Extra-government authority to supersede government in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2015, 14:24 GMT]
Tamil ‘National’ Alliance Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan and genocidal Sri Lanka's former military commander Sarath Fonseka, who led the onslaught during the war, being together in a superseding extra-government authority constituted in Colombo would mean nullifying genocide investigation and even war crime investigation, as well as endorsing the unitary Sri Lankan State of US-Indian interests, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island, responding to SL president Maithiripala Sirisena, constituting a 11-member ‘National Executive Council’ that would be superseding his newly formed cabinet. The TNA earlier said that it would not participate in the SL government's cabinet. But, now Mr Sampanthan is a member of a Colombo-centric arrangement, higher than the cabinet.

On Thursday, Colombo's President Maithiripala Sirisena announced the formation of the ‘National Executive Council’ (NEC) to ensure the implementation of his 100-day plan.

Even though not said openly, the NEC would have more powers than the cabinet, informed sources said.

Along with the TNA, the Sinhala extremist JHU and JVP representatives are also members of the NEC.

“The JVP and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has said they will not accept portfolios and join the government, but will participate in the National Executive Council to implement the 100 day program and bring about the promised change by President Sirisena,” said news.lk, the official news portal of the Colombo government on Friday.

The members of the high-profile authority are: SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Venerable Sobitha Thera, former SL President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, TNA leader R. Sampanthan, Mano Ganeshan, the president of the Democratic People’s Front. Rauf Hakim, the president of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Risath Badurdeen, the president of the Sri Lanka Makkal Congress, Sarath Fonseka, the president of National Democratic Front, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of the JVP and Pattali Champika Ranawake, the leader of the Jathika Hela Urumaya.

The mission of the NEC is to review the government’s 100 day working programme, amendments of the SL Constitution, malpractices and unlawful practices carried out in the presidential election and appropriation of lands, not only in the North and East but also in the entire island, and take appropriate decisions and hand over to the cabinet, said sources close to the TNA.