Think afresh

In the larger interest of the country urges Ranil:

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called upon one and all to set aside traditional politics and think afresh in the larger interests of the country. Rather than curse the darkness it would be more important to light a single lamp, goes the popular saying he told Parliament on Friday. It is more useful to charter the course for a brighter future having corrected past mistakes instead of accusing each other.

We all suffered due to the racial conflict and the resultant terrorism and war. The damage to life and property was enormous. People as well as members of the security forces fell victim to the tragedy.

After the protracted war we were isolated internationally due to the failure to give effect to reconciliation and build bridges of friendship, and pursue a well-balanced foreign policy.

Irrespective of political ideology we all accept that in this backdrop we could not move ahead. We should strengthen unity and brotherhood and heal the bruised psychee through compassion based reconciliation. It is upto us to regain the confidence and friendship of the international community having wriggled out from international isolation.

The Geneva proposals have provided us this opportunity. Therefore, we should mobilize ourselves to develop the country which is our paramount duty. The agenda is before us and as such we should discuss as to how we could give effect to it.

I see these proposals as an exercise to unite the nation, ensure national and religious harmony, heal the damaged psyche, reconsolidate democracy in the country and substitute compassion and loving kindness for hatred and malice. If it is so, why the opposition against it?

Let us make a fresh start to make this exercise a success. I appeal to one and all to set aside the traditional politics and think afresh in the larger interests of the country.

Peace and reconciliation

The people in this country have pinned their hopes on a society where all communities live in peace and reconciliation and compassion takes precedence over hatred.

They also believe the politics of brotherhood instead of killing each other. People have reposed implicit faith in progressive policies instead of retrogressive manoeuvres.

They hope that we would provide solutions to their outstanding problems, increase their income through gainful employment and restore law and order.

I appeal to you not to dash their hopes or let them go unheeded.

People in this country renounced traditional politics in the hope of better times.

Not only once, they rejected the traditional politics twice at the last general election and the presidential election.

They gave a mandate for a new political culture, the consensual politics having dispelled hate politics of rival groups.

I call upon you to ponder deep whether you endorse what was mandated by the people or embrace the rejected path. My plea to you is to join our new political culture, consensual politics and the new political journey. Our aim is not to disseminate the seeds of hatred and viciousness or take personal revenge or impose punishment as a deterrent but mete out justice by way of peace, compassion and loving kindness and provide solace to the victims of the conflict.

A solid foundation has to be laid for the future to prevent a repetition of past mistakes. Above all, let us think of our country.

I appeal to you not to ignore this opportunity for the sake of political expediency when the country could prosper. That is why we had embarked on a new journey on January 8 under President Maithripala Sirisena having received a fresh mandate in September and efforts are being made by the UNP-UPFA coalition to resolve these problems within two years.

Salubrious development

There is a salient feature in the new set up where the Sri Lanka Freedom Party is attempting to win back the minority votes while the United National Party is moving to secure the middle class votes in the South.

This is a politically salubrious development. In the end we could arrive at a politically neutral situation to be followed by change of parties with policies remaining intact. Despite opposition from certain sections, President Sirisena and I are all out to accomplish everything constitutionally. Except for the parliamentary privileges of the legislators under Section 4 of the Constitution, the judicial power of the people will be exercised by the institutions or tribunals recognised by the Constitution or created by law.

We would not act in contravention of such positions. It is the prerogative of the Supreme Court to pronounce the legality of laws and we will act according to the decisions of the Apex Court.

We should in fact be thankful to President J.R. Jayewardene who in moving a resolution in Parliament said these clauses cannot be removed without being endorsed by the people at a Referendum.

In the absence of such provision, this country would have been under the dictates of those who demanded international investigations during 1989-90.We are acting strictly in terms of the constitution. Who invited Motoo Noguchi to this country. The relevant file is with me. It was Minister G.L. Peiris who invited him on the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He was asked to visit Sri Lanka on January 10.

A big issue was created during the Presidential election that Maithripala Sirisena betrayed the country, Ranil Wickremesinghe was a traitor and Chandrika Kumaratunga was behind all these.

Nobody can deny the fact that Noguchi was invited to Sri Lanka as I have the file with me. He is not a lawyer like Desmond de Silva. He was in charge of the Victim Fund of the International Criminal Court. He was a special prosecutor in the prosecutor office in Japan. I have all the relevant documents with me. The government took time to realise this. It says, ‘Prof G.L. Peiris requested on April 14, 2014 for dominated Japanese expert.”

This Commission recommended a judicial inquiry into the Channel 4 episode.

This is the work of the Majistrate’s Court. I wish if my friend, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa will speak on this in Parliament this afternoon.

It was Mahinda Rajapaksa who while being a Opposition Member of Parliament first sought international intervention on Sri Lanka’s human rights.

Fortuitous circumstances

The background was created for foreign intervention again recently when Mahinda Rajapaksa and United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon agreed to seek a sustainable political solution.

What happened next? The LTTE assassinated Foreign Minister Kadirgamar barely four months had elapsed, when the LTTE was bribed to prevent those in the North voting at the Presidential election. This is how the Presidential election was won. We are aware that it was the LTTE who committed the murder. We also know that Temple Trees was the venue for the discussions.

Are you apprehensive that these will come to light at the Truth Commission?

What happened next? The LTTE was not dealt with. What led to capture Mavil Aru? There was a crisis within the government.

The Hela Urumaya MPs along with a few other MPs and the Army opposed. Ven. Rathana Thera also intervened. This was what actually happened,the war broke out due to fortuitous circumstances.

Had not the civilians been taken hostage by the LTTE this problem would not have assumed such serious proportions. Secondly, orders had been issued to the Security Forces to conclude the war before the BJP formed a government with Jayalalithaa after the Indian General Election in March.

The Security Forces acted accordingly. Then followed the white flag incident.

When the LTTE cadres came carrying white flags it was left to the discretion of the Commanding Officer present to accept or reject them. However, the orders came from Colombo.

How did it happen? Who was to be killed? A deal was entered to save Pulithevan. Who got the money to save Pulithevan?

Who negotiated the deal during the Presidential Election? We have among us here those who were aware of it. Why was Pulithevan saved? He is responsible for the misery inflicted on the Tamils. If not for Pulithevan these people would not have formed a government.

This unsavoury situation cropped up due to measures taken to save Pulithevan. Finally, following the discussions held with the UN Secretary General, it was announced that the grievances of the people would be looked into to realise the goals of long-term social and economic development.

Later the Darusman committee was assured that the Security Forces personnel would be dealt with according to military law or civil law in the event of being found guilty of violating the laws of the land. What happened eventually? The Security Forces were left in the lurch. Sarath Fonseka who won the war was imprisoned. We ourselves witnessed how he was dragged out.

Forget about Sarath Fonseka. There was another incident which too was witnessed by me when those in uniform were taken out by the Military Police and made them to kneel down along Chittampalam Gardiner Mawatha despite a request by the Elections Commissioner to provide security to Sarath Fonseka when he was leaving Cinnamon Lake Hotel.

Gunshot injuries

What is the offence they committed? They fought in the battlefield and suffered gunshot injuries. This is not the forum to speak for the Security Forces. Please apologise and do justice to them as well as the Tamils. We should forget all these and try to overcome the difficulties. I wish to repeat that we should renounce traditional, narrow politics in the larger interests of the people. We are devising a home-grown mechanism to explore truth in quest of a better future.

Who are crusading against this mechanism? They are the pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora, Tamil extremist alliances in Tamil Nadu and the Colombo fringe of the so-called patriots.

They are the very people who aligned themselves following the assassination of Kadirgamar and pursued the same set of objectives. Their avowed objective is to safeguard their privileges even at the cost of bifurcating the country. We laid the truth before the people and won their mandate in January and September after convincing them of our political culture.

We are determined to surmount all obstacles ahead of our forward march under the leadership of President Sirisena.

We request you to apprise us of your valuable ideas on the mechanism which we hope to formulate ourselves. The Compassionate Council made up of religious leaders is a novel concept. We should seek their views to facilitate a solution for this problem.

This Council is charged with the responsibility of making recommendations based on compassion and loving kindness.

I therefore, call upon you to involve yourselves in this process. Former President Rajapaksa too had voiced his sentiments which are good. If you feel I am wrong, I shall call upon Parliament to appoint a Select Committee.

Give up the polecat politics as the polecat is active only in the dark. Therefore, please engage in whatever politics only during the day, the Prime Minister said.