Chandrika hits out at UNP, LTTE

By V. S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, JAN. 4. The Sri Lankan President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, utilised her three-hour address to the nation yesterday over national radio and TV to lambast the Opposition United National Party, the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and sections of the media.

That the past has not been forgotten as the island steps into the 21st century also became clear when sections of the business community and the security establishment came under fire, as a reminiscent Ms. Kumaratunga upped the offensive against her political opponents.

It was a bespectacled Ms. Kumaratunga who appeared on national TV for the first time after her return from London on December 30 following medical consultations for injuries sustained to her right eye in the failed assassination attempt on her by a suspected LTTE suicide bomber.

What was initially planned to be a conversation with two Sri Lankan journalists, turned into an emotional outpouring by Ms. Kumaratunga, who dealt at length on the past. Sinhala sources attributed the lengthy speech to frequent repetitions in the address. Government sources said the telecast was ``nearly live'' and that editing was extremely minimal.

Recalling the past, Ms. Kumaratunga accused the Presidency of the late J. R. Jayawardene for the island's turmoil. The ``UNP is not a bad or rotten party'' she said and blamed the past leadership, ``who made it a rotten party''. The present UNP and some of its members were accused of colluding with the LTTE to bring about her political defeat.

On reports quoting a senior police officer as having said that senior officers of the Presidential Security Division were to be questioned for the December 18 blast, Ms. Kumaratunga said, security experts from ``three countries'' had commended the ``excellent services'' rendered by the PSD.

The President added that she had ``exceeded the number of public meetings suggested by the PSD'', and that the ``sterile zone'' was also reduced. Sections of the security establishment which were aligned to the UNP were behind such reports, she said, adding that ``what Prabhakaran failed, they are trying to blame on the PSD''.

Reports speculating the formation of a national government were described as ``fits'' by sections of the national press which wanted to see the UNP in power. Her earlier call to the UNP to join hands to solve the conflict was not aimed at any particular individual but the ``supporters of the party''.

Describing the LTTE leader, Mr. V. Prabhakaran, as a ``demon'', she said it was the previous UNP regime which ``pushed Tamils to violence and created a demon like Prabhakaran''. The problems faced by the island began after 1977, when a ``poisonous canker was spread all over the nation''.

``I am now more a prisoner than before'', Ms. Kumaratunga said adding that she would interact more with the people.

Unfortunate, says UNP

The UNP termed the President's references to it as ``unfortunate'' saying it was a ``slap on the face'' of those within the party who wanted to extend co-operation to resolve the separatist crisis.

The party spokesperson, Mr. K. Kodituwakku, said, ``we are very sad that even after being elected twice she has not reached the stature of the leader of the country. When one becomes a leader one has to forget petty differences. Her outpourings against the UNP are nothing new, but attacking the media and the business sector is a wrong signal, especially in a market economy.''

Detained

PTI reports:

Police have detained the mother and sister of the LTTE suicide bomber who made an abortive assassination attempt on Ms. Kumaratunga's life last month, media reports said today.

The reports said police had taken the two into custody to obtain more information on the 26-year-old suicide bomber, identified as Gunanayagma Leela Lakshmi alias Nandini alias Niro, who reportedly joined the Tigers about 10 years ago.

Police also questioned the principal of a village school where she studied.

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