Internal rift causes crisis in Sri Lanka

The Dawn, Asia News Network, Karachi

The sudden two-week suspension of the Sri Lankan parliament, sacking of three important ministers by President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the declaration of a state of emergency have caught most people by surprise.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe was away in Washington on an official visit and waiting to meet President George Bush when the suspension and sackings were announced. President Kumaratunga could not have chosen a better moment to embarrass her prime minister, if that was her intention.

She followed up her action by sending troops out on the streets in a show of force more reminiscent of coups than normal administrative measures. She said she had moved because she could no longer countenance any further deterioration in the security situation, although in the past month or so there have been no major incidents of violence, barring some rioting between Muslims and Tamils in an eastern district.

It is more likely that matters between the president and the prime minister have finally come to a head over the question of the best way of dealing with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE).

Relations between President Kumaratunga, whose party is in the opposition in parliament, and Prime Minister Wickremasinghe have been tense ever since the 2001 elections. They have been sharpened by the handling of the Norwegian-sponsored peace talks with the LTTE, which has just come up with a power-sharing plan that marks a departure from its original demand for a separate Tamil homeland.

The president was not happy with the prime minister's stewardship of the peace negotiations and about how much autonomy to cede to the LTTE. Perhaps there is also some problem about who is to claim credit if and when a peace deal is signed with the Tamil Tigers. It will perhaps be argued from the president's side that the prime minister was letting the LTTE get away with creating new facts by establishing its own institutions in the north and east as the peace talks dragged on.

Whatever the motivations for the 14-day prorogation of parliament, it is feared that the new development could delay or scuttle progress in a government-LTTE settlement. In their latest proposals, the Tamil Tigers are seeking autonomy within the Sri Lankan constitution for the north-eastern provinces, with an interim administration and elections in five years.

They have also largely held their fire since 9/11, considering discretion as the better part of valor in view of the fact that the LTTE is already branded a terrorist organization by the US and other countries. A truce has thus been in place for several months, the most hopeful sign so far in the context the 20-year- old civil war that has claimed nearly 65,000 lives. It would be tragic if the tug-of-war between the president and the prime minister should now affect the Norwegian peace effort and set back chances of an agreement with the LTTE.

President Kumaratunga surely would not want to be held responsible for a breakdown in the peace process. She should not push relations with the prime minister and his coalition government to a breaking point.

Differences between the two can only encourage hardliners on both sides and provide an opportunity to other powers with political or economic stakes in Sri Lanka to fish in troubled waters. All friends of Sri Lanka will hope for an amicable resolution of the current turmoil and for peace to prevail in a land fabled for its beauty and gentleness.