The members of the Presidential Task Force for “One Country, One Law” met with Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and Secretary-General of Parliament, Dhammika Dasanayake at the Parliamentary Complex, yesterday (07).
The members of the Task Force stated that the assistance of the Members of Parliament is required to implement the recommendations contained in the Concept Paper which is to be submitted to the President after studying the future activities and progress made by the Task Force.
The importance of legislating as a national policy to ensure that no ethnic or religious group is treated differently was discussed during this meeting.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed the Presidential Task Force, headed by Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera, to study the views and opinions of various factions on the implementation of the concept of ‘One Country, One Law’ in Sri Lanka and present a concept paper with proposals. Recently, its term was extended from 2022-02-28 to a period of 03 months.
Following the commencement of the Task Force’s activities, notices were published through media to educate the public. Accordingly, professionals from various fields, non-governmental organizations, different religious groups, different communities, the university community, legal experts and others sent in their views by post and e-mail. They also expressed their views at the Task Force office located at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), Colombo.
In addition, the Task Force members travelled to various parts of the country to meet with different communities and religious leaders seeking their views.
The Task Force said the public consultations have been held covering 06 provinces and the views of the people in the remaining 03 provinces will also be sought.
Chairman of the Task Force Rajakeeya Panditha Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera and the members Prof. Shanthi Nandana Wijesinghe, Attorney at Law Sanjaya Marambe, Senior Lecturer Sumedha Weerawardena, Eranda Navaratne, Pani Wewala Aiyampillai Dayanandaraja, Yogeswari Patkunarajah, Azeez Nizardeen, Khalil Rahuman, Dr. Sujeewa Panditharathna and the Task Force Secretary Miss Jeewanthi Senanayake were also present.
