Midweek Politics: Unlucky ’13?
Dharisha Bastians
As
Sri Lanka steps into a bright new year her political fortunes have perhaps never
been quite so tenuous. While it is possible that such dire predictions have been
made many times before, as things stand now, the country is hurtling headlong
into constitutional crisis which might alter the face of the republic in an
unrecognizable way. Faced with a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation
with regard to the removal of the country’s top judge, the ruling regime is
unlikely to take a step back, unless events in the coming week threaten
international consequences too horrific to ignore
Politically
speaking, the year 2013 begins on an ominous note. The seasonal festivities may
have dulled the fervour of the impeachment battle somewhat, but as the Court of
Appeal prepares to take up Chief Justice Shirani
Bandaranayake’s writ application today, having issued notice to the
13 respondents cited in the petition – including the Speaker of Parliament and
the 11 members of the Parliamentary Select Committee that probed the impeachment
charges against her – the battle is poised to get started once again, with
renewed vigour in the new year.
While
it is no surprise that the Government members on the PSC will not be appearing
before the Appeals Court today, UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe provided more
fodder for his critics by deciding that the two UNP Members on the Committee,
Opposition Whip John
Amaratunge and Party Senior Vice President,Lakshman
Kiriella would not appear in court either. The UNP Leader, who is as
adamant as ever to assert the supremacy of parliament over the judiciary, is of
the view that since the MPs in question were involved in a parliamentary
process, they do not need to appear in court with regard to the petition filed
by the Chief Justice. This is despite the UNP members acknowledging privately
that it was their opinion that they should appear in Court in order to explain
what happened during the proceedings and how the lack of due process prompted
the opposition walk out on 7 December. TNA MP and Attorney at Law M.A.
Sumanthiran appearing on behalf of R.
Sampanthan who is presently overseas and Vijitha
Herath of the DNA are expected to appear in court today. The DNA had
been willing to answer court notice even in December in the Supreme Court when
the Court of Appeal issued notice on the PSC respondents in different writ
applications, but ultimately their legal representatives decided that it was not
necessary and may in fact delay the determination by the court.
Under
the circumstances, Wickremesinghe’s
decision to bar his MPs from answering court notices, will further reinforce the
notion that Sri Lanka’s main opposition is in deep slumber and its leader busy
with ego-play even as the country’s judiciary is mired in deep and damaging
conflict with the executive and the legislature.
