UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday called on the government to re-establish all the Independent Commissions (ICs) for the Elections, Police and Judicial Service etc before holding the Northern, North-Western and Central Provincial Council Polls, which have been scheduled for September.

He told the media in Colombo that Sri Lanka was a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which required that the will of the people shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections, by universal and equal suffrage, secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

The Rajapaksa regime had to re-introduce the 17th Amendment to the Constitution.

An independent public service, which could act without political interference, he said was a sine que non to ending the violence and vote rigging that had marred successive elections under the current government.

The UNP leader observed that he had already written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa urging him to re-introduce 17-A and expected him to display his commitment to the conduct of democratic polls.

Instead of adopting time wasting tactics through the establishment of Parliamentary Select Committees, to discuss issues which have been debated for years, the priority was to introduce an urgent bill that could free the public service from its shackles, he pointed out. (by Zacki Jabbar)

Source: The Islands (Sri Lanka)