Dilrook Kannangara

Those who allege local and foreign conspiracy in 2022 regime change have a responsibility to their people. If their allegations are true, it is a very serious violation of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, the Constitution (on many counts), the franchise, fundamental rights of individuals, the Penal Code and many other laws. Internationally, it is a direct violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Missions. Legal action can be taken against all these.

Taking legal action against them is the only way to prove the credibility of claims. Crying to the people is not the way crimes are handled. There is an established process to handle them. Further, taking legal action against offenders saves Sri Lanka from another similar event. If no legal action is taken, it may well repeat again and again.

Both Sri Lanka and USA are bound by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Missions and if the US Ambassador is in the wrong, it is a matter of invoking the provisions of the Convention and making a formal complaint. It is that easy. The million-dollar question is why it is not done if allegations are true. Not taking legal action erodes the credibility of these claims. And it also exposes Sri Lanka for another similar interference not just from the US but also from other countries that have embassies in the island.

Locals are also blamed for being part of this conspiracy. If true it violates many local laws from the Constitution, the Penal Code, the Army Act, etc. It also violates people’s fundamental rights over their sovereignty, franchise, etc. There are many avenues for court action.

However, nothing of the sort has even been attempted. When asked from the person making these allegations about court action, he replied that they had far better things to do than crawl to courts. Isn’t defending national security, sovereignty and the Constitution worth their time? If we are to believe him, no; they are unworthy things for him.

Only court action against individual members of the public who participated in various violent acts on or around May 9 and July 9 are for vandalism, arson, looting, mischief, subversion, murder and the like. Nothing against conspiring against the nation, etc.

This reminds observers what happened during the 2020 JVP election campaign. A large number of cardboard files were placed on a platform. Participants of the meeting could pick any one of them and the JVP leader would read it out. But no legal action taken based on those files! No court proceedings and not even complaints to the police.

This not only erodes the credibility of allegations of conspiracy but also puts Sri Lanka in mortal danger of a repeat of events that took place on those dates.

Anyone can make any allegation but until proven beyond reasonable doubt, they remain just opinions.