The disarming and prosecution of political thugs holding illegal firearms and members of illegal armed groups is already mandated by law. The observance of stringent safeguards regarding arrest and detention, the warning that detainees cannot be held for long periods of time without charges being brought against them and the duty to prevent the harassment of media personnel, is already prescribed by the law.l by Kishali Pinto Jayawardene
(February 19, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Does the Government of Sri Lanka need a 'roadmap' to implement the existing law in Sri Lanka? From where does this curious logic arise?
Recommendations already prescribed by law
These are two fundamental questions that should be directed towards the Presidency downwards. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations were, in many respects, a reiteration of the basic duty on the part of the Government to implement the existing law and the Constitution. Those recommendations that go outside that boundary and call upon legal reforms are also commonly accepted imperatives such as the need for Sri Lanka to have a Right to Information law and to criminalize enforced or involuntary disappearances. There is nothing startling or astonishing about either of these categories of recommendations.
The disarming and prosecution of political thugs holding illegal firearms and members of illegal armed groups is already mandated by law. The observance of stringent safeguards regarding arrest and detention, the warning that detainees cannot be held for long periods of time without charges being brought against them and the duty to prevent the harassment of media personnel, is already prescribed by the law.
The list of such LLRC directives traceable to existing legal norms and principles is long. What is quite remarkably clear is that strenuous thought is not needed to implement many of these recommendations if this Presidency and this Government had the political will to do so. Despite President Mahinda Rajapaksa's very bewildering claim that 'a lot has been done' to implement the LLRC's recommendations in his Independence Day address, the reality is to the contrary, indicating beyond all doubt that this is a government not bound by the law, a fact that the Sri Lankan people, from South to North are now increasingly at one in accepting.Read More »
