National Govt. A romantic notion?
It had all the hallmarks of any coup d'etat by a military junta in some Banana Republic of yesteryear. AK-47 assault rifle carrying soldiers and policemen accompanied by the men of the dreaded Presidential Security Division trooping in to the Government Press, and at virtual gun-point ordering him to print the Gazette Notification required to suspend Parliament.

These were probably scenes that gave young impressionable officers in the armed forces "ideas", for a future military take-over in this country.

The UNF Government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe must take some of the blame for the political events that unfolded this week, and the ensuing constitutional crisis. Over-zealous political neophytes in the UNF clearly triggered this crisis, which was a long way coming, to a climax. Giving the President the handle she was so desperately waiting for, they just played into her eager hands. The issue had been allowed to fester for far too long as the Wickremesinghe Government strained every sinew to keep the LTTE glued to the negotiating table not wanting to rock the boat at all.

That is why the Presidential snatch received some degree of encomium from the citizenry. They thought she did the right thing, even if it was the wrong way.
To use the LTTE's outlandish proposals for what is tantamount to nothing other than a separate state - at this stage, to launch a constitutional coup is totally premature. And to reject them as being a 'sell-out' of the sovereignty of Sri Lanka is a tinge unfair.
This week's Presidential decree was therefore a politically motivated pincer attack to take total control of the security of the State, but why could she not do it in a more dignified way without the veneer of the often prostituted term " in the interest of national security".

For the President's own track record as Minister of Defence from 1994 till the end of 2001 is certainly not something to admire. We lost the east, nearly lost the north completely, camps were over-run , thousands of men died, thousands of men deserted for lack of leadership and thousands lost limb, home and livelihood due to a bungled prosecution of the war with the LTTE, while only a few profited from it.

And what on earth has the Ministry of Mass Communication got to do in today's context with 'national security'? If President Kumaratunga's reasoning was at least politically excusable, her adviser Lakshman Kadirgamar's argument of a bad brief was unfortunate to say the least, coming from someone of his stature, and the party secretary Maithripala Sirisena's reasoning was, simply pathetic (see page 3).

So, the country plunges into another period of uncertainty as the politicians play out their games of one-upmanship and intrigue. The days ahead will see back-stabbing and bribery at the highest levels of Government indulged in by the highest in the land.
An invitation to treat as lawyers would say, was made last Friday by President Kumaratunga in the form of a National Reconciliation Government, a romantic notion nevertheless even among those middle of the road leaders in both the PA and the UNF.

The hard-liners on both sides of the political divide just want it that way, and neither the leader of the PA nor the UNF has the courage to provide the leadership that this country wants from them. The cry of millions of peoples for the country's parallel governments to work together for the common good is just only music to the deaf.

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