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Suspension of Sri Lanka parliament challenged in court
COLOMBO, Nov 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Supporters of Sri Lanka’s fired prime
minister and a top election official on Monday challenged in court the
president’s sacking of parliament, upping the ante in a political crisis that
has sparked international alarm.
President Maithripala Sirisena late Friday called snap elections and
dissolved the legislature, two weeks after sacking the prime minister and
installing the divisive Mahinda Rajapakse in his place.
The United States has led a chorus of international voices expressing
concern over events in the strategically important Indian Ocean island nation
of 21 million people.
Three political parties holding an absolute majority in parliament and an
election commissioner, one of three officials tasked with conducting polls,
on Monday asked the Supreme Court to declare the president’s actions illegal.
Commissioner Ratnajeevan Hoole was among 12 petitioners arguing that
Sirisena had violated the constitution.
In the five-page petition, Hoole said Sirisena broke the law in calling the
snap elections for January 5 after a string of unconstitutional moves since
October 26 when he fired Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister.
Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP), the main opposition Tamil
National Alliance (TNA) and the leftist JVP, or People’s Liberation Front
jointly filed the action.
TNA spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran said the Supreme Court agreed to rake up
the petitions immediately considering the importance of the issue.
“We are also asking for an interim order” for an injunction against
preparations for the election, which would be two years ahead of schedule,
Sumanthiran said.
Court officials said Chief Justice Nalin Perera and two other judges
decided to fast-track the hearings.
Sarath Amunugama, Sirisena’s anointed foreign minister, told Colombo-based
diplomats Monday that he expected a verdict within five days.
Legal experts say the dissolved parliament would have to be restored if the
Supreme Court holds with the petitioners. If not, the January 5 election will
have to go ahead.
Independent election monitors have also questioned the legality of the snap
poll announced by Sirisena. – Civil unrest fears –
Wickremesinghe remains holed up in the prime minister’s official residence,
and both he and Rajapakse are attempting to run parallel administrations.
On Sunday night, speaker Karu Jayasuriya urged civil servants to defy
Sirisena’s “illegal orders”.
But later Sirisena defended his actions, saying violence among rival MPs
could have led to “civil unrest” across Sri Lanka if the legislature had met
as scheduled this week.
“Had I allowed the parliament to meet on November 14, there would have been
violence in the House and it could have spread to our villagers and towns,”
Sirisena said in a televised address.
“I acted to prevent civil unrest.”
Sirisena’s rivals maintain that he had no constitutional power to sack the
assembly until it completes four-and-a-half years of its five-year term that
ends in August 2020.
Only China has recognised the appointment of Rajapakse, who during his
decade as president until 2015 relied heavily on Beijing for diplomatic and
financial support as the West shunned him.
While in power Rajapakse ended Sri Lanka’s four-decade civil war by
crushing the separatist Tamil Tigers. But 40,000 ethnic Tamils were allegedly
massacred in the process.
Seventeen journalists and media workers were killed during his time in
power, and Rajapakse and his family have been accused of using his period in
office to line their pockets through corruption.
Monday’s meeting of diplomats called by Amunugama was boycotted by several
Western diplomats while others sent low-level representatives, diplomatic
sources said.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1458 HRS