| by Upul Joshep
Fernando
( December 26,
2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Former High Court Judge W. T. M. P. B.
Warawewa, who is in the fore front of the battle to defend and protect the
Judiciary, made a very topical remark at a meeting of lawyers against the
impeachment. He said the sixth power, which has been recently added to the five
power-bases originally envisioned by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, is the judicial
power of the country.
In fact another
power had been earlier brought into play by the students. Simply known as
'students' power', this was added to Bandaranaike's original five political
power bases, namely priests, physicians, teachers, farmers and workers. The
student power debuted only after 1971 with the youth uprising against the then
government. The architect of the student power movement was the Janatha Vimukthi
Peramuna (JVP) and it was directed against Mrs. Bandaranaike's Government at
the time.
The legal
profession
According to
former high Court Judge Warawewa, said the new power base, better known as
lawyers' solidarity movement, has risen to fight against the government of a
man who, ironically, learnt his politics from the wife of the pioneer of the
five powers known as pancha maha balawegaya.
In 1956, in what
was a historical first, the Bhikkhus came forward in force to force-out a
government. In 1971 students took to arms to topple Sirimavo Bandaranaike's
Government. In 2012, lawyers took to the street for the first time in history,
perhaps not with the intention of toppling the government, but challenging it
nevertheless.
The legal profession
has a long history intertwined with the politics of this country. In the
country's struggle for independence, lawyers were at the forefront spearheading
the movement toward a successful conclusion.
During the
imperial administration, an Oxford and Cambridge educated young and committed
group, comprising mostly of lawyers started the independence movement in the
country. Even though D.S. Senanayake, who is deemed the father of the
independence movement in the country, was no lawyer, all his younger generation
followers were lawyers who had qualified from British Universities. As a
result, most of those who dominated the political stage of the country
post-independence were lawyers; among them S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, J.R.
Jayewardene and present President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
In a manner of
speaking, one can say a political organization of the country has been created
by the lawyers from the very beginning. Before the Soulbury Constitution was framed, the British Government sent a delegation of
mostly lawyers for preliminary appraisal. Then in 1972, the Republican
Constitution was framed by an eminent group of lawyers headed by Dr. Colvin R.
de Silva. Authors of the 1978 Constitution were J.R. Jayewardene, Lalith
Athulathmudali and Mark Fernando.
Public support
Of the three
arms of the government, two, namely the Executive and the Legislature were
enshrined in the Constitution by the framers, who were lawyers. Today,
ironically the lawyers' own creation, which in this case is the Executive and
the Legislature of this country, is now challenging the citadel of justice
itself, the Supreme Court, compelling the lawyers to rally against an
oppressive government.
All political
parties at various times have given innumerable promises to change the
Constitution before coming to power. However, when they do come to power, they
completely ignore their promises.
For the first
time in political history of this country, the lawyers have taken an epic
stand, as a sequel to the impeachment against the Chief Justice, for a change
of a much despised political system. Sometime ago, lawyers in Pakistan also
came out in their strength to get rid of a dictatorial military government in
that country.
When, then
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf surrounded by five Chief Generals ousted
the country's Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the lawyers came to
his rescue and virtually carried him around the country, seeking public support
for the cause of Justice. When the Supreme Court proclaimed the dismissal of
the Chief Justice was unlawful and illegal, lawyers declared that the lifeless
body of Pakistan had received a heart for its well being.
Today, almost
the entire legal community in the country has come out strongly against the
injustice meted out to the Chief Justice, who is battling an impeachment motion
brought against her by the government. The only other occasion when lawyers
came out strongly in protest was against the killing of Lawyer Wijedasa
Liyanarachchi during the J.R. Jayewardene Government. Lawyers at the time
strongly agitated against his death, which disturbed J.R. Jayewardene to no
end. It was the last nail in the coffin for the J.R. Jayewardene Government.
Findings of the
Select Committee
It was the first
time the lawyers used their strength as a force and also it was the beginning
of agitations for the preservation of human rights. The movement that saw
lawyers converge as a force to protest against the killing of Liyanarachchi has
now crystallized as a strong force, and may become a decisive factor in the
future of this country.
Their power is
so overwhelming that the government, which has always been able to manipulate
the opposition as they wished, were unable to find even a few competent lawyers
to represent the government at the impeachment proceeding. It shows how
bankrupt the government really is.
S.L. Gunasekera,
the eminent lawyer who subscribes to the nationalistic agenda of the
government, has also come out strongly against the government motion to impeach
the Chief Justice.
An Executive
Presidency that professes it can do anything other than changing a man to a
woman and vice versa, and a Legislature which asserts it is supremacy over the
Judiciary are now virtually bending before the Judiciary, which is now
beginning to show its inherent strength. Subsequent to the finding of the
Parliamentary Select Committee finding, the Chief Justice guilty of some
offences cited in the charge sheet, the President made a statement to the
effect that due to the compulsion of his conscience, he would appoint a
committee to look into the findings of the Select Committee. This bears
testimony to the fact that the President himself doesn't have much trust in the
Parliamentary Select Committee findings. This latest situation has given rise
to a confrontation between the Legislature and the Executive.
Thus, the
lawyers' power has been deployed to tame a Legislature and an Executive, which
used to boast of unfettered powers in both institutions. All this was made
possible by one strong-willed lady who is presiding over the Temple of Justice;
Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake.
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 Former High Court Judge W. T. M. P. B. Warawewa, who is...){kind=link}