One of the English dailies reporting on the arrest and detention of retired General Sarath Fonseka quoted Export Development and International Trade Minister, Professor G. L. Peiris, as saying that the General was arrested under the “Army Act”, which had been in place since 1949, and that this Act was based entirely on British law.
National-minded citizens should consider this piece of legislation a vestige of Imperialism. We in Sri Lanka are in the habit of condemning, despising and rejecting outright all things colonial and “Western”. In such circumstances, isn’t it hilarious that we should turn to the West whenever we need to suit our needs?
The Army Act, based on British Law and in place since 1949, when Sri Lanka was “Ceylon”, should surely have changed with the times, and with the name change our island nation underwent.
Is there no other legal procedure – indigenous, homegrown – under which our war hero could be tried?
A. W. M. Aiyoob,
Galle |
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