TGTE Appoints Robert Evans And Dr Arjuna As Senators To Its Upper House

By Colombo Telegraph -January 23, 2013 

TGTE appoints two more Senators to its Upper House, says Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, the Prime Minister, Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam. 

We publish below the statement in full;

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eleam (TGTE) is delighted to announce the nomination of two more Senators to the Upper House with effect from 22nd January 2013 in fulfillment of section 1:8:2 of the TGTE Constitution. The Senate is now headed by Ms. Usha Sriskantharajah. Brief profiles of each one of the newly appointed distinguished personalities are given below:

Robert Evans

(1) Senator Robert Evans: A former member of the European Union Parliament representing London, UK from 1994 to 2009, Robert Evans brings with him a wide range of knowledge and expertise in parliamentary traditions, practices and procedures. He was the leader of the Labour Party in the European Parliament and had worked in various committees, holding positions such as the Vice Chairman of Committee on the Rules of Procedure, the Verification of Credentials and Immunities and Vice-Chairman of Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs. He is very knowledgeable on issues affecting the Tamil people of Tamil Eelam, and a strong supporter of our freedom struggle to establish a free state of Tamil Eelam.

Dr.Arjuna Sittampalam

(2) Dr.Arjuna Sittampalam is a well reputed and recognized financial strategist and advisor at the international level. He is the founder and managing Director of Sage & Hermes Ltd, a leader in the field of investment management strategies. He has addressed at major international conferences and meetings to audiences worldwide, and has often contributed on investment matters to leading publications. Also, he had published books on Investment Management and related topics.2 Dr Sittampalam is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in the UK and holds a PhD in Sub-Nuclear Theoretical Physics from Imperial College, London.In addition to his exemplary career achievement, Dr. Sittampalam has shown a keen interest in the matters affecting the Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka, and willing to work with the TGTE to achieve our goal.It is indeed a great honour and pleasure to welcome these distinguished persons as Senators of the TGTE. On behalf of the people of Tamil Eelam, we thank them and appreciate their willingness to work with us in achieving our goal.

Thank you
Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran
Prime Minister
Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)

America will react against Sri Lanka. Entreaty will be submitted at the Geneva conference.

Wednesday , 23 January 2013

It is understood that diplomatic advancements are initiated by America now. America has decided to submit an important resolution against Sri Lanka at the forthcoming UN human rights sessions held in March month. Towards this, perceptive advancements are executed by America,  is according to sources.

American External Affairs Ministry has already taken measures to clarify regarding this issue with the diplomats of the participating countries for the March month session is according to reports.

America has taken more attention concerning Sri Lanka, and the American High Commission located at Geneva, has given prior notice to the United Nation Human Rights Commission's diplomatic levels  is according  to information.

 Concerning Sri Lanka, three individual sessions will be held for three days at the Geneva conference this time. The final day debate will be held on March 20^th and America will submit its proposal on March 15th, is much expected.

American diplomatic high level circles yesterday affirmed to "Udayan" print media that the efforts to finalize the American entreaty which will be for submission has got concluded.

Bangladesh’s watershed war crimes moment

The war crimes trials stir strong emotions in Bangladesh-21 January 2013

The International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh has delivered its first verdict, sentencing a former Islamist leader to death for crimes 

Continue reading the main story

The India-Pakistan War, 1971

• Civil war erupts in Pakistan, pitting the West Pakistan army against East Pakistanis demanding autonomy and later independence
• Fighting forces an estimated 10 million East Pakistani civilians to flee to India
• In December, India invades East Pakistan in support of the East Pakistani people
• Pakistani army surrenders at Dhaka and its army of more than 90,000 become Indian prisoners of war
• East Pakistan becomes the independent country of Bangladesh on 16 December 1971

The Wilderness Of The Western Province

By Kath Noble -January 23, 2013 

Kath Noble

Last week, I discussed the campaign of a tiny fraction of the majority community against Muslims, and the way in which the Government is creating space for them by neglecting sensitive issues like the allegations of interference in the Law College Entrance Exam.

Some people claim that groups like the Bodu Bala Sena and the Sinhala Ravaya are only defending the interests of Sinhalese. If not for their ‘activism’, we are asked to believe, Buddhists would soon have to meditate in secret or risk having their heads chopped off on Galle Face Green (while being force-fed slightly overpriced meat products through the slit in the uncomfortably warm piece of black cloth that they would be compelled to don over their sarees or sarongs!).

This is obviously unbelievably foolish. Not only can they not see that at the moment in Sri Lanka their community is not in any danger whatsoever, they also fail to think ahead to what would happen if the hatred that they are encouraging boiled over into a riot. Saying that they would not participate is not enough. Their arguments may persuade others to take the law into their own hands, and they have a responsibility to take an equally strong stand against that. Violence is clearly inherently bad, but it also has an impact on how people understand the situation in the country. Sinhalese would feel responsible as a community if any such thing were to happen – and others would hold them responsible too – so that raising even legitimate grievances would be virtually impossible thereafter.

If they thought that garnering support to defeat the LTTE was difficult, let them imagine how hard it would have been if there had been a repeat of Black July. Also, let them remember how Black July led to increased support for the LTTE (including actual foreign conspiracies, not just the ones that the Government now routinely invents to divert attention from criticism of its actions!).

Even the perception of a threat can be enough to encourage young people to turn to militancy.

This has to be avoided at all costs. Even members of the 75% of the population of Sri Lanka that are Sinhalese who for some mysterious reason think that Muslims are on the verge of taking over should understand the implications of violence between communities.

Let those who speak up in support of monks who lead mobs think again. Let them look at the way in which such people behave and ask themselves whether this is really how we should go about resolving disputes.

Meanwhile, the rest of us can mull over another important question.

I said that the Government is encouraging communal violence by neglecting sensitive issues, but we have come to a point where it is no longer clear that this is an oversight.

Many ‘oversights’ are actually deliberate.

Consider Mervyn Silva.

Literally hundreds of articles have been written by people from across the political spectrum condemning the actions of this man. There is virtual consensus. Even ardent supporters of the Government have called for his removal, on the grounds that he is a thug.

The latest incident is the shooting of Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha member Hasitha Madawela on January 5th.

On January 8th, one of Silva’s organisers from Kelaniya was arrested at the airport as he was attempting to leave the country. The Police also charged several other people and recovered from them a number of guns, including what is suspected to be the murder weapon. They say that it was provided by Silva’s coordinating secretary, who is also the main suspect’s uncle. The following day, a raid on the SLFP office in Kelaniya discovered swords and a hand grenade.

Madawela’s colleagues in the Pradeshiya Sabha have since accused Silva of masterminding the killing.

On January 11th, he resigned from his position as the SLFP’s organiser for Kelaniya, but we know from past experience that this doesn’t mean anything.

After the infamous case of the Samurdhi officer who was tied to a tree as a punishment for not attending a dengue eradication programme in Kelaniya, Silva was sacked from his post as Deputy Minister of Highways and suspended from the SLFP. Trade unions protested and this was an easy way to get them to stop. The SLFP then conducted an ‘inquiry’, which found that it was all a misunderstanding and the Samurdhi officer had actually volunteered to be humiliated, despite video evidence to the contrary (never mind common sense!). Within a month, Silva had returned to the Cabinet with a promotion as Minister of Public Relations and Public Affairs.

Given that he has not yet been relieved of that position, we must assume that the Government believes that crimes involving trees are more serious than those in which bullets have been used.

We had already understood the Government’s position on knife crimes, since nothing much was done about the various stabbings of staff of the Rupavahini Corporation after they took Silva hostage for assaulting the News Director.

After so many incidents, this cannot be an ‘oversight’.

We can only conclude that the Government needs Mervyn Silva.

Indeed, the man demonstrated his utility during the impeachment of the Chief Justice, since it was reported that the crowds who gathered in support of the Parliamentary Select Committee were also from Kelaniya. They roamed the streets with iron rods and sticks, intimidating people who came to join the march organised by Shirani Bandaranayake‘s lawyers.

Kelaniya has become the place to go for thugs.

Of course the interconnection of violence and politics is hardly new, but that doesn’t mean that nothing can be done about it.

In the case of Mervyn Silva, the country may eventually get lucky. The Sunday Leader alleges that Hasitha Madawela’s killing was the result of a kind of falling out among thieves. It says that a group from the Pradeshiya Sabha got into a dispute with Silva last month after another of Silva’s aides was abducted and told the authorities about a whole range of illegal activities going on in Kelaniya. They felt that Silva was going to abandon them.

Let us hope so, and let us hope that the Government in turn decides to abandon Mervyn Silva.

This may be a systemic problem, but targeting an individual can still be useful in sending a signal that change is coming.

We must also hope that change doesn’t come in the same form as it did for Hasitha Madawela. The Sunday Leader claims that he was one of the Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha members who was involved in the attack on the Sirasa media network, for which he was arrested but later released without charge. If the legal process had been allowed to run its course, he might still be alive.

While it is extremely tempting not to worry about the deaths of people who attack journalists, we should remember that lawlessness doesn’t tend to be so discriminating.

Contempt for the rule of law is at the bottom of many of the problems that Sri Lanka is facing today.

Since the Government is constantly strengthening its grip on the institutions that are supposed to tackle lawlessness, it is easy to become disheartened.

I must say that when I saw yet another posse of monks laying siege to a clothing store in Maharagama at the weekend, I didn’t feel very optimistic. This time it was not the Bodu Bala Sena or the Sinhala Ravaya but a group calling itself the Budhu Hiru (most likely the same handful of very foolish people under a different banner!).

We await with bated breath their explanation of what appalling national calamity they have averted.

Waiting for the Government to intervene in such matters may be almost equally as foolish, so Buddhists who don’t like to see their religious leaders shouting and running amok in the streets must get together with representatives of the minority communities to resolve contentious issues like the allegations of interference in the Law College Entrance Exam before they can be misappropriated by such people.

*Kath Noble’s column may be accessed online at http://kathnoble.wordpress.com/. She may be contacted atkathnoble99@gmail.com.

JVP demands probe into Matale mass grave find

by Dasun Edirisinghe-January 22, 2013

 The JVP yesterday called for a high level probe into the Matale mass grave, from which 79 human skulls and the skeletal remains of 78 persons, believed to have been killed during the second JVP uprising in the late 1980s, were unearthed.

JVP Propaganda Secretary and MP Vijitha Herath told The Island yesterday that according to his information there were many more mass graves containing remains of JVP activists and other youth in several parts of the country.

Asked to name some of the places where the youth had been massacred and buried in large numbers, Herath said there were mass graves at Brown’s Hill (Eliyakanda) in Matara, Divulapitiya, Koskelle in Kurunegala, Kumarakanda in Galle, Divulapitiya and Trincomalee.

There were mass graves adjoining each and every torture chamber the then UNP government ran as part of its strategy to quell the JVP uprising, Herath said.

Asked whether he thought there was a mass grave near the Law Faculty of the Colombo University, he said, since there had been a torture chamber in the vicinity there could be some truth in that claim, though he did not have solid evidence.

During the 1987–89 JVP insurrection, DIG Premadasa Udugampola had been in charge of the Central Province consisting of the Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Matale districts, he said.

Herath said pro-government death squads had run large scale torture chambers at Pallekele in Kandy and Matale similar to the well known Batalanda torture chamber.

Now that preliminary investigations had been conducted into the Matale mass grave, a comprehensive probe was necessary and those responsible for the mass killings must be brought to justice albeit the delay, MP Herath said.

A mass grave containing the skeletal remains of 25 school children killed in Embilipitiya during the 1987–89 era was unearthed at Suriyakanda in 1994 and perpetrators of the killing were tried and sentenced in 1999.

UNIDENTIFIED BODY FOUND IN GALMADUWA

An unidentified male body was found by the police in the Nalachchiya area in Galmaduwa. Initial inquiries revealed that the victim had died about a week ago.

Police stated that they found a bottle of alcohol and a bottle of pesticide near the dead body.

The Galgamuwa police are conducting further inquiries.

Post impeachment scenario

WEDNESDAY, 23 JANUARY 2013
According to the UNP, the government impeached Dr. Shirani Bandaranayke in a clear attempt to gain full control of the Judiciary and to administer it according to its whims and fancies. Further it said that the removal of Dr. Bandaranayke from the post of Chief Justice was illegal and therefore Mohan Peiris could not be accepted as Lanka’s Chief Justice.

UNP leaders announced publicly “Shirani Bandaranayake is still the Chief Justice of the country.”

 In fact they boycotted the Parliamentary Council that approved the appointment of the Chief Justice. They announced, “There is no point in the UNP participating in the Council as it had opposed the 18th Amendment to the Constitution right from the beginning.” After the Supreme Court decision, they urged the government to introduce laws in line with the Commonwealth ‘Latimer House Principles’, on the removal of judges, before going ahead with the impeachment motion.

The UNP said at that time it was the best option for the government in the wake of the Supreme Court determination which declared that Parliament Standing Orders were not laws. Such new laws could be introduced by enacting the Bill on the lines suggested by UNP MP Wijayadasa Rajapakshe. Thinking about these steps taken by the UNP, I am happy that a Liberal Democratic party could go that far with us in the opposition. It is futile to expect an appeal to mass rebellion from the United National Party leaders. But their announcements give us a space to mobilise people to come to the streets. The JVP, the party of petty bourgeoisie Sinhala Buddhist nationalism, which supported the anti-Tamil Liberation campaign of Mahinda in his first presidential election in 2005, is blaming the UNP for not taking a radical challenging position against the government.

However with its Sinhala chauvinist position, the JVP is only consolidating the ‘International Conspiracy’ theory of the government.

The government leader, who plays the role of Joseph Goebbels in the present scenario, was created by the JVP, during the period they had their great friendship with Mahinda faction of the SLFP. Wimal was then the foremost party spokesman of the JVP. He was debating to prove the necessity of a ‘Patriotic Anti Imperialist’ front, and naturally he drifted into the hands of Mahinda. Thus the JVP paved the path for Wimal to become a propagandist for the Fascist styled President Mahinda. The unity formed during that period in which Mahinda was Prime Minister, was responsible for the campaign for a genocidal war against the Tamil rebellion. It was the JVP that mobilised Sinhala village youth, including the university students, for this purpose. They broke the alliance with Mahinda only after the crushing of the Tamil rebellion. In the recent past, the JVP played an important role both in the University Teachers’ struggle and the struggle to defend the CJ and the Independence of Judiciary. Having played the major role in consolidating the Mahinda regime on the Sinhala chauvinist basis, now they want to become the revolutionaries to lead the struggle to overthrow the same regime! This regime is based on Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism and its real form was tempered in Tamil areas. It is in the north that the regime experimented with its Fascist styled repressive apparatus. Now it is ready, to give a taste of it to the plebeian masses in the south as well. We have to resist; but resistance can come only on the basis of unity with power sharing. All oppositional groups, who do not agree at least on implementation of the LLRC Report recommendations, are indirectly helping the ideology of the regime. The man in charge of implementing the LLRC recommendations - Mohan Peiris, appointed as the country’s new Chief Justice, is the latest actor to enter the impeachment drama. His will be the most controversial selection to this high office. Already Sinhala extremists are upset about his background. But he has served the Mahinda regime in the recent past in a manner that cannot be surpassed by any Sinhala Buddhist extremist!

Warrant out for Sarana

January 22, 2013

Attanagalle Magistrate B. D. R. Sisira Kumara yesterday issued a warrant against Deputy Petroleum Minister Sarana Gunawardena for failing to appear in Court in a case where he is charged, along with some others, with entering a property belonging to a construction firm and causing damage to it.

The suspects in this case are Deputy Minister Gunawardena, Chairman of the Attanagalle Pradeshiya Sabha Upul Mahendra Rajapaksa and 18 government and opposition members of the same PS.

If the Dy. Minister had attended parliament yesterday, the Magistrate further ordered that he should submit a letter from the Secretary General of Parliament stating so.

The Machiavelli Of Medamulane Has Pulled It Off

By Harim Peiris -January 23, 2013

Harim Peiris

Sacking a CJ with minimal domestic political fuss or costs

Hats off to the Rajapaksa regime, the Machiavelli of Medamulane has pulled it off. Sacking a Chief Justice and getting away with it is no easy task and few governments succeed. The Fijian generals who periodically overthrow that tortured nation’s democratic governments usually follow up by sacking judges, Mugabe’s Zimbabwe has found it necessary to curb an independent judiciary, the list is not long. Now Sri Lanka joins this group, where the government has successfully got rid of a Chief Justice who became in a very limited manner, an inconvenient obstacle to the executive’s wishes.

The effort was not without its nay Sayers. The Sunday Times of 20th January in its political column perhaps best sums up the concerns of those opposed to the impeachment when it states “The week’s historic events (almost) close the chapter on one of the darkest periods in Sri Lankan politics. The force of the police and the security forces, the new weapons they have acquired to fight a terrorist enemy now no more, have been used to keep away a Chief Justice from walking into her own office, not to sit and work but to take away her personal belongings. For the same reason, hired goons have taken to clubs, poles and knuckle dusters. The same lethal force has been used to ensconce a new Chief Justice. Those who used their democratic right to express dissenting views and help throw light on gross injustice have become terrorists and traitors. They face intimidation and death threats. A judiciary has been silenced. A new dark chapter begins now. If one is not deaf or dumb the need to desist saying anything that displeases the ruling establishment, is the message. Otherwise it would be invitation to disaster. That is Sri Lanka today, once a tranquil paradise isle and now the land of the might”.

Internationally the Sri Lankan government’s hasty and rash assault on the judiciary has gone down very badly. The expressions of concerns and in fact even calls to reinstate Chief Justice Bandaranayake came from a host of nations and internationals actors including the US, UK, Canada, the UN and the Commonwealth. Canada has already referred Sri Lanka to the Ministerial Action Group (MAG) of the Commonwealth, which will now have to examine the issue, casting a serious shadow over Sri Lanka’s hosting of the CHOGAM later this year. Further at the UNHRC in March, a review on the resolution calling on Sri Lanka to implement the LLRCrecommendations is due and the country’s already weak record of implementing the LLRC recommendations would be compounded by what is seen internationally as an undemocratic and authoritarian assault on the judiciary, unhelpful to and running counter to national reconciliation.

But the Rajapaksa regime primarily focuses not just on the domestic Sri Lankan polity but on its own key constituency of the Southern Sinhala base and here it succeeded in wrapping the impeachment debate in the garb of good governance, financial and moral integrity and succeeded in sacking the CJ with its constituency basically holding. Though a few cracks and chinks in the armour appeared. The traditional left parties, the CP and LSSP finally demonstrated some political backbone and publicly opposed and then at least abstained from the impeachment vote as did the Liberal Party’s lone national list MP, the maverick Professor Rajiva Wijesinghe. More publicly influential, the senior most religious leaders in the country, the venerable Maha Nayake Theros of the four main Nikaya’s, all unanimously requested the President to desist from impeaching the CJ. So did the Catholic Bishops Conference and the National Christian Council. These requests were ignored.

The real rabbit the Regime pulled out of its hat though was the basic acquiescence of the main opposition party the UNP. Disunited to the point of impotency and lacking the political confidence to take on the government, the UNP have become bystanders and observers of political developments in Sri Lanka, completely unwilling and unable to be a check and balance on the government’s uses and abuses of power. Impeaching the Chief Justice being a good case in point. The Rajapaksa regime does back off from political pressure from the Sinhala polity. The private pension plan with EPF funds, private universities as an alternative to adequate funding for the state universities all resulted in the government backing off with the Free Trade Zone worker strike and the FUTA strike. In all instances the UNP were bystanders of serious antigovernment protests. One almost suspects that the UNP leader, now himself ensconced in that position for six more long years, is convinced that being the sole alternative to the sole representative of the Sinhala people, is all that is required to win power in a future election in some distant date when this government will collapse under its own weight, which is really pretty wishful thinking. Probably without the UNP’s tacit support the impeachment would not have succeeded. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka offered token resistance. The chief contribution of its President, UNP MP Wijeydasa Rajapakshe, was similar to that of his party leader and successfully dampened the sheer outrage of its membership to a mere protesting whimper.

Pakistan with none of the democratic credentials, traditions and history showed how a polity should respond when Chief Justice Chowdry was impeached. The Courts shut down, judges refused to work, the political opposition organised protests and the impeachment was unsuccessful. Sri Lanka is almost back to business as usual, then and now, except there is nothing usual in a politicized judiciary. Especially when placed on top of a politicized bureaucracy and a politicized police force.

Sri Lanka: judges around the world condemn impeachment of Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake

January 23, 2013

Today, senior judges and eminent jurists from around the world joined together, calling on the Government of Sri Lanka to reinstate the legal Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake.

An open letter issued by the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) was sent to the Honorable Speaker of Parliament Chamal Rajapakse and H.E. President Mahinda Rajapakse, condemning the removal of Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake as unconstitutional and in contravention of international standards on judicial independence.

The letter emphasized that an independent and impartial judiciary is essential for the protection of human rights, the rule of law, good governance and democracy.

It says: “The irremovability of judges is a main pillar of judicial independence. Judges may be removed only in the most exceptional cases involving serious misconduct or incapacity. And in such exceptional circumstances, any removal process must comport with international standards of due process and fair trial, including the right to an independent review of the decision.”

The impeachment process, and subsequent removal of the legal Chief Justice disregarded international standards of judicial independence and minimum guarantees of due process and fair trial.

“The Rajapakse Government has brought Sri Lanka within steps of authoritarian rule, dismantling the system of checks and balances and eviscerating judicial independence,” said Wilder Tayler, ICJ Secretary General.

The Government’s conduct is a flagrant violation of the core values of the Commonwealth of Nations, notably the Latimer House Principles on the Three Branches of Government 2003.

The Latimer House Principles require the State to uphold the rule of law by protecting judicial independence and maintaining mutual respect and cooperation between Parliament and the Judiciary.

The Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association endorsed the letter.

In recent days, lawyers and advocates, opposing the impeachment have allegedly been sent threatening letters from a group identified as the Patriotic Taskforce.

The group has targeted the lawyers as traitors. Civil society groups have also been targeted in smear campaigns in the media. The Chief Justice has voiced concern for her and her family’s safety, calling on the international media to “…look after the three of us.”

“Sri Lanka must act immediately to guarantee the security of persons who have been the subject of threats or intimidation and must initiate prompt, thorough and impartial investigations into such allegations,” Tayler added.

The ICJ’s Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers and the undersigned jurists urge H.E. President Mahinda Rajapakse and Speaker of Parliament Chamal Rajapakse to act immediately to restore the independence of the judiciary by reinstating the legal Chief justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake.

CONTACT:

Sam Zarifi, ICJ Asia-Pacific Regional Director, (Bangkok), t: +66(0) 807819002; email: sam.zarifi@icj.org

Sheila Varadan, ICJ Legal Advisor, South Asia Programme, (Bangkok), t: +66 857200723; email: sheila.varadan@icj.org

Sri Lanka-Impeachment Chief Justice-ICJ open letter-2012 (full text in pdf)

We Will Continue To Carry Out Our Obligations – Lawyers Collective

By Lawyers Collective -January 23, 2013

The Lawyers Collective has carefully considered the events that led to the removal of the Chief Justice.  Our struggle to protect the independence of the judiciary has entered a new phase, with the government (the Legislature & the Executive) going through with a purported impeachment despite the determination of the Supreme Court & the writ of certiorari quashing same by the Court of Appeal.

We are also gravely concerned with the several threats & acts of intimidation on members of our fraternity, such as death threats on leading members who campaigned against the impeachment of Honorable Chief Justice Bandaranayaka, the assassination attempt on Mr. Wanninayake, shots fired outside the residence of BASL President Mr. Rajapakse PC, and the attack on a lady lawyer (who wishes to remain anonymous) by unidentified motor cyclists who attempted to strangle her. In this struggle we were engaged in carrying out our professional duty as well as our duty as citizens who are under obligation to uphold & defend the Constitution and the democratic rights of the citizens of this country.

IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES:

1. Despite there being an appointment of a “Chief Justice” under controversial circumstances, without lawfully removing the 43^rd Chief Justice of the country,  we  have to appear before any bench of the Supreme Court, in view of our professional duties and obligations towards our clients.

2. We pledge not to bow down to the strong- arm political tactics that is being used to undermine our judicial system.  We have faith in our judicial system which we have zealously protected over centuries and which we will continue to protect and preserve for our future generations at whatever personal cost to us.

3. We call upon all segments of society, civil organizations, political parties, all those committed to the restoration of Rule of Law and the independence of the judiciary to join with us in this crucial struggle, to publicly condemn these unlawful acts to undermine and destroy the independence of the judiciary and to take all possible steps to create public awareness of the seriousness of this crisis and the very real danger the country faces.  

4. We have seen some “doctored media footage” attempting to mislead the masses by showing some purported certain acts of ours. We wish to categorically state that all our steps in this struggle were carefully discussed, evaluated and carried out, with responsibility and we will continue to do so within lawful and democratic means.  We call upon our colleagues in the profession not to fall prey to these political attempts and to remain true to the oath that we have taken to protect and defend the constitution and thereby the rights of the people and to fight to protect these rights.

5. In the present context of our struggle we call upon the legal fraternity in the forefront of this struggle, to broaden, activate, empower our regional associations and members to educate and foster a longer and sustained participation of the people in this struggle.

WE REITERATE THAT IN ALL OUR EFFORTS we were and we will be true to our oath as Attorneys at law which we are bound morally and legally to defend.  We will continue to carry out our obligations notwithstanding any threat or intimidation; in fact we are far more resolute in this mission now than ever before.

In pursuance of our considered decisions,  we will be organizing public discussions, seminars and meetings throughout the country, and convene a national convention of professional bodies, civil society organizations, trade unions, and other organizations to take concrete decisions regarding the struggle to restore Rule of Law, Independence of Judiciary and Democracy itself.

Sri Lanka lawyers to boycott chief justice ceremony  Bandaranayake has said she believes she and her family are in danger-23 January 2013  Peiris was sworn in last week, but the official ceremony took place on Wednesday. Mr Peiris replaced Shirani Bandaranayake, who was removed after being impeached over allegations of financial and official misconduct. She denies the charges and her lawyers say she did not have a fair trial. Her removal was pronounced unlawful by the courts and condemned by the opposition. Ahead of the inauguration, Sri Lanka Bar Association Chairman Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, confirmed to the BBC that the organisation did "not welcome" Mr Peiris. However he acknowledged that Mr Peiris was the country's "de facto chief justice" and that the body would have to work alongside him in the future so it did not "let down" its clients, says the BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo. Ms Bandaranayake, 54, faced a parliamentary committee late last year which investigated the charges against her. It found her guilty of three out of 14 misconduct charges. Two recent court rulings found the impeachment process was unconstitutional, but earlier this month President Mahinda Rajapaksa ratified a vote in parliament - which is dominated by his supporters - to impeach her. Ms Bandaranayake has said the allegations against her are "blatant lies" and that she is being persecuted because she "stood for an independent judiciary and withstood the pressures". She has since said that she believes that she and her family are in danger. Lawyers who have represented or criticised the impeachment also say they have received death threats. The president says the government "never deviated from the constitution" during the process. But critics of the impeachment in Sri Lanka and abroad have viewed the move as an attempt by President Rajapaksa and his three powerful brothers to consolidate their already tight grip on the country, says our correspondent. UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay described the developments as a "calamitous setback for the rule of law". Video: Media blackout for ceremonial sitting WEDNESDAY, 23 JANUARY 2013  All local and international media were prevented from entering the Supreme Court complex and not allowed to cover the ceremonial sitting to welcome Chief Justice Mohan Peiris, who was appointed to the post under controversial circumstances. Reportedly only state media personnel were permitted to enter the complex The ceremonial sitting began at 10.00 a.m. in the presence of lawyers, judges and other dignitaries. However, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) refrained from participating at the event in keeping with the resolution passed at a special meeting. Sources said Bank of Ceylon Chairman Razik Zarook made the welcome address “on behalf of the unofficial bar”. ► WATCH