Prorogation

Governments not infrequently prorogue parliament when they are in trouble. Perhaps the best example of that in Sri Lanka’s contemporary history was President Premadasa’s prorogation of the legislature when he was confronted with an impeachment resolution in September 1991. That enabled him to buy some time to fight the effort to dethrone him. There is no escaping the reality that the present dispensation is in trouble, massively unpopular in the country within two years of its comfortable election with a two thirds majority in 2020. This after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had, also comfortably, won the presidency the previous November.

But the recent prorogation cannot by any stretch of imagination be considered a time buying exercise. With the budget concluded and carried with a two thirds majority, parliament went into regular recess until Jan. 10 next year. Subsequent to the current prorogation at midnight on Dec. 12, the date of its reconvening has been put off till Jan. 18. So if there was time buying, it was a mere seven days. Undoubtedly, parliament not sitting right now has spared the government a great deal of embarrassment.

Despite that hard reality, critics have been quick to seize the opportunity to allege among other matters that government has resorted to a prorogation strategy to halt the work of parliamentary watchdog committees like COPE, COPA and the PAC with a view to reconstituting them when sittings resume in January. Some of these committees have been making embarrassing revelations and more can be expected in the future. They are all headed by government MPs, some of them disgruntled about being deprived of long-held cabinet positions.

The gas explosions continue unabated and the authorities are hard-pressed to explain what they are going to do about it; or why nothing has been done for this long. A formidable opposition has developed within the government to the New Fortress Energy deal, allegedly concluded in a clandestine and questionable manner. That is presently under challenge in the Supreme Court. Three cabinet ministers are among the petitioners thumbing their noses at the government. They continue in office and to hell with collective cabinet responsibility. Despite the many strident “go if you don’t agree” demands at various levels of government, they have not resigned and the government has not dared to sack them.

The cost of living has gone through the roof to unprecedented highs. So much so, UNP Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene went public with the remark a few days ago that people are paying Rs. 15 for a single bean pod and Rs. 25 for a carrot! Covid, the weather and, not least, the ill-conceived ban on chemical fertilizers, weedicides and insecticides has obviously contributed to the scarcity and high prices of vegetables. Foreign reserves have plummeted to unprecedented lows and the country’s ability to meet its debt repayment obligations remains in doubt with Sri Lanka risking its non-default reputation.

So parliament, where the opposition can tub-thump on all these matters and more, not being in session is a distinct advantage to the government. No wonder then that the prorogation is perceived by many to be a defensive strategy of a government with its back to the wall.

Lest we forget

The people of this country to a man (and also woman and child) reacted with horror to the brutal murder of a Lankan manager of a garment factory in Pakistan a couple of weeks ago. His offence was alleged blasphemy. The atrocity occurred in the midst of a strike in the factory he was employed in and the brutality of that act of mob violence grabbed headlines not only here, but also in other parts of the world.

Pakistani Prime Minster Imran Khan reacted quickly and correctly expressing deep distress about what had happened, swiftly activating his country’s law enforcement agencies that have already made over a hundred arrests. He also conferred his country’s second highest national honour on a brave Pakistani individual who risked his own life in an abortive bid to save the victim from a savage mob of religious zealots.

We refer to this subject that has now retreated to the back burner in terms of news value in the context of an article we run in this issue of our newspaper. The writer, who is a regular and valued contributor to our columns, has reminded that we ourselves, while condemning what happened in Pakistan recently, must never forget Black July 1983 when similar events were widespread in this country. They were as horrible as what happened in Sialkot; more so in that such terror was not unleashed on a single individual but on an entire community of our own people in many parts of this country.

The law enforcers closed their eyes to what was happening and a president with a reputation for nerves of steel – the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and minister of defence – did nothing to stop the mayhem and accord to our Tamil citizen the protection that was rightfully theirs.

Many of those reacting to the recent event in Pakistan were not even born when the 1983 riots occurred, driving some of our best and brightest out of the country and strengthening the LTTE both at home and globally. This prolonged the civil war that stretched for nearly three decades. It blackened our image and cost our country hugely both in human and economic terms. Nearly 20 years after the war ended, we have not been able to recover the ground we lost and the price we paid while being ruled by a government that shamelessly called itself dharmishta.