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Looking for chinks in Chandrika's armour

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO July 11. Three years ago, a custom-built armoured car saved the life of the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga. Today, a fleet of vehicles purchased during the past few years for her security is the eye around which a political storm is brewing, aimed at preventing the President from dissolving Parliament, which she is empowered to do anytime after December.

In December 1999, on the eve of the Presidential elections, a suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attempted to kill the President. Ms. Kumaratunga, the first political leader and the third Sri Lankan to survive the fury of a Black Tiger, won that election.

Three Decembers later in 2001, Ms. Kumaratunga's political opponents, the United National Party (UNP), won the Parliamentary polls.

That changed the island's political configuration and brought in a phase of uneasy co-existence between the President and the Cabinet of Ministers she heads.

The UNP-led Ministry, alleging irregularities, asked for details of the 48 vehicles purchased and formed a Cabinet sub-committee to go into the issue.

Political observers say that behind the move is a larger political agenda of reining in the President, who is empowered to dismiss Parliament a year after it is formed. As the President can be prevented from doing so if an impeachment motion is introduced, the issue has started to occupy some political space, they point out.

With the numbers loaded against the Government, any move to impeach the President is likely to fail as it requires two-thirds support in Parliament. "The most that can be done is to put a motion on the Order Paper later this year, keep the issue alive, and prevent her from dissolving Parliament,'' a parliamentarian observed.

Ms. Kumaratunga's spokesperson denied charges relating to the purchase of vehicles. Terming the allegations as "distorted media reports'', he told reporters on Wednesday that "there are no grounds for impeachment''. Details of the vehicles could not be released as they were custom-built for security purposes and any information made public would enable the Tigers to get the specifications, he said.

The Cabinet of Ministers categorically rejected charges of "political witch-hunt''. Asked specifically if these were part of the moves to impeach the President, the Cabinet spokesman, G.L. Peiris, said "that is for Parliament to decide''.

With the political clock ticking towards the December deadline, a complete return to the bitter bipartisan politics that the island has seen over the past five decades is not ruled out.

As a leader of a political party put it "the Tigers will be happy if there is a direct confrontation between the two southern parties and they will do their best to maintain the rift.''

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