Media Secretary of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Nishantha Sri Wanasinghe said that his party opposes the constitution of the Constitutional Council at present as it will place restrictions on the Executive President’s ability to function independently in pursuing the military offensive against the LTTE.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa should be given the free hand to make the necessary appointments according to his consent and there should be no differences between the Executive and the Constitutional Council if he were to take the country from an era of war to peace, he noted.

He said that as a solution to eradicate bribery and corruption, good governance and transparency, the 17th Amendment to the Constitution is good, but there are many shortcomings in the way it had been constituted on ethnic lines.

That’s the reason why the then solitary Sihala Urumaya MP Patali Champika Ranawaka opposed it when it was brought to parliament on October 2001, Wanasinghe explained.

"We objected as the 17th Amendment was not comprehensive and had many shortcomings".