Rajapaksa Govt.’s Arrogance Likely To Boomerang Next March
- Focus on CJ’s impeachment locally and internationally-Monday, November 05, 2012
- Firm statements on SL by US and India in Geneva
The arrogance exhibited by the Mahinda Rajapaksa government in presenting an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake on the day Sri Lanka was being reviewed at the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on human rights is likely to have adverse repercussions in months to follow.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, Manmohan Singh, Mahinda Samarasinghe and Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe
The impeachment motion came last week after statements were made by members of the government on abolishing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which deals with devolving power to the provinces. Talks of abolishing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution were in clear violation of the commitments undertaken by the Sri Lankan government at the last UPR in 2008. The government had made a voluntary commitment to effectively implement the 13th and 17th Amendments.
In moving towards abolishing the 13th Amendment, the Rajapaksa government would have had to first overcome the obstacle posed by neighboring India, the architect of that piece of legislation. Realizing India’s role during the UPR as a member of the troika that would be reviewing Sri Lanka, the Rajapaksa government decided to go slow on the whole idea of abolishing the 13th Amendment.
However, the government managed to outdo the whole abolition of the 13th Amendment drama by starting work on impeaching the Chief Justice. After weeks of speculation, it was on September 30th that the government put in motion the move to impeach the Chief Justice. The decision to sign the motion was made at a party leaders’ meeting of the governing party.
In moving towards abolishing the 13th Amendment, the Rajapaksa government would have had to first overcome the obstacle posed by neighboring India, the architect of that piece of legislation. Realizing India’s role during the UPR as a member of the troika that would be reviewing Sri Lanka, the Rajapaksa government decided to go slow on the whole idea of abolishing the 13th Amendment.
However, the government managed to outdo the whole abolition of the 13th Amendment drama by starting work on impeaching the Chief Justice. After weeks of speculation, it was on September 30th that the government put in motion the move to impeach the Chief Justice. The decision to sign the motion was made at a party leaders’ meeting of the governing party.
