Why do many UNHRC members abstained voting ?
Pohottuwa black mail Ranil in style!
The aftermath of approval of resolution: What Sri Lanka will loose?
The vote on the Geneva Human Rights Resolution presented against Sri Lanka was held last Thursday (06). In the last few weeks, we have continued to report in this column about the serious proposal that was to be presented to the Geneva Human Rights Commission against Sri Lanka and the crisis that would arise from it.
Proposal on Economic crimes
There we said that for the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, a new proposal is to be presented that action should be taken against the people who have committed economic crimes. In addition to this, as usual, we mentioned that many accusations of human rights violations are to be presented, and that the seven countries namely America, Britain, Germany, Canada, Malawi, North Macedonia and Montenegro will present the accusations.
Change in Voting pattern
Accordingly, in the voting held last Thursday, 20 countries voted against Sri Lanka and another 20 countries abstained from voting. Only 7 countries had voted in favor of Sri Lanka. However, the most special event that came to be seen here was that although Sri Lanka got 11 votes in the last poll held against Sri Lanka in Geneva, this time Sri Lanka failed to secure even that amount. It was a special event that India and Japan, who had sat and voted with Sri Lanka throughout the previous period, did not stand for Sri Lanka and took a silent stand this time.
Will the 22nd amendment ever be presented?
Meanwhile, the government had set aside two days last Thursday and Friday for debating the 22nd constitutional amendment. The government decided to submit the 20th amendment to the parliament on Thursday with that goal in mind. Accordingly, the agenda of the Parliament on Thursday was lined up with the President presenting a special statement regarding the economy to the Parliament, followed by the Speaker presenting announcements, presenting documents, presenting the committee report, presenting public petitions, and presenting questions for oral answers. After that, the agenda included the second reading of the 22nd Constitution Amendment Bill, commencing the day’s main activity in the agenda.
Pohottuwa black mail Ranil?
But an incident that turned it completely upside down happened last Monday. It was during the meeting of the ruling party MPs group chaired by the President. After some time, it was seen that former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had participated in this meeting. At the beginning of the discussion, the topic of the 22nd amendment was brought to the fore by former minister Sarath Weerasekara. Weerasekera said that he would protest against the 22nd amendment and that he would not support any amendment brought about reducing the powers of the President.
13th, 19th 20th and 22nd Amendments!
I also opposed the 13th amendment then. I also opposed the 19th amendment. What these do is to reduce and limit the powers of the executive. We are a country that had a war. If the country is to be stable, the executive must be strong. If we didn’t have the executive that day, we wouldn’t even be able to finish the war…’ Sarath Weerasekera said when Sarath started, S.B. spoke after Sarath. Dissanayake. SB also launched a strong attack against the 22nd.
‘Just like the terrorism that existed then, there has been terrorism within the country today. In order to suppress these, the executive presidential system must be strong. If the executive was not strong then Mahinda would not have been able to end the war. That is why I am completely against the 22nd amendment…’ said S.B.
Sagara Kariyawasam, Secretary General of Pohottuwa spoke after that. Sagara also said that he is also against the 22nd amendment, and despite his party’s objection, if this amendment is brought to the parliament, there will be a large number of people who will vote against it, and those who bring the amendment should take responsibility for it.
Whose brain child the 22 A?
Who brings this amendment? For who this is for? What’s in this? We don’t know any of this. At least we have not even seen this amendment. No one discussed this with us. There are about thirty MPs with me who will vote against this amendment. Therefore, despite our opposition, if this amendment is brought to the parliament and it is defeated, the person who brought it must take responsibility for it…’ When Sagara strongly stated the position of Pototduva, Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksa immediately got up to answer it. Vijayadasa said that this was not an amendment brought by him, but an amendment brought by former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
This is not what we brought. The former president started this. After discussing it and approving it in the Cabinet, we are going to put it in the Parliament…’ when Vijayadasa said, the President also came to his support.
‘No, no, don’t worry. This was started by the former president. I also served as the chairman of the committee he appointed. If you have any questions, hand over the things that need to be amended to the minister on Wednesday…’ and the conversation about the 20th amendment ended with the president’s statement.
IGP at the receiving end!
After that, the topic regarding the burning of MPs’ houses was discussed in the meeting of MPs. The most noteworthy conversation was the strong attack against the Inspector General of Police by the group of MPs from Pohottuwa. They strongly told the President that the Inspector General of Police who did not fulfill his responsibility in burning the houses of MPs should be immediately removed from his post.
where is Karannagoda report
When our houses were burnt, the Inspector General of Police did not implement the law properly. If that is the case, he should be suspended. Because at the time of the Easter attack, the former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara was suspended and the investigations started. Therefore, remove him too…’ while another member asked what happened to the final report of the committee headed by former Navy Commander Mr. Wasantha Karnagoda to investigate the riots that took place in July. In response, the President said that he had received the final report, and that he had not had a chance to read it yet as he had to go abroad in the last few weeks. The MPs asked the President to give them the relevant report, and the President said that he would read it and give it to them.
President hushed!
However, it was very clearly visible the President did not say anything in this regard when the MPs continued to make accusations against the IGP. But Mr. Tiran Alas, the minister in charge of police, said that many police officers have been suspended for the burning of MPs’ houses and that they can reveal the police chiefs related to the incident during the investigations.
Will JVP stalwarts grilled?
President change the topic and said JVP former MPs Sunil Handunnetti and K.D. Lalkantha had said that Parliament should be surrounded and action should be taken against Haduneththi and Lalkanta.
“During the panic time that day, Lalkant and Sunil Handunnetti clearly said to come and raid the Parliament. They wanted to jam the parliament and disrupt all activities. But till today no action has been taken in this regard. I also told the Leader of the house to talk to the Speaker about this and take action. You too should talk about this in the Parliament…’ and the President also took steps to give advice to the MPs in Pohottuwa.
Seniors of Pohottuwa meet president
Although the meeting of the government MPs group ended like this, last Thursday a group of senior MPs from Pohottuwa once again went to the President’s office in the parliament to meet the President when he came to the Parliament. The team was led by S.B. Dissanayake and Rohitha Abeygunawardena. While this group was going to the President’s room, Minister Bandula Gunawardena was engaged in a discussion with the President. Accordingly, he is also ready to join the discussion, but S.B. The rest of the group said that their group wanted to discuss with the President without Bandula. Accordingly, it was seen that Bandula left the negotiating table.
In the discussion that started later, Mr.S. B. Dissanayake questioned that the Pohottu MPs made a strong commitment to appoint the President, and despite this, why are the Pohottu MPs not given cabinet minister positions.
In response, the president said that the appointment of the cabinet was delayed because five SJB MPs were ready to join the cabinet.
A cabinet loaded with pohottuwa
The Pohottu MPs who protested the President’s statement have pointed out that it no Sahab MP will join the government, and that opportunity has now been lost due to the President’s intransigence.
Accordingly, S.B.Dissanayake and rest told the President to immediately appoint a cabinet consisting of MPs from Pohottuwa.
They also criticized the current ministers Bandula Gunawardena, Nimal Siripala Silva and Roshan Ranasinghe and accused the President of acting according to their views.
There, the President has pointed out that these people are MPs representing Pohottuwa, they were appointed by former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and he took the temporary cabinet before him.
Responding to the president’s statement, the MPs pointed out that in that case, this temporary cabinet should be dissolved immediately and a permanent cabinet consisting of Pohottu MPs should be formed. The MPs also took steps to inform the President to do this immediately without further delay. It is a special event to see that the president has finally expressed some agreement.
High security zones
Last week, we reported in this column how not only the politics of Sri Lanka but also the international community was on fire last week after the President left for Japan after signing the gazette announcement for the establishment of high security zones. There we said that there have been accusations that the President has signed this gazette announcement in an illegal manner, and several parties including the Bar Association, Samagi Jana Balawegaya have taken legal action against it. Also, we reported last week how the President called the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police from Japan and took steps to find out the root cause of this incident and instructed the legal departments to prepare the gazette notice to cancel it.
HSZ a drama or real
A series of events is currently unfolding in the political field that makes one doubt whether the event itself is a kind of drama. We say this based on several incidents that happened after the President’s visit to Sri Lanka. Because last week, some media had reported that the President had unknowingly signed this high security zone gazette announcement, and that a group of people had tried to mislead the President.
The High Security Zone Gazette announcement was prepared by a group of Ministry of Defense officials including the Minister of Public Security, Mr. Tiran Alas, and the advice of the Attorney General’s Department should have been sought while preparing it, but they have not done so, and at least the legal department of the police has not been informed. Some media had reported that signatures had been obtained for the gazette announcement that they were about to leave.
Was AG and President deceived?
It was indicated that this was done by a group of officers including Tiran. If so, there should be a high-level investigation regarding misleading a country’s president and embarrassing him internationally as soon as he came to Sri Lanka. Disciplinary investigations should be conducted against ministers and government officials who have done so and should be dealt with accordingly. But nothing happened after the President came to Sri Lanka.
The only thing that happened was that the President took steps to hand over three major institutions, including the Immigration Department, which were under other institutions, to the Minister of Public Security, Tiran Alas, through a gazette. That’s why we mentioned that the High Security Zone Gazette notification is a complete drama. It should be noted that this is a play, and no matter what purpose it was done to achieve, the international shame caused to the country through it is not insignificant.
Ranil’s secret mission in Singapore
While all the media reported on the President’s visit to Japan last week, only the ‘Rajya Rahas’ column revealed a special fact that was hidden in the President’s trip to Japan. There we said that information has been reported that the President secretly went to Singapore and met a controversial individual there and had a dinner with a Singaporean government minister. We used the word ‘secretly’ because there was no mention of the President’s trip to Singapore from the Presidential Media Unit. At least there was no news or photo of the meeting with a Singaporean minister. The Presidential Media Unit had said that the President had left for Japan, and then landed in Japan, and they had not released any news in the meantime.
Why Singapore airlines?
But last week, the ‘Rajya Rahas’ column, along with the flight reports related to the President’s visit to Singapore, questioned this and said that the President had booked a flight belonging to the Singapore Airlines company to go to Japan via Singapore, bypassing the Sri Lankan flight that was supposed to go directly from Sri Lanka to the ‘Narita’ airport.
According to this, last week in Parliament about the President’s trip to Singapore, the SJB Member of Parliament S.M. Marikkar raised a question. Marikkar asked that the President had also visited Singapore during his trip to Japan, where he had also attended a lunch with former Central Bank Governor Arjun Mahendran.
When Marikkar made this revelation, the President remained in his office in Parliament. hearing this statement, the President immediately came to lobby of the house and proceeded to respond to it. The President said that it is true that he went to Singapore and had lunch there not with Arjun Mahendran but with a Singaporean minister. Apart from this, the President to diverted the attention of the conversation by making a joke by linking Marikkar and Hirunika. However, the most special aspect is that the President did not deny the news of his meeting with Arjun Mahendran.
Parliamentary committees
With the establishment of the good governance government in 2015, he introduced a positive political culture to the country and took steps to give the chairmanships of the COPE and COPA committees that investigate corruption and irregularities in government institutions to the opposition. Accordingly, JVP MP Sunil Handunnetthi became the chairman of the COPE committee.
The COPE committee had also taken steps to make many strong revelations at that time regarding the bond incident, which was a big accusation against the good governance government. Following the same tradition, Mr. Lakshman Kiriella, the main organizer of the opposition, had requested the government to give the chairmanships of the COPE and COPA committees to the opposition. The President and the Prime Minister had also agreed to it and the Speaker had also taken steps to announce it in Parliament.
No legal binding
But the situation would have changed later with the statement made by Pohottuwa General Secretary Mr. Sagara Kariyawasam in a news conference. Sagara said that there is no law to give the chairmanships of COPE-COPA committees to the opposition, and the members of those committees will decide who should have the chairmanship. As Sagara said, it was a special incident that Pohottu did not even take steps to nominate the former COPE Chairman Prof. Charita Herath to the COPE Committee at the same time Pohottu revealed the recent gas fraud to the country.
Samagi Jana Balawega, the main opposition, was also very surprised that the charita was not nominated to the COPE committee. Accordingly, Marikkar, who met Sajith last week, informed him that he is ready to leave the COPE committee and to nominate a member for his vacancy. Apart from Marikkar, several other MPs had taken steps to inform Sajith. However, Harsha de Silva, who met Sajith, informed that as he is also the chairman of the finance committee, his duties are too much, so he will leave the COPE committee and nominate another member for it. Sajith agreed. Accordingly, Sajith arranged to nominate Charita from the opposition to the COPE committee instead of Harsha.
COPA -COPE chairman
The next question arose regarding the chairmanships of COPE-COPA committees. Even though there were more members of the government, Sajith and SJB had decided to contest both of them. Accordingly, SJB took steps to nominate Kabir Hashim to the COPA committee and Iran Wickramaratne to the COPE committee. First came the election of the COPA President. The most special event to be seen here was that a number of members including Mrs. Sudarshani Fernandopulle representing the government met Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Speaker of the House Susil Premajayant and informed that they would support the opposition candidate.
Kabir unanimous choice
Accordingly, Dinesh and Prasanna, the chief organizer of the ruling party, realized that if a member of the government was nominated and went to a vote, Kabir had a chance to win. Accordingly, Susil and Prasanna were of the opinion that the COPA chairman ship should be given to the opposition without going to a vote as a trick. They also took steps to inform Dinesh about it. Dinesh said there that he should inform the President about this. Accordingly, in the discussion held with the President, according to the current situation, it was agreed to give the post of COPA chairman to Kabir without a vote.
Vote for COPE
But the problem arose with regard to the post of COPE Chairman. Although there are moderate members of the COPA Committee, the COPE Committee is represented by the members of hardcore Pohottu and Basil supporters, so the group decided not to give the position of its chairman to the opposition at all. Accordingly, both parties agreed to conduct a poll there and Prof. Ranjith Bandara’s name was suggested by Mr. Mahindananda Aluthgamage. It was confirmed by Rohitha Abeygunawardana. Rohini Kaviratne proposed Iran’s name from the opposition. Marikkarya confirmed. The voting result was that Ranjith got 14 votes and Iran got 7 votes and Ranjith Bandara was appointed as the COPE President.
Namal to act for Basil
It is almost two months since Mr. Basil Rajapakse, who was the national organizer of Pohottuwa, went to America. Accordingly, former Minister Namal Rajapaksa has been entrusted with the work as the Acting National Organizer of Pohottuwa. Therefore, to fill the gap of Basil, Namal has been organizing meetings at the constituency level since about two weeks ago and implementing a program to reunite the parties. Despite the presence of a considerable number of party members in some places, it was also seen that opposition arose in some places.
No to Namal
However, as of last week, many MPs started receiving various complaints from their party members due to Namal’s holding of these council meetings. Many complaints said that due to Namal’s presence, an unfavorable situation is being created at the village level. The complaints further stated that it is not practical at the moment. But since the MPs could not say this to Namal’s face, they had taken steps to inform Namal by using various tactics. There, one councilor had used a wonderful trick. That is to compare Namal’s meetings with the people coming to the Constituency Council meetings held by the opposition leader Mr. Sajith Premadasa.
Sajith attract more crowd
Look, now Sajitut is holding assembly meetings all over the country. A lot of people come to it. Last week I also saw that a large crowd had come to the meeting where Hindimu was held. Hinduma is usually a heavy seat for us. But our party members do not come to the meetings that Namal attends. So when they are shown on TV, it is not right for us to the party as well as to .It goes as negative…’ said this MP. Accordingly, under this background, Namal’s Constituency Committee meetings have been temporarily suspended.
The empty Temple trees
There are official places reserved for elite persons in our country to carry out their duties as well as to stay. For example, the President has the Presidential Secretariat for his duties and the Presidential Palace for his accommodation. The Prime Minister has the Prime Minister’s Office for his duties and the Temple House for his accommodation. During the reign of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, temple trees also seen as his official residence.
Dinesh uncertain
However, the temple trees now stands empty now. The reason for this is that Mr. Dinesh Gunawardena has not moved to Araliyagaha Madura even though it has been more than three months since he assumed the post of Prime Minister. With the swearing in of the Prime Ministership, a big ritual was also held there for Dinesh to move to move to Temple trees residence. The President as well as the former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa were also present.
However, even after that Dinesh did not move to Araliyagaha Mandure and instead resided in the official residence of the Hector Kobbedua Agricultural Research Institute on Wijerama Mawatha as usual, it had become a matter of surprise for everyone. However, it is not known whether Dinesh is not going there because of the fear of an upcoming political upheaval, because the government is not stable, or because of some other reason.
MR’s special birthday present
Meanwhile, a big rumor going around Pohottu these days says that the Pohottu councilors have planned to give a special birthday gift on November 18, which is Mahinda’s birthday. The rumor says that once the people of the country came together and gave Mahinda the presidential gift on November 18th, this time the Pohottu councilors are planning to give Mahinda the post of Prime Minister as a birthday gift once again. It has been learned that majority of the MPs are ready to provide a signed letter for that purpose.
Leadership to Pohottuwa
The plan of these MPs is to make Mahinda the Prime Minister and give proper leadership to Pohottuwa who is currently without a leader. After that, their plan is to organize constituency-level meetings again and plant the bud before the next election. It is not known whether Dinesh will not move to Araliyagaha Madura due to the dismay of the councilors’ plan.
Gota shifting houses
It is also news that the issue of official housing is once again emerging within the government. The official house in Wijerama Mawatha, where Mahinda lived, is currently being renovated and the government has allocated 400 million rupees for it. Until then, Mahinda will stay in the house on Buller’s Road where former minister Janaka Bandara used to stay. However, according to the news in the ‘Rajya Rahas’ column, former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has made a request to give him the vacated house after Mahinda moved from this house to his official residence on Wijerama Mawatha. Gotabaya currently resides in the official residence of the government at Malalasekara Mawatha
Sajith’s visits around the country
This day the opposition leader as well as SJB leader Sajith Premadasa is traveling around the country setting up constituencies. A large number of people participated in those meetings. However, Sajith, who is going around the country in this way, got to see how a big smear campaign was launched by the government last week. In this smear campaign carried out by using some media friendly to the government, it was said that during Sajith’s tenure as the housing minister, there had been misuse of money from the Central Cultural Fund.
Mud slinging campaign on Sajith
However, Sajith, who was not alarmed immediately after the news was spread, immediately took steps to respond in the Constituency Council meeting. Sajith said that the government and the Rajapaksa’s are currently carrying out smear campaigns targeting him and that he is not afraid of character assassinations. Sajith said that this is a good opportunity to tell the country how he helped the temples, churches and temples that were facing difficulties all over the country during his tenure as a minister.
A secret discussion at GL’s house
There are now signs of an increase in the number of members of the independent group of parliamentarians. Last Tuesday arrival of another group of MPs to G.L Peiris’s house. Dallas Alahapperuma, Charith Herath, Nalaka Godaheva and Dylan Perera participated in the meeting with this group of MPs led by Anura Yapa, Priyankara Jayaratne, Sudarshanni Fernando Pulle, Jayaratne Herath, Chandima Weerakkodi and John Senaviratne participated in the discussion representing the Anura Yapa MP’s group and this discussion was held until after 10 pm. Both sides agreed to go together.
New members to Dulla’s group
When Anura Yapa asked, ‘Dallas, you are negotiating with other parties, aren’t you?’, Dallas said, ‘We are talking with other political parties except UNP and Pohottuwa.’
According to this, the group of independent MPs has started negotiations with all parties. As one step, representatives of the Sri Lanka People’s Party came to the Third Lane office last Wednesday. The representatives of the People’s Party said that it is easy to work together with the Freedom Group based on their political experience. The news is that Asanka Navaratne has already decided to join the Kurunegalin Freedom team.
By special correspondent