Pro-LTTE Tamils want Govt. defeated

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, MAY 15. Pro- LTTE sections of Tamil opinion are egging on Sri Lanka's Tamil parties to back the Opposition United National Party's proposed no-confidence motion against the Government despite fears that political instability at this stage could disrupt the Norwegian- assisted peace process.

The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) has found itself under fire from the Jaffna Tamil newspaper Uthayan and on pro-LTTE Internet sites for declaring that it would oppose the no- confidence motion as toppling the Government now would upset the process for peace talks with the LTTE.

The TULF swiftly toned down its stand to stress that it would be forced to reconsider its support to the Government if it did not take positive steps towards peace talks quickly.

The UNP resolved last month to table a no-confidence motion in June in response to an internal crisis in the party when disgruntled members challenged Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe's leadership and accused him of being lukewarm in his opposition to the Government.

Mr. Wickremesinghe was specifically charged with scuttling moves by UNP parliamentarians to bring down the Government during the vote on the budget.

The UNP leader took what was presumably the best course for him to stave off the crisis. Several UNP parliamentarians are convinced that if the party makes a concerted bid to woo smaller opposition parties, including three Tamil parties, it could succeed in ousting the Government with the help of a group of ruling party parliamentarians who are said to be waiting to breakaway.

With 116 members, the PA Government has a slim majority of three in the 225-member Parliament, while the UNP has 89 members. A no- confidence vote can be passed with a simple majority.

However, it is yet a matter of speculation if the motion will be tabled at all, and if it is, whether the UNP will be actually able to muster enough numbers to defeat the Government.

But already, the Tamil parties, whose main preoccupation thus far was how to get the Government to talk to the LTTE, find themselves drawn into the centre of a debate on how to topple the Government that is finally saying it will talk to the LTTE.

It is expected that the two Tamil parties, the Eelam People's Democratic Party and the Ceylon Workers' Congress, (both are partners in the Government) will reject any overtures to them by the UNP.

But the Tamil parties in opposition are a different story. In an exact mirror image of the TULF's toned down position, the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) has declared it will support the no-confidence motion, but says it will be forced to reconsider its stand if the Government calls a cease-fire against the LTTE immediately.

The vociferously pro-LTTE All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), that has one member in Parliament, has said it will back the UNP, come what may. It is well-known that the LTTE has never really wanted to engage with the Kumaratunga Government. The eagerness that it has displayed in exploiting UNP moves to topple the Government make that more obvious than ever before.

Those arguing on behalf of the LTTE have suggested quite openly that the group would prefer to do business with the UNP rather than with the Kumaratunga Government.

Commenting on the hesitation of some of the Tamil parties to back the no-confidence motion, a noted pro-LTTE columnist in the weekly Sunday Leader has warned them not to be ``deluded'' by the Kumaratunga Government that an agreement has been reached for peace talks.

It is being put out that even if the Government were to now signal an acceptance of the LTTE's pre-conditions for talks, the LTTE would refuse to play ball at this stage, as any positive steps towards peace talks will send the Tamil parties decisively to the Government's side, thereby strengthening it's position vis-a-vis the UNP.

``The LTTE would be in no mood to help extricate the Government from the mess it is in. The Government is in bad shape, economically, militarily and politically. There is no compulsion (for the LTTE) to rush in and help it. It would be far better for the LTTE to pause a while and await the outcome of the Sri Lankan political struggle,'' the columnist has written.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Next     : U.S. missile system will not save India: Pak.
           scientist