Ire after fire

• Hakeem critical of govt. and LTTE
• President says he’s no sitting duck
• JVP hails MR’s Mavilaru strategy

The aftermath of Mavilaru has created an upheaval in the Sri Lankan polity especially with regard to the military campaign carried out by the government to rescue the areas under LTTE siege.
The main opposition UNP and the SLMC were not in favour of the government’s action and criticised the Rajapaksa administration for being insensitive to the feelings of the people.
Opposition Leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has said that the Mavilaru controversy could have been resolved through diplomatic means while SLMC Leader, Rauff Hakeem, maintained that the government could have averted shelling the areas infiltrated by the LTTE and sent ground troops to defend the areas in question.
In this backdrop, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, summoned a meeting of all Muslim parliamentarians at Temple Trees around 9.00 a.m. on Tuesday (8). The President contacted Rauff Hakeem over the phone and told him that his presence at that meeting was very important.
Mr. Hakeem said that he would not be able to be present at 9.00 a.m. since he had to make a special announcement in Parliament in connection with the situation in Muttur. The President then agreed to reschedule the meeting at 10.30 a.m. but Hakeem could only arrive at 11.30 a.m. as he was held up in Parliament.
At the meeting with the President, Chief of Defence Staff, Donald Perera, and Presidential Advisor, Basil Rajapaksa, tried to explain the current situation in Muttur with the help of an area map. They all wanted Rauff Hakeem’s assistance to resettle the displaced people.
Terrified
Responding to the President’s call, SLMC Leader Hakeem told those who were present at the meeting that people were terrified by the artillery gunfire directed towards Muttur from military camps around the area after the LTTE infiltrated this densely populated Muslim stronghold.
“The LTTE’s objective was to constructively displace the Muslims and the government also caved in,” Hakeem said.
Elaborating further on the situation there, Hakeem said that the LTTE surrounded the Kattaparichchan Army Camp creating confusion and chaos, and said that there was sufficient time for the LTTE to force the Muslims out of Muttur and other Muslim dominated villages in the area since the ground forces could not move.
He felt that the artillery fire was directed towards Muttur in haste to relieve the area from LTTE grip but it had caused immense hardship to the civilian population.
The President, however, denied knowledge of any artillery fire being directed at civilians in Muttur.
President Rajapaksa addressing the Muslim Parliamentary group said that he would not be a sitting duck in the face of LTTE threats.
“It is my duty to protect the citizens whether they are Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims and what I need is your cooperation to restore normalcy in the affected areas in and around Muttur,” the President said.
“The circumstances that prevailed in the area compelled me to flush the LTTE out to resettle the Muslims who were displaced due to LTTE attacks. Is there any other option?”
The President said that he had to do it militarily in the larger interests of the country.
Accusing
At this stage, Hakeem, told the President that the people were accusing the armed forces too, for attacking them. But the President said the situation was very confusing and armed forces restrained from attacking indiscriminately as much as possible.
“What the LTTE is trying to do is to create a belt sans Muslims up to Batticaloa to achieve their objective but I, as the President, will not allow the same fate to befall the Muslims of Muttur as what befell the Muslims of Jaffna some time back
“If they attack us we will attack them but I’m not a warmonger. I do not like to see dead bodies. When soldiers die I have to take the brunt of it and people blame me,” the President said.
The President also said that the security forces would move into Sampur to clear the area in order to defeat the LTTE’s objective. Sampur was in the hands of the government before, but now in order to protect the Muslims and their inhabitations in the eastern coast, the security forces would be compelled to clear the Sampur area too.
It appears that militarily, the government is at an advantage if they force the LTTE out of Sampur since the artillery fire directed at the Trincomalee main naval base originates from the area.
JVP propaganda secretary, Wimal Weerawansa, in Parliament on Tuesday, also emphasised the need to take control of Sampur, indicating clearly that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in truck with the JVP on the Mavil Aru and Muttur issues.
The President, who appeared to be firm and unmoved by the external pressures exerted on him, said that the forces will also march to Mavilaru and take control over the situation there.
As predicted by the President at the meeting, the troops moved into the Mavilaru area and reached the sluice gate by 8.00 p.m. the same day contrary to the claims made by the LTTE that they too opened the sluice gate on humanitarian grounds at the instance of the Norwegian peace facilitators.
Assurance
The Inspector General of Police, Chandra Fernando, who also attended the meeting summoned by the President, gave an assurance that the area has now been cleared and civilians could move into the area safely.
Thereafter, the President ordered that all essential items including generators and medical teams be dispatched to Muttur.
Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Donald Perera, appraised the delegation comprising Governor Alavi Moulana, SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem, Ministers A. H. M. Fowzie, Ferial Ashraff and many others. Presidential Advisor, A. H. M. Azwer, who briefed them, said that Muttur limping back to normalcy with people getting back to their homes gradually.
He said that he had first hand information in this regard.
When the party leaders met with the Speaker, they discussed the adjournment debate on the Mavilaru incident. SLMC Leader, Rauff Hakeem, stated that the debate should focus on the callous disregard for human security by both the government and the LTTE which resulted in the ethnic cleansing the Muslims of Muttur. But the JVP, handing over a motion, said that they wanted to pass a resolution praising the gallantry of the security forces who flushed out the LTTE terrorists from Muttur and Mavilaru.
So there was a tug-of-war between the parties over what should be debated on Tuesday while the UNP suggested that the Media Bill should be passed without a debate and that 20 members should rise in the House asking for an adjournment debate to get sufficient time for this question of national importance. Finally the parties agreed to have a full day adjournment debate on Thursday over the Mavilaru and Muttur incidents.
The President’s concern for the civilians is understandable; his concern for the city of Trincomalee is also somewhat understandable but what the opposition cannot understand is as to why the President is hell bent on a military option when there are other avenues to explore. This is exactly the thinking of the main opposition UNP which criticised the President‘s action for a military push to recapture Mavilaru. The main opposition discussed the present situation in the Eastern Province when its parliamentary group met to review the country’s political situation.
Negotiations
UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said that this crisis could have been solved by engaging the international community and through diplomatic negotiations rather than going in for a military push.
“Military options should have been used as a last resort if all the other options failed,” Mr. Wickremesinghe told his Parliamentary group and elsewhere in the country when he addressed UNP district organisations.
The parliamentary group also resolved to abide by the decisions taken by the Working Committee. This was endorsed by the members by signing a document produced by the leadership.
A similar proposal was made a week ago at the Political Affairs Committee meeting, where the 21 member strong committee agreed with Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe that any decision taken at the Political Affairs Committee meeting should not supersede the decisions taken at the Working Committee.After having taken the signatures of all the parliamentarians they were told to abide by the decisions taken by the Working Committee which is the highest decision making body in the party structure.
At the same time the UNP Parliamentary Affairs Committee allocated subjects to the discerning UNPers to participate in parliamentary debates especially during budget debates, to handle ministries and its subjects with some finesse. Some say it is more on the lines of a shadow cabinet while others say it is purely to motivate the UNPers get involved in parliamentary debates more efficiently than before.

Some of the allocations are as follows, Defence, Internal Security, John Amaratunga; Finance and Planning, Bandula Gunawardena; Foreign Employment, Ranga Bandara; Rehabiltation and Resettlement,T. Maheswaran; Trade and Commerce, Ravindra Samaraweera; Port and Aviation, Mano Wijeratne; UDA, Joseph Michael Perera; Plantations, Naveen Dissanayake; Enterprise Development and Industries, Ravi Karunanayake; Samurdhi, K. Ratnatilake; Social Services, Larin Perera; Sports and Youth Affairs, Gayan Karunatillae; Agricultural Development, Hemakumara Nanayakkara; Health,P. Dayaratne; Constitutional Affairs, G. L. Peiris; Media, Rajitha Senaratna; Nation Building, Jayalath Jayawardana; Foreign Affairs, Lakshman Kiriella; Power and Energy, Karu Jayasuriya; Disaster Management, Johnston Fernando;Higher Education, Akila Kariyawasam; Labour, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene; Vocational Training, M.H.M. Maharoof; Religious Affairs, Milinda Moragoda.
Although the leader has specifically said that this is not a shadow cabinet some believe that this arrangement which was there on an earlier occasion too, has been revitalised in order to discourage crossovers to the government.
Subtle move
The other point they are making is that there is a subtle move to satisfy some of the dissidents, especially allocating a subject like Religious Affairs to Milinda Moragoda while appointing Ravi Karunanayake to handle the all important Enterprise Development and Industries
It is a fact that Ranil Wickremesinghe is fast losing his grip over the party since his defeat at the last presidential elections. Insiders say no one else is to be blamed but him, because he failed to act on time to bring in party reforms as promised.
A number of parliamentarians who were disillusioned with the party and the leader have already fallen prey to the charms of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and joined hands with him to enjoy the fruits of government.
The biggest challenge before Wickremesinghe today is to keep the party intact while sustaining the leadership. For this he needs to employ various methods to give some sort of hope to the party rank and file.
It is in this backdrop that Wickremesinghe loyalists are floating stories that he (Wickremesinghe) will have a crucial meeting with former President Chandrika Kumaratunga during his visit to London which he will undertake shortly, in a bid a to form a coalition with Chandrika loyalists in the government aiming at forming a UNP majority parliament in the near future.
Insiders say that this story has been sold to many unsuspecting party members to prevent further deterioration of the party’s Parliamentary Group.
Political analysts say that Chandrika is no more a political power to reckon with although the SLFP hardliners sympathised with her on a matter of principle when concerns were raised about her security.
Therefore, aligning with Chandrika is not the course of action that the UNP ought to follow at this juncture, many an analyst believes.
Politically it is difficult to fathom as to where the UNP stands today after President Rajapaksa fizzled out an Indian arrangement for both the UNP and the SLFP to work together, the only ray of hope the UNPers had on the dark political horizon.
The only thing that the UNP could do in the circumstances is to thrive on the political mistakes of the Rajapaksa administration.
Grave errors
There is no doubt that the Rajapaksa administration is committing grave political errors by trying to push a military solution for the North-East problem on the persistence of the JVP and the JHU.
The country is more or less on a war footing though the Eelam War has not been declared in terms of the Ceasefire Agreement. While the Rajapaksa administration is furthering its war strategy, India is keeping close tabs on the situation in Sri Lanka.
It is obvious that India would be compelled to listen to the sentiments expressed by the political hierarchy in Tamil Nadu since the centre is largely dependent on the South. The incident where the centre decided to send back a large number of Sri Lankan policemen undergoing training in India at the instance of Tamil Nadu is an indication of what is in store for Sri Lanka.
Under the circumstances it is important that Sri Lanka plays its cards cautiously to avoid an infamous “parippu drop” situation.
Coming back to the UNP, the main opposition party held its Working Committee meeting last week where important matters were discussed with regard to the party’s future in the political arena.
Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking on the current political context, said that many people are directing attacks on him. He said that the government, the JVP and the JHU are all blaming him and on top of all this, his own party people are blaming him. The leader wanted to know as to when all these things would stop.
There was no immediate response from the audience but some feel that he is the person that Sri Lanka needs most in a situation such as this. Wickremesinghe’s intelligence and political acumen is far superior to any other politician in Sri Lanka today but it was Rajapaksa’s sheer luck that propelled him to this position.
This was the subject of discussion among certain dons of the Jaffna University who came to Kataragama during the festival last week. They were of the opinion that the Tamils are suffering today because they failed in their duty at the previous presidential elections to defy and LTTE boycott and elect Wickremesinghe as the president.
UNP appointments
At the Working Committee meeting, Wickremesinghe appointed three senior UNPers as vice chairmen of the party. They are Alick Aluvihara, Dharmadasa Banda and M.H. Mohamed. But it was later reported that Dharmadasa Banda met with the President in Kandy while the President was there for the closing ceremony of the Sri Dalada Perahera.
Mr. Dharamadasa Banda had several rounds of talks with the President in a bid to cross over to the government. He apparently feels that the wait would be too long for him to be in the UNP Cabinet once more. It is not clear whether Mr. Banda would cross over to the government despite his new appointment in the UNP as the senior vice chairman.
The appointment of Rukman Senanayake as the party chairman was also stalled since party Deputy Leader, Karu Jayasuriya, has raised objections to the move. Mr. Jayasuriya has raised objections on the basis of an earlier suggestion that he was to be appointed as the executive chairman of the party.
Fresh after the presidential elections when Ranil Wickremesinghe had an idea of reforming the party and even stepping down as the leader of the opposition, it was suggested that an executive chairman be appointed to share power with the leader of the party and it was also suggested that Jayasuriya should be the executive chairman. But now with time, the leader has apparently either forgotten or is obviously trying to make it as ornamental as the earlier position. Mr. Jayasuriya on this basis has raised objections to the appointment of Rukman Senanayake as the chairman and the motion was put aside.
The appointment of general secretary was also put off on the same basis and the party seniors opted for Jayawickrema Perera in the place of Tissa Attanayake, the leader’s choice. At this meeting Wickremesinghe suggested that there should be a cadre of 50 appointed to each UNP organisation in each electorate to carry out the political work of the party.
Systematic
This was suggested in 1994 too and was not implemented due to various problems. But now Wickremesinghe has suggested once more that this should be done in a more systematic manner.
The UNP Working Committee also discussed the fate of UNP dissidents who are holding ministerial portfolios in the government. Questions arose as to whether the legal section of the UNP was doing a proper job in relation to Rohitha Boggollagma, Keheliya Rambukwella and Mahinda Samarasinghe. The Working Committee who formulated discliplinary action against the dissidents have decided to sack them as they failed to appear before the disciplinary committee to present their case in terms of the UNP constitution.
It was noted that Keheliya Rambukwella wanted himself to be represented by a lawyer on the fourth occasion but it was apparently rejected since the constitution does not provide for such representation. As the party discussed their future in the Sri Lankan polity, Hambantota parliamentarian, Sajith Premadasa, raised a question about the framework of the party. He was of the opinion that certain office bearers of the party should be elected through a contest from among the party’s parliamentarians, provincial councilors, etc.
“I wish to make my suggestions. It is up to you to decide on this or throw it away. It doesn’t matter to me,” Premadasa told the Working Committee. Wickremesinghe, replying, said that it has to be looked into and determined whether it is within the parameters of the party constitution. Premadasa said that he made this suggestion on the basis that the party was going to have a new constitution under the new party reforms.
Squabble
Be that as it may, the UNP parliamentary group meeting held last week also had its own squabbles and this time it was between Dr. Jayalath Jayawardana and southern firebrand Hemakumara Nanayakkara on the dealings with the LTTE.
Hemakumara said that one parliamentarian was working hand in glove with the LTTE and that it was detrimental to the party. Hemakumar obviously referred to Jayalath Jayawardena and media reports that he visited Apollo Hospital to inquire about the health of Daya Master who was there.
Jayawardena rose to his feet as the allegation was made, to defend himself saying that he became a doctor before he became parliamentarian and that he had the right to visit any hospital, but he said that reports of him visiting Daya Master a fabrication by the state media.

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Was it a diplomatic faux pas?

Jon Hanssen Bauer is a worried man; his worries are understandable. He persuaded them to open the sluice gate after convincing them that water cannot be used as a weapon in a war to talk peace and bring about a peaceful settlement for the ongoing war. The Mavilaru controversy is just one item on his agenda.
When he arrived in Sri Lanka during the early part of this month the issue at hand was Mavilaru where the LTTE had closed the sluice gate supplying water to the fertile land in Serunuwara and adjacent areas.
Bauer had a discussion with the authorities including Foreign Minister,
Mangala Samaraweera, on the issue.
Apparently he got the green light from government quarters to go ahead with his mission to open the sluice gate.
It all happened within the span of a day, he went with the LTTE to open the sluice gate at Mavilaru after intense negotiations, where he convinced them that water cannot be used as a weapon in a war.
But the events that unfolded thereafter bewildered Bauer and party forcing them to turn back in disgust.
When they reached the destination there was a rain of fire from government troops which forced Bauer to creep into an LTTE bunker along with his party which included Norwegian Ambassador Hans Bratskar, SLMM Chief, Ulf Henricsson and Trincomalee LTTE leader Elilan
Bauer expressed his dismay in no uncertain terms on his return to Colombo.
The government maintains that they were not informed of the intended visit, but Bauer has told friends in Sri Lanka that he discussed the issue with high ranking government officials
Is this a diplomatic faux pas on the side of the government or has Mangala Samaraweera failed to filter it down to the Defence Ministry who handled matters connected to Mavilaru? This is the question now being asked.
Apparently Samaraweera on his way to the airport to visit India has tried to get in touch with Peace Secretariat Chief Palitha Kohona which he failed to do because Kohona was in Matale at the time. Not only Samaraweera even Bauer had on numerous occasions tried to contact Kohona to brief him on the developments that had taken place.
It was also reported that attempts made by Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala to get in touch with Kohona had failed.

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JVP says Sri Lanka Army can defeat LTTE

The JVP politburo met for an emergency session on August 8, presided by party leader, Somawansa Amarasinghe, to discuss the Mavilaru issue and the present situation in the country.
At the outset of the meeting, Somawansa Amarasinghe, said that the party should unreservedly appreciate the decision taken by the government to face the LTTE with strength and courage. He suggested that the JVP should extend moral, psychological and political support to the President to face the LTTE threat. He said that the LTE suffered severely at the hands of the Sri Lanka Army and presented to the meeting evidence to substantiate his claim.
Amarasinghe said that there was no doubt that the Sri Lanka Army could defeat the LTTE.
“In this context our proposals to the government would further strengthen the government if they come to terms with us,” he said
The LTTE was thriving on media propaganda and it was clearly shown that the LTTE’s firepower is only a media hype to create confusion in the South, Amarasinghe said. He said that the 20-point document that they presented to the government was aimed at working in co-operation with the President. There were only two conditions in this that the government could not agree to.
1)Abolition of the Ceasefire Agreement.
2) To do away with Norwegian facilitation.
“The SLFP has a different viewpoint on these aspects and the SLFP is scheduled to hand over their proposals on these two original conditions set by us to determine as to whether we could agree with them,” he said. Amarasinghe, thereafter, criticised the UNP standpoint on the present situation and said, “We have an opposition leader who works according to the agenda of the international community.” He said that they did not need such an opposition leader in this country.