COLOMBO: A key Muslim party in Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition has withdrawn an ultimatum to the government that it drop a controversial deal to share tsunami aid with Tamil Tiger rebels.
The National Unity Alliance (NUA) had given President Chandrika Kumaratunga until Tuesday to roll back Friday’s deal with the rebels.
The party had however since decided to stick with the coalition, the party said.
“Following talks with the president, the NUA will not rock the boat,” a party official said.
The president’s office said she had agreed in talks with Muslim legislators to address their concerns.
“Their concerns were discussed in depth with the president,” a statement said. “They proposed some options with the objective of resolving the issues causing their community apprehension.”
The Muslim party had argued it was marginalized in the Norwegian-brokered deal to establish the aid-sharing mechanism, widely hailed as a prelude to restarting peace talks between the two sides.
Muslim residents in the island’s eastern districts had blocked traffic as part of protests against the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS) deal between the Tigers and the government, and asked their political leaders to quit the government.
Another coalition partner, the nationalist People’s United Front, had expressed reservations about the deal, but decided on Monday to stick with Ms Kumaratunga’s coalition, a party official said.
The government is already a minority administration following the withdrawal this month of support from its main Marxist ally, the JVP or People’s Liberation Front, over the tsunami aid deal.
The JVP filed action in the Colombo district court on Monday seeking the squashing of the pact. A date for the hearing is yet to be decided.
The JVP says the P-TOMS is a sellout to the Tigers.
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) has said it would support Ms Kumaratunga to ensure implementation of the pact with the Tigers, who waged a 30-year armed conflict until an Oslo-brokered truce in Feb 2002.
The UNP, however, has said it has reservations about not providing adequate representation for the Muslims.
Muslims account for about 7.5 per cent of Sri Lanka’s population of 19.5 million. The Sinhalese represent 70 per cent while the rest are ethnic Tamils.
It took months of secret negotiations for the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to reach the P-TOMS deal to jointly distribute billions of dollars of foreign aid in guerilla-held areas.—AFP
