Anti-national forces using diversionary tactics - Dy Speaker

*Focus on impeachment, a means of stalling development
*Silent when LTTE ran separate courts

Sandasen Marasinghe

Sri Lanka, although a politically stable country, has not yet reached its development potential mainly due to attempts by anti - national forces that unnecessarily highlight certain incidents such as the impeachment of former Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake to damage the country’s image and act as the cats-paw of local and foreign forces hostile to the country, Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody said yesterday.

He said five impeachment motions moved in Parliament on earlier occasions went unnoticed both locally and internationally since there were enough issues in the country for hostile elements to shout about.

“In that context, if the impeachment of the former Chief Justice was treated in the same weight as the previous ones, it wouldn’t not have been such a major topic,” he said.

The Deputy Speaker said anti - national forces who did not utter a single word about the independence of the judiciary when the LTTE ran a separate court system with an illegal Chief Justice, were now lamenting about an impeachment of a Chief Justice under provisions of the Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament.

Weerakkody said the impeachment of a Chief Justices is not unique to Sri Lanka, but the practice in many countries, including USA and Philippines.

He said the government strictly adhered to the constitution and Standing Orders in the impeachment of the former Chief Justice.

The Deputy Speaker said when a Chief Justice is found to be unfit for the post, the next option is to impeach him or her.

He said what is not proper is to keep him or her in the same position when it is revealed that he or she is not suitable for the post.

The Deputy Speaker said the people of the country were aware that when insignificant incidents were highlighted unnecessarily for petty political gain, the government’s development process to make the country the miracle of Asia, would lose its momentum.