From coalition to budget to terrorism, what’s next?

By Chandani Kirinde, Our LobbyCorrespondent

As Parliament sessions for the year came to a close on Wednesday, much of the optimism that was generated with the election of the new President last November seemed to have evaporated with the main topic of discussion being the threat from terrorism and growing calls on the Government to ban the LTTE.

The pressure on the Government to act was amply demonstrated when at least 15 senior ministers attended a media briefing in the Parliamentary Complex on Wednesday to announce tough new regulations promulgated under the Public Security Ordinance to crack down on terrorism as the Budget debate was winding down inside the Chamber.

This announcement fell short of the demands of the UPFA’s one time strong allies, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), which since the failed assassination attempt on Defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa have been calling for a ban on the LTTE and the abrogation of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA).

JVP Parliamentary Group leader Wimal Weerawansa speaking in Parliament on Tuesday said, if the Government did not act now to ban the LTTE and withdraw formally from the CFA, it was unlikely it would act again even if worse incidents took place.

“Some argue that banning the LTTE will make them more violent but didn’t they kill Lakshman Kadirgamar, attempt to kill the Army Commander and now the Defence Secretary all while being in a so-called peace agreement,” Mr. Weerawansa argued.

He also said LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran himself had stated that the CFA had given them to talk peace while waging war. This, Mr. Weerawansa said, showed that the group had gained much advantage under the CFA.

This time there was caution from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) with the new entrant to Parliament, Jaffna district MP N. Srikantha, who filled the vacancy created by the death of Nadarajah Raviraj, warning that any hasty decision at this juncture could have dire consequences. “If the LTTE is banned who is the government going to negotiate with? We in the TNA are not prepared to negotiate with the Government,” Mr. Srikantha said.

He also asked the government to distance itself from the treacherous elements in the Tamil community who have become ‘bootlickers’ of the government for their own survival and also from the extremist fringe of the Sinhala polity and use the UNP-SLFP agreement to find a solution to the national problem.

Along with the votes of the Ministry of Defense, the extension of the emergency was also taken up for debate on Tuesday and the several government and opposition members referred to the Defence Secretary’s presence in the Legislature. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake had the unpleasant task of once again giving the grim casualty figures of 34 security forces personnel and 78 civilians killed in terrorist attacks during the past month.

The Prime Minister said the government had to re-think its strategy with regard to how it deals with the LTTE as well as the role of foreign brokers in peace process. “We want foreign aid but as a sovereign country we will not accept any conditions being attached to this assistance,” he said.

Despite the tough talk on Tuesday, the Government on Wednesday not only announced the introduction of new emergency regulations and the resuscitation of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) but also reiterated its willingness to talk to the LTTE. When asked about a ban on the LTTE at the media briefing, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that a ban on the group had not made much of a difference to their behaviour in the past stating that they tried to kill former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and launch several major attacks such as the one on the airport while they were a proscribed group.

If it is some conciliation for the Government, the Budget got the support of the majority with 140 MPs, including those from the UNP, the JVP, the JHU and the SLMC, voting for and only 12 MPs of the TNA voting against. Surprisingly UNP Colombo district MP T. Maheswaran, who has made a habit of going against his party decisions and voting with the TNA, this time decided to vote for the Budget as well.

Whether the new found friendship between the UNP and the ruling party will last in 2007 is not certain but with the UNP, the JVP and the JHU supporting a Budget they all criticised, the Government might be able to exploit their indecisiveness to its advantage in the coming year as well.