News: Basil Rajapakse

Q: Will your government ever produce a political solution? A: I think a political solution means you have to do a lot of things. We are doing a lot of things. This Constitution of Sri Lanka is far more advanced than any other Constitution in the world. Every right of the people, the women, the minorities, all races, everyone, is covered. The judiciary has supreme power, even going over the legislature. Every commission which can be created in the world is created in Sri Lanka in the Constitution. It’s all there in the book but practical things have to be done. When I go to Jaffna, I can’t use my language in any of the offices. Similarly, sometimes, it may be that a person coming to Colombo from Jaffna can’t use his own language. Funny thing is that we both have to use another person’s language, English, to communicate. There are also areas in which both communities are living where we have to find a way to implement. I have got a lot of complaints that when a Sinhala person goes to the land office in the Trinco kachcheri he cannot communicate in his own language.