Emergency debate

Emergency is tied to the ethnic question
- Lakshman Jayakody

Parliament met at 9.30 a.m. Wednesday (4) with Speaker K. B. Ratnayake in the Chair.

After presentation of petitions and papers, House resumed debate on the declaration of a State of Emergency in the whole island by the President.

Minister of Irrigation and Power and Deputy Minister of Defence Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte presented the motion.

Dharmadasa Banda (UNP-Moneragala District) said: The government has issued a Gazette Notification declaring a State of Emergency in the whole island, with effect from mid-night August 4, 1998.

The main reason for the move is the postponement of Provincial Council Elections.

I am puzzled by the way this Gazette notification was issued. It has been signed by the President at 12.01 a.m. on August 4. The Gazette Notification too has come out at the same time. This is not a big legal flaw. However it is rather puzzling.

The government had been considering the postponement of PC elections for sometime.

Government consulted the Leader of Opposition who in his democratic fashion told the government that he should consult the party before responding.

The Inspector General of Police sometime back told the Commissioner of Elections that he cannot provide security for the proposed PC elections due to the security situation.

According to newspapers the IGP ceases to hold office with effect from August 1, 1998.

He is retiring from service. Now I want to know whether a new IGP has been appointed in his place. I like to know from the Minister whether the IGP is still holding office or not?

There were reports that the person holding the 8th place in the seniority list is to be appointed as the next IGP. What is the actual position? he asked.

A large amount of money has been spent both by the Commissioner of Election and the 2446 candidates contesting the PC elections. All that money has gone down the drain because the government failed to take a firm decision at the proper time.

The Minister's contention is that it is not possible to provide security to the five Provinces where elections were scheduled for August 28, 1998. But how are you going to provide security to the whole nine Provinces in case Presidential Elections are held later this year as agreed at discussions with the Leader of the Opposition?

The Deputy Defence Minister has never been able to honour the promises he made to the House since Jayasikuru Operation was launched a year ago.

You have still to fight on, along a 25 kilometre distance to reach the targets of the operation. Until you reach this target it is not safe to hold PC elections. But the question is when would it be possible to reach the target. You have gained only 1.5 kilometres in 6 months.

It is apparent that you will never be able to hold elections during the foreseeable future. Nor will you be able to hold Presidential elections, leaving alone PC elections.

The emergency situation applied only to some selected areas earlier. Now it is operational in the whole island. Guns have been issued to party faithfuls in the Moneragala town.

These guns are being used for various illegal activities like felling of trees in state owned forests forcibly. This practice of issuing guns indiscriminately should stop.

We oppose the declaration of a state of Emergency in the whole island.

Lakshman Jayakody (Minister of Buddha Sasana Religious and Cultural Affairs said: The statement by the previous members that the postponement of elections is a waste is incorrect. It is only a postponement.

The public will be kept informed of the developments. Every month there will be a gazette notification. The emergency is heavily tied to the ethnic question which started in 1983.

If the war is allowed to continue nation building will suffer and we will not reach the NIC status in the next millennium.

The ethnic issue can only be settled through discussion and reconciliation.

The military offensive is a short term solution. The package is a part of the long term strategy. The everlasting strategy is to build confidence among the ethnic communities with the Muslim and Tamils who this govt. considers as an integral part of community.

Yesterday all the minorities supported Minister Samaraweera. I am proud they supported an individual member of the government. This is the government that can consolidate all minorities.

The limited amount of personnel have to handle more duties than they can. We need 30,000 million rupees for the war and 30,000 personnel for the elections.

The British elections were postponed during the war. Even in this country 1936 to 1947 elections were not held due to the war.

I feel that 7,500 wounded soldiers and 2000 police officers wounded and we cannot have any more. Each Provincial Council election costs 400 million rupees.

Interruption - What about SAARC?

We had to go slow on the war because of the conference. What is the policy of the last government. They left the contestants to look after their own security. There are two UNPers operating in the UNP. The Senanayaka type do not want war. The Jayawardena type, the young elements want to drag the war. The fear they have is if the SLFP resolves the issue we will always be in the saddle. We will never receive the support of this younger element.

Joseph Pararajasingham (TULF Batticaloa District): We are meeting in the House for the 48th time to debate the emergency. For the past 26 years, the North and East have been regulated by the emergency.

The recently concluded SAARC Summit was a nightmare to the Tamils living in lodges and boarding houses in Colombo. Around 1000 were taken into custody for back ground checking and I have received information that around 100 are still detained.

The Tamil people undergo a lot of suffering and continue to go through the same.

Upto now the government and the Defence Ministry have not issued a statement about the Killings of Tamil civilians on 10th June in Suwandipuram in the kilinochchi district.

I quote a letter from 17 priests in Batticaloa condemning the killing of innocent Tamil civilians by the security forces. They appeal to the President to embark on a mission of peace to stop the suffering of the Tamil people.

This is what is happening in my electorate of Batticaloa. The situation is very serious. Innocent civilians are being killed by the security forces and I say that the government and defence ministry should take responsibility.

We are happy to note that the President has ordered a special investigation by the CID to look into the allegations of the mass grave at Chenmanni. An enormous amount of information can be gathered if this is investigated. If the government is genuinely concerned about this, they must hire the services of anthropologists and forensic experts.

The President has recently in an interview said that she is prepared to accept third party mediation in talks with the LTTE. I urge that this be an unconditional agreement and no conditions be laid when the government is prepared to speak to the LTTE. I call upon both the government and opposition to join hands to end the ethnic crisis.

D. Dayaratne (UNP-Ampara District): We discuss the emergency motion in an environment vastly different from other such occasions.

The President has declared a State of Emergency in the whole island without a reasonable cause other than the postponement of PC elections.

We have been used to live in Emergency situations since we have lived through states of emergency since 1971.

I want to point out that the UNP which was in the opposition co-operated with the government of the day in declaring the State of Emergency to restore law and order when there was an insurgency threatening the lives of the nation.

But I also want to say at this moment that the present government which was in the opposition until 1994, never supported the then UNP government in the monthly emergency debate. They never accepted the fact that Emergency Regulations were necessary in the face of the terrorist activities in the North and East.

In days gone by the parliament did not have the opportunity to discuss the imposition of the state of Emergence every month like today.

The UNP government was able to put an end to terrorism in the South. A large part of the Eastern Province too had been cleared of terrorism by the UNP.

We conducted almost all elections during our time.

There is a tendency in the SLFP to postpone elections and to keep out of elections. It is history.

The IGP's statement that he cannot deploy 30,000 police officers for the PC election gives the impression that it is the police that conducts the war in the North. In fact this is not the case. The problem is the lack of planning on the part of the government.

Any way make sure that the postponement of PC election is a temporary one. The Minister expressed the hope that the war would end by about November this year. Make sure that the postponement of PC elections is not continued longer than absolutely necessary.

Indika Gunewardena, Minister of Housing and Urban Development said: We are discussing today about the state of emergency declared all over the country. We are well aware of the kind of atmosphere that prevailed before the PA came into power and we also know the situation that existed so we came into power. Former President Premadasa was assassinated, Lalith Athulathmudali was assassinated during election and so was Gamini Dissanayake during the Presidential elections. We observed that the law of the country was disregarded and terrorists were carrying out such attacks. The entire Palaly area was in the hands of terrorists and we came to ensure that there would be peace.

Referring to Hon. Pararajasingham that we are meeting for the 48th time to discuss the emergency, we should think about what the PA has achieved. We have achieved tremendous progress. In the North large areas have been liberated. Many people thought the government can't hold onto the land, but we have held on to it with our heroic soldiers who have successfully retained and liberated the area.

In Vavuniya also we have restored some normalcy. Our government has transformed the situation in the North. The government has conducted operations in a humane way with minimum violation of human rights.

None of us are happy to fight this war, but we are pleased at the victories we have achieved.

On 21, September 1994, we appointed a select committee on the constitution. They met on 77 occasions. We know the efforts of the minority Muslim and Tamil political parties to bring the UNP to reach a consensus. But all those efforts were nullified by the UNP.

The Select Committee met 77 times but the UNP did not bring up their proposal about discussions with the LTTE. Only when the final set of proposals were to be submitted, the UNP spoke out.

We have not only achieved victories on the war front but also on the constitutional front. We have won the cooperation of the international community and have gained the support of democratic countries because of our president.

The UNP has taken a communalistic stand on the situation, but we went before the people of this country with our proposals and won their support as well.

We are marching forward to safeguard democracy in the country. If the situation is such that elections cannot be held in a democratic manner and the security is not enough to safeguard the people which is why the president has postponed elections under the state of emergency.

We don't want to conduct elections with oppression and suppression. When the police are able to give the fullest protection to the people, during elections, it is only then that we are able to conduct them. We are not willing to hold elections in an unpeaceful atmosphere and in this light I approve the emergency.

D. Sidharthan (PLOTE-Vanni District) said: Mr. Balachandran's house was attacked by terrorists. The people in Vavunia are suffering immense hardships due to security constraints. The terrorists are moving freely. The area where the war is taking place people don't have the income to meet their daily needs. Fishermen are deprived of income due to limited, fishing waters. In areas under LTTE control, civilians cant get fuel.

Upto 1997 there was no inhibition on the fuel supply. The LTTE has enough fuel of their own. The people of the North & East should not be driven to starvation. What is the real situation with regard to the arrested journalists? I want the Minister to give a proper explanation.

The Provincial Councils were established to resolve the problems of the North and East. For the past 11 years Provincial Councils did not function in the North and East. The other members are worried about the elections because they want to cling to power. The Tamil people are not concerned whether the elections are going to be held or not.

Tyronne Fernando (UNP-Colombo District) said: I condemn the trampling of the right of the people of voting. This is also a violation of the International Covenance on Civil and Political Rights which upholds the people's right to appoint their representatives by universal suffrage.

The postponement of elections by emergency regulations is a contravention of the constitution. Constitution provides for the use of emergency regulations for security purposes only. They do not contemplate postponement of elections.

The constitution states that the emergency regulation could suspend any laws other than the provisions of the constitution.

You have first seen to it that the 5 provincial councils ceased to function before elections were postponed. This is a wrong step. What you should have done is to extend the lives of the 5 Provincial Councils like we did in 1988, when there was a general threat to law and order.

You have appointed your own governors to these five provincial councils. This is a big conspiracy. The rights of seven provinces have been denied.

The Supreme Court might strike down these regulations as ultra-vires of the constitution like if did in 1988 when we were in power. In the case Joseph Perera versus the Attorney General.