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Gnanasara Thera promises ‘One Law’ report before deadline 

27 Dec 2021

 
  • Task force begins public consultations in Central Province 
  • Deadline set by President for 28 February 
  • Thera promises proposals acceptable to all religious groups 
  Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary and Chairman of the controversial “One Country, One Law” Presidential Task Force Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera has said that he expects to deliver the final report of the Task Force even before the deadline that has been specified by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, according to the Department of Government Information. President Rajapaksa ordered the Task Force to submit the final report on or before 28 February 2022 when it was first formed in October. Ven. Gnanasara Thera announced this at the Task Force’s first public consultation in the Central Province which commenced from the Matale Divisional Secretariat (DS) on Saturday (25) with the participation of religious leaders, volunteer organisations, professionals, and the general public. The Thera added that he hopes to deliver the report before the deadline due to the high level of interest President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has placed in the Task Force. The Task Force has already completed similar public consultations in the Northern and Easter Provinces earlier this month, and also held a national-level consultation at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo. The Thera also added that even if some time is consumed, the main focus will be on delivering a set of proposals that are fair and acceptable for all racial groups. However, participants in the Task Force’s public consultation held at one of the divisional secretariats (DSs) in the Eastern Province alleged earlier this month that the discussion was held predominantly in Sinhala, with no proper translators or language interpreters, which severely limited the accessibility of the public consultation. “They only spoke in Sinhala and there were no translators to translate the dialogue. If a person spoke in Tamil, it was translated with support from the crowd, but this was a very basic translation. Also, there were only about 25 participants at the meeting at the DS,” a participant told The Morning. He further said that a monk from the area, allegedly known to incite tensions within communities, had spoken at great length during the consultation. “While we understand that the concept behind the establishment of the said Task Force is productive, we felt that the consultation was mainly focused on the needs of Buddhists as opposed to those of us who are living in the area.” However, when The Morning spoke to Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera at the time, he said that there had been no language problems at the public consultations. “There was no problem at all. Many people could speak Sinhala and even if there was a problem, people in the crowd helped with the language barriers. We also took translators with us,” the monk said. He added that mostly educated individuals had participated in these consultations and that the positive reaction and response to the consultations held so far was overwhelming. The Presidential Media Division (PMD) said that the Task Force received a warm welcome in the Eastern Province, after which it had held public consultations at the Batticaloa and Valaichchenai DSs. The Task Force had also visited several mosques in the area. However, speaking in Parliament, Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) Parliamentarian Shanakiyan Rasamanickam criticised the PMD’s actions and questioned whether it is the responsibility of the PMD to make such statements. “When the PMD said that Gnanasara Thera received a warm welcome, do they mean that it was hot there? Everyone in the Eastern Province is against this Task Force. Look at the state of the PMD? Is this what the PMD is there for? It is clear that there is Buddhist extremism in Sri Lanka,” he said. In October, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a Task Force to formulate a conceptual framework for the concept of “One Country, One Law”, chaired by Ven. Gnanasara Thera, who has been accused of inciting hate and violence towards the Muslim community. The Task Force garnered criticism from various quarters, including the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL). In August 2018, Ven. Gnanasara Thera was sentenced to prison for six years after being found guilty of contempt of court over his conduct during a court hearing regarding the case of missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda. However, he only served a few months of this sentence as he was granted a presidential pardon in May 2019 by then President Maithripala Sirisena. However, in November this year, an extraordinary gazette notification was issued by Secretary to the President P. B. Jayasundera to appoint three new members to the Task Force and to amend the functions of it. According to the gazette notification, Ramalingam Chakrawarthy Karunakaran, Yogeshwari Padgunaraja, and Ayyampillai Dayanandaraja were appointed as the members of the Task Force. Accordingly, the composition of the Presidential Task Force was increased to 14 members.


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