By Col R Hariharan
Highlights
- As provincial council elections in three provinces are nearing political parties are manoeuvring to gain advantageous position. The elections in Eastern Province which has an ethnic mix would indicate how much the government has managed to convince minorities of its performance.
- Sri Lanka has announced an action plan to implement the recommendations of the LLRC.
- India has signed agreements to implement the first phase of constructing 43000 houses for IDPs. New Delhi’s coalition partner and leader of the DMK has agreed to drop the demand for Eelam from the agenda of Tamil Eelam supporters conference to be held in Chennai.
As provincial council elections (PC) in Eastern,
North Central and and Sabaragamuwa provinces scheduled for
September are nearing all political parties are marshalling their forces. Interest
is mainly on the ethnically polarised Eastern Province as this will the first
PC election there after the Eelam War ended. The EPC elections would also
indicate how people have responded to government’s rather poor record in
progressing political reconciliation process with Tamils. This issue will be a
significant one as the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the lead party in the
Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which did not take part in the 2008 PC election
is contesting now.
Similarly, the decision of the Sri Lanka Muslim
Congress (SLMC), which has sizeable following in Eastern Province, to contest
on its own is also significant. It is a partner of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition; in 2008 it contested as
part of the opposition United National Party (UNP). The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), lead party in the ruling 17-party
UPFA will be having the former
chief minister of Eastern Province S Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan led Tamil
Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) as its Tamil partner in the EPC. All Ceylon
Muslim Congress (ACMC) will be the main Muslim partner of the UPFA. As of now
SLFP sounded confident of winning all the three PC elections.
The UNP’s effort to gear up for the PC elections is plagued by its
internal leadership squabble. It failed to persuade former Army Commander
Sarath Fonseka to join the UNP after the ex-General rejected UNP overtures. Fonseka said he had no confidence in the UNP
and would go it alone and try to enlist the support of parties and individuals
to form a common Opposition front to take on the government. His Democratic
Party (DP) has once again applied for registration as a recognised political
party to contest the elections indicating he would like to retain his
independent political identity. How far
he would make headway on his own remains a question mark?
President
Mahinda Rajapaksa stung by growing public criticism over the government’s
performance said to be taking a number of actions to act upon reports of
corruption and lawlessness. SLFP leadership has cracked the whip on four of its
PC representatives facing several criminal charges including child molestation.
It stripped them off their party membership and positions.
At this juncture the government is facing considerable
embarrassment when senior minister Rishad Bathiudeen of ACMC was asked to
appear before Court of Appeal for using his influence to change a verdict
issued by the Magistrate in Mannar. The minister has denied allegations that he
made threatening telephone call to the judge or threatened the Judicial
Services Commission to have the judge transferred. According to the police, Muslim community had
launched a protest over a Court decision which banned the occupation of the
boat mooring station in the predominantly Muslim area. The Muslims had gone to Court seeking redress
and the Court had given a ruling that the place be handed over to the Muslims
in two weeks time. But, they pelted stones on the court demanding it should be
implemented immediately. Police made some arrests after the mob pelted stones
on the court and police.
Implementation of LLRC recommendations
Sri Lanka
government has announced the details of national action plan to implement the
recommendations of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)
appointed by the President. President Rajapaksa at a meeting with editors of
media said that 50 per cent of the recommendations made by the LLRC had been
implemented in line with the government’s post-war national reconciliation
policy. However, critics have pointed out that the plan announced was selective
and not complete in respect of all LLRC recommendations.
This was one of the core demands of the US-sponsored resolution approved at
the 19th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva
last March. Last April, Sri Lanka Foreign Minister GL Peiris had met U.S.
Secretary of State Mrs Hilary Clinton and briefed her on Sri Lanka’s plan.
India related affairs
Housing project: India has signed agreements with four
implementing agencies UN-HABITAT, International Red Cross, National Housing
Development Agency (NHDA) of the Government of Sri Lanka to launch of the
Indian Housing Project for 43,000 housing units in Northern and Eastern
Provinces. Already in the pilot phase 1000 houses have been constructed. In the last phase of the project about 6,000
houses will be directly built by construction agencies for people from most
vulnerable sections of IDPs. Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had made
India’s commitment to finance building 50,000 houses for IDPs during the State
visit of President Rajapaksa to India in June 2010. The entire Project is under
full grant assistance of India with a total outlay of about US $ 270 million.
Tamil Eelam issue: The Indian Defence Ministry moved out
some Sri Lanka Air Force trainees from Tambaram Air Force base after their presence
triggered strong opposition from political parties in Tamil Nadu. This came
about even as the Union Government extended ban on the LTTE by further two
years. The leader of the DMK M
Karunanidhi has announced that demand for Eelam will not be a topic of
discussion at the proposed conference of the recently revived Tamil Eelam
Supporters Organisation (TESO) to be held in Chennai on August 12. His
announcement came after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram conveyed a request
from the Prime Minister to this effect. This should ease foreign policy
embarrassment for New Delhi.
Miscellaneous
Registration of websites: The government’s proposed
amendment of the Sri Lanka Press Council Law for the levy of Rs 100,000
registration fee and Rs 50,000 annual fee has come under flak from the media.
The new regulation would apply to news websites already registered with the
media ministry. The
announcement came after police raided the offices of two opposition media
- the Sri Lankamirror and Sri
Lankaxnews - and arrested eight persons and seized eight computers
with two memory drives. The CID had alleged in the court that evidence
concerning a plan to overthrow the government had been recovered from a seized
computer.
China exports trains to Sri Lanka: According
to a Chinese news agency report a total of 120 trains have been shipped from
Qingdao to Sri Lanka. The diesel electric multiple units shipment is the third
delivery from CSR Sifang Co to Sri Lanka. The company is said to have exported
180 trains to the country from 2000 to 2008.
Pakistan help for nuclear power plant denied: Sri Lanka
minister for energy has denied an India Today report that Pakistan was to begin
consultations with Sri Lanka to help set up a nuclear power plant in Sampur in
Trincomallee. He said the Sampur power project would be constructed by the
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The report also said Pakistan was
believed to have discussed with Sri Lanka the up gradation and rebuilding of
T-55 tank engines, incorporation of rubberised tracks on tanks besides modernisation
of the fire and tank gun control systems.
Written on July 31, 2012
Courtesy: South Asia Security Trends, Vol 6 No 7, August 2012
URL: www.security-risks.com
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