channa Jayasumana, Nalaka Godaheva, Harsha de Silva, Iran Wickramaratne, Ranjith Maddumabandara, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Gayantha Karunathilaka and others were sitting there. Later, after the arrival of the speaker, the discussion started and first Sajith gave his comments and took steps to present the 3 proposals originally planned to present to the speaker. GL Pieris who spoke after Sajith made a clear description of the constitutional framework for holding the election and the ability of the government to provide money for it.
Danger to democracy
Afterward, Dullas spoke. He emphasised that the President had planned to use the local government election to achieve the same result he had with the provincial councils, and that this would put the nation’s democracy in danger. The President had devised a plan to control not only the provincial councils but also the members of the local government bodies. Dullas was followed by comments from Chandima Veerakkodi, Nalaka Godaheva, Harsha de Silva, and Charitha Herat.
Speaker’s consent
The Speaker then started to speak. The speaker explained that he was unable to decide on this issue alone and that a meeting of party leaders has been scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m. where, following discussion, a final decision can be made. The speaker’s consent to a parliamentary resolution demanding the immediate release of the funds designated for the local government elections, however, was a unique event.
Party leaders meeting
After that, a meeting of party leaders in the Parliament was held under the chairmanship of the speaker to further discuss this matter and take a decision. Unlike the usual party leader meetings, two special events were witnessed in this party leader meeting. In place of Mrs. Talatha Athukorala, who was representing the United People’s Force, Prof. G.L. was representing the Free People’s Alliance. Mr. Peiris participated in the discussion.
The participation of Mr. Vijitha Herath rather than Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the head of the National People’s Force, was the second incident. In this instance, Pohottuwe General Secretary Sagara Kariyavasam, speaking for the ruling party, sparked a commotion during the party leaders’ meeting in opposition to these two changes.
Sagara objects
GL and Vijitha received a stern rebuke from Sagara, who asserted that representatives who are not party leaders and who have not been nominated by the party are not permitted to attend the meeting of party leaders. In the beginning, Sagara attacked GL hard. He was defended by Sajith. Sajith firmly informed the speaker that G.L. Peiris could attend this meeting without any issues because he is an authority on the country’s current situation. The other fact is G.L. Peiris also attended on behalf of Thalatha Athukorala, who had previously attended this.
Sagara’s overruled by Speaker
Mr. G. L. Peiris is someone with extensive constitutional knowledge. He speaks out strongly against the government’s tricks to delay the elections on behalf of the opposition both domestically and abroad. Therefore, GL is the best candidate to discuss the current state of the nation. That’s why we brought him rather than one of our representatives to the party leadership meeting. He therefore has no issues attending the meeting of the party leader said Sajith . “Speaker, you should not permit this for too long,” sajith said. Sagara’s request was denied by the speaker, who also gave GL the chance to take part in the party leader meeting.
Agrees to Sajith’s request
After that came the question of Vijitha Herath. When Sagara made comments against Vijitha, Sajith took steps to stand up for Vijitha as well.
Anura is a party leader. He’s busy with this situation. Then he is unable to put his work aside and attend an unexpected party leader meeting. He has therefore assigned a representative to speak for that party. We cannot criticise it. On the other hand, his party’s representation is significant when talking about the vote. Therefore, we ought to give MP Vijitha Herat the chance to attend the meeting of the party leaders and present the viewpoint of his party. Democracy is that the speaker agreed to it.
Governing party oppose
After solving this problem, it was discussed about the adoption of a resolution in the Parliament regarding the allocation of money for the election according to the letter sent by the Election Commission to the Speaker. When the opposition clarified that this proposal should be passed in the parliament soon, the ruling party objected to it and said that the proposal cannot be debated soon, and it should be submitted to the parliament following the normal procedure. The opposition agreed to it and finally both sides decided to present the proposal to the parliament on the 23rd Thursday of the third week of March and ask for a vote.
After that, the opposition informed the ruling party that there is a need for a debate regarding the postponement of the local government election and the violation of the voting rights of the people. The government also agreed to it, and Pohottu General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam said that his party is also of the position that the election should be held. Accordingly, it was decided in the party leaders’ meeting to give a two-day debate for that purpose as an adjournment motion.