PA-JVP deal criticised

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, SEPT. 5. Sri Lanka's main Tamil party, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), today described the Government's one- year survival pact with the radical Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), as a ``foolish'' decision by the President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga.

``I would say that it is the most foolish decision the President has taken since she came to power in 1994,'' said the TULF leader and parliamentarian, Mr. V. Anandasangaree.

The ruling People's Alliance (PA) today signed a ``Memorandum of Understanding'' with the JVP to seal the agreement under which the JVP is to offer outside support to the minority government for one year. In return, the Government has agreed to a number of conditions laid down by the JVP.

One of the conditions is that there will be no peace talks with the LTTE unless the group renounces its demand for a separate state, nor will the Government undertake any constitutional amendments to devolve power to the minorities.

``Any undertaking not to deal with the most important national problem, the ethnic issue, is unwise,'' said Mr. Anandasangaree.

The TULF was one of the three Tamil parties that aligned itself with the Opposition, United National Party's (UNP) efforts to topple the minority government through a no-confidence motion.

The leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Mr. Rauff Hakeem, whose sacking from the Cabinet and subsequent walk-out with seven parliamentarians from the ruling coalition, triggered off the PA's battle for survival, also expressed concern at the PA-JVP deal.

With a large concentration of Muslims in eastern Sri Lanka, the SLMC also wants an early political solution to the armed conflict in the north-east.

If the minorities are alarmed by the one-year moratorium imposed by the JVP on the resolution of the ethnic conflict, the business community is panicking over the direction in which the party will take the Government's economic policies.

The president of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Chandra Jayaratne, told a radio station that the JVP's policies might result in a closed economy, affecting the country's economic development. He said the business community believed that for an economic recovery, it was important for the Government and the LTTE to begin talks at once

Under the terms of the PA-JVP deal, Parliament, that was prorogued in July by the President to avoid the no-confidence motion, is to reconvene on Thursday.

But in an ironic turn of events, the UNP no longer wants the no- confidence motion to be taken up on the first day, while the PA now wants it debated as soon as possible.

The UNP would rather wait for the Government to first implement another of the JVP's demands, namely reducing the Cabinet to 20 from its present strength of 44, before pushing the no-confidence motion.

Senior UNP members said it was meaningless to pursue the motion against an out-going Cabinet and that they would wait till the new Cabinet was sworn in.

The main reason behind the UNP's new ``wait and watch'' strategy seems to be that the downsizing of the Cabinet is certain to create discontent in Government ranks, and that the rejects might gravitate towards the Opposition, giving the no- confidence motion a better chance.

With the PA-JVP deal, the Government's strength in Parliament has gone up from 109 to 119, a majority in the 225- member House. The UNP claims that several PA dissidents, including senior ministers, are ready to vote for the no- confidence motion.

But right now, even the Ministers who have publicly fallen out with the President, are waiting to see how the Cabinet will be recast before they make their next move.

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Section  : International
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