Two of the three Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) dissidents who recently accepted high posts with the All Ceylon Muslim Congress (ACMC), have now opted to remain with the SLMC, after the party threatened to take disciplinary action against them.

Disaster Relief Services Minister Ameer Ali, Resettlement and Disaster Minister Rishard Baduitheen and Trincomalee District Member of Parliament M. Najeeb Abdul Majeed recently acceded to a call by the ACMC to join the party and hold high positions.

Ameer was invited to take up the post as Chairman of the party while Baduideen and Majeed were given the posts of Leader and Deputy Leader respectively. The trio who have claimed to hold SLMC membership, have been supporting the present United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government since the inception. They decided to support the Chandrika Kumaratunga Government while holding membership with the SLMC in 2004.

After accepting the ACMC invitation to lead the party, these members also held press conferences to announce to the public of their decision to join the new party and further gave interviews to the press.

Reacting to the press interviews and the media publicity given regarding their new decision to join the ACMC, the SLMC General Secretary fired missives to all three of them, demanding from them clarification about their positions.

SLMC General Secretary and Member of Parliament Hasan Ali by a letter dated December 15, 2008 threatened to take disciplinary action against them if they were found to be holding any position in another political party, other than the party they claim to hold membership. In his letter Ali informed all three of them that the SLMC High Command has unanimously taken a decision to withdraw their membership from the party, further stating that holding posts in another party while claiming to hold membership with the SLMC was in violation of the party constitution.

He further threatened to take action against them on the basis that they were no more members of the SLMC- a claim the dissidents have continued to maintain, since opting to support the Government, bypassing SLMC decision to remain independent in Parliament.

It is following this letter that two of the three dissidents, Ameer Ali and Majeed have in their responses to Ali, said they want to continue to be members of the SLMC. According to SLMC sources Baduideen has still not responded. In his letters to the dissidents, Ali has also demanded for a response within seven days from the date of receipt of the letters.

Meanwhile Minister Ameer in his reply to Ali, dated December 30 has said though he decided to hold the post of Chairman of ACMC, subsequent to a request made by the party, he was compelled to withdraw it after learning that he should cease to be a member of the SLMC, if he were to function as the Chairman of ACMC. Majeed also in his reply dated December 22, has cited similar reason to withdraw the post that was offered to him by the ACMC. Both in their responses have said that they had no intention to sacrifice their membership from the SLMC and would continue to be members of the SLMC.

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