{"id":64509,"date":"2019-06-08T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-08T15:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=64509"},"modified":"2019-06-08T11:21:02","modified_gmt":"2019-06-08T15:21:02","slug":"parliamentary-select-committee-mps-write-to-speaker-objecting-to-attempts-by-president-sirisena-to-interfere-with-parliament-saying-it-is-unlawful-and-a-potential-breach-of-privileges-of-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=64509","title":{"rendered":"Parliamentary Select Committee MP’s Write to Speaker Objecting to Attempts by President Sirisena To Interfere With Parliament and Say it “Is Unlawful” and a potential “breach of privileges” of the Legislature and PSC"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan <\/strong><\/p>\n

President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday said that he conveyed to the Speaker earlier this week that the ongoing probe into the Easter attacks by a parliamentary panel could hinder court proceedings in the criminal investigations of the bombings.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, however, the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) \u2014 which was informed of the President\u2019s note \u2014 told the Speaker that sittings would continue. In a letter to the Speaker, PSC members said the Parliament is the sole judge of its powers and privileges, and had exclusive jurisdiction over its own proceedings, The Hindu has learnt, from top sources familiar with the correspondence.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In a meeting with senior police officers on Friday, Mr. Sirisena said he had written to the Speaker, citing the backdrop of five cases filed on the Easter bombings. \u201cI shared with the Speaker the Attorney General\u2019s written observations that the [parallel] investigation by a Parliament committee could affect proceedings. But, it is sad that the Speaker did not express any view on the matter in Parliament,\u201d he told the officers, according to a press release issued by the Presidential Media Division.<\/p>\n

In a letter dated June 4, Mr. Sirisena sought to draw the Speaker\u2019s attention to the AG\u2019s opinion that the proceedings of the committee \u201ccould be prejudicial and would cause adverse impact on the judicial proceeding in the Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panel dismisses request<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a strongly worded response dated June 6, a copy of which is in The Hindu\u2019s possession, members of the PSC told the Speaker that the judiciary and the Parliament have \u201chistorically maintained comity of relations and are capable of continuing that great tradition\u201d. Any attempt by the executive to interfere in our relationship \u201cis unlawful\u201d, and potentially \u201ca breach of privileges\u201d of the committee and the House.<\/p>\n

The response signed by the PSC members also cites earlier rulings that the executive or the judiciary cannot interfere with the powers and privileges of the legislature.<\/p>\n

The last time the executive and legislature clashed was in late 2018, when Mr. Sirisena prematurely dissolved Parliament. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that his move dissolving Parliament and calling for snap polls, which led to a nearly two-month long political crisis, was illegal.<\/p>\n

Further, in Friday\u2019s meeting with the senior police officials and later, at an \u201cemergency Cabinet meeting\u201d, Mr. Sirisena vowed not to send any officer in service to testify before the parliamentary panel. He observed that the sittings, which the media have been allowed to cover, could have a bearing on national security, sources said.<\/p>\n

His decision comes a day after a suspended IGP and a former Defence Secretary shared damning evidence of having received prior intelligence on possible terror attacks ahead of the April 21 bombings. IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando told the PSC on Thursday that warnings of a security threat had been available since April 9, and that the director of the State Intelligence Service informed both officials on the eve of the attacks, and hours before serial blasts shook the country, killing over 250 people. Further, their testimonies also exposed the lapses in intelligence sharing within the security establishment led by President Sirisena, who helms the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Law and Order.<\/p>\n

Coverage by media<\/strong><\/p>\n

At Thursday\u2019s PSC sitting \u2014 the third session \u2014 acting chairperson Jayampathy Wickramaratne said it was the first time in the country\u2019s history that media could cover a parliamentary panel\u2019s sitting.<\/p>\n

On concerns that giving the media access to proceedings may impact national security, Mr. Wickremaratne earlier said that exposing the negligence of officials, who had failed to thwart terror attacks despite prior warnings, was not a threat to the country\u2019s national security. \u201cThe public have the right to know,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday said that he conveyed to the Speaker earlier this week that the ongoing probe into the Easter attacks by a parliamentary panel could hinder court proceedings in the criminal investigations of the bombings. On Thursday, however, the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) \u2014 which was informed of the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Parliamentary Select Committee MP’s Write to Speaker Objecting to Attempts by President Sirisena To Interfere With Parliament and Say it “Is Unlawful” and a potential “breach of privileges” of the Legislature and PSC’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64509"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64509"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64511,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64509\/revisions\/64511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}