Irukkiram

Published on: 20th July 2007

Law Culture and Tamils

At the time when the Tamil people are struggling due to the war and the white van menace, in the south the

voluntary organizations are involved in another struggle. The organizations involved in the humanitarian

activities are now vigorously continuing its struggle for human rights. They want the President to fully

implement the 17th Amendment to the Sri Lanka constitution.

In 2001 October the government of Chandrika Bandaranayke Kumaratunga presented the 17th Amendment to

the constitution in Parliament. This amendment was presented to Parliament to solve the problem of frauds

and favoritism which is wide spread in government organizations due to the unnecessary interference by the

politicians in the activities in the government department. The then President J.R Jayewardene once remarked

that he has all the powers in the world except the power of changing a woman into a man or a man into a

woman. He made this remark proudly expressing the unlimited power he is wielding. Another important

reason for introducing this 17th amendment was to reduce the executive powers of the President. Accordingly

the 17th Amendment will pave the way for a creation of a constitutional council, which will comprise of

representatives of political parties. The constitutional council once established will appoint independent

commissions to all the government organizations and such commissions will handle the necessary

appointments transfers and other matters related to the affairs of the respective government departments. This

also will provides a safeguard to the independent commissions from preventing the politicians from

interfering into it’s decisions and other matters. At the earlier stages although the government was very

interested in implementing this amendment, from the time when Mahinda Rajapakse became Prime minister
this interest in implementing the amendment to the constitution slowly started to fade away. All the activities

connected to this such as summoning all party conferences and making arrangement at the constitutional

council level, to appoint these commissions started to move at a very slow pace. Finally after Mahinda

Rajapakse became president this amendment was shelved.

The police appointments and transfers which come under the purview of the 17th amendment have become

very important to us. It won’t be wrong if we accuse the government of using the police powers and creating

this white van menace and indulging in election frauds such as rigging and other forms of intimidation. We

can show several examples to prove that this is right.

Recently the government brought the police department under the authority of the secretary of the defense. In

future the defense secretary will be totally responsible for all police appointments, transfers and disciplinary

actions. However there is already a separate commission to handle these matters with regard to the police

department. The President had ignored this police commission and taken this decision over and above that.

By doing this several good police officers who took positive steps to prevent crime in their areas were

suddenly transferred to other areas. All this while, the police commission assured the policemen to act

bravely and impartially and that the commission will stand by them. The assurance gave by the police

commission is no longer effective. There is a daring example for this, recently the OIC of the Kalmunai

police station committed suicide. This speaks for the present situation prevailing in the police service.

According to the information we received there are around 350 police officers who were attached to 401

police stations were suddenly transferred. This is an indication of the forthcoming elections.
Inspector General of the Police had made a joke of this white van which is a menace to everybody. He had

jokingly told a crowded press conference said, “please show me a white van I’d like to see that.” In addition

to all this the President without obtaining the permission of the constitutional council had made appointments

to the public service commission and the police commission. This action of the President is ultra-vires to the

constitution. Two civil organizations have petitioned to the courts with regard to these unconstitutional acts.

Those organizations have also said that the action of the President can be considered as unconstitutional in

their public statements. They told that the President could be impeached for this. Have you ever heard of

such things before this? A citizen, yes he being the President holding the highest office in this country is

acting unconstitutionally and contrary to the law. We have seen the politicians of the south breaking into

pieces, the P-TOMS legislations passed after Tsunami and conspiring to de-merging the north and east and

rejecting the cease-fire agreement in toto. We have seen how the politicians in the south were so involved in

doing all these disruptive actions. However, these so called politicians never bothered to say a word against

the actions of the government, of acting with total disregard to the Sri Lankan constitution, only the civil

organizations raised their voice against these unlawful acts. It is an interesting turn of events as far as the

Tamil people are concerned, because these injustices have helped them, as stepping stone to get rid of their

grievances. In our country there are several good legislations, but we can tell the international courts and at

international forums about the way in which these legislations are implemented in an indifferent manner. By

doing so we can emphasize that the law is flouted openly in this country. It can be a unitary or a federal form

of government. Any legislation that is related to any one of these forms will have to come under judiciary if it

has to be implemented. If we do all this we can prove that we cannot live under these conditions.

Under these situations nobody can ensure the right of self-determination to our people. This has to be

accepted by the people and there after made law. These changes will not take place automatically. We have to
create public opinion in our country and make these demands in one voice. Therefore the Tamil people will

have to create a political organization which has no links with political parties. Tamil people who left the

responsibility of their future in somebody’s hands and remained silent can no longer do that. At least in future

they must rise to the occasion? Readers the answers are left to you.