SRI LANKA: Churches issue joint call for constitutional council

By Anto Akkara March 14, 2008 [Ecumenical News International, Thrissur, India] Churches in Sri Lanka have urged the government to set up urgently a constitutional council which they say is mandatory under Sri Lankan law. The call by the church and civil society groups coincides with government forces going all-out to wrest control of the Vanni region from separatist Tamil rebels.

"The present lawlessness and violence that pervades all facets of life in the country could be directly attributed to the failure to appoint the constitutional council," noted the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka, a grouping of eight Protestant churches in the Indian Ocean island.

"Violation of the constitution is an affront to people's sovereignty because the constitution is the instrument which protects and upholds people's sovereignty" the NCC said in a March 5 statement. It quoted a clause in the constitution that says a "constitutional council should function at all times."

After he assumed office in late 2005, President Mahinda Rajapaksa decided not to reconstitute the key council that should have members from the government, opposition parties and civic society, but that can raise what observers say are sometimes uncomfortable questions for the government.

"Procrastination of the appointments to the constitutional council is tantamount to a violation of the country's constitution," asserted the churches. "If the [constitutional] council is constituted, the president will lose 90 percent of his powers," Santha Fernando, a spokesperson for the NCC told Ecumenical New International on March 14. Fernando pointed out the president would have to consult it on key appointments to the courts and other posts.

Earlier, the Conference of Religions, in which both the NCC and Roman Catholic Church are members, also reiterated demands for the immediate setting up of the constitutional council.

"As responsible religious and civil society leaders with growing concern for fundamental rights and freedom of our people, we urge Your Excellency to uphold and defend the constitution of the country," pleaded the religious leaders in their appeal to Rajapaksa.

More than 7,000 people, mostly Tamil civilians and rebels, have been killed and more than one million people displaced in renewed fighting after Rajapaksa won the 2005 presidential election with the support of Sinhala nationalist parties.