“However, in 2004, when the government in power signed the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE, your goodself met with Prabhakaran, shook hands with him and even signed a MoU. So under those circumstances, I don’t see any problem in going along and contesting with the Pillaiyan group”_______________________________
(April 01, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Provincial Council (PC) elections for the Eastern Province are scheduled for May 10 this year. According to the Gazette notification on March 13, nominations for eastern PC polls will be accepted from March 23 to April 3. It appears that the eastern PC stakes would attract more political parties than the recently concluded local authority polls for Batticaloa District.
With the spotlight focused solely on the east, Muslim Guardian publishes the recent developments and stands of political parties.
Muslims need to form strong coalition
All Muslim political parties met at the Parliamentary complex at Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte last week to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition to contest the Eastern Provincial Council elections. There were many Muslim leaders at the meeting, including Rauff Hakeem, Ferial Ashraff, ACMC Leader M.M. Saheed, Ministers Athaullah, Najeeb Majeed, Amir Ali, Rishard Badiudeen, SLMC General Secretary Hasan Ali and Basheer Segu Dawood.
At the very outset, Minister Ashraff said that if the SLMC had been there with the government, there wouldn’t have been any complication and the Muslims could have fielded a chief ministerial candidate straight away.“Even now it is not too late. Though the SLMC is out of the government, there is still goodwill prevailing between the government and the SLMC,” Ashraff said – relaying a message that had been sent through Basil Rajapaksa, indicating the stance of the government.
However, Hakeem declined. He said it would be rather difficult to get back at this stage because he would become a laughing stock among the people. Saheed intervened and said there was a precedent created by the SLMC, as they had adopted two different policies in the periphery and at the centre.
He said, “Though you are in the opposition, the SLMC is supporting the government to maintain a majority in the north western province. This has happened on earlier occasions too.”
He then cited precedents from the CWC and the SLMC. “It’s not a new thing,” Saheed said, “You can adopt one policy at the centre and another at the periphery.” Minister Athaullah said, “If you come together with the government, we would support your candidate to be the chief ministerial nominee for the Eastern Province.” But it appeared that Hakeem’s commitment was elsewhere.
He then put forward the Pillaiyan factor and said that it could be difficult for them to go along with the Pillaiyan group, which was responsible for the massacre of Muslims on various occasions. Once again, ACMC Leader Saheed said, “All that happened under the leadership of Prabhakaran and when Pillaiyan and Karuna were part of the LTTE’s eastern organisation but now they are out of it. All those were done under the command of Prabhakaran.”
“However, in 2004, when the government in power signed the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE, your goodself met with Prabhakaran, shook hands with him and even signed a MoU. So under those circumstances, I don’t see any problem in going along and contesting with the Pillaiyan group,” Saheed added.
But Hakeem said, “It is impossible. Please forget about it. It’s out.” Minister Athaullah then said, “If you can’t join the UPFA, we’ll do it with the UNP. We have to go with one of the larger parties.”To this Hakeem said that he had nothing to do with the UNP and that he had been given a mandate by the people to go solo.
However, Hakeem suggested that the other Muslim parties could come and contest under the tree symbol. Saheed once again said, “It has to be a common symbol. We can even contest under the NUA symbol, which too was formed by former Leader Ashraff.” Saheed then posed the question, “Why don’t we contest under the dove symbol?” Hakeem replied, “I am not prepared to compromise the identity of my party.”
Saheed then said, “Don’t take party symbols so seriously. Even the SLMC Leader who formed the party in the 1980s did not take the symbol so seriously. He had contested under the chair.”
The meeting ended without any decision being taken. The other Muslim parties are of the view that the SLMC made a commitment to the UNP and it may be a different alliance in different districts. The SLMC might go it alone in Trincomalee and Ampara while joining with the UNP to contest Batticaloa District.
It has been reported that Hakeem had fruitful talks with the UNP and that they would announce the final decision this week. However, political analysts are of the view that they have already agreed to contest together but the modalities had not yet been finalised.
Will UNP contest eastern elections?
The Muslim ministers in the government are placed in an awkward situation as far as the Eastern Provincial Council elections are concerned. Their predicament is understood. On one hand they want a Muslim chief minister in the east and on the other hand, they want to support the government hold on to the eastern administration.
Their fear appears to be the SLMC-UNP alliance. At the moment, they are all out to do anything that would break up the SLMC-UNP alliance, which they believe will be the key to win the Eastern Provincial Council election by the opposition parties.
The UNP has already placed three conditions if it is to contest the Eastern Provincial Council elections. Disarming Pillaiyan comes on top of the list while the UNP also demands that the status quo be restored in the east by redeploying the Police Special Task Force in the east. The STF has commanded respect among the people and the sudden withdrawal of the STF by the government has created a fear psychosis among the people. The UNP is alleging that deploying the Sri Lanka Army is a step towards intimidating the Muslims in the Eastern Province and to win the election by using undemocratic methods.Especially militarising the predominantly Muslim areas has caused panic and people are staying indoors because they treat the military as strangers to the area. The third condition is to have international monitors present during the elections. Disarming Pillaiyan and all other armed groups affiliated to the government could be a rather difficult task.
Even the JVP leadership had emphasised the fact that all armed groups other than the security forces operating in the east should be disarmed to have a meaningful democracy. However, JVP Propaganda Secretary and Parliamentary Group Leader Wimal Weerawansa has contradicted this position stating that it would be a crime if the Pillaiyan Group is forced to disarm, because the LTTE is on the prowl in the east to gobble them up.
It is crystal clear that the JVP has two different policies when it comes to democracy in the east. While a section advocates that all armed groups should be disarmed, Weerawansa, who is more aligned towards the government, is contradicting what is perceived as the policy of the JVP when it comes from the JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva. The pertinent question that arises now is whether the UNP would contest the Eastern Province elections if the government rejects all three demands made by the party. In reality, the government is in a position to do so.
Since it is the objective of the Muslim ministers who are working with the government to break the SLMC-UNP alliance, the government might reject what the UNP has demanded as conditions to contest the elections. What political analysts perceive is something different. They feel that the UNP should contest the elections come what may and make an impact in the region. The UNP, as the single largest party, should not take a step back by putting forward conditions. It is time for the UNP to fight back and show the people that they have another option.
Pillayan demands CM post – LSSP and CP break away for polls
The TMVP is demanding a guarantee it will be offered the post of chief minister of the Eastern Province if it is to contest in alliance with the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) -- but the ruling party is not saying yes or no to the demand while longstanding government allies LSSP and the CP have decided to break away for the polls.
A senior minister said a deal had been struck with the TMVP but refused to divulge if there had been an agreement to give the Chief Minister’s post to a member of the armed group. TMVP spokesman Azad Moulana said yesterday they were awaiting a response from the UPFA to the party’s three demands. He said that along with the demand for the chief minister’s post, the TMVP or Pillayan Group, was also seeking a specific number of seats for its candidates and sufficient funds to develop the province.
PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Siddarthan confirmed they had reached an agreement with the five southern parties because an earlier attempt to forge an alliance with the EPD had failed. Nominations for the Eastern Provincial Council elections have already begun and will end on Thursday. In a separate development, the main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which has decided not to contest the provincial elections, has urged UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to campaign for a merged north and eastern province.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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