Sri Lanka’s recently appointed ‘One Country, One Law’ presidential task force led by a controversial Buddhist monk may be a step towards further division between communities rather than a means to bring them closer, opposition MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said.
“This is serious. Some communities have expressed opposition to this committee and have shared their concerns. We must govern not in a direction that sees conflict intensify but in a direction that sees conflict resolved, not in a direction that sees communities grow apart but come closer,” Dissanayake told parliament on Wednesday (10).
The National People’s Power (NPP) MP and leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was seeking verbal responses from Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa regarding the makeup of the controversial task force and on what grounds its head Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero was appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
“I wish to ask the prime minister if he can explain whether that isn’t what this is all about. If he doesn’t offer an explanation, I shall conclude that he is of the same view as I am,” said Dissanayake.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gazetted the task force in late October to come up with proposals for “one law” for all Sri Lankans abolishing all other personal laws including Muslim marriage law and some other regional laws that go back centuries. The Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) in particular has been the focus of much debate, with many women’s rights activists within the Muslim community calling for reform and an end to child marriage.
Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnansara Thero’s appointment as the head of the task force has been widely panned by some opposition lawmakers, civil society groups and others including those within the government’s own ranks.
The task force was also criticised for not having any Tamil representation, prompting President Rajapaksa to appoint three new members, purportedly representing women and the minority Tamil community, on November 06. Justice Minister Ali Sabry was also reported to have expressed his surprise at the task force and the appointment of Gnanasara Thero as its chair without his consultation. Reports emerged later that he had tendered his resignation over the matter, but the president had refused to accept it.
MP Dissanayake asked the Prime Minister why the task force was appointed at all when a new constitution is in its final stage of being drafted, on top of a separate bill being drafted by the Justice Ministry on the ‘One Country, One Law’ theme.
Related: Sri Lanka PM confirms new draft constitution will be ready by end 2021
“And on what basis were the chairman and members of that task force appointed? What is the objective of appointing people accused of inciting racism and suspicion about other communities?”
Responding to the MP, both the prime minister and Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena said the president has the authority to appoint a task force.
“The task force was appointed taking into account the views of different sections of society to study and formulate a legal framework unique to Sri Lanka,” said PM Rajapaksa.
“Any recommendations will be implemented after discussing them with the justice minister. That’s the standard procedure with any presidential task force,” said Gunawardena.
In an otherwise cordial exchange with the Prime Minister, Dissanayake said that in his tenure as President between 2005 and 2015, Rajapaksa had appointed presidential task forces based on nominations following due process.
“We may have had disagreements over their findings, but there was faith in the task force itself,” said Dissanayake.
“This task force attempts to bring all personal laws under one common law. We wonder why one group who has campaigned for taking away the rights of the other was put in charge? Other than what our gut tells us, what was the logic behind it? It seems not even the Justice Minister was aware of this appointment,” he said.
Dissanayake had previously expressed fears of a scheme to whip up communal disharmony in Sri Lanka using seasonal extremist elements to distract the public from multiple crises the country is facing.
Related: JVP leader smells scheme to whip up extremist sentiment in Sri Lanka
Asked again for the prime minister’s views on the matter, Rajapaksa said: “No, there is no issue with this.”
Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara chiming in said no one had questioned Dissanayake’s credentials when he was appointed to an anti-corruption investigative unit during the previous administration.
“None of us asked what your qualifications were or on what grounds you were appointed. Operating from Temple Trees, you brought charges against politicians of your choosing. No one questioned your credentials then. So let the president do this,” said Weerasekara.
“What’s in store for this country if the public security minister utters such nonsense?” said a seemingly amused Dissanayake.
“As I have said before in parliament, if I had the power to take action against corruption, a lot of people wouldn’t be here today [in this House]. I also believe I have earned right to speak against corruption,” he said, adding that his conscience is clean.
The ministers’ comments showed that none of them had been privy to the formation of the Gnansara Thero-led ask force, said Dissanayake.
The firebrand monk has been accused of promoting Islamophobia in Sri Lanka.
In 2012, Gnanasara Thero was allegedly at the forefront of an anti-Muslim campaign which called on the majority Sinhalese to boycott Muslim-owned businesses.
The United States in 2014 cancelled a visa issued to the monk while social media platform Facebook blocked his account after the BBS’s alleged involvement in violence against Sri Lanka’s minority Muslims in the Western coastal town of Aluthgama.
He was later arrested for contempt of court in 2018 during the previous administration but was later pardoned by President Maithripala Sirisnena.
Critics have said Gnanasara Thero has been used to create a rift between the Sinhala majority and Muslim minority for political reasons. But the monk has denied the allegation and has said Sri Lanka’s Sinhala majority has issues that have been ignored by politicians, issues that he had tried to address.
Since the 2019 Easter bombings, the monk has maintained that his cause is not against ordinary Muslims who have coexisted with the Sinhalese for centuries but with extremist, Wahabist elements in Muslim society.
Speaking to reporters on November 01, Gnanasara Thero said recommendations by the BBS, widely seen as an ultranationalist outfit, will make it to the proposals of the presidential task force he leads.
Related: BBS proposals will make it to ‘one country, one law’ task force: Sri Lanka hardline monk
The monk said the BBS had spoken about unethical conversions, destruction of archaeological monuments and cultural invasion.
“Today we have got a result of all our hard work. The president’s attention has been drawn to speak about these issues emphatically,” he told a news briefing organised by the Presidential Media Centre for handpicked journalists.
“We will have to discuss the same things we spoke about as the BBS within this gazette as well and include them in the bill,” the monk said.
For many speculative questions posed to him by journalists, the monk said he will answer after February 28, 2022, when the task force submits its report to the president. He will be fair by all, he said.
