| by Basil
Fernando
( January 2,
2013, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) The government’s claim is that the case
against the Chief Justice is an open and shut case, a foolproof case. It claims
that the charges are extremely grave and that the evidence possessed by the
government is monumental and black and white.
If this is
in fact the case, then the government has vast political mileage to gain by
placing its evidence before an impartial tribunal. The verdict that will be
arrived at will enjoy the greatest credibility and therefore the government
will not be blamed for a witch hunt against the Chief Justice. All the critics
would be silent forever if an impartial tribunal comes to a finding on the
basis of government claims; if they are true, an impartial tribunal will
naturally come to that conclusion.
Thus, in
this, the government has all to gain and the critics of government have all to
lose as a result of the appointment of an impartial tribunal.
The very
appointment of such a tribunal itself will be a vast gain for the government.
When that is
clearly the case, why does the government not take this option? It is the
option that has the maximum benefit for the government.
It may be
because the government is not sure of its claim of having a winnable case
before an impartial tribunal. It may be fearing that under close scrutiny its
case may be exposed as false or that the case will fall apart no sooner than it
is examined by an impartial tribunal. An observer is fully justified in coming
to that conclusion if the government persists in not placing this case before
an impartial tribunal. By refusing to allow the case to be heard in that
manner, the government has already lost the argument.
No
politically wise leadership will refuse to take an easy road that will lead to
a credible victory when it has that option.
Instead, the
government is engaging in massive propaganda, day in and day out, to show that
it is acting in good faith and that the Chief Justice in the wrong.
No amount of
propaganda is a substitute for genuine proof. Even if the government causes a
victory by passing a resolution in a parliament on the basis of the PSC
findings, it will never be able to escape the damning criticism that the
verdict was not arrived at by an impartial tribunal but rather by an
overwhelmingly biased group of the government’s own members of parliament. That
blame can never be washed away and that will have its own implications for the
government.
Further, it
is one of the most shameful moments in Sri Lanka’s history that the
overwhelming power of the government through the media is used to maximum
capacity against a single woman who happens to be the Chief Justice of Sri
Lanka.
That belies
the government’s claim that it is the Chief Justice and a few others in
significant NGOs that are opposing the government’s impeachment move. The level
of the government’s propaganda suggests that it is facing a massive threat.
Only a massive threat warrants such massive campaigning.
Once again,
why use such massive and arduous efforts when there is one simple and easy
method for the government to achieve what it wants without gaining adverse
criticism, by way of having an impartial tribunal?
The guilt on
the government will be attributed purely on the basis of their refusal to have
an impartial tribunal, when it is all to the government’s advantage to have one
if its claim of impeccable evidence is true.
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