The Hindu : Sri Lankan Opposition `working to topple Govt.'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 07, 2002

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International

Sri Lankan Opposition `working to topple Govt.'

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO Aug. 6. The bitter posturing by Sri Lanka's main political parties — the ruling United National Party (UNP) and the Opposition People's Alliance (PA) — took a new dimension today with the PA asserting that it was "working towards toppling the Government.''

However, the Opposition gave an assurance that the peace process would not be trapped in the political feud and that the efforts at conflict resolution would continue even if there was a change in Government.

``It is our democratic right. We want to get rid of this Government as soon as possible,'' the PA spokesperson, Sarath Amunugama, told reporters.

The current political heat is directly linked to the powers of the President, who also heads the PA, to dissolve Parliament after it completes one year. In a bid to allay such fears, Mangala Samaraweera, senior PA MP, said his party had "no intention of going for elections" which was "estimated to cost Rs. 1 billion''. Another election would harm the economy and the peace efforts, he said. The PA was responding to media reports that it was planning to topple the Government.

Asked if the ongoing peace process would be persisted with even if the PA succeeded in its efforts, Dr. Amunugama said "of course, the continuity would be maintained" and emphasised that the process was commenced when his party was in power. The former Foreign Affairs Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, was in touch with the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, reflecting the bipartisan approach to conflict resolution.

The PA's stand comes after the UNP, at an emergency meeting yesterday, decided to go for snap polls if the President "is not willing to cohabit with the Government''. The PA has taken the position that co-habitation involves an equal commitment by both the parties.

On the current political developments, Jayadeva Uyangoda, Head, Department of Political Science, University of Colombo, told The Hindu that "the peace process should go on on an autonomous track''. The country's democratic institutions "have been weakened'' and the political leaders "have not been able to use the political institutions'' to address the main issues. The present situation, he said, provided an important opportunity for Mr. Wickremesinghe to "emerge as a mature statesman".

In a strong editorial, the State-run Daily News today urged the President and the Cabinet to "put their heads together in an effort to put the cohabitation exercise back on track in the wider national interest". Pointing out that the current developments had "created an atmosphere of uncertainty and tension, once again, in the country", the newspaper said: "Political power games are a gross violation of the will of the people.''

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