Ranil Wickremesinghe. File
| Photo Credit: N. Ram

COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe has drawn sharp criticism over his government’s defiant response to a recent Supreme Court decision, which senior lawyers and critics say, amounts to “wilful disregard” of the Constitution.

The attack comes in the wake of an interim order issued by the island nation’s top court on July 24, 2024, in regard to the President’s appointment of the police chief.  

The order restrained Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon from continuing in the post and asked Mr. Wickremesinghe to appoint a suitable official to the post for the period of the stay.

The Supreme Court’s ruling followed nine Fundamental Rights petitions challenging the IGP’s appointment, mostly on constitutional grounds.

The senior police official’s appointment has remained controversial also because the Supreme Court in December 2023 held him personally responsible for torture in a 2011 case.

Following the recent court order, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament that the government refused to accept the decision. The post of IGP was not vacant and therefore prevented the President from appointing an acting IGP, he contended.

His remarks drew flak from Opposition politicians who termed the government’s response “reckless”.  

Taking to social media platform ‘X’, Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa said: “When a President defies the Supreme Court, he attacks the very fabric of our democracy. At a time when we are striving for justice and progress, his reckless actions and political chess games risk plunging us into chaos and oppression.”

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who leads the Opposition National People’s Power (NPP) alliance, vowed to take legal action against IGP Thennakoon if he continued functioning in the post. Further, he challenged PM Gunawardena to make his statement rejecting the Supreme Court decision outside the House, without the protection of Parliamentary privilege.

Meanwhile, President Ranil Wickremesinghe on July 28 called upon the Parliamentary Speaker and the Chief Justice to hold discussions to resolve the issue.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), a prominent professional body of lawyers, said it “strongly condemns” the efforts of the government to “subvert the course of justice”.

“The claim that the Supreme Court does not have power to call into question appointments made by the President which are approved by the Constitutional Council is totally untenable,” the BASL said in its statement, even as the executive appears to be on collision course with the judiciary.

“It is essential for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary that the executive and legislature respect the judgments of the courts of the land,” it said.

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based non-governmental organisation, noted that the President is “duty bound” to uphold the Constitution.

“Wilful violation of the Constitution, including by refusing to do what the Constitution requires him to do, is a ground on which a President can be impeached,” it said in a statement. Contrary to claims made by sections, the SC’s interim order had “no impact” on the conduct of Sri Lanka’s presidential elections scheduled for September 21, 2024, the CPA noted. “While the order leaves it open to the President to make a suitable acting appointment to the post, in the event he does not, the Election Commission could, as per the Constitution, give necessary orders to the hierarchy of the Sri Lanka Police to perform functions relating to the election,” it said.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe
| Photo Credit: AP

President Ranil Wickremesinghe on June 23 reiterated Sri Lanka’s unwavering support for a separate Palestinian state to be established “within five years.”

The president also said that despite the country’s current bankrupt economy, generous public contributions collected a million dollars in response to his government’s Gaza Children’s Fund that was donated.

Mr. Wickremesinghe made these remarks during participation at a special service held at a Grand Jummah Mosque at the Muslim-dominated Kattankudy in the eastern province for the affected people of Gaza.

Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7 last year, killed around 1,200 people and took some 250 others as hostages. Since then, Israel has regularly bombarded the Gaza Strip killing over 37,000 Palestinians.

“Sri Lanka’s stance on the Gaza clashes would never change, action must be taken to set up an independent Palestine state within five years and murdering of civilians must stop,” he said.

“People should not be made to pay for the problems with Hamas. We all should assist in finding a solution to the Palestine problem – the state of Palestine must be set up before five years. It will not be productive to waste time talking about it, as we have done now for 40-50 years. Israel’s security concerns must be addressed separately,” Wickremesinghe added.

The Sri Lankan government decided to set up the Gaza Children’s Fund despite the country’s current bankruptcy (status) of the economy. “We did donate a million dollars, we asked for generous public contributions and we received good response,” Wickremesinghe said as he accepted a donation cheque from the trustees of the mosque in solidarity with the cause of children of Gaza.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on October 23 effected the first reshuffle of his Cabinet, changing the portfolios of two Ministers, amidst criticism from the Opposition that he was planning to postpone elections that are due in the cash-strapped country next year.

Significantly, Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella was moved to the Environment Ministry following weeks of public dissatisfaction with his handling of the Ministry.

Mr. Rambukwella, 69, survived a motion of no-confidence in Parliament moved against him by the Opposition to highlight inefficiency, corruption and mismanagement in the Ministry’s conduct.

Also read | Indian medicines under lens in Sri Lanka over a series of adverse events

Mr. Rambukwella a fortnight back had ordered a police investigation into an Indian company’s alleged supply of a substandard drug. The Indian company had however denied such a supply to a Sri Lankan importer.

The Environment Ministry was held by Mr. Wickremesinghe himself when the incumbent came to be disqualified as a Member of Parliament through a court order.

The Health Ministry has been now put under Ramesh Pathirana, a doctor in addition to being the Minister of Industries.

Mr. Wickremesinghe’s action for a minor reshuffle came as the Opposition mounted criticism that he was planning to postpone the major elections due for next year.

However, Mr. Wickremesinghe stressed on Sunday that both Presidential and Parliamentary elections would be held next year as per the constitutional stipulation.

Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The escalating tensions in Gaza have come under sharp focus in Sri Lanka, an island nation that is struggling to get out of its own devastating civil war, nearly 15 years after it ended.

While President Ranil Wickremesinghe recently called for a “four-state” solution involving Israel, Gaza, Palestine, and Lebanon, to resolve the crisis, he also shared his concerns with caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Tuesday. The regional leaders are currently in China to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

According to an update posted by the Pakistani Prime Minister’s office on social media platform X, the two leaders expressed “deep concern at the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza caused by the ongoing Israeli attacks. They called for “immediate cessation of hostilities by Israel; establishment of a humanitarian corridor to provide aid to the besieged people of Gaza; and a two-state solution, resulting in the establishment of a viable and contiguous Palestinian State with pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital”, the post said.

Expressing solidarity

Meanwhile, key political actors from different parties in Sri Lanka have voiced concern on the ongoing violence.

Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa has called for an urgent parliamentary debate on the issue, while observing that “state terrorism” was leading to “hundreds of deaths”. On Wednesday, Mr. Premadasa presented a motion urging the House to call upon the United Nations to convene its Security Council to end the ongoing conflict. Terming the hospital bombing in Gaza a “massacre”, he urged the permanent members of the UN to take necessary measures to stop the “ongoing terrorism and state terrorism”.

The Gaza hospital bombing comes days before Sri Lanka’s Tamils, who bore the brunt of island’s long civil war, commemorate the brutal attack on the Jaffna teaching hospital in 1987 by members of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). Some 70 civilians, including 21 medical personnel, were killed on October 21 and 22, 1987.

Prominent leaders have also visited the Palestinian Embassy in Colombo to express solidarity. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa emphasised the urgency of peace in his recent meeting with the Palestinian Ambassador, Mr. Rajapaksa’s office said. “I have consistently supported the Palestinian cause as the Founder and President of the Sri Lanka Society for Solidarity with Palestine. War is never a solution,” said Mr. Rajapaksa, whose government is accused of committing grave human rights violations during the final phase of Sri Lanka’s civil war — fought between the armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — which claimed at least 40,000 civilian lives. He has consistently denied the allegations, contending that his forces’ actions were part of a “humanitarian operation”.

On Wednesday, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Member of Parliament and leader of the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) met the Palestinian Ambassador in Colombo to express solidarity. He sought the UN’s “fair intervention” and implementation of the two-state solution. Civic activists and rights defenders in Sri Lanka have also been organising protests in solidarity with Palestine over the last few days.

Ranil Wickremesinghe. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Dismissing the possibility of an international probe into the 2019 Easter terror attacks, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has reiterated that such an investigation into the incident was not permissible under the country’s law.

Responding to Sunday’s editorial in the Catholic Church’s Messenger newspaper titled “An international investigation team is needed for an independent, transparent, and thorough investigation and monitoring”, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said, “We cannot endorse the idea of international investigations into Sri Lanka’s internal matters.” “The Constitution of Sri Lanka and all other existing laws do not provide for conducting international investigations. Consequently, carrying out such investigations would be in violation of the law,” a press release by the PMD said on October 6.

Nine suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three Catholic churches and as many luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019, killing nearly 270 people, including 11 Indians, and injuring more than 500.

The issue of the Easter attacks and its political undertone resurfaced in early September when the U.K.’s Channel 4 television station aired a documentary titled ‘Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings – Dispatches’, alleging the involvement and complicity of certain government officials, including intelligence service chief Major General Suresh Sallay, in orchestrating the 2019 Easter suicide bombings.

It called the attacks a “crafted act” aimed at forcing a political change in favour of the then-powerful Rajapaksa brothers.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced his candidature three days after the attacks and was elected President seven months later. His elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa was also the country’s former President and Prime Minister. Both Rajapaksa brothers were forced to resign last year amidst the unprecedented economic crisis in the island nation.

“The Minister of Public Security, Tiran Alles, spoke to the Catholic Bishops Conference on Thursday and was informed that the Rev. Father Harold Anthony was in the process of studying a voluminous presidential commission report on the Easter attack investigation that had been delivered to him in April,” the press release said. It added that Mr. Wickremesinghe would meet the Catholic Bishops conference after they study the report.

During a fiery interview with the German state-owned broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) against the backdrop of Channel 4’s allegations last week, Mr. Wickremesinghe dismissed the Channel 4 revelations and said that Sri Lanka will not have any international inquiry into the Easter blasts. “It is out,” he said.

“The Sri Lankan government does not have international investigations. Full stop. Few people may want (it), but the Parliament doesn’t,” he said.

A prime panel headed by retired Supreme Court Justice SI Imam was appointed by Mr. Wickremesinghe to investigate the British channel’s allegations. The Opposition, however, blames the President for going back on his earlier pledge to let Scotland Yard investigate the 2019 attacks.

They claim that Mr. Wickremesinghe is reliant on the support of the Rajapaksas to remain the President and, therefore, would not initiate an inquiry which could expose those behind the attacks. The attacks led to a significant political change in Sri Lanka. It has emerged that the then authorities had ignored prior intelligence on the attack by Indian intelligence agencies.