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by Percy Wickremesekere

Various parties especially those who are unhappy with the signing of the ceasefire agreement by the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka have raised the issue of the validity of this agreement since it is signed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and not President Chandrika Kumaratunga for and on a behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka.

Some of these people like Sihala Urumaya and the Sinhala Sangamaya have gone to the Court of Appeal seeking to challenge the validity of this agreement. President's Counsel A.A. De Silva in his article in the 'Daily News of 4th March has also drawn attention to various provisions in the Constitution of Sri Lanka that give the President various executive powers none of which may be enjoyed by the Prime Minister under the present constitution.

Mr. Silva has taken the trouble to distinguish this ceasefire agreement from a wheat flour agreement or a soft loan agreement which perhaps he may concede can be signed even by the Prime Minister as it is not an instrument that concerns war and peace!

All these people and also the JVP that is openly opposing this agreement have one thing in common and that is their total displeasure at arriving at an agreement to cease hostilities with the LTTE. Although they do not say so in so many words what they in effect say is that there is no need for a cessation of hostilities. What we need is to continue the war to a finish - perhaps even finishing our country that they often claim to love.

The learned persons who know the law may well be correct even in their interpretation of the provisions of the constitution on this matter. Of course they are correct when they say that the President under this constitution is the Head of State, Head of the Executive and of the Government and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.

Our President was all this before the General Elections of December 2001. She was then the President and the Head of the Cabinet chosen by her whether it had fifty or twenty ministers! But today could anyone say that she is the head of her Cabinet. She is constitutionally the head of the Cabinet even today - but the head of the Cabinet of Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe!

She is the head of the Government of Ranil Wickremesinghe the Prime Minister who commands the confidence of a majority of the members of Parliament. Therefore as the President herself realises sometimes in a rather confusing manner, she is the President - the Executive President in a government that is not led by her party - a government led by the United National Party/Front in Parliament.

Hence her call in her letter to the Prime Minister for co-operation with her to make this ceasefire agreement work. Infairness to her it must be stated that she was not in the letter to the Prime Minister raising the propriety of his signing the agreement so much as her complaint that she should have been consulted and taken into confidence before the signing of the agreement by Mr. Prabakaran.

As for us what is important is not who has seen the agreement first or last but whether the provisions of the agrement are harmful to our country or are such that would pave the way for peace after over two decades of civil war. As we see it a majority of our people belonging to all communities are happy that this country is once again on the path to becoming a place safe to live. What is more important than the legal niceties to us is the actual situation on the ground.

This agreement has brought a cessation of hostilities between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE irrespective of who signed the agreement. In fact the earlier unilateral ceasefire declaration of 24th December, 2001 and 24th January, 2002 were also made by these two persons - Mr. Prabakaran on behalf of the LTTE and Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka.

At that time none of these persons who raise these legal issues to/day saw anything wrong with those declarations. Therefore today there is something else that is struggling to raise its head against the peace process that is being carried forward by this government with the facilitation of the Norwegian Government.

In fact, it is as the President had stated in her letter the process begun by her government. There always was opposition to any moves for peace coming from the camp of Chauvinism/Communalism with its political representatives like the Sihala Urumaya and the JVP often vying with each other for leadership of this camp. But today this campaign is obviously weak because its champions have exhausted the patience of the ordinary people who see no future for our country without peace. This is the reason why legal issues are being raised regarding the validity of this agreement as if anything rests on the so-called legality.

What is the law under which the LTTE continue its war with the government of Sri Lanka? What is the law in our statute book that could have prevented that war? We can go on and on like this to make the legal luminaries from H.L. De Silva PC to A.A. De Silva PC realise that no law could save our country from the destruction that we have gone through for the last two decades in the North and the South.

Therefore we say let us see this agreement as means of bringing about a permanent and honourable peace to our country and not attempt to scuttle the process by resorting to legal arguments that may well be useful elsewhere.

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