Parcel Of A Contemptible Plan To Victimise The CJ
By S. L. Gunasekara -
SL Gunasekara
S.L.Gunasekara
The impeachment of a judge of a superior court is indisputably a tragic event to be dealt with due solemnity and wholly divorced from all considerations of extraneous matters such as party affiliations and `loyalties’; prospects of rewards; political gain etc. It is a solemn occasion where Members of Parliament are required and indeed bound to discard and ignore completely their party affiliations, the decisions of their respective parties on such matter as well as the instructions of their party whips and decide wholly dispassionately and objectively whether on the evidence adduced before them, the Judge concerned was or was not guilty of any one or more of the charges against him that gave rise to the resolution for his impeachment and whether such charges were of sufficient gravity to warrant his dismissal.
The entire object of an impeachment being to `cleanse’ the judiciary if indeed it needed `cleansing’, there is clearly no `place’ in such a proceeding for lawlessness, thuggery , fraud, boorishness histrionics, exhibitionism or the wholesale misuse of religious ceremonies to serve political ends. Tragically the recent `drama’ relating to the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake saw all these unsavoury features but not an iota of objectivity or any of those salutary practices that should have been evident therein.
Commencing with the Select Committee which was alleged to have investigated the charges against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and arrived at `findings’ in respect of some of them, and ignoring, for the moment, the facts that both the Supreme Court as well as the Court of Appeal had held that it was constituted unconstitutionally and that the Court of Appeal had quashed, by way of certiorari, its purported findings, let us consider whether the conduct of that Select Committee was in any way objective, dispassionate and/or responsible.
One disgusting fact about which there can be no dispute is that some members of the Select Committee behaved in an utterly uncouth manner towards the Chief Justice which was clearly designed to humiliate her and perhaps to cause her to leave. The fact that those who behaved in such manner were not possessed of an iota of `breeding’ apart, one startling fact about such behaviour is that those who sank so low as to behave in such uncouth fashion actually thought they were doing something clever and laudable !!! What was even more startling was that they, not having been taken to task for such behaviour by even the President, the inference is inescapable that such rowdyism as was displayed by them was indeed approved by him and was part and parcel of a deliberate plan to compel the Chief Justice to throw in the towel.
Such rowdyism as was displayed within the Select Committee was echoed in a different context when mobs of raucous alleged supporters of the Government were brought to Hulftsdorp by some ambitious politicians and they, while armed to the teeth with clubs, staves etc shouted slogans and displayed banners highly defamatory of the Chief Justice, moved around the hordes of police officers who had been deployed there ostensibly to preserve law and order (!!) displaying `proudly’ their grisly weaponry without any let or hindrance from those alleged “guardians of the law”. One does not need more than one guess to visualize what their reactions would have been if those slogans had been aimed at the President or the new `Chief Justice’. It being wholly unthinkable that any police officer would have so ignored breaches of the law committed by any person whomsoever in his presence, the conclusion is inescapable that the inaction of those salaried men was necessarily a result of superior orders.
It is more than passing strange that the Government has yet failed to appreciate the dangers of using thugs as an instrument of state policy. They appear to be oblivious to the fact that the “loyalty” of the thug being wholly to himself, the day cannot be far off when the thug tires of the Government using his thuggery to impose his will on the dissenter, and decides to use their `talents’ for his own purposes even though that would be against the Government. That is a day that will be rued by all including those sycophants of the Government [whose name is “legion”] to whom no act of sycophancy or abject servility is too much provided it secures for them, some measure of patronage from the Government.
When to these facts are added the unbelievable facts that requests repeatedly made by Counsel for the Chief Justice for a list of documents sought to be produced and information about the procedure to be followed by that Select Committee fell on deaf ears, and they were given a bundle of some 1000 documents and told that the so called inquiry would be continued within 24 hours, the fact that no fair inquiry was contemplated and that the entire object of the exercise was to get rid of the Chief Justice by whatever means possible and replace her with another who, in the Government’s perception would be partial to it becomes as clear as crystal.
While this so called impeachment process has displayed a degree of perfidy unparalleled in the history of our land, one final act of overt deception damns for all time, the `Select Committee exercise’ as a `no holds barred’ exercise in victimization. This shameful act of unparalleled fraud was committed when the Chairman of the Select Committee having announced that no oral evidence would be led, adduced the oral evidence of some 17 witnesses after the Chief Justice had `walked out’. If the Select Committee intended adducing such oral evidence, how is it that so manifest a lie was uttered and the Chief Justice misled ?? How was it that all those witnesses attended the Select Committee and gave evidence at such short notice? There clearly having been no time to secure their attendance by due service of summons, it must follow that they were standing by to give evidence when called and were hence part and parcel of a contemptible plan to victimize the Chief Justice.
That all this was wholly unnecessary is a fact so manifest that it needs no repetition. Nobody would disagree with the proposition that if the Chief Justice had been corrupt, she had to go. This same proposition would be equally applicable to the President and other political appointees including ministers. There is clearly no gainsaying the fact that had the Chief Justice been subjected to a fair inquiry or trial, nobody could possibly have objected to her removal from office if she was found guilty of corruption. Yet she was not subjected to such an inquiry or trial and the entire impeachment process was converted into a political circus. Why ????
There are several unanswered questions surrounding the impeachment. One of the chief among them is why the President appointed the Chief Justice’s husband Chairman of the Insurance Corporation and then of the National Savings Bank. What was the aptitude displayed by Kariyawasam to hold such a position when, to the best of my knowledge and belief he had only displayed some aptitude in the field of marketing motor vehicles !! Thus his appointment to those posts gives rise to the inference that such appointments were given so as to win over the Chief Justice to the Government camp and secure judgments from her whether as Chief Justice or as a Judge of the Supreme Court, that were favourable to the Government. Those appointments were, in short `bribes’ and both the giver and the taker are equally culpable so that it is not possible for one wrongdoer to ride the high horse and point an accusing finger at the other.Yet, this, precisely is what, happened.
That the filth called “politics” would pollute the impeachment process was a foregone conclusion. Thus, there were, on the Government side, a number of sycophants who sought to portray the impeachment drama as a contest between the President who gave leadership to the Country to defeat the LTTE on the one hand and the Chief Justice on the other!! There were other sycophants of the Government who purport to see an international “conspiracy” in any dissent offered to anything the Government proposed doing who saw in the Chief Justice’s spirited defence of herself, a part of such a “conspiracy”. What these addicts to “conspiracy” theories would have to say about the appointment of Mohan Peiris to succeed the Chief Justice is left to be seen !!!.
It is indeed tragic that even members of the Bar and the Chief Justice herself succumbed to the temptation of bringing politics into this process. Thus, we experienced the tragic spectacle of members of the Bar engaging in the silly exercise of smashing coconuts on the road to ‘save” the Chief Justice while some other exhibitionists flocked round the Chief Justice’s car, making sure that they are photographed when the Chief Justice first went to parliament and returned therefrom. They even engaged in `strikes’, an exercise which, to my mind, is wholly unbecoming of the dignity of a member of the Bar.
Not to be outdone even the Chief Justice got the Ven Maduluwawe Sobhitha to chant Pirith prior to her setting out for her “inquisition”. Religion being something that is essentially personal, nobody could have faulted the Chief Justice if she got such ceremonies performed at her residence – however, when they are performed in the Court premises, they cry out for the conclusion that it was a part of a political exercise.
It was not only such amateurs who sought to infect this process with politics. Both the UNP and the JVP lost no time in “jumping the bandwagon” and seeking to gain some political capital out of these tragic events by posing dishonestly as champions of the independence of the judiciary while maintaining a deafening silence about their own efforts to undermine that noble principle. Not to be out-done Sarath Fonseka made one of his usual stupid statements by inviting the Chief Justice to take to politics.
As is usually the case the foreigner [both foreign Governments as well as their NGOs] who just cannot tolerate the idea of Sri Lanka being an independent Country which does not require his tutelage to manage its own affairs, was quick to put in his two cents worth condemning the impeachment. Apart from adding fuel to the flames lit by the “international conspiracy theorists”, there are hardly any results that followed from their presumptuous prognostications. Of these foreign effusions it need only be said that one of the most vociferous among them is the international thug which once bathed Vietnamese babies in Napalm and presently runs a torture chamber at Guantanamo Bay !!!.
Sri Lanka has been through a trial by fire. The country was rent in two by the impeachment. Today the dust seems to be settling over the impeachment drama. However, it would be a mistake of monumental proportions for us, now, to say “lets put the past behind us” and proceed with “business as usual”. One important aspect of the impeachment drama is that it brought into focus and the public eye, the independence of the judiciary and its vital importance to the life of our Country as a civilized Nation. It also brought into focus as never before, the corrupting influence of power and the self serving machinations of the sycophant resulting in otherwise decent People of whom much more was expected being wholly incapable or unwilling to accept or admit their own mistakes and most of all the monumental dangers presented to the Country by thuggery being used as an instrument of state power.
If the tragic drama of the impeachment results in National attention being focused on these evils and the dangers that face our Country, and we have the strength and the fortitude to overcome them, the anguish of the impeachment would not have been in vain but will result in this Country becoming a better place in which to live.
Oh my hero Rajapaksa, saviour of my Sinhala motherland. What has made you turn into this monster?
But, despite what you have become, I still love you. That’s what you seem to say.
Mr Gunasekera, the man who stole millions destined for the poor tsunami affected civilians, who wantonly butchered over 40,000 Tamil civilians, who rules with thuggery, intimidation and murder and who associates and tolerates criminals in his government is not fit to be a leader of any country. It is time for you to call a spade a spade and work towards deposing this criminal dictator. I hope you do.
Piranha - January 20, 2013
9:59 pm
Piranha
You say, “… butchered over 40,000 Tamil civilians,” We’ve heard some of your buddies saying the figure is over 150,000+. Such divers figures make you jokers, don’t you think.
For one thing; you can keep braying, but there are certain realities of life. That is why SLG say he will still vote for Rajapakse for there is none better. So, learn to live with Rajapakse and his policies.
Leela
Villager - January 21, 2013
5:02 am
Piranha
Thank you for devouring Mr. SLG. He is a good man, and he knows at the bottom of his heart what he’s up to. The problem is that he is first and fore most a Nationalist and therefore has to be an apologist for the regime. He is trying to work within the system.
There was a time I used dismiss him as someone blinded by his nationalist stance. His perhaps is the sanest, and a lone voice in the wilderness
M Y Foote - January 21, 2013
7:16 am
That’s the problem in Sri Lanka today. All the Sinhala Buddhist nationalists have tagged themselves onto Rajapaksa despite the fact that the major threat to “their” country, the LTTE, is no longer present or poses any danger. Looking at the developments lately their next target is the muslim community and their battle has started already. Rajapaksa gains from their support but Rajapaksa’s main interest is in making himself and his family wealthy and etch his name in stone in the history of Sri Lanka. People like SLG, Dayan, Rajiva et al are helping him by being his apologists.
Piranha - January 22, 2013
4:23 pm
Piranha:
You are simply NUTS! The next thing you’ll expect is Malinda Seneviratne, Dayan Jayatilleke, Rajiva Wijesinha, [Edited out] Chandraprema etc to begin acting like civilized, principled human beings. Come on, man, get real!
Aney Apochchi! - January 21, 2013
12:50 pm
There is another entity which has unopposed judicial powers not mentioned in the Penal Code.
This is the “armed forces”.
Four Jaffana University students have been extrajudicially sentenced to incommunicado imprisonment by the army in a remote army camp under the guise of “rehabilitation”.
The punishment has been approved by the Defence Secretary.
In no other country,is the army allowed “judicial powers”,to punish civilians,without proper trial in a court of law.
justice - January 20, 2013
10:47 pm
Quintessential SLG ire – shooting from both hips sparing none. Yet he
is careful in not blaming the lady for foolishly getting trapped in the
Trellium Apartment racket. Surely, you don’t use the word “breeding” in the same sentence with the Rajapakses, our Govt MPs and Ministers.
This must be one of those rare essays on the local scene SLG had written without apportioning blame on the Tigers, the diaspora and the TNA – the raison d’etre of all the country’s woes according to the man – once a darling of the beloved JHU until the time Ranawake from Patalipura decided to kick out this Angry Man of our peculiar variety of opportunistic politics.
Senguttuvan
Senguttuvan - January 21, 2013
12:45 am
It is unlikely that this regime is going to change its policies. It is too far gone to risk a democratisation process that will open the flood gates for reform and inquiries into its misdoings.
So it blunders on hoping that the problems will go away. Since the problems beget problems there will be no end in sight until the main problem is one day eliminated. It is like a cancer that devours the body until death is the saviour.
Safa - January 21, 2013
1:09 am
SL, you say that “What was even more startling was that they, not having been taken to task for such behaviour by even the President, the inference is inescapable that such rowdyism as was displayed by them was indeed approved by him and was part and parcel of a deliberate plan to compel the Chief Justice to throw in the towel.”
Have you finally woken up to what sort of thug you have been supporting all this time? Is he still your favored leader?
And then you end with “If the tragic drama of the impeachment results in National attention being focused on these evils and the dangers that face our Country, and we have the strength and the fortitude to overcome them, the anguish of the impeachment would not have been in vain but will result in this Country becoming a better place in which to live.”
I guess it’s never too late to change your ‘stripes’ and gather your “strength and fortitude” to work towards getting “this Country becoming a better place in which to live.”
Peter - January 21, 2013
1:38 am
Mr SLG. That was an excellent piece. Thank you. Quite candid except for the political bit about the “International Thug”. The US have never failed to look after the interests of their own Citizens.
I wonder what our so called “leaders” would do if they had such powers over the Globe. Dooms day.
At least I am glad that you seem to have a change of heart. Hope you will continue to see the rest of the political train of events as clearly as you are now seeing the impeachment saga.
Would you be kind enough to write the same in sinhala as well, since the majority of the blind voting population cannot understand a word of what you have so clearly expounded in the “so foreign ” queens language. Thanks to SWRD.
Mahen - January 21, 2013
2:53 am
It takes two to tango. Simple logic.
Jaadiyata Moodi. - January 21, 2013
5:08 am
@Piranha: You use the Tamil card only when it is convenient to you. Otherwise, the butchering of over 40,000 Tamil civilians was not wanton but a necessity to accomplish the crucial national goal of eliminating terrorism. Try your monkey tricks elsewhere.
Maavil Aaru Muttiah - January 21, 2013
5:27 am
Please Read today’s Daily News newsletter telling both Public and the International Community saying……CASE CLOSED…
CASE CLOSED, SL TELLS MISINFORMED OUTSIDERS
Our constitution, our Rule of Law:
Chamikara WEERASINGHE
Sri Lanka has sent a strong signal to the international community that the case is closed on what were pending administration of justice issues in Sri Lanka, with the appointment of a new Chief Justice.
Professor G. L. Peiris Minister of External Affairs, has called the Canadian Premier’s call for the reinstatement of the former Chief Justice almost impertinent’ and others such as minister W .D. J Senevitratne, Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs told this newspaper that the new CJ has been appointed by constitutional process which is the legal and constitutional prerogative of the President.
The removal of the Chief Justice was concluded in keeping with the Constitution of Sri Lanka, not any other rule of law, and a new Chief Justice has been appointed to put the system of administration of justice in order, which was absolutely an internal matter, Mr Senevirathe explained.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Ms Navinathan Pillai has also made statements with regard to the appointment of the new Chief Justice, and this has been taken exception to as both the impeachment and the appointment of the new Chief Justice were carried out as per the Constitution. (Please read editorial inside.)
External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunathilaka Amunugama said, as far as Sri Lanka is concerned the problems that affected administration of Justice are now over as with the appointment of a new Chief Justice.
External Affairs Minister Prof G. L. Peiris has made diplomatic Corps in Colombo aware about the issue and how some political elements, NGOs, anti government elements and pro LTTE elements have tried to use the situation to launch a calculated onslaught on the country making use of the impeachment issue.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2013/01/21/news01.asp
GOSL is trying to bury a living being saying she’s dead.
ITHINK BETWEEN SRI LANKA AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE DEALS,TRADE CONTRACTS, GOVT TO GOVT BUSINESS AND TRADE PROMOTIONS AND BETWEEN CENTRAL BANK AND FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSACTIONS SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY STOPPED, DUE TO UNAVAILABILITY OF RECOGNISED JUDICIARY TO WITNESS, TO WRITE AND SIGN AND TO VALIDATE THEM.
With an illegal and unrecognised Judiciary in place, the International Community should stay away from dealing with Sri Lanka Government due to absence of recognised Judiciary.
It’s time to educate International community.
Jayantha - January 21, 2013
6:18 am
Mr.S. L. Gunasekara is a Sinhala racist who speaks his mind. You cannot expect him to directly speak against MR who is the one President who has given life to Sinhala supremacists and racists like the Jathika Hela Urumaya and Bodu Bala Sena to thrive in this chaotic cauldron called Sri RajaPakistan. RIP Sri Lanka.
PresiDunce Bean - January 21, 2013
6:45 am
Sir I respect your thoughts. Pls don’t have anything to do with Idi Mahin hereafter if you want to have your dignity intact.
Lawyer - January 21, 2013
7:02 am
Mr. Gunasekera, you are still between two worlds. Please choose either the world of brutish animals or that of the civilized right thinking people!
Saman Wijesiri - January 21, 2013
9:51 am
SLG should get back to – and welcome – to the UNP, where, I believe,
he began his active political life. He is of the calibre, the depth, the learning and the truculency necessary in our chameleonic political landscape. His many avatars will be occasionally questioned but then
who is clean in that camp in terms of sheer loyalty – with the exception of, arguably, Ranil, John A and a handful few.
Senguttuvan
Senguttuvan - January 21, 2013
1:50 pm
Kshenuka Senewiratne is another MARA paid mouth piece similar to Hired GL peiris the respectable donkey.
Both President Rajapakse and Defense Secretary think they always can hoodwink the International community….and think that other countries live like them as Game Gode Paksa Pansal dayakayas.
They don’t know even what is going on in their own party and personal information are transferred in MILI SECONDS around the world.
Their movements are checked, analysed and respond even faster than their reaction. Therefore the time they played hide and seek with international community is lapsed long ago.
This Hambantota pai…s think hey are the Biggest Puppet show Crooks. They don’t know that Kolamba Kakkas are smarter than them.
I feel so sad, frustrated and angry to hear all these crap Gota is talking about. He is a guy who ran away to USA like a coward during the hight of war and after coming back never went to front line.
He forgot it was USA that gave him shelter during difficult times.Also it was USA who authorised Isreal to sell Fighter Jets and other Arms to Sri Lanka. Also it was USA who proscribed LTTE as a terrorist group and also jailed their arms dealers.Also US Navy Seals and Special Forces trained so many of our Soldiers to win LTTE war.
Now Hambantota ungrateful GOTA son of a Bas…ard and a Bi…ch Forgot all of these….and now Challenge USA saying “any donkey can do what Americans do” Don’t you think That this A….e H….e is talking crazy. Don’t he know it took USA only half hour to get Osama Bin Laden. Noriega, Gadaffi, Sadam Husain etc.
GOTA is simply a Office Boy, a gas station attendant and a security guard in USA now got his head swolen after looting all the country’s wealth.
He think his China Mudalali will help him to fight USA or the West. China will screw the whole Sri Lanka by giving LANU (rope) to Gota and Mara. It is China’s advise Gota follow to Destablise Sri Lanka. USA is China’s biggest trading Partner, and China will never do anything to jeopardize their trade to rescue Sri Lanka….which is peanuts and a one sided business to them.
While we borrowed 2.3 Billion US dollars from China for projects and imports….our exports were only 20 million dollars.
Our exports to USA were US Dollars 800 Million while we imported only 250 million Dollars from USA.Therefore see who help us with our exports.
USA always told to do the right thing to all people in Sri Lanka.But after the war ended both MARA and GOTA went against their Promise to solve Minority tamil problem, and never bothered to solve it…..and now they are in a fix.
All they think is to establish a dictatorial regime in Sri lanka, and to achieve this……..the ever invalid, Sleeping Beauty inactive opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe helped. He slept until 60 odd UNPers crossed to MARA and allowed ex CJ Sarath Silva to pass this Motion and extrended 3 times to contest as President, and forced CJ Shirani Bandaranayake to pass 18th Draconian Amendment.
Coming few weeks are crucial and unless all Sri Lankan Patriots get together and stop this Crazy Lunatic Hambatota Kelaweddas now….they will definitely ruin the whole Country.
What they plan to do with the country is a mystery….but shows sing of ruining it.
Please somebody ask these MARA ra….ls not to mess with USA….and instead ask their help to re- build Sri Lanka.
They will create More Rizanas, but we are sure USA and the International community will never allow it.
It’s time to act.
Jayantha - January 22, 2013
1:34 am
Mr.Gunasekara in a daze panicked and put his foot in the mouth. Now he has changed to damage control mode. He talks about how the bribe giver is equally guilty as much as the taker but not a word about how the man tried to steal and got caught. Also not a word about the the legal team leaving the inquiry. If,as he argues,we can understand Ex CJ walking out because she was humiliated,but how can he justfy the legal team walking out just because the Ex CJ felt humiliated?
Mr.Gunasekara is scoffing at those who talk about foreign conspiracies and funny he say that only the Napalm and Guantamo bay party are interested!!!Yes,it is on thier behalf the others are screaming.
As I see it the whole issue of CJ was politicized long before an impeachment was even concidered. Mr.Gunasekara just can not be aware of those things but jumped the gun before realizing what was happening and now talks tounge in cheek.
NAK - January 23, 2013
1:24 pm