{"id":69881,"date":"2013-01-16T11:34:34","date_gmt":"2013-01-16T11:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=69881"},"modified":"2013-01-27T13:16:32","modified_gmt":"2013-01-27T13:16:32","slug":"many-sides-of-partiality-of-mohan-pieris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/many-sides-of-partiality-of-mohan-pieris\/","title":{"rendered":"Many Sides Of Partiality Of Mohan Pieris"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laksiri Fernando<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr Laksiri Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n

Apart from being an illegal appointment to the post of Chief Justice, Mohan Pieris<\/a><\/span> undoubtedly is a controversial character in many respects. His business connections and government appointments are well known and contrary to the independence and integrity expected by that highest position in the judiciary. He was the Chief Legal Advisor to the Cabinet. He himself is personification of \u2018conflict of interest\u2019 par excellence. The following is an article I wrote about his views on the ethnic question and reconciliation which was published in the Asian Tribune<\/em> on 16 June 2012, seven months ago.<\/p>\n

I wish the readers to pay attention to what he said about the \u2018lawyers, constitutional jurisprudence and the Tamil community\u2019 quoted in my paragraph 14 below. This is what I quoted:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole problem with the Tamil community is that they have too many lawyers there. They just talk law. They are enjoying themselves talking constitutional jurisprudence.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he said that he was just the former Attorney General, but now he is supposed to be the Chief Justice. Look at his attitude about constitutional jurisprudence, lawyers and the Tamil community. His full interview appeared in the Asian Tribune<\/em> under the title \u201cMohan Pieris: On the urgency of reconciliation for lasting peace\u201d on 12 June 2012.<\/p>\n

Dangerous Pronouncements of Mohan Pieris on \u2018Reconciliation\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr Laksiri Fernando <\/strong><\/p>\n

When the Asian Tribune<\/em>, probably the Editor KT Rajasingham<\/a><\/span> himself, raised the important issue of \u2018confidence\u2019 as a possible barrier for the TNA and the UNP to so far nominate their representatives to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), Mohan Pieris, in an interview on 12 June 2012, characterized it as \u201cbeing selfish,\u201d and lambasted saying \u201cWhat is confidence? They are enjoying all the perks of their offices they hold. They enjoy all the material benefits every other government members enjoy. What is this confidence they talk of?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mohan Pieris is not only a former Attorney General of the country who recently lost his credibility by saying one thing to the UN Committee on Torture<\/a><\/span> (CAT) on the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda and then refuting it cheekily before the Homagama Magistrate, but also the Chairman of the Inter Agency Commission to Implement the Interim Recommendations of the Reconciliation Commission (LLRC<\/a><\/span>). In addition he is also a Special Advisor to the Cabinet of Ministers.<\/p>\n

To such an important person on reconciliation, \u2018confidence\u2019 or \u2018confidence building\u2019 in the reconciliation process equals to \u2018perks\u2019 and \u2018material benefits,\u2019 perhaps revealing his own mindset on matters that are well prominent nowadays in Sri Lanka. Thus he cannot understand why the TNA or the UNP cannot have confidence in the government, when they enjoy the official benefits of MPs, as if these benefits are given to them by the benevolence or as \u2018bribes\u2019 of the government. What is implied is the ownership of power and wealth within a small group of people, masquerading as Government, and the need for others to serve them with \u2018confidence.\u2019<\/p>\n

When the interviewer commented on the TNA position that \u201cthey are not going to come as far as I am aware,\u201d the answer was \u201cwell..well..well\u2026then the Government will have to do the next best thing.\u201d Mohan Pieris also spelled out this \u2018next best thing\u2019 saying that \u201cthere are other right thinking people in the Tamil community who will join with us and will come with a formula which we think is the next best.\u201d It is perhaps in this context that he mentioned about the \u2018perks\u2019 and \u2018material benefits\u2019 that can generate confidence among some \u2018dummies\u2019 instead of the TNA.<\/p>\n

Pieris also talked about \u2018clapping\u2019 and \u2018Tango.\u2019 \u201cIt takes two to Tango. You need two hands to clap,\u201d he boldly said. But instead of a real Partner to Tango, as he revealed, the government is going to have a dummy as the second best. Why? The answer came when the Asian Tribune<\/em> asked \u201cwhy can\u2019t the government try to persuade the TNA?\u201d<\/p>\n

First it was sheer arrogance saying, \u201cYou can take a horse to water, but you can\u2019t get it to drink.\u201d Then it was utter impatience when the need of \u2018government again talking to the TNA\u2019 was suggested. The answer was \u201cWhat is there to talk\u2026We are just talking, talking and talking.\u201d This was the attitude of such an important person from the government side on \u2018talks\u2019 as part of a reconciliation process or political negotiations.<\/p>\n

Pieris was somewhat taken aback when the \u201cUNP also not joining the PSC\u201d was suggested. \u201cSo that is because none has the country at heart\u201d was the answer. He was not talking about a \u2018second best\u2019 in this instance. Instead, he was waving the \u2018patriotic\u2019 card.<\/p>\n

When the Rajapaksa associates first brought the issue of \u2018patriotism,\u2019 many people who wanted to be critical of the government, including myself, were somewhat puzzled thinking whether they (we) were doing something wrong, because we all love the country. But now it has become an utter joke simply because of the scale of abuse, vendetta, plunder and deceit going on in the name of patriotism.<\/p>\n

In the interview, Pieris very clearly refuted the possibility of reconciling with the TNA. That should be noted by everyone at home and abroad. \u201cI can only reconcile with someone who wants to reconcile,\u201d he categorically said. Perhaps he was ignorant of the political implications of the simile that he brought into the discussion. He said, \u201cit is no different to \u2013 may be a family break up.\u201d He should know better than anyone else the marriage law regarding separation or divorce when there is a family breakup. I am sure however he is ignorant of the theoretical literature on the subject of self-determination that equates political separation to family breakups.<\/p>\n

There is no wonder why Mr R. Sampanthan<\/a><\/span> was talking about the impossibility of having a \u2018solution even within a united Sri Lanka\u2019 at the ITAK convention in Batticaloa, if he has encountered utterances like Mohan Pieris\u2019 during the \u201cquantum of dialogue\u201d with the government that Pieris referred to during the interview. Still I would persuade Mr Sampanthan to otherwise.<\/p>\n

It was utter nonsense that Pieris talked about referring to amity among communities in the Galle Face Green! Almost like a senile \u2018post-modernist,\u2019 he said \u201cin the evening you see the community living in peace. They are talking, laughing and enjoying themselves. There is no Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims or Burghers over there.\u201d Then he said \u201cNothing,\u201d like what he said about \u201cEkneligoda\u2019s whereabouts\u201d before the Maharagama Magistrate: \u201conly God who knows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps this type of self-deception must be going on in the inner circles of the Rajapaksa associates. It is entirely true that the ordinary Sinhalese, the Tamils and the Muslims have ever lived in peace and still wants to live in peace and amity. Then who is igniting communal ill feeling and violence like what we recently saw in Dilithura, Dambulla or Dehiwala?<\/p>\n

At least we know for sure that Rev. Inamaluwe Sumangala who led the attacks on the Dambulla<\/a><\/span> Mosque was a President\u2019s delegate to Myanmar in June 2009 just after the end of the war and perhaps he learned those tactics from there (listen to ITN News on YouTube, 18 June 2009). It is equally known that many recent attacks on Muslim religious places, including the Dehiwala<\/a><\/span> Musjid attack on 25 May 2012, were led by the JHU monks, a constituent partner of the Rajapaksa administration.<\/p>\n

Most dangerous or vicious were Pieris\u2019 comments on the TNA leadership and Mr Sampanthan. When the interviewer asked why doesn\u2019t the government \u201ctalk to the TNA leader Sampanthan on all these issues,\u201d the sarcastic answer was \u201cin that case we will add another round of talks\u2026The whole problem with the Tamil community is that they have too many lawyers there. They just talk law. They are enjoying themselves talking constitutional jurisprudence.\u201d Mind you, these answers came not from an ordinary politician, but from a former Attorney General.<\/p>\n

This is not what I exactly thought vicious, but his comments about the future of the TNA leadership. He said, \u201cSooner or later the present TNA and the whole existing political outfits will be no more due to natural causes<\/strong> (my emphasis).\u201d Pieris didn\u2019t explain what these natural causes might be but repeated even at the very end of the interview that \u201cthe present TNA and others will be no more due to natural causes<\/strong> (again my emphasis).\u201d<\/p>\n

I have met Mr Sampanthan several times and he is an extremely a gentlemanly and a pleasant person whatever the political differences that we may have. I call him \u2018Mr\u2019 because of his seniority and with respect. We all know that he is old with several health problems.<\/p>\n

The world needs an explanation from Mohan Pieris what he meant by \u201cnatural causes.\u201d What we know about him is his entanglement with disappearances in Sri Lanka, especially of Prageeth Ekneligoda<\/a><\/span>. If he is involved with \u2018natural causes\u2019 as well, then he should explain them without dragging this time God into the whole affair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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