CJ/ SNS: The displaced people in the north are living under extreme conditions at heavily congested camps...!!!

SAFEGUARD RIGHTS OF MINORITIES: CJ

By Sandun A Jayasekera

Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva yesterday cautioned that if there were no proper judicial and social mechanisms to grant Tamils their due protection by law, there was the possibility of there being another uprising though not necessarily an armed struggle.Addressing the media on the eve of his retirement after an illustrious though at times a turbulent career spanning 41 years in the judiciary, the Chief Justice said he was retiring a contented man as he had acted in good faith in keeping with the law of the land and the Constitution

“The displaced people in the north are living under extreme conditions at heavily congested camps. They must be provided with sufficient basic facilities immediately or there may be a catastrophe that could go out of hand with Sri Lanka finding it hard to escape the opprobrium of the international community,” the Chief Justice said.

“It is the need of the hour for us to protect the rights of the minorities. At the same time we must not forget that in certain parts of the country Sinhalese are living as minorities. For example Sinhalese in small remote villages like Lahugala and Panama are minorities in their own country.

“I took all my decisions for the good of the country, its people and to safeguard the law. The landmark judgments delivered by the Supreme Court in the recent past were aimed at upholding inter-communal harmony, national integrity and unity of the country. My prime concern was to safeguard the supremacy of the law and the protection of rights and dignity of all communities and the country. I am a Sinhala Buddhist. But I can say with confidence that my nationality or religion has never influenced my decisions.

“The objectives of the ruling delivered on the P-TOMS agreement signed during the Chandrika Kumaratunga regime, the judgments given against LTTE leader Velupillai Parbhakaran on the Central Bank bombing and the de-merger of the North and East and other highly geo-politically and economically important judgments were all delivered with the good of the people and the country in mind, and to safeguard national interests,” he said.

“As CJ I named the judge to hear the case against Prabhakaran which resulted in him getting a sentence of 200 years in prison and as the Attorney General, I had earlier framed 132 charges against Prabhakaran,” the Chief Justice reminisced.

With regard to the 13th Amendment, he said it was a haphazardly drafted piece of legislation taken out of the Indian Constitution and forced down Sri Lanka’s throat in 1987.

“It is impossible to devolve police and land powers fully in a small island nation like Sri Lanka. For instance, the Uttar or Madhya Pradesh in India is ten to twelve times bigger than Sri Lanka. The devolution of police and land powers is prudent and successful in those states, but won’t be so in Sri Lanka. The District Development Council system that existed during the J.R. Jayewardene regime was probably the most suitable system to devolve power to the periphery in a country like Sri Lanka,” the Chief Justice said.

He said Sri Lanka once had a Village Council system which was a success and power must be devolved from the bottom to the top not the other way around and added that during the conflict years the administration of justice in the north was intact in the North and East.

“Our court system and administration of justice was not functioning only in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi. At the time I took office as the Attorney General in 1998 there was a system where our magistrates signed judgments delivered in LTTE courts. I stopped this at once and appointed magistrates to those areas. Gradually even the LTTE started to respect our court and judicial systems. When some Tamils fled to LTTE- controlled areas to evade arrest warrants issued against them by our courts, they were arrested by the LTTE and handed over to the security forces,” the Chief Justice said.

He said the time has come for his retirement and there were so many efficient and capable young men to take over.

“I am retiring a contended man. I have no regrets or disappointments as I have always acted keeping in mind the supremacy of the law, the country its people and their legitimate aspirations as sacrosanct,” Chief Justice said.

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