{"id":209896,"date":"2020-04-27T12:24:22","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T06:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=209896"},"modified":"2020-04-27T12:24:22","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T06:54:22","slug":"ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ensure No One Organ Of Govt Encroaches Into Another\u2019: Eran, Harsha Raise Concerns About Army At Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former UNP Parliamentarians Dr Harsha De Silva and Eran Wickremaratne have written to the Secretary General of Parliament about the increased number of armed forces personnel were present in addition to Police personnel at the Parliamentary complex on a visit there late last week.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/p><\/div>\n

The letter reveals that Parliamentary officials had emphasized that security in Parliament should be as usual. However the perimeter of the complex was being guarded by the military, according to the letter.<\/p>\n

The two opposition MPs questioned what had made the security changes necessary when the whole country was under curfew.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was the threat assessment? Was there a terrorist threat? We have not received any indication of a threat that necessitated a change of usual security arrangements,\u201d the letter queried.<\/p>\n

\u201cSri Lanka has had a long tradition of safeguarding freedoms and protecting all three organs of government. We must ensure that no ONE organ of government is permitted to encroach into the preserve of any other organ of government,\u201d the MPs told the Secretary General of Parliament in their letter. It was the responsibility of all citizens and especially public officials to safeguard the separation of powers between the three organs of Government, the letter added.<\/p>\n

We publish below the letter in full:<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

The Secretary General, Parliament of Sri Lanka, Sri Jayawardenepura,<\/p>\n

Kotte.<\/p>\n

Dear Sir,<\/p>\n

Hon. Harsha De Silva and I visited Parliament at 3.00 p.m. today to discuss with you, a matter of concern that had arisen since last night, about the security of the Parliamentary Complex. As you were not present, we met with Mr. Kushan Jayarathna, the Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms in Parliament.<\/p>\n

We observed that a significantly higher number of armed forces personnel were present in addition to Police personnel, who normally provide security. Mr. Jayarathna mentioned that you had insisted that the security of Parliament should be as usual. However, on observing otherwise, and on inquiry, we were told that the perimeter of the Parliament complex was being guarded by the armed forces. With an island-wide curfew and a lockdown, we wanted to know what necessitated such security changes. What was the threat assessment? Was there a terrorist threat? We have not received any indication of a threat that necessitated a change of usual security arrangements.<\/p>\n

It is the responsibility of all citizens and especially those paid out of the public purse to maintain peace and safeguard the separation of powers between the three organs of government i.e. the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, which are the essential components of a constitutional democracy.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka has had a long tradition of safeguarding freedoms and protecting all three organs of government. We must ensure that no ONE organ of government is permitted to encroach into the preserve of any other organ of government.<\/p>\n

Yours faithfully,<\/p>\n

Eran Wickramaratn<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Harsha De Silva<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":207304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Ensure No One Organ Of Govt Encroaches Into Another\u2019: Eran, Harsha Raise Concerns About Army At Parliament - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Ensure No One Organ Of Govt Encroaches Into Another\u2019: Eran, Harsha Raise Concerns About Army At Parliament - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-27T06:54:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Ensure No One Organ Of Govt Encroaches Into Another\u2019: Eran, Harsha Raise Concerns About Army At Parliament - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-27T06:54:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-1.jpg\",\"width\":1680,\"height\":1120,\"caption\":\"Gotabaya Rajapaksa\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Ensure No One Organ Of Govt Encroaches Into Another\u2019: Eran, Harsha Raise Concerns About Army At Parliament\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Ensure No One Organ Of Govt Encroaches Into Another\u2019: Eran, Harsha Raise Concerns About Army At Parliament - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Ensure No One Organ Of Govt Encroaches Into Another\u2019: Eran, Harsha Raise Concerns About Army At Parliament - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2020-04-27T06:54:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1680,"height":1120,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/","name":"\u2018Ensure No One Organ Of Govt Encroaches Into Another\u2019: Eran, Harsha Raise Concerns About Army At Parliament - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-1.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-27T06:54:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-1.jpg","width":1680,"height":1120,"caption":"Gotabaya Rajapaksa"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-no-one-organ-of-govt-encroaches-into-another-eran-harsha-raise-concerns-about-army-at-parliament\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Ensure No One Organ Of Govt Encroaches Into Another\u2019: Eran, Harsha Raise Concerns About Army At Parliament"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Gotabaya-Rajapaksa-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209897,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209896\/revisions\/209897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}