President Sirisena yearns for a new government

GAGANI WEERAKOON -MAR 10 2019

He noted that the new government should be able to understand what happens in the country both politically and economically, adding that the party and the person in charge should not be key factors. President Sirisena explained that for this to happen everyone who wants a better tomorrow should come together and join hands.

He hinted at the possibility of a General Election being held before the Presidential Election this year at a meeting held with the heads of Media institutions earlier last week.

When repeatedly asked on what grounds he could predict an early General Election, as the Constitution prohibits the Parliament being dissolved before April 2020, he said, “I don’t confirm it, but there is a possibility given the fact that the Government has to continue to fight and look for various costly methods to maintain a majority in Parliament.
When  Parliament is not strong, you can’t continue for long,” he added.
According to the Constitution, the President shall dissolve Parliament only after a lapse of four-and-half-years. This means that the President could only do so in April 2020 as this Government was elected to power at the General Election held in August 2015 and the Parliament term started on 1 September 2015.

President Sirisena however, carefully dodged a question posed on the relationship between him and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe by querying “were there any reports of tensions in the Cabinet.”
His comment on a general election comes in the wake of UNP backbenchers threatening to vote against the President’s Head of Expenditure of Budget 2019.

MP Hesha Vithanage stated that UNP backbenchers informed party leader, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe of their decision to defeat President Sirisena’s expenditure heads of all ministries, with the exception of the Ministry of Defence.

In response the SLFP said if the President’s Heads of Expenditure is defeated in Parliament, then the President will not attend the Cabinet meeting and the Government will come to a standstill.

 “We got to know that certain backbenchers of the United National Party had plans to vote against this. They should realise who they’re dealing with. If the President’s Heads of Expenditure is defeated then he can’t work. That means he won’t be attending Cabinet meetings. This will lead to the Government coming to a standstill. Those who are going to vote against this should be prepared for the consequences,” SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara said.

Meanwhile, Jayasekara also said that as the SLFP was against the 2019 Budget, they intended to discuss this matter with the Joint Opposition (JO).

“We will most probably vote against this. But first we will discuss in this regard with the JO and come to a decision before 12 March,” he added.
Meanwhile, leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, Dinesh Gunawardena said that the Joint Opposition has already decided to vote against the Budget, but will not vote against the President’s expenditure heads.

Addressing the media, the MEP Leader said that the defeat of President’s expenditure heads will create a crisis situation in the country since there are very important expenses listed under that.

“But there is no other positive reason to vote in favour of the Budget.”
He further said that the UNP has no majority in the Parliament and they cannot defeat the President’s expenditure heads.  

UNHRC

In what appears to be a complete deviation from the Government’s earlier commitment, President Sirisena insisted that he would send ‘his own’ troika to Geneva, Switzerland, to appeal the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the international community not to re-open old wounds.

“It has been 10 years since the end of the war and we have established peace in this country. I want to tell them not to pressure us and allow us to solve our internal matters. Do not dig into the past and re-open old wounds. Let us forget the past and ensure peace,” he said.

He said this while addressing heads of Media institutions in Colombo last morning.

He said that his team, comprising Parliamentarians Dr. Sarath Amunugama and Mahinda Samarasinghe and Northern Province Governor Dr. Suren Ragavan, will formally request the UNHRC to reconsider the 2015 Resolution 30/1 which called for credible investigations into alleged atrocities committed by Government Forces.

When journalists queried as to what was the point in sending another team to Geneva, spending public money, when the Government, reportedly, had already been a signatory to a co-sponsored fresh  resolution, President Sirisena said that he will continue to fight in favour of the Security Forces members as he always maintained that they have not committed any war crimes.

“Decisions relating to the foreign policy and international affairs are taken by the President of the country. If someone has signed a Resolution, as claimed by reports, without my knowledge or letting the Government know, I will investigate and expose such offenders to the public,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a statement, has said that Sri Lanka will continue to demonstrate its commitment and determination towards a steady and long-lasting reconciliation process through a co-sponsored resolution, and will seek an extension of the timeline of the Resolution 30/1 of  1 October 2015, through a co-sponsored roll-over resolution at the ongoing 40th session of the UNHRC.

In a joint statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Department of Government Information it was further stated that “this initiative will further attest to Sri Lanka’s ownership of the implementation process and to its continued policy of constructive engagement and dialogue with the UN and bilateral partners.”

 Excerpts of the statement:

“At the 34th Session of the UNHRC held in February-March 2017, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) closely liaised with the core group (the United States - US, the United Kingdom - UK, Macedonia and Montenegro) to have the timeline of the Resolution 30/1 of 1 October 2015 extended for a period of two years.
Accordingly, as per Resolution 34/1 of 23 March 2017, co-sponsored by Sri Lanka and adopted by consensus at the 34th Session, the High Commissioner for Human Rights is required to present a comprehensive report, followed by a discussion on the implementation of the Resolution 30/1 at the 40th session of the Council.
The action of the High Commissioner’s office on Sri Lanka is entirely based on this report which will be presented to the Council on 20 March 2019. A further extension of two years through a co-sponsored roll-over resolution accordingly needs to be viewed in this backdrop.’

 ‘’Sri Lanka reiterated its strongest commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, in keeping with international human rights standards and Sri Lanka’s international obligations. The Secretary General underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The Government will take measures to address those grievances.”

“In the last few years, the GoSL has taken concrete steps such as the establishment of a Missing Persons’ Office and an Office for Reparations to establish long lasting peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka in addition to the establishment of Independent Commissions, enhanced by the enactment of a number of enabling laws, including for the Right to Information.
 This led to the people of Sri Lanka benefiting from economic dividends, including in particular, the European Union’s Generalised Scheme/System of Preferences Plus concessions. A few more laws will be introduced to strengthen the ongoing processes. The entire mechanism and process of reconciliation is under the control of the GoSL.”

“Those who shed crocodile tears on behalf of ‘War Heroes’ of Sri Lanka conveniently forget the fact that our brave soldiers are right now engaged in peacekeeping in Mali and in other places. This became possible due to our co-sponsoring of the Resolution.
 Further, military to military cooperation has expanded considerably, with more training opportunities for Sri Lankan soldiers. The pride of our war heroes has been protected and the confidence of the international community has been gained through the owning up of the UNHRC process. We were able to witness this during the funerals of our two Army peacekeeping soldiers recently.”

“The draft roll-over resolution recognises the strong role played by the democratic institutions in the peaceful resolution of the political situation that arose in Sri Lanka from October to December last year, which is a strong testimony to the independence, credibility and resilience of our national institutions.
The allegations made against the co-sponsoring of the roll-over resolution by the GoSL are part of the campaign to mislead the public and gain undue political advantage. However, the general public of this country is aware how the Government came to power in 2015, and helped to avert a looming international catastrophe by co-sponsoring the resolution at that time.
 The current initiative is nothing but seeking more time for the GoSL to address the issues of reconciliation, peace building and national integration. For instance, the GoSL was unable to finalise some of the required legislation due to the infamous Constitutional Coup of 26 October 2018. Those who try to seek cheap political advantages shamelessly of a situation in which the country needs to be salvaged are the real traitors of our Motherland.”

The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture will visit Argentina, the State of Palestine, and Sri Lanka, in addition to its previously announced visits to Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Senegal, and the United Kingdom in the coming months.

The visit to Sri Lanka will take place in early April, and a media advisory announcing the precise dates, as well as further information, will be issued ahead of the visit, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said.

The visits were decided during the Subcommittee’s confidential session held in Geneva from 18 to 22 February.

In other work during its session, the Subcommittee welcomed Panama’s recent establishment of a National Preventive Mechanism against torture, and removed the country from its list of States significantly overdue in establishing such a mechanism. The Subcommittee also adopted confidential reports on its visits to Belize, Morocco, and Kyrgyzstan, and sent the reports to the respective State authorities and as well as to the National Preventive Mechanism of Kyrgyzstan.

During its week-long session, the Subcommittee also discussed and adopted its 2018 Annual Report; during the course of last year, the Subcommittee visited, inter alia, 34 prisons, 53 police stations, 11 juvenile detention centres, eight psychiatric and health-care institutions, and three closed migrant centres. It also conducted over 1,000 individual or collective interviews, mainly with detainees but also with officials, law enforcement personnel, and medical staff.

To date, the Subcommittee has completed more than 65 visits. The Subcommittee has a mandate to visit States which have ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, and assist those States in preventing torture and other forms of ill-treatment.

The Subcommittee communicates its observations and recommendations to States through a confidential report, which it encourages countries to make them public.