We in Sri Lanka are facing very interesting times. The government has been toying with the idea of changing the Constitution but is unable to do so due to the lack of a two third majority. Instead, a proposal has now been made by certain members of the government to adopt a short-cut of a Constituent Assembly and make the amendments using a simple majority, said opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe delivering the welcome address at the IDU/APDU seminar yesterday at the Taj Samudra Hotel.
This is an undemocratic way of making amendments to the Constitution and an attempt has also be made to get a new Speaker who would have to summon such a Constituent Assembly. If such a constituent assembly is established in Colombo, there is no way of preventing the LTTE setting up another Constituent Assembly in the North-East and following it up with a declaration of a separate state.
The consequences of setting up a CA will have serious repercussions to Sri Lanka as a state, its territorial integrity and acceptance by the international community. The UNP will object to the mechanism of the CA.
The government does not want to go for fresh elections in order to increase its representation as it is very likely that it will lose some of the support it already enjoys, he said.
After two failed attempts to solve the North-East conflict, the UNP government which was elected in December 2001 was able to sign a ceasefire agreement (CFA) with the LTTE.
The CFA framework included the consideration of a viable option to the demand for a separate state, if such an alternate in found. The settlement would also be based on democracy, rule of law, human rights and respect for minorities.
It was also agreed that an interim administration would be set up to handle the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the North-East until such time as a permanent solution is reached, he said.
The new government also agreed to continue the talks with the LTTE but during the election campaign took up different position. The biggest problem facing the government is that they are unable to get the peace process restarted. They do not know how to get about it. Instead they have restored to a National Advisory Council which is of no use since discussions between the two major political parties have necessarily on a one to one basis, it cannot be discussed by committees, he added.
The inability of the government to negotiate for development aid on programmes which are identified and also the like in oil prices has resulted in the country facing on economic crisis.
Further the problem facing the country is that the opposition to the UNP comes not from a single party with alternate policies but from a loose grouping of parties based on arithmetical requirements, they do not therefore have a consistent single policy but are a mix of several political doctrines.
Moving on to the regional requirement, Wickremesinghe said that it is necessary that more Asian countries must be included in the APDU. It is also necessary that the Indian political parties should be networked with, if any benefit is to be obtained from the APDU. We also cannot utilize everything available in Europe and USA but only those practices which are of use to the Asian region, he said.
The two day seminar of the International Democratic Union (IDU), Asia Pacific Democratic Union (APDU) is based on "Effective provision of support to democratic forces in the South Asia, Indian Ocean and Asia Pacific region" will be concluded today.
