Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday (06) said former President Maithripala Sirisena did not invite him to the National Security Council (NSC) meetings after the change of government that took place on October 26, 2018.
The former Prime Minister testifying before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter attack for the first time today said he could write a book on the events that took place from the selection of Maithripala Sirisena as the common candidate for president in 2015 to the change of government in October 2018.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka at the time of the series of terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday, on 21 April 2019 appeared before the Presidential Commission for the first time at around 10 am today.
Before the hearing began, when the bailiff of the Commission asked the former Prime Minister what his current position is Wickremesinghe replied, “Now I am a lawyer.”
Later, the Additional Solicitor General of the Government commencing the testimony questioned the former Premier whether the Ceasefire Agreements reached by the Government of Sri Lanka with the LTTE during the Thirty Years War had achieved the objectives expected by the then Government.
“By 2001, our army had retreated to Jaffna, so we went to a ceasefire to train the army. That is when the LTTE’s power in the East diminished. If it had not done so, no subsequent government would have been able to suppress Tamil terrorism,” Mr. Wickramasinghe replied.
The Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of the Government inquired whether the former Prime Minister had drawn attention to a new claim that had arisen in the Oluvil Declaration of the Eastern Southeastern University in 2003 that the Muslims of this country needed a separate land.
“That request did not come from the Oluvil statement in the first place. It has been there since the time of Mr. Ashraf, the founder of the Muslim Congress,” the former Prime Minister replied.
When the ASG asked who were the MPs participated in the Oluvil Declaration when he was the Prime Minister, Mr. Wickremesinghe said that he had no definite recollection of Rauf Hakeem’s participation but that the SLMC as a party was involved in it.
The ASG inquired whether the votes of the Sinhalese, the majority ethnic group in the country, as well as the votes of the non-Sinhala nationals were required for any political party to win an election.
In response, the former prime minister said, “We need 51% of the vote to win an election in this country, so there must be a coalition of all races, Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and burghers. Chandrika also won the elections with the Muslim votes. After independence, the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party held a portion of the Muslim and Tamil votes. But after 1970 the SLFP lost the percentage of Muslim votes. That is how the Muslim Congress was formed. But we as the United National Party always give one of the highest positions in our party to Muslims.
The ASG inquired from the former Prime Minister about the change of government that took place on October 26, 2018.
“On October 26, 2018, President Maithripala Sirisena decided to change the government. He thought he had MPs. Somehow, after the October 26 coup d’etat, I was not called to the National Security Council. I told the Security Council that he had not been summoned, “said former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
“I also asked Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was the Prime Minister of the 52-day government, whether he was asked to come to the Security Council. He was not even invited,” Wickremesinghe said.
The Additional Solicitor General of the Government asked former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe what he thinks about the statement made by former President before the commission that he only had a government for only six months and he did not have the support of Parliament to run the government beyond that.
In response, Mr. Wickremesinghe said, “Maithripala Sirisena was a common candidate. We brought a common candidate to bring the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The Tamil National Alliance, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Rajitha Senaratne and Arjuna Ranatunga, we were all of the same opinion to make the amendment to the constitution first and then go to polls separately. I was the one who spoke to Maithripala Sirisena to be the common candidate. The common candidate later became the President of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. The person who came as a non-party candidate became biased. Even Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero criticized his move.”
Ranil Wickremesinghe said Sirisena never had a majority and he did not even have the support of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
President’s Counsel Ronald Perera appearing for the former Premier requested the commission to allocate another day for evidence examination considering his client’s health condition.
Accordingly, the Commission instructed the former PM to appear before the PCoI on the 13th of October at 04:00 PM.
Courtesy: Colombo Page
