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The Impeachment and the Independence of Judiciary Sumanasiri Liyanage Many are trying to interpret the attempt by the UPFA members of the Parliament to impeach the Chief Justice as a blow for the independence of judiciary, a highly valued element of democracy. Judiciary if operates independently, is posited as the last bastion of democracy in which people can seek justice when the two branches of the government, the legislature and the executive, wittingly or unwittingly, take unjust decisions affecting the citizens. Since the impeachment motion was presented to the Speaker of the Parliament, almost all have argued that it has been an attempt to scotch the independence of judiciary as some of the determinations of the Supreme Court affected adversely some of the bills the UPFA government wanted to pass quickly. It has also been mentioned that powerful politicians were unhappy over some of the decisions of the Judiciary Service Commission. The Secretary of the JSC was attacked...

Systems are Collapsing!! So What? Perspective of the Left Sumanasiri Liyanage My friends who have or previously had links with the Marxist left are greatly perturbed these days by the series of events that were unleashed in the recent past and that seem to have reached a climax with the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice. It is quite natural that these developments have put liberals off balance. Unfortunately, the left in Sri Lanka are at present in the same boat. What is resonated in their minds appears to be that ‘the whole system is collapsing’; ‘the system has begun to collapse’. This state of mind is clearly reflected not only in their writings and public statements but also in private conversations. I share their reading of the situation, i.e, systems have begun to collapse; but I am not disturbed by the situation. On the contrary, I am quite happy over the fact that the system has begun to collapse. Is not this a situation we in the left have been waitin...