Mohan’s appointment stirs displeasure among Sinhala nationalists

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

The Sinhala Buddhist extremists it is learnt are disturbed by the appointment of Mohan Peiris to fill the vacant Chief Justice post.

Sinhala Buddhist forces like the JHU, Patriotic National Movement, Wimal Weerawansa, Nalin de Silva and Sarath N. Silva worked hard to remove Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake in an unconstitutional manner.

Their request from the President was to appoint a Sinhala Buddhist person as the next Chief Justice. They requested that Supreme Court judge Sathya Hettige be appointed as the Chief Justice. Minister Basil Rajapaksa supported Hettige since he is related to Basil’s wife. The President whoever after nodding his head to all the requests, appointed Mohan Peiris as the Chief Justice. The announcement had shocked Minister Wimal Weerawansa, who by then had started teaching the law to the judiciary. Sources say that the minister was now keeping silent not even answering telephone calls.

The Sinhala extremists say that Mohan Peiris’s appointment has resulted in a majority of the 11 member Supreme Court judges being from other races and religions. The Supreme Court judges who are non-Buddhists are Shirani Bhuran Thilekawardena, K. Sri Pavan. S.I. Imam, Saleem Masoof and Priyasath Dep. Some Sinhala Buddhist elements had even requested that at least Nimal Gamini Ameratunge should have been appointed as an acting Chief Justice.