Joint Opposition threatens to mobilise people against CJ’s impeachment

Monday, 7 January 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

If the Government attempts to go through with the impeachment motion despite the Supreme Court ruling that the PSC had no authority to make a legal finding, the joint Opposition will mobilise to bring the people on to the streets in order to stay the regime’s hand, the UNP-led Vipakshaye Virodhaya movement said yesterday.

Addressing a press briefing in Colombo yesterday, Vipakshaye Virodhaya representatives said that it is the Government’s ultimate aim to bend the Judiciary entirely to its will, commencing with the impeaching of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

The Government said last week that it would push through with the impeachment of Chief Justice Bandaranayake despite the Supreme Court ruling, which the Speaker is expected to dismiss when Parliament sessions resume in the New Year tomorrow.

“If the Government tries to ignore the Constitution and the law, as per the Supreme Court ruling, we will show the Government what people’s power means,” Left Front Leader Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne said at the briefing.

Also addressing the briefing, Deputy Leader of the Democratic People’s Front Shaul Hameed said that it was the correct decision by the Tamil parties to refrain from participating in the Parliamentary Select Committee process to find a permanent solution to the ethnic problem.

“The Government has clearly shown how it would behave in a select committee process during the impeachment. It is a joke and they don’t know how to behave. The whole thing was entirely one-sided and the judgment came from the Government, on their own, within a day. The Tamil parties can expect no better from this Government,” Hameed said.

(DB)