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| Tyronne
and Lakshman to head select legal committees Former foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgarmar will head the select committee on the codification of law relating to contempt of court. This committee will study and report on laws and practices relating to contempt of court and make recommendations regarding the codification. The committee is to submit their report to Parliament before the lapse of six months. The others members of the committee include Lal Dharmapriya Gamage, Rohitha Bogollagama, Lakshman Seneviratne, Nandana Gunatilleke, M.K.D.S. Gunawardena, Jayantha Jayaweera, Larrine Perera and Nadaraja Raviraj. The select committee on the administration of justice will be headed by Minister Tyronne Fernando and includes Lakshman Kiriella, Rauff Hakeem, Ananda Kumarasiri, Raja Collure, Nandana Gunatilleke, Dilan Perera, Gajendra Ponambalam and Ranjith Maddumabandara. This committee will study and submit a report with recommendations for the re-organization of the working of the judicial systems with particular reference to the functioning of the courts, judges, court staff, Attorneys-at-Law, police and prisons. This committee has been appointed after concern was raised over the erosion of public confidence in the judiciary and institutions involved in the administration of justice. According to the terms and references set for both committees they have the power to summon any person before them to procure records and documents, and receive all such evidence in written or oral form. The committees have been given six months to submit their report to Parliament. The Editors' Guild and the Free Media Movement were among the leading campaigners for a select committee on contempt of court while the select committee on legal reforms is the result of an extensive research project done by the Marga Institute on the deteriorating standards in judicial affairs in the country. Verbal
battles over coffin drama "It was an extremely democratic form of protest against the politically motivated killings led by the coalition of violence, namely the UNF and the LTTE," Chief Opposition Whip Mangala Samaraweera said. Opposition legislators maintained that standing orders of Parliament did not state anywhere that a wreath or coffin could not be brought into the chambers but that only firearms and explosives were not permitted. However leader of the House W. J. M. Lokubandara said Opposition members were seeking to devalue the legislature and had shown scant regard to parliamentary traditions coming dressed in short sleeved shirts and tee shirts into the chambers of the House. Parliamentary Affairs Minister A.H.M.Azwar who raised the matter in Parliament on Friday said the government had been informed that some sharp instruments too had been brought into the House and asked the Speaker to order a search of the entire parliamentary complex. However government members complained that even the inquiry into the wreath incident in June had not been completed, with the transfer of two policemen on duty being the only action taken. The Speaker told the House that once the inquiry into the coffin incident was completed, he would announce the findings and take appropriate action against those responsible for the two incidents. Standing Orders provide for the suspension of members for disregarding the authority of the Chair or abusing the rules of Parliament by persistently and willfully obstructing the business of Parliament. The Speaker is also responsible for security arrangements and general administration of the Chamber. Meanwhile, a new twist was added to Thursday's incident after two Opposition members Dinesh Gunawardena and Wimal Weerawansa had complained to the Speaker that police personnel on duty had attempted to disguise themselves in staff uniforms and enter the chambers of the House to remove the protesting MPs. Mr. Gunawardena
said a letter had been sent to the Sergeant-At-Arms by an employee
of Parliament in charge of the room where the official uniforms
of the Parliament staff is kept, stating that several policemen
had dressed themselves in staff uniforms after having obtained the
key to the room on the pretext of inspecting it. The employee had then informed the Police of this. They had removed the staff uniforms and left, he stated in the letter. Mr.Gunawardena said this was a serious threat to the privileges of MPs as such tactics could be used by the Police to manhandle them on later occasions. The Speaker said he would look into this matter as the security of both government and Opposition members would be put in jeopardy if incidents of this nature continued. Meanwhile, another UNF MP Ranjith Aluvihare on Friday raised a privilege issue against three PA members who allegedly brought in a bag into the Parliament complex and refused police personnel on duty to examine it. He alleged that the coffin was concealed in this bag and later assembled in one of the Opposition offices inside the building. New
hi-tech to track down fingerprints A senior police officer involved in the investigation told The Sunday Times that the fingerprints on the bag would be examined by hi-tech forensic equipment brought down from Sweden last week. He said the Fingerprints Department till then lacked the technology to extract fingerprints from a cellophane surface and this would be the first case that would be utilising this brand new technology. Mr. Mendis, a PA Provincial Councillor was watching television at his Ragama residence when two men who claimed they had brought him a parcel of fish from a fellow Provincial Councillor, gunned him down at point blank range. According to eyewitnesses, just as Mr. Mendis was to accept the parcel, one of the men had shot him with a pistol using his left hand. The police officer said that left handed shooters were very rare and the fact that the suspect had shot with such accuracy showed that he was an experienced marksman. He also said that the weapon used in the brutal killing was a 9mm semi automatic pistol. "The killers thereafter fled in a white Dolphin van, firing shots at all directions to prevent anybody from following them," a family member told The Sunday Times. A specially trained police dog from the Nittambuwa police station had also been used to sniff items that included a jungle cap, a pair of slippers and a cellular phone found at the scene of the crime. Police said the sniffer dog had led police teams to the now abandoned residence of UNF Provincial Councillor Edward Silva. Mr. Silva has been summoned to the Western Province North Special Crimes Division for questioning. However police said that there was little evidence to link Mr. Silva directly to the killing, as the items found at the crime scene could have been deliberately dropped there to mislead investigators. "The key suspects have been identified and they are being hunted down. They will be arrested very soon,” the police officer from the Western Province North Special Crimes Division told The Sunday Times. Opposition
to alert diplomatic missions Meanwhile Western Province Chief Minister Reginald Cooray charged that the government was justifying the killings. "Once a killing takes place they try to portray the person as a murderer or thug. This is the latest tactic that is being adopted by the Government and it hampers the investigations as well. We will not let them do this, we want justice. “The
police have no control and people are being killed in broad daylight,"
he said. |
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