COLOMBO: Winning the eastern provincial council elections which was held last Sunday has only enhanced the problems of the UPFA government. The victory, which election monitors cry foul and which was secured with the help of the gun toting TMVP, the party consisting of a group of former LTTE rebels, is now turning into what looks like a long lasting headache for the government.
The TMVP insists that President Mahinda Rajapakse promised the post of Chief Minister to Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan who heads the paramilitary group-cum-political party while Muslim ministers, who helped the UPFA secure victory in Muslim dominated areas in the east, say they will resign from the government en-mass unless the post goes to the Muslim chief ministerial nominee of the government.
According to political sources, a group of Muslim ministers met the Leader of the House, Minister Nimal Siripalade Silva on Tuesday and urged that in accordance with President Rajapakse’s pre-election pledge, Hizbullah from the government ranks be made the chief minister.
M.L.A.M Hizbullah is a former member of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) who resigned from the government to contest the eastern polls under the ticket of the main opposition, the United National Party (UNP). Mr Hizbullah when contacted said the chief minister position being given to him was a matter of ensuring the democratic rights of the Muslim community, who have elected the most number of members to the Provincial Council. “We asked Muslims to vote for the UPFA if they wanted a chief minister from their community,” Hizbullah said while the TMVP had made the same election pledge to the Tamil community.
Hizbullah obtained 35,949 preferential votes in the Batticaloa district, and came third in the list while TMVP leader Pillayan, topped the UPFA list by obtaining over 41,000 votes. The opposition, United National Party and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress have accused the UPFA of winning the polls by mass scale rigging and say it is considering going to court so that the election is declared null and void.
Meanwhile, political sources say President Rajapakse is likely to bow down to the pressure by the TMVP group and declare Pillayan the Chief Minister. “If not for this para-military group’s support the government would not have been able to oust the LTTE last year from the east and hold this election. Therefore, it would be easier for the government to give the chief minister post to Pillayan than to face more unpleasant consequences that might arise, such as the TMVP returning to the LTTE fold,” one politician quipped. However, observers say the nightmare of the government would begin only when after Pillayan is given the much wrangled over post. “It may seem the only way out for this government. But if the leader of an armed group, who won an election by intimidating people and who is known locally and internationally for human rights violations is given this position, it will only bring upon a total fear psychosis among the people in the east,” an east based human rights activist opined.
Meanwhile, complicating matters further, Karuna, the head of the TMVP prior to Pillayan is to be deported from Britain where he was arrested last November on charges of entering that country on a false passport. Karuna was the chief militant of the LTTE in the eastern district before he left the Tiger group in 2004 following disagreements with LTTE leader, Prabhakaran. Sources in Batticaloa say his return to Sri Lanka is likely to once again set off a surge of infighting within the TMVP plunging the already volatile east into further unrest.
