President reprimanding BASL Chief in Parliament Saliya Pieris is not a political lawyer to take Executive’s stance: Lawyers’ collective

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana

Events that sealed the fate of ex-Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake for her disagreement with the then executive cannot be seen as a similar instance for the removal of BASL Chief Saliya Pieris PC for disagreeing with President Ranil Wickremesinghe, as Pieris is an independent person, a lawyers’ collective said yesterday.

Senior lawyers and past Presidents of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) addressing a media briefing to register their displeasure and protest over the baseless criticism and hate speech by President Wickremesinghe on the BASL chief at the Parliament last week said that Saliya Pieris is not a political lawyer to be a puppet of the executive. 

Senior Lawyer Upul Kumarapperuma said the BASL works according to its own council decisions and not to the whims and fancies of any political authority. It is common how the political administration is trying to slander the BASL when it fails to make the latter a political tool in achieving its personal agendas.