A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Unmasking The Trinco MOU: Have The PM & India Trapped Sri Lanka?
By Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka –May 1, 2017
The
Government of Sri Lanka has just signed an MoU with the Government of
India (GOI), on a wide range of projects in Trincomalee, extending from
Oil Tank farms and Highways, Water management, Agricultural and
Livestock development, Industrial and Special Economic Zones to the
Trinco Port itself. Minister Malik Samarawickrama and the Foreign
Minister of India Sushma Swaraj, were the signatories to the MoU dated
26th April 2017.
What
exactly is an MoU? Could such thing pose a danger? This was my first
thought on hearing that our PM was going to sign one in Delhi during his
visit.
His
track record did not inspire trust. Every time he is in an ungodly
hurry to sign a piece of paper with other governments, even if it is the
self-declared government of Tamil Eelam, we the citizens have reason to
get nervous since an enduring feature of the PM’s actions is unilateralism. What was the PM getting us into this time? Should we be worried?
Not
being a lawyer, I rushed to the internet. I found out that an MoU,
although it is commonly believed to be a non-binding instrument, is not necessarily so. Apparently,
“what matters is the words used in the document itself; it is important
to notice that the title (designation) of the instrument is
irrelevant”. So, depending on the words contained within the document, even an MoU could amount to a treaty, which is “an international agreement concluded between States in written form and governed by international law” .
The UK government’s guidance on practice and procedures on MoUs and Treaties warns that:
“…in
order to ensure that MoUs are not worded in such a way as to amount to
treaties, care should be taken to avoid the use of “treaty
language”….” It further exhorts that “Certain words should never be used.”
Well,
what do you know! The MoU that was just signed by Sri Lanka with India,
has several words that should never be used’ if it is meant to be a
‘non-binding’ document!
Didn’t
the PM assure the CPC trade unions that he was not, repeat NOT, going
to sign any document with legal implications? I hope an independent
lawyer not working for the PM’s office or the government will take this
MoU apart and assure the public that this unity government has not
imposed a legally binding treaty on an unsuspecting public! Or even a
suspecting public, such as the likes of me.
The
list of words that “should never be used” but are in fact used in the
MoU between India and Sri Lanka, include the following– and I produce
those, together with the alternative words that are meant to be used in a non-binding MoU:
At
first glance at the MoU between GoSL-GoI, one can see that the two
governments are referred to as “Parties” and each of the paragraphs are
referred to as “Articles”. All of the words I have shown above in DO NOT
USE have been used in this MoU!
It
says grandly and tellingly at the end, “In witness, whereof, the
following representatives duly authorized by their respective
Governments, have signed this MoU”.
“Duly
Authorized”? Who authorized the signing of this MoU, where and when? It
says “their respective governments”. So did the segment of the SLFP,
forming a part of the Unity Government under the able leadership of the
President and leader of the SLFP himself, authorize the signing of this
very suspect MoU, along with the UNP?
Since
to my untrained mind, there is the serious eventuality that we may have
signed an agreement which carries with it legal obligations, let me
summarize what we have actually agreed to.
The following are some of the things that are contained in the MoU.
Actually it says “Both the Governments have agreed to complete the following joint projects in Sri Lanka.”
I’d
like to know how both Governments have agreed to anything at all, when
we the citizens are under the impression that the Prime Minister has
only come to an ‘understanding’ with the Government of India and any
‘agreement’, especially on such strategic sectors as Water Management,
Ports, Natural Gas and Roads can only be agreed on after the matter is
adequately discussed in Parliament, and arguably, where necessary, after
a Referendum.
- Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fired 500 megawatt capacity LNG Power
- An LNG Terminal / Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) in Kerawalapitiya/Colombo
- piped gas distribution system; retail outlets for supply of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to the transportation sector;
- Upper Tank Farm in Trincomalee
- A Port, Petroleum Refinery and other industries in Trincomalee,
- Roads in Sri Lanka including Mannar-Jaffna and Mannar-Trincomalee Highways and Dambulla-Trincomalee Expressway under Indian investments
- A Container Terminal in Colombo Port as a Joint Venture
- water management and promotion of agro-based industries,
- Any other areas mutually agreed between the Parties
This is not the exhaustive list of all that has been ‘agreed’ on by ‘both governments’ but you get the general idea!