Sirisena stages constitutional coup, installs Rajapaksa as SL Prime Minister

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 October 2018, 23:39 GMT]
The executive president of genocidal Sri Lanka, Maithiripala Sirisena, has suddenly installed former SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the SL Prime Minister after withdrawing his UPFA from the so-called ‘good governance’ alliance on Friday night. The soft parliamentary coup, which seems to be a carefully planned secret move, has been justified by Mr Sirisena as adhering to the constitutional provisions of the unitary state. Mr Sirisena, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, had this already in mind when he addressed the UN General Assembly last month in the USA, political observers in Jaffna commented. Maithiripala was praising his troops on the ground during his UN visit to Donald Trump's USA. The UNP is now reaping what it sowed 40 years ago in 1978 when the late J.R. Jayawardene introduced the executive presidency.



The SL cabinet led by Ranil Wickramasinghe is null and void, the SL President claims.

As such, he is entitled to appoint as prime minister any member of the SL parliament, who, in the President’s opinion is most likely to command the confidence of the SL Parliament, he argues. The argument is justified by the Article 42 subsection 4 of the SL constitution (as amended up to 15th May 2015).

Colombo-based media outlets have started to narrate the situation as if the island has been newly plunged into a ‘constitutional crisis’.

In reality, the latest move is a direct consequence of the geopolitics and therefore ‘geopolitical crisis’ would be the right term to describe the current scenario.

The SL military would not be opposing the move. The ethno-nationalist Buddhist Establishment in the island would also not be objecting the strongman of Polonnaruwa as well as the strongman of Hambantota.

As far as the Eezham Tamils are concerned, the island has been plunged into a prolonged ‘constitutional crisis’ ever since 1948. The crisis deteriorated beyond repair and required armed response after 1972.

The unitary state system and its crisis constitution cannot be repaired from within the system.

The only extra-ordinary instance which was able to course-correct was the de-facto Tamil Eelam under Pirapaharan's LTTE.

However, the status quo achieved through the sacrifices of tens of thousands of Tamil fighters was destroyed by the so-called international community, which intentionally tilted the power of balance and in its greed for geopolitics even failed to protect the Tamils from the genocidal onslaught in 2009.

After 2009, the situation requires the response of global humanity. However, it is entangled in the ‘clash of civilisation’ paradigm of waging wars, the political observers in Jaffna commented.

If the international community is prepared to clamp down on the genocidal SL State, it would be possible to enforce a positive change. Such an external pressure could only be achieved through international investigation on genocide. Limiting the scope to war-crimes investigation alone would not suffice is the opinion of Eezham Tamils.

However, the ‘realpolitik’ of the international community is not anchored on moral principles. As far as the island located in the Indian Ocean Region is concerned, the geopolitics would be superseding everything.

The global powers, which were instrumental in the regime change in 2015, have been deceiving the hierarchy of the Tamil National Alliance right from the beginning of the so-called Singapore principle discourse of 2013. The powers were repeatedly advising the TNA to adopt collaborative politics in their greed for geo-strategic access to the island.

The forces that evolved among the Tamils to challenge the TNA-led discourse have also succumbed to the ‘Sri Lankan’ electoral politics.

Eezham Tamils are in dire need of an ideology-centred force, which is not necessarily a military one, but one that is capable of charting a discourse transcending the electoral politics in the island without succumbing to the geopolitical manoeuvrings.

* * *

The unitary paradigm has been directly and indirectly promoted by the powers that have been trading strategic inroads into the island with the unitary state in Colombo.

The inalienable democratic rights and distinct sovereignties of the peoples constituting the island have been decaying from within ever since 1972 due to the entrenched clauses and the amendments to the unitary constitution.

Article 2 of the SL Constitution says that ‘Sri Lanka’ is a unitary state.

Similarly, the articles in the first two chapters that deal with the national flag, national anthem, language status and the clause that accords Buddhism with the foremost place, are all entrenched clauses in the SL Constitution.

Article 9 (Chapter II) of the SL constitution says that "[t]he Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana."

These articles could only be amended or repealed with the support of two-thirds of all the members of the SL Parliament and only if the people thereafter approve such amendment or repeal in an island-wide referendum. Besides, the executive SL President should also support that change.

Such conditions cannot be met under any internal circumstances through the electoral politics due to the ethno-nationalist nature of the Sinhala Buddhist establishment in the South.

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