GOVT. WILL ALWAYS ABIDE BY THE CONSTITUTION: PM

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament yesterday that the judicial power of the people was exercised by Parliament through the courts, tribunals and institutions set up by it, and the government would never deviate from this principle enshrined in the Constitution.

Making his remarks during the debate on the UNHRC resolution, the Premier said for that purpose, he sought proposals to establish such institutions to exercise the judicial power of the people and draft legislation to that effect would be taken up before the Supreme Court.

“Then, the final decision does not lie with us whether we like it or not. We will eventually act according to the determination of the Supreme Court,” he said.

Asserting that this was the procedure laid down in the Constitution, he said it could not be amended without approval by the people at a referendum. Therefore, he said the country should be grateful to the late President J. R. Jayawardene who was the architect of the present Constitution. “We act in accordance with that Constitution,” he said. The Prime Minister queried again as to who invited Japanese legal expert Moto Noguchi. He said it was the then External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris who invited him at the request of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

“He was in charge of the victim fund of the International criminal court. He was special Prosecutor in the prosecutor office in Japan,” the Prime Minister said.

He said he would be happy if Mr. Rajapaksa could make a statement in this regard in Parliament.

Besides, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the LTTE’s use of 300,000 people as a human shield aggravated the problem faced by the country at the moment.