You were once good friends with President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Why did your attitude towards him change?
I have known him for over 40 years. Needless to say, when he became president I was a very happy man. Primarily I thought he would handle this war situation well, which he did. But I expected more from the point of view of governance and human rights because he was known as a human rights activist. I thought we are moving into a liberal era where human rights and governance reached a higher peak. I was always trying to encourage that movement. That is where this came into some kind of conflict situation. Earlier, there were times I would go and meet him, try to speak about some of the things that were bothering me. I would say that we may have to decide a particular case in a particular way and that I’m only informing you. That is within the bounds of a chief justice to go and say, especially because we have personal contact as well... not the ultimate judgement as such, but I used to keep him informed. The North-East de-merger, I definitely notified him. I said be ready for this, I may have to do this. Even the petroleum case, he knew about it. He can’t say he didn’t know. LMSL, I notified him. All these matters, generally. Sometimes he comes home, sits where you are seated. But I found... very often I found a different reaction from him, especially on these human rights and governance issues which affected me very deeply. If he had complied with the court order on petroleum products, the country would have benefited.
http://www.lakbimanews.lk/special/spe4.htm
I have known him for over 40 years. Needless to say, when he became president I was a very happy man. Primarily I thought he would handle this war situation well, which he did. But I expected more from the point of view of governance and human rights because he was known as a human rights activist. I thought we are moving into a liberal era where human rights and governance reached a higher peak. I was always trying to encourage that movement. That is where this came into some kind of conflict situation. Earlier, there were times I would go and meet him, try to speak about some of the things that were bothering me. I would say that we may have to decide a particular case in a particular way and that I’m only informing you. That is within the bounds of a chief justice to go and say, especially because we have personal contact as well... not the ultimate judgement as such, but I used to keep him informed. The North-East de-merger, I definitely notified him. I said be ready for this, I may have to do this. Even the petroleum case, he knew about it. He can’t say he didn’t know. LMSL, I notified him. All these matters, generally. Sometimes he comes home, sits where you are seated. But I found... very often I found a different reaction from him, especially on these human rights and governance issues which affected me very deeply. If he had complied with the court order on petroleum products, the country would have benefited.
http://www.lakbimanews.lk/special/spe4.htm
