by Surinamala; The Sunday Leader, Colombo, April 10, 2004
PM stakes and the war setting
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20040411/politics.htm
..[T]he events last week could well lead to a situation of a severe backlash from the LTTE given the conduct of the President and the security forces over the five TNA MPs from the Batticaloa and Ampara Districts considered loyal to renegade Commander Karuna.
It is now clear Army Commander Lionel Balagalle in consultation with President Kumaratunga has maintained links with Karuna, though the five MPs elected opted to work with the rest of the TNA parliamentarians elected on April 2.
TNA meeting
Accordingly, when the newly elected TNA parliamentarians met for the first time after the election, the five MPs, T. Kanagasabei, K. Thangeswari, K. Rasanayagam, S. Jeyanandamoorthy and K. Pathmanathan were present and not only endorsed the appointment of R. Sampanthan as the parliamentary group leader but also that the LTTE will be the sole representatives of the Tamils.
It was at the follow up meeting in Colombo on Wednesday, April 7, held at Gajan Ponnambalam’s residence down Queens Road that trouble started brewing when the army forced the five Eastern Province MPs to leave with them to Batticaloa.
Since the split in the LTTE, the army has provided security to the Eastern Province members who were said to be Karuna loyalists and the army security team headed by Major Tilak Sumanaratne accompanied the five newly elected Eastern Province MPs to Ponnambalam’s house for Wednesday’s meeting.
While the major stood outside, the 20 TNA MPs elect discussed future strategy and their decision to function as one cohesive unit in parliament, thus giving the TNA a total strength of 22 MPs with the two national list allocations.
In such a situation, given the fact the UPFA has only 105 plus one with Douglas Devananda, the combined opposition of the UNF and the TNA without the JHU counts for 110 and if these two parties were to combine in parliament, the UPFA would be perpetually outnumbered given that the JHU is to steer an independent course.
Thus the strategy of the President is to either lure the Karuna group MPs to her camp or keep them out of the way when it comes to voting time, particularly the speaker’s post which comes up for decision on April 22. But this plan was coming acropper with all 22 MPs deciding to stick together.
Not only did they decide to stick together but issued a joint statement wherein it was stated inter alia – “In view of the speculative reports in the media, all members of parliament elected from the north eastern region in the name of Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi emphatically state that we are unequivocally and irrevocably committed to the political aspirations of the Tamil people for over the past 50 years for self rule in a unified north eastern region, which has been the acknowledged historical habitation of the Tamil speaking people.”
This statement not only cut across the UPFA manifesto policy for negotiations with the LTTE but also ran counter to Karuna’s own statements of demerging the northeast.
And having approved the statement, the five MPs from Batticaloa and Ampara said their movements were restricted by the army and would prefer to stay at a location found by the TNA since deliberations had to continue for at least a couple more days. The army pressure was all the more evident with the major coming in at regular intervals and informing the five MPs it was time to leave.
With that said, Sampanthan called the major who was waiting outside and said the five MPs prefer to stay in terms of arrangements made by the TNA to which the officer did not agree.
The army officer said his instructions are otherwise and unless he receives orders from the top, he would be compelled to take them back to Batticaloa after the meeting.
Disturbed
Quite disturbed at this turn of events, Sampanthan spoke to Defence Secretary Cyril Herath and said the MPs should be free to make their own decisions and not be compelled to leave for Batticaloa.
Sampanthan also told Herath he would call back in 15 minutes for clearance but could not thereafter reach the Defence Secretary.
In the meantime, Major Sumanaratne came in again and told the MPs he had instructions from the brigade commander at Welikanda to escort them back to Batticaloa and could not delay any longer.
Not relenting however, Sampanthan thereafter spoke to the brigade commander in Welikanda and explained the need for the five MPs to stay in Colombo for a few more days.
Said Sampanthan – “I am the parliamentary group leader. The five MPs have to stay for further consultations. If the army wants, they can stay with the MPs but they have to be in Colombo. Otherwise the army can withdraw and come back after our consultations are over in a few days.”
Within minutes thereafter Major Sumanaratne came back in, shook hands and said he would be leaving and would return when they are ready to leave after their consultations in a couple of days.
But the drama was far from over and not long after the major was back again, stating he had received fresh instructions to take the five MPs back to Batticaloa straightaway.
Visibly angry by this time, Sampanthan tried to reach Army Commander Balagalle with little success, being told continuously he was not available.
This led to more discussion among the TNA MPs, and Sampanthan called back Balagalle but identified himself as Kanagasabei, one of the Batticaloa district MPs and within seconds, the Army Commander was on line.
Feeble excuse
Having got him on the line, Sampanthan identified himself and explained once again why the MPs had to stay put in Colombo for a few more days.
The Army Commander did not agree and told Sampanthan he had written instructions to take the five MPs back to Batticaloa.
Asked Sampanthan – “Written instructions from whom?”
Replied Balagalle – “From the secretaries of the MPs.”
Shocked at Balagalle’s feeble excuse, Sampanthan asked whether the secretaries can decide for the MPs, when the MPs themselves were agreeable to stay for further consultations.
While this conversation was going on, the five MPs got a call directly from the east no less communicated through the security and the panic stricken MPs said in the overall circumstances, they would return to Batticaloa but come back by April 16.
Whether that will now happen remains to be seen but for the LTTE leadership in the Wanni, it was the surest proof Kumaratunga and Balagalle were sowing the seeds of dissent in the organisation and ruled out any dealings with the new government.
In fact, just weeks before the April 2 elections, the Wanni leadership communicated to the President’s office through the Norwegians that they suspected Balagalle of handling Karuna and it could lead to a serious setback for the peace process in the event of the UPFA being elected.
And just 48 hours after the return of the eastern MPs to Batticaloa, the LTTE started an all out offensive in the east against Karuna and it is a matter of time before the Sri Lankan security forces are drawn into battle.
That then is what the President and her advisers have through this election visited on this country.
Originally published April 13, 2004