Issues over different laws will be resolved through new Constitution – Public Security Minister

Issues that had arisen over the quazi court system would be resolved through the new Constitution that would be formulated soon, Minister of Public Security, Sarath Weerasekera said yesterday, after taking part in an event at Sunethra Devi Pirivena, Pepiliyana.

Weerasekera said: “According to the current Constitution, these quazi courts are legal. There are many laws that have clauses that are against fundamental rights of the people. The current Constitution allows Muslim, Thesawalamai and Kandyan customary laws to exist alongside the general laws, this is against the concept of one country, one law. The new Constitution being drafted will help solve such problems.”

Meanwhile U. R. de Silva, PC, said that quazi courts were under the Judicial Services Commission and they played an important part in dealing with divorce and alimony issues of the Muslim community. “This is not a new system. Of course, there are issues with these courts and many Muslim women’s groups have proposed changes to the system. We must address some issues as regards these courts.”

There were newspaper advertisements last week announcing vacancies for a number of quazi courts across the country. This sparked fresh debate about those institutions.

Minister of Justice Ali Sabry had said that his ministry had nothing to do with the recruitment of quazis for the Muslim quazi court system. He said so, addressing the media in Colombo last week.