Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that it was wrong on the part of the Rajapaksa government to have suspended the Rule of Law during and after the end of the war.  

Speaking at a conference of South East Asian Attorneys General in Colombo on Monday, Wickremesinghe said that from 1983, for 20 years, while Sri Lanka fought terrorism, it ensured that the Rule of Law was observed. But this was forgotten thereafter, he added.

He also said that at that time it was said that the Rule of Law should be forgotten if terrorism was to be crushed.  Terrorism meant that there was no Rule of Law, he recalled.

But urging adherence to the Rule of Law even during wars, the PM referred to the celebrated Liversidge and Anderson case in the UK in 1941, in which the dissenting judge had declared that “law cannot be silent amidst the clash of arms”.

Wickremesinghe pointed out that the Rule of Law remained suspended even after the end of the war. He referred to the jailing of Army Chief Gen Sarath Fonseka as the climax of this when the former hero was turned traitor. Wickremesinghe added that there were many other cases including the sacking of the Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake through questionable and summary proceedings.

However he added that the Bar Association of Sri Lanka did a commendable job to ensure that the Rule of Law was not completely trampled upon and added that even the Attorney General’s Department, albeit under immense pressure from the government, helped to uphold the Rule of Law as much as possible.

Wickremesinghe also spoke of the allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka and added that while Sri Lanka will engage with the UN, any criminal jurisdiction lies totally under the Sri Lankan judicial system.

He added that the government was taking steps to enact a slew of legislations, such as the 19th Constitutional Amendment to restore Independent Commissions to oversee the working of the principal arms of the State, a Freedom of Information Bill, a Witness Protection Bill, a National Auditing Bill and a bill to abolish the death penalty.

The conference coincided with the 130th anniversary of the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka.