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| Sunday, 9 November 2003 |
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Politics |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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President's address to the nation : Wilful commission, omission by some placed nation in jeopardy It is crystal clear that during the last two years the sovereignty of the state of Sri Lanka, its territorial integrity and the security of the nation have been placed in grave danger by acts of wilful commission and other acts of careless omission by some members of the government, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga declared in her address to the nation on Friday evening. Citing some examples, she said numerous shipments of arms were apprehended by the Sri Lanka Navy. "The Minister of Defence and the Prime Minister gave instructions to release the first six of these, despite strong warnings given by me at the National Security Council meetings. A total of nine shipments were apprehended. I was told by the Minister of Defence that one must 'turn a blind eye', to these things on not less than three occasions at the National Security Council meetings. I advised the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence in very strong terms that this was not the way to conduct affairs of the state. But this was of no avail. I was compelled to give instructions to the relevant authorities in the case of the last three shipments in order to prevent two 60 ton ships, full of military hardware and another smaller boat sailing into our territory." Following are excerpts from the President's address to the nation: "The decision to takeover the Ministries of Defence, Internal Security and Mass Communications is not a greatly shocking one. The portfolios of Defence and Internal Security was one, right along, under every government of Independent Sri Lanka, until the present government decided to separate them into two Ministries two years ago. "Under the Constitution of Sri Lanka the defence of the State is a power solely vested in the President. "Firstly, and in the final count the President who is also the Head of State, Head of Government, Head of Cabinet and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces is held solely responsible for matters of Defence and National Security. It is the President who will some day be held exclusively responsible for all acts of commissions and omissions, the successes and failures of defence and national security policy. "Section 3 & 4 of the Constitution leave no doubt on this matter. The Supreme Court decision on the failed 19th Amendment to the Constitution and the recent opinion of the Supreme Court, regarding the unconstitutional and thus invalid, attempt by the Minister of Defence to assign to himself the Presidential powers with regard to the Armed Forces has declared ultra vires the Constitution and thus null and void, leaves no more room for any doubt on this issue. Firstly, The Prime Minister clearly agreed to the condition that all important decisions regarding Defence would be decided in consultation with me. This promise was never once observed for the past two years. At most times I came to know of the decisions on Defence matters, after they were taken, only from the media. A couple of times I was informed of the decisions taken after the decisions were implemented by the Prime Minister or the Minister in charge. Most of these decisions were invalid because constitutionally the only authority empowered to do so is the President. One example of such an incident, is the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement which actually is invalid, as it is not signed under the hand of the President. Dozens of such decisions that are of crucial national importance and have a significant bearing on the sovereignty of Sri Lanka and National Security have been taken in this manner. I allowed this state of affairs to continue until now, only because of my unwavering commitment to democratic governance. I also wished to give maximum space and freedom to the new government and its Prime Minister, to successfully implement their proposed programmes, especially the continuation of the Peace Process. "Forcible recruitment of children was permitted by the defence authorities to the point that the LTTE's hardcore cadres have increased from 6,000-18,000 during the ceasefire period. The LTTE have been allowed to construct armed camp after camp, in complete violation of the country's laws and even the Ceasefire Agreement and to attack continuously innocent Muslim civilians kill, abduct and demand ransom from the Muslim people living in the three districts of the East. "At the time when negotiations broke down between the LTTE and the Government, 16 months after the government came into power, about 60% of the attack craft of the Navy and Air Force were out of operation due to lack of spare parts for regular maintenance. At the end of 2002, the Army possessed less than one month's requirements of ammunition. In other countries, all this would amount to a serious dereliction of duty by those in authority. "In brief all that the President has done is to take back some of the powers that are unquestionably and rightfully accorded to the President by the Constitution. "As for the Police, the law and order has never deteriorated to the levels it has today. Grievous crime is increasing by leaps and bounds every month. Killing, physical harassment,destruction of property and intimidation of various forms of political opponents have become the order of the day. 60 SLFP supporters were killed and around 3000 PA activists have been grievously harmed physically and their properties burnt and destroyed by senior members of the UNP, since arriving in power. A completely routine Gazette Notification made by the President in order to correct an error in the assigning of subjects and functions to Ministers and the President saw the re-emergence of shocking acts of thuggery at the Government Press, under the guidance of the Minister in Charge of Police and one or two other Ministers. The most recent act of the present government which has sent shock waves through the entire judiciary is the attempt to intimidate the highest judicial body of the country. Supreme Court - from delivering a determination on a matter of great national importance, by threatening to impeach the Chief Justice. Residences of Supreme Court Judges were stoned by thugs sent by the government, consequent to a judgment, considered unfavourable to that government,as well as sacking the entire bench of the Supreme Court by a former President for the only sin of being independent and impartial and the attempted impeachment of a highly respected legal luminary, who was then the Chief Justice. "I cannot forge the massive mandate I received from the people, repeatedly at 11 different rounds of elections, over a period of 9 years, was mainly given to us loudly and clearly by the vast majority of our people from the East to West and North to South of the island to bring back the rule of law and to halt the gross violations of fundamental rights of persons, to bring to a halt the era of murder of Black July of 1983 which drove the Tamil people to war and also the mass murders of 50,000 Sinhala youth in the South mainly by the State and partly by an armed insurgent group of the South. "The law and order situation that is fast deteriorating and the acts of violence and thuggery involving government persona continues unabated. "Repeated discussions and instructions to the relevant Ministers and the Prime Minister has had no positive results. |
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