|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Monday, 25 October 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Lest we forget: Mrs. Bandaranaike's trial by ordeal by D.G. De L. Karunaratne How strange are the ways of UNP politicians! In early 1978, when the Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry Bill was introduced in Parliament (National State Assembly), the UNP Parliamentarians, with one accord, raised their hands in support of its enactment. For the next 16 long years of the UNP administration this piece of legislation was in the Statute book and neither the UNP Parliamentarians including Ranil Wickremesinghe nor their leaders - the three Presidents J.R. Jayewardene, R. Premadasa and D.B. Wijetunge - saw any reason for repealing it.
Some of these doughty defenders of democracy, fundamental rights, human rights, and other rights appeared on TV and declaimed against the SPC Law. But how many of these people articulated even a whimper or a whisper when this law was enacted and used against the leader of the SLFP? I think the particular circumstances in which the SPC Law was enacted are worth recounting for the benefit of those who may be carried away by the sanctimonious political humbuggery of the UNP and its apologists. Needles to say, as a layman I am not competent to express any opinion on the legal issues involved. Dangerous decision J.R. Jayewardene was sworn in as Prime Minister on July 13, 1977 while post-election violence was raging in many parts of the country and a 9.00 p.m. to 5.00 a.m. curfew was imposed in several areas. The story then was that he had taken the unprecedented and manifestly dangerous decision to grant leave to police officials, in effect giving an open general licence to his party thugs to attack, maim and murder their political opponents, loot and set their houses on fire. On assuming duties he set about consolidating and strengthening his position as well as that of his party. While in the opposition he had clearly identified his priorities and formulated plans to meet these priorities. To this end he adopted a two-pronged strategy. Foremost in his agenda was the enactment of a new Constitution which would invest him with a plenitude of power, making him a virtual dictator. He considered it equally important, parallelly to muzzle criticism and opposition from all quarters. Both priorities demanded his urgent attention but the enactment of a Constitution entailed lengthy deliberations and was bound to take much time, though his government was assured of its passage, given its steam-roller majority. Fickle electorate With his long experience, spanning over three decades at the hustings J.R. Jayewardene knew too well how fickle the electorate was - the UNP and the SLFP being voted to power alternately. He also knew it was a matter of time when the Opposition political parties would rally round Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike who was endowed with the Charisma that he unfortunately lacked. He considered her his most powerful and dangerous political adversary and therefore her elimination from the political field was a sine quo non, if UNP rule was to go on unhindered. In his inimitable style he planed out his strategy and started moving the pieces on the political chess-board. He showed more finesse than Zia-Ul-Haq or the leader of the Janatha Party in India. Everything he did was under cover of laws which his Parliamentarians were always ready to enact at this bidding. It may be pertinens here to quote what he stated in Parliament on 21.10.77 on the occasion of the repeal of the Criminal Justice Commission Act: India's Janatha Party "The Janatha Party in India has temporarily locked up Mrs. Gandhi. It is not for me to comment on what some other Government should do. But I will not do it." "If offences have been committed, there are normal laws operating in the normal way and you can bring charges for those offences but politically I will not lay my hands on a single member of the previous Government. That is why I am bringing this Bill to repeal this Act." (Hansard of 21.10.77). How hollow his assurances and political pontifications were! Within a few months of the UNP assuming office the Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry Law No. 7 of 1978 was passed ostensibly to ensure purity in public life. But to anyone who cared to look beyond its facade of legality it was obvious that the sole object of this law was the removal of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike from the political scene. It was a piece of cowardly ad hominem legislation, targeting the world's first woman Prime Minister. By Warrant dated March 29, 1978, President J.R. Jayewardene appointed a Special Presidential Commission consisting of two judges of the Supreme Court (Justice Sharvananda and Justice J.G.T. Weeraratne) and a member of the minor judiciary (K.C.E. De Alwis) to inquire into and report on the matters specified in the said Warrant covering the period May 1970 to July 1977. Campaign of vilification The President had been making various accusations against Mrs. Bandaranaike at public meetings and on the floor of the National State Assembly (Parliament) before the appointment of the Commission. With its appointment the campaign of vilification and calumny gathered momentum and National State Assembly meetings, public meetings, pro-government newspapers and radio were unabashedly availed of for this purpose. The Daily News (a government owned newspaper) of August 7, 1978 carried the report of the UNP rally held on August 5, 1978 at Kotahena on which occasion the President was reported to have said: "There was no law and order during her regime. One had only to read or listen over the radio to Mr. A.C. De Zoysa'a address to the Presidential Commission to realise what injustices had been committed during that period." In this cowardly campaign the President had the unstinted support of his chief lieutenant R. Premadasa who revelled in vituperative language and often mistook smut for wit. The UNP Government showed its blatant disregard for fairness and impartiality and ignored the time - honoured and most salutary principle that "Justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done". The team of Government lawyers leading evidence before the Commission was headed by A.C. De Zoysa, who was a member of the Working Committee of the UNP and had actively campaigned for his party. His opening address was a speech more suited for the hustings than for a Commission of inquiry and was charged with all manner of accusations against Mrs. Bandaranaike, but on many of which no evidence was led before the Commission. It was evidently a speech directed at the masses and the Government gave wide publicity to it through the newspapers and the radio. In the words of Mrs. Bandaranaike "the entire proceedings before the Commission became an extravaganza of political propaganda against me and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party". The second Republican Constitution was adopted on September 7, 1978. This provided a welcome opportunity to President Jayewardene to reconstitute, or to be more precise to manipulate the judiciary according to his whims and fancies. In the course of this exercise he promoted, demoted and even discontinued Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Court, the Highest Courts in the land. Good fortune, however, awaited the three hand-picked members of the Special Presidential Commission. Weeraratne J, eleventh in seniority, was elevated to fifth place, enabling him to become acting Chief Justice before he retired. Sharvananda J had a more accelerated rise - he shot up from fourteenth place to sixth place; and was fortunate enough to end up his judicial career as Chief Justice. On retirement he was rewarded with the Governorship of Western Province. The third member was the luckiest - he rocketed from the District Court over eighteen judges of the High Court, to the Court of Appeal. But his luck did not hold out for long; he had to end his judicial career in public disgrace. Mrs. Bandaranaike was noticed by the Special Presidential Commission to appear before it to answer ten charges of abuse or misuse of power, corruption etc. She however challenged the jurisdiction of the SPC before the Court of Appeal on several grounds and sought a Writ of Prohibition against it. No loopholes in SPC To digress, some time before the case began, newspapers including the Government controlled, reported a statement made by President Jayewardene at a public function that he would abide by the verdict of the court. He was confident that there were no loopholes in the SPC Law which had been so carefully crafted to rope in his chief political adversary. The Court of Appeal comprising Justices Wimalaratne (President), Vythialingam and Colin Thome granted a Writ of prohibition against the Commission upholding the contention of Mrs. Bandaranaike's Counsel that the Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry Law No. 7 of 1978 was not retrospective in its operation and did not authorise an inquiry in respect of a period prior to the enactment of the law. But President Jayewardene was not going to be balked by a court decision. He could not allow the judiciary to thwart his implacable desire to disfranchise his chief political opponent and banish her from the political arena. He riposted with typical ferocity and haste. Bills endorced Two Bills endorsed by the Cabinet as being "Urgent in the national interest" were rushed through parliament. Both were patently intended to subserve the Government's purely partisan objectives. Buy the first Bill - the Special Presidential Commissions of Inquiry (Special Provisions) Act No. 4 of 1978 Parliament took the unprecedented step of specifically declaring null and void the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Mrs. Bandaranaike's case. Section 10 of the Act stated: "Any such judgement, decree or writ issued by the Court including the judgement pronounced and writ issued by the Court of Appeal in Application No. 1/78 are hereby declared null and void and of no force or effect whatsoever." The second Bill was the UNP Government's First Amendment to their brand new constitution. As if to put them in their proper places the amendment deprived the Court of Appeal of its jurisdiction in similar Writ applications. The Amendment was made retroactive from september 7, 1978. The president showed little respect for the Rule of Law and the independence of the judiciary. He was prepared to resort to any legal legerdemain and political chicanery including tampering with judicial and constitutional processes in his unrelenting persuit of his arch political opponent. (Continued tomorrow) |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
Ironically the UNP, ceratin sections of the print and electronic media
and other apologists, among whom are to be found a few black-coated
denizens of Hulftsdorp were sometime back very vociferous in calling for
the repeal of this law.
