With all political efforts to clear the month-long political and constitutional logjam having failed, Sri Lankans are waiting with bated breath to hear the Supreme Court’s rulings on the divisive issues involved. The destiny of the 21 million citizens of Sri Lankan is now in the hands of seven judges of the apex court. Their ruling, expected any time after December 6, will determine whether Sri Lanka will have a stable government or it will slide into anarchy.
Given the deep seated conflict between President Maithripala Sirisena and ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the stalemate over who should be Prime Minister is not likely to end anytime soon. After the Court of Appeal on Monday stayed the functioning of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister and his colleagues as ministers, Rajapaksa and his ministers had stopped attending office.
Colombo, Dec 4 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lanka’s ousted Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, on Tuesday said that his political alliance would agree to hold a Parliamentary Election only after a legitimate government is established and all political parties in Parliament agree. Speaking to reporters from capital Colombo, Wickremesinghe said that he and his alliance, the United […]
Indian agriculture is in dire straits. The terms of trade with the other sectors of the economy have been worsening over the years. State investment in agriculture has also been declining compared to investment in industry and other sectors. Formal credit has been yielding place to the more expensive private sector credit. All this has led to a widespread and unsustainable indebtedness and an alarming increase in farmer suicide, writes P.k.Balachandran in Daily Mirror
The Sri Lankan Court of Appeal on Monday passed an interim order preventing Mahinda Rajapaksa and his 49-member purported Council of Ministers from functioning till the Quo Warranto petition filed by 122 Members of Parliament is adjudicated. Later, Rajapaksa issued a statement saying that he will appeal to the Supreme Court against the stay on the grounds that constitutional issues of this sort can be heard only by the Supreme Court.In another development on the same day, President Sirisena told supporters of sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in parliament that he will never appoint him as Prime Minister, signaling the continuation of the political deadlock.
The Sri Lankan website Groundviews has put together a legal opinion on the main issues figuring in the on-going constitutional crisis in the island, which have set the Executive Presidency against the Legislature and Ranil Wickremesinghe against Mahinda Rajapaksa, with both claiming to be the legitimate Prime Minister. The legal opinion was prepared by Gehan Gunatilleke, Dinesha Samararatne, Kalana Senaratne and Asanga Welikala in response to a request made by Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne, Member of Parliament.
“The previous government put off Provincial Council elections indefinitely by deliberately refraining from fulfilling the conditions relating to the delimitation of constituencies in Act No. 17 of 2017 which was rushed through Parliament last year just days before the Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern Provincial Councils were to stand dissolved,” he recalled. Comparing this with his regime, Rajapaksa said: “We held the Eastern Provincial Council election in 2008 even before the war had ended, immediately after clearing the province of the LTTE. Once the de-mining of the Vanni was complete, we held provincial council elections in the Northern Province as well in 2013. Today, without any war in the country, both those provinces do not have provincial councils.”
The 14-member Tamil National Alliance (TNA) group in the Sri Lankan parliament, which is playing a pivotal role in the on-going constitutional imbroglio, has told President Maithripala Sirisena that it will not support any move by the United National Party (UNP) to impeach him.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena is considering dropping an attempt to dissolve parliament, sources close to the president said, The sources said the president may now rescind the order, effectively pre-empting a court ruling that they expect to overturn his decision anyway.
At his meeting with the 14-member TNA parliamentary group, President Sirisena said that he cannot get along with Wickremesinghe and requested the TNA to get the UNF to put up another candidate who he can work with. But the TNA MPs told Sirisena that he should appoint the person who enjoys majority support in parliament and that person is undoubtedly Wickremesinghe.
