By Shamindra Ferdinando
Former External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris has expressed serious concern over the government considering a general amnesty for LTTE cadres in custody, particularly those who had been convicted on terrorism charges.
Prof. Peiris said that the government stand should be examined against the backdrop of a 17-year-old boy taking his own life, demanding the immediate release of LTTE cadres from custody.
The former law professor said he considered that suicide part of a sophisticated plan to influence the decision making process.
Prof. Peiris was addressing a public gathering at Anuradhapura on Sunday (Dec 6). He referred to Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s recent statement in Parliament that the government would explore possibility of offering a general amnesty to those who had been accused, charged and convicted under PTA or other emergency laws. Minister Samaraweera was responding to Jaffna District EPDP MP Douglas Devananda.
Former militant Devananda pointed out that in 1971 and in 1989 following the insurrections in the South, and in 1987 following the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement, persons held under the PTA and other emergency laws, and combatants and those accused, charged and/or convicted under those laws had been granted a general amnesty. MP Devananda queried whether a similar decision couldn’t be made regarding LTTE cadres in custody.
“This is a frightening prospect,” Prof. Peiris said, adding that the TNA-run Northern Provincial Council (NPC) had gone so far as to close schools in view of the student’s suicide while those LTTE cadres in custody were threatening to plunge the country into a dark era if the last wish of the 17-year-old who committed suicide was not granted.
Prof. Peiris said: “The LTTE sympathisers displayed LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s pictures and black flags in the Jaffna University premises to commemorate the so-called heroes’ week. The event was also celebrated in Canada.”
Prof. Peiris asserted that extreme pressure had been brought to bear on the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government. The former Colombo District MP said that he wasn’t aware of any other government acting in such a way. Prof. Peiris referred to former South African leader Nelson Mandela rejecting a call for a general amnesty for those in government custody. Prof. Peiris quoted the then South African Justice Minister Dullah Omar as having said that it was grossly unfair.
Commenting on a recent media conference given by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Prof. Peiris said that the decision to establish special courts to try alleged war crimes and the appointment of practicing lawyers to these courts to exercise judicial powers in respect of accountability issues couldn’t be accepted under any circumstances.
Such a move would be contrary to the Constitution and, therefore, should be resisted, Prof. Peiris said. “One of the most important provisions with regard to the fundamental rights in Sri Lanka is contained in Article 12 of the Constitution which enshrines the concept of equality before the law. This sacred principle of equality which receives expression in the highest law of the country is cynically violated by the proposed course of action.”
The former MP regretted that those who had unleashed terrorism were being freed without conditions while those who rid the country of terrorism were being hauled up before Special Courts consisting of outsiders.
The former External Affairs Minister vowed that the Opposition would take all possible steps, not only political but also legal initiatives to challenge the proposed government action.
Courtesy:The Island