The recent Presidential elections were widely heralded as being the first in recent times in which the people in the entire country could participate and as signifying the reunification of a country that was for so long divided by war.  However, the political developments after the elections are indicative of a growing political crisis in the country and practices that are in contravention of the norms of democracy and good governance.  At the centre of these developments has been the sudden arrest of the defeated Presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka who represented a joint Opposition alliance less than two weeks after the election at which he obtained the votes of over 4 million voters including the bulk of the ethnic minorities.

At the time of his arrest General Fonseka was challenging the victory that President Mahinda Rajapaksa notched up with a large majority.  He was in the process of filing an election petition to the Supreme Court, which he was not be able to pursue as actively in view of the time constraints on the filing of such legal petitions.  In addition, General Fonseka was negotiating the continuation of the opposition alliance that together fought the Presidential Election to contest the forthcoming General Elections that have been scheduled for April 8 of this year.

The National Peace Council is distressed both at the manner of the arrest, in which General Fonseka was reportedly dragged out of a political meeting he was attending with the leaders of other national political parties, and the absence of formal charges against him that remain unknown to the general public. If they were conveyed to him before arrest we request the authorities to make them known to the public.  We note that other civic and religious organizations, including Buddhist Mahanayakes and Christian Bishops, have issues public statements protesting the arrest of General Fonseka at this time.  Street protests have also erupted on this issue which is proving to be politically very divisive.  Members of the international community including the UN Secretary General have voiced their concerns and critical international media coverage is a further harming the international image of the country.

There is today the appearance of a crisis of democracy and good governance in which the basic political rights of the people to a free and fair election, to free political comment and to contest elections with the full protection of the law are under threat of being suppressed.  The intimidation of opposition supporters who have sought to protest against the arrest of General Fonseka will thus have grave consequences for democratic participation in the future. This is even more alarming considering how the erosion of faith in the democratic process has metamorphosed itself into violence in the past on more than one occasion. Suppression of peaceful protests is known to drive protests underground as we saw in the 1980s when President J.R Jayewardene outlawed the JVP. The country had to pay a heavy price later.

The National Peace Council believes that a key element of the present crisis of democracy is the selective abdication of the rule of law that exists at national and local levels whereby arbitrary arrests, unlawful detentions and other illegal acts committed with impunity have caused a climate of fear and intimidation amongst the politically active sections of the polity.  We further believe that the abuse of power is facilitated by the prolonged and unnecessary utilization of the Emergency Law and Prevention of Terrorism Act.  The need for draconian legislation to be operative in the country cannot be justified any more as the war with the LTTE has ended more than 8 months ago.  
 
Accordingly, the National Peace Council urges the government to take appropriate measures to honour the voice of all its citizens as the integration of diversity is at the core of democracy in a multi ethnic and plural society. We believe that it is the responsibility of the opposition also to ensure that Emergency rule and other repressive legislation are rescinded forthwith.   The opposition needs to play its own part in securing the rule of law for the entire polity and creating a virtuous state of which it is an integral part together with the government. We also commend the Supreme Court and those members of the legal system who have taken a stand for democracy and rule of law in these uncertain times.
 
 
Governing Council

The National Peace Council is an independent and non partisan organisation that works towards a negotiated political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It has a vision of a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka in which the freedom, human rights and democratic rights of all the communities are respected. The policy of the National Peace Council is determined by its Governing Council of 20 members who are drawn from diverse walks of life and belong to all the main ethnic and religious communities in the country.