24 September 2017 12:18 pm
He told a news conference that President Maithripala Sirisena had assured UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zaid Al Hussein that Sri Lanka was carrying out UNHRC recommendations and added that the new Constitution was also being drafted according to that.
He said country’s Constitution, which was its basic legal system, could not be changed on the whims of foreign forces.
He said the Central Government, President and the Prime Minister would function for their name sake as all the powers including Police, Administration, Finance, Land and Enacting Laws would be granted to Provincial Councils in the new Constitution.
“The country will be divided into nine regions, where separate laws and administration would prevail. The country will become jumbled. Is this for what 27, 000 war heroes sacrificed their lives?” he asked.
Mr. Weerawansa said Tamil separatists had been trying to fulfill their needs through the Constitution for a long time, where they once did it through the 13th Amendment under J.R. Jayewardene.
He said the then President J.R. Jayewardene acted to pass the 13th Amendment by seeking advice from the Attorney General without going for a referendum and added that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was also following the same suite by bringing in amendments during the committee stage going against the Supreme Court decision.
“He followed the same strategy in bringing in the Provincial Councils Amendment Bill and Local Government Elections Bill, where amendments were made during the Committee Stage contracted to the bill forwarded to the Supreme Court.
“It is possible to bring in such contradicting amendments to the new Constitution also during the Committee Stage. The concept of Unitary State may also be changed to Federal State during Committee Stage and get a two thirds majority in Parliament,” he said. (Ajith Siriwardana)