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| Sunday, 1 February 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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SLMC, CWC unhappy over Govt. hard line by Don Asoka Wijewardene Fears that a collapse of the Mano-Malik talks could worsen the political crisis are fuelling dissension in the United National Front coalition with major partners upset over the UNP's hard line on the Defence Ministry portfolio. Meanwhile, the Presidential Secretariat has warned that the negotiating process through the Committee of National Consensus comprising UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickrema and Presidential Advisor Mano Tittawela faces 'imminent collapse.' Other constituent political parties in the UNP-led United National Front Government are increasingly unhappy with the failure of the UNP to compromise on the issue of the three Cabinet portfolios taken over by the President and the consequent hiatus in the talks between the Government and the Presidency, political sources say. The SLMC, CWC, and the Upcountry People's Front are understood to be keen to avoid a general election by striking a political deal between the Government and the Presidency and have been pressing for compromise on the current UNP insistence on getting back all powers of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress is understood to be on the verge of declaring that it would disassociate itself from the UNF in the event of an election and contest on its own. Congress insiders told the Sunday Observer that SLMC leader and Minister Rauff Hakeem is under pressure from the party High Command to make this position clear to UNF head and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Meanwhile, the Ceylon Workers Congress is watching the attempts to revive the inter-party negotiations between UNP chairman Malik Samarawickrema and Presidential negotiator Mano Tittawela. The CWC leadership is learnt to be anxious to avoid a bruising contest with the Upcountry People's Front in the event of an election. Upcountry People's Front sources denied that Front Leader and Minister Periasamy Chandrasekaran's alleged remarks seemingly favouring an LTTE-led Eelamist struggle had caused controversy within the party. These sources insisted that the official party line remained in support of a peaceful settlement of the conflict. But they said that the peace process required a collaboration between the two main national parties and that their party wished to see a compromise between the Government and the Presidency for this purpose. Meanwhile, the Presidential Secretariat warned of the 'imminent collapse' of the Committee of National Consensus and said that despite media reports of the Mano-Malik talks being successful, there was nothing new in the talks between the two parties. President's Media Director General, Janadasa Peiris, told the Sunday Observer that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's insistence to have the Defence portfolio under his purview had prevented the two leaders from working together towards a common goal. He said that President Kumaratunga should not be blamed for the repeated requests made by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the President had valid reasons to take over the three ministries, especially the Defence Ministry. He said the rationale behind the take over of the ministries was based on continuous defence and security violations carried out by the UNF government. The reasons he said were: allowing the LTTE to smuggle arms into the country even after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and the LTTE; neglecting security in Colombo; neglecting security in Trincomalee; allowing the security situation to deteriorate in the Eastern Province; neglecting military personnel and to properly mobilise personnel to places where security was urgently needed; neglecting the Constitutional duty to protect all citizens of the country and releasing subversive literature brought from abroad. |
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