What is in it: The Divinaguma bill and its implecations

Note on the Divineguma Bill By Centre for Policy Alternatives
January 2013
Media reports in December 2012 indicated that the Divineguma Bill (referred to here as the Bill) is to be taken upfor a vote by Parliament in January 2013. This note has been prepared by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA),with the objective of raising key issues related to the Bill and their consequences, if the Bill is enacted in its present form. CPA raised these issues in 2012, in both petitions filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Bill and in awareness raising material  produced in all three languages.

Will the Tamils Lose the Plot Again?

Photo courtesy Christian Science Monitor

Chaos and Fear

Much has happened in the space of three months. Soon after the Eastern Provincial Council election came the Divi Neguma bill and the subsequent calls for the abolition of the 13^th Amendment. The impeachment motion against the Chief Justice and the recruitment of Tamil women to the military followed before the Maveerar Naal (Heroes’ Day) incidents in Jaffna. It would seem that the government is bent on creating chaos and fear.

Once Judiciary is Broken the Rajapaksas will use the Courts to Destroy Every Remaining Right or Freedom

The Family

Tisaranee Gunasekara
“Whatever I have to do to have my way, I will have my way”. Hitler (quoted in ‘The Germans: 1933-45: They Thought They Were Free – Milton Mayer)
There is an unbroken thread linking the Rajapaksas’ ‘humanitarian operation’ with the Rajapaksas’ impeachment assault, the asphyxiation of the 17th Amendment with the planned throttling of the 13th Amendment, the advent of the 18th Amendment with the impending arrival of the 19th Amendment.

Lankans uneasy over Mahinda-CJ clash

An overwhelmingly majority of Sri Lankans in a Business Times (BT) poll this week have expressed concern over the clashes between the judiciary and the President, which has resulted in an impeachment motion being filed by government MPs against the Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

The hurried email poll, in which people were given 24 hours to respond, drew more than 600 responses from a cross-section of society and reflected growing unease across Sri Lanka over recent developments.

Devolved Executive Powers Should be Exercised by Relevant Provincial Ministers and not Central Govt Ministers Argues Counsel for Petitioner MP

Wasantha Ramanayake
When the Divineguma Bill was taken up by the Supreme Court on Thursday to determine its constitutionality, counsel for a petitioner said that for the very reason the Supreme Court had decided that the Divineguma Bill should not have been placed on the Order Paper of Parliament on August 10, it should not have been placed on the Order Paper for the second time on October 9.

M.A. Sumanthiran appearing for Jaffna Parliamentarian M. Senathirajah told Court that the Court on its first determination of the Bill conveyed to the Speaker on September 18 held that the Bill should not be placed on the Order Paper of Parliament until every Provincial Council was consulted.