President Ranil Wickremesinghe stressed in Parliament yesterday that the Judiciary and the Police have been hampered in their work due to the various machinations within the Constitutional Council.
The President said action will be taken to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to find out as to why the names recommended to the high posts have not been endorsed in time by the Constitutional Council (CC).
He said it is apparent that some members of the CC are trying to sabotage its work and this situation is unexpected.
Even though the CC is called by whatever name either Parliamentary Select Committee or Constitutional Council, it is a part of the executive.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe said this while expressing his views on this matter in Parliament yesterday.
Commenting on the investigations into the Easter Sunday attack investigations, the President said that he handed over the Easter Sunday Investigation report to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Bishop of Kurunegala.
“Several points have to be mentioned. There is a Commission report regarding the Easter Sunday attacks. The Commission report and the evidence are all there. I have handed it over to the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Bishop of Kurunegala.”
Please check it and let us know what needs to be done. These are being investigated right now. I think there are 30,000 or 40,000 pages here in the report. When their work is completed, we will be informed what to do. I tried to handover this case to the Scotland Yard Police once because some people said that they don’t have any trust on local investigations. All these commission reports and related evidence have now been handed over to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference. After that we will be notified by them.
The second is that we have been sending Sri Lankan workers to work in the Middle East region for a long time. I don’t think there are even ten thousand Sri Lankans waiting to migrate to Israel for job opportunities. I don’t think that they expect to go to Israel where there is war. However, I will ask the Minister of Labor about the actual situation of this. Anyway, there is no change in our position and we have condemned the attack on Gaza. Attacking the Gaza Strip is not the solution for this conflict.
The issue has been discussed at much diplomatic level. But, I don’t think this can be solved in this way. For this, attention should be paid in two or three areas. Attention should also be paid to the situation in Lebanon. It should be appreciated that there is a ceasefire for even for seven days. A political solution should be given for this. Since there is no political solution, this has become a problem. It has been decided to develop the North by providing a political solution for the problem prevailing there. The North has a good economy. A strong economy should be created for the North. “The IGP is not there.Judges are not there.I wonder how we can mete out justice. Neither police nor the judicial system can work,” Now Judge Bandula Karunaratne’s name has been halted. I do not know why his name was discontinued. That name was not sent by me and it was sent by the Chief Justice. The Appellate Commission can also suggest a name. I sent that name. We have not been able to work due to the internal arrangement of some members of the CC to sabotage the work. Therefore, we cannot work unless a separate select committee is appointed. Speaker has informed me in writing that they are unable to make a decision to appoint a person. In the CC, when the vote was taken,three members were divided on one side and the other three were divided on the other side.” Two members have abstained from voting. So they have been unable to appoint a person. So how can we run the Government like this? We have not yet been able to appoint the anti-corruption commission. Even if we bring the law, it has notl not been implemented by the CC. By whatever name this CC is called, this is also a part of the executive. We were the first to bring this CC concept in 2003. Former Minister K.N. Choksy was the first to create this. It comes under the executive. It is a part of the Executive, whether it is called the Parliamentary Commission or the CC. When the President is nominated, they should check whether the names are suitable or not, or otherwise they should send it back.
MP Dr.Harsha de Silva –
The President said that one has not been appointed. But MP Dharmalingam Siddharthan’s name has been proposed to the CC. But, the Speaker has not made that appointment.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe:
It’s not the Speaker’s fault; it’s something that needs to be resolved here. Proposal of MP Siddharthan’s name is good. But another group of the Opposition has said something else.
MP Dr.Harsha de Silva
We have given a name. If it was appointed, it would be over. Don’t blame us.
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