Parliament

The JVP being part of the opposition in Parliament or not continued to be a subject of debate last week.

This was despite the fact that the Attorney General(AG), was of the opinion that since the party contested the last parliamentary elections as part of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), they were part of the Government.

It was the main opposition party, the UNP which brought up the issue on several occasions which prompted Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara, to seek the opinion of the AG. However the UNP themselves seem confused about whether they want the JVP to be on their side or on the side of the Government.

The issue came up last Tuesday after UNP Deputy leader Karu Jayasuirya, made a statement in Parliament saying the Opposition wanted the chairmanship of two of the most important Parliamentary committees, namely the Committee On Public Enterprise (COPE) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). He cited the precedent set by the UNP when it was in power by giving the leadership of these committees to the Opposition.

Everything was smooth sailing with the JVP too supporting the call, until the JVP’s Parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa made their support conditional on the basis that they would support the move only if the JVP was given Chairmanship of COPE while the UNP was allowed to take over the PAC.

Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernanopulle said, the Government was agreeable to Mr.Weerawansa’s suggestion but Opposition Whip, Joseph Michael Perera said it was something the opposition would decide among them and in this instance considered the JVP very much part of the Opposition.

However by the following day when the issue of deciding who would fill the remaining vacancy of the Constitutional Council (CC) - the place reserved for a member nominated by the minority parties in Parliament- the UNP once again reverted to the position that the JVP was not qualified as they were part of the ruling party.

The JVP found support from Urban Development and Water Resources Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena who said from 1956 when S.W.R.D Bandaranaike crossed over from the UNP with several others to join the opposition, the precedent was to accept such MPs as members of the Opposition. “These are the conventions that have been there for many years. Any elected MP has the right to leave the government and become an opposition MP,” he said.

The JVP has been pushed to playing the role of the opposition much more than the UNP these days, raising many shortcomings in the government including the issue of corruption as well as grievances of public servants.

Emergency regulations once again received overwhelming approval on Thursday with all the main political parties including the UNP voting in support of it with only the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs and Colombo district MP, Mano Ganeshan of the Western Province People’s Front opposing the move with the vote for the motion standing at 102 against 18.
Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake revealed to the House the need for the emergency to be extended placing before the House grim figures of both military and civilian casualties in the past month. A total of 98 civilian and 43 security force personnel have been killed between May 9 and June 4 while 66 civilians and 97 military personnel were injured, the Prime Minister said, blaming the LTTE and other illegal groups for the violence. Tourism Minister Anura Bandaranaike, praised President Mahinda Rajapaksa saying the President distanced himself from the extremist views of some of his coalition partners and chose to take a more pragmatic and realistic approach of solving the ethnic issue, saying “The President has shown extreme patience, in the face of provocation by the LTTE. If the attack on the army commander is not a declaration of war, what is it?” he asked.

Mr. Bandaranaike said without this problem being solved, the country could not be developed especially in an area like tourism. “Soon after the attack on the army head quarters, 400 tourists cancelled their bookings. No one is willing to pay and come here and get killed,” he said.

UNP member Joseph Michael Perera said his party believed that a federal system of government was the best solution to the national problem. “We have stated our position clearly and so have the JVP and the JHU but what is the position of the SLFP. We believe that they too support a federal system of government,” he said.

Anuradhapura district JVP MP, K.D.Lal Kantha did not agree with Mr. Perera's contention that the SLFP was for a federal solution. “Under the Mahinda Chintanaya, the President has said he is for a unitary state and federalism and unitary systems cannot go together,” he said. Mr.Lal Kantha added that there maybe individuals in the SLFP who supported a federal system but that was unimportant because the President has been given a mandate by the people to find a solution within a unitary state and he is bound by that.

Another issue that came up in Parliament was the plight of several hundreds of persons who were held in prison for violations under the Immigration and Emigration Act.

Jaffna district TNA MP, Mavai Senathirajah raised the issue on Wednesday in the wake of a woman arrested while trying to leave the country illegally, and who died allegedly when medical treatment for her asthmatic condition was not given on time at the Negambo prison.

“There are Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims all being held as those arrested under this act are not given bail. The government must take steps to remedy the situation,” he said.

Chief Government Whip Jeyraj Fernandopulle, said the Government was aware of the problem and necessary legislation would be brought to Parliament within the next two weeks to amend the law and allow bail for these persons.

Parliament also passed a vote of condolence on the late TNA Batticoloa district MP, Joseph Pararajasingham who was shot dead last December.