SL Supreme Court fixes inquiry into petitions challenging the CFA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2007, 13:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Friday fixed the inquiry for March 10 next year into the petitions filed by the Sinhala extreme nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and Sinhala Jathika Sangamaya (SJS) challenging the legality of the ceasefire agreement signed by the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremasinghe and Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 22 February 2002.

The JVP is the third largest party in Sri Lanka's parliament with 38 parliamentarians. SJS is a front organization of the JVP.

JHU is another political group in the parliament with nine parliamentarians.

All these three political groups have stated in their petitions that the February 2002 CFA is illegal and against the constitution of the country that Ranil Wickremasinghe had signed the CFA with the LTTE without the consent of the then executive president Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Under the constitution it is mandatory that any agreement by the Prime Minister in power should be signed with the consent of the executive presidency, they have stated in their petition.

Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe and Mr. V. Pirapaharan and members of then cabinet of ministers have been cited as respondents in these petitions, legal sources said.

Chronology: