The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) says it will join forces with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the upcoming parliamentary poll, but only for the purpose of addressing Tamil grievances. The SLMC will continue to be a part of the opposition coalition United National Front (UNF).
During an internal meeting held on Friday, the SLMC discussed the possibility of an informal arrangement with the TNA.
Over the next few days, SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem will visit the North and the East in order to assess his party’s chances in those areas, and to gauge the public mood over a possible tie-up with the TNA.
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| TNA leader and MP Sampanthan and SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem in conversation after the press conference. |
As political representatives of minorities, the SLMC and TNA were together perceived as consolidating votes to boost Opposition presidential candidate General (Retired) Sarath Fonseka’s prospects in the North and the East.
“We are eager to continue the solidarity we have established, in the parliamentary election and beyond,” Mr. Hakeem told the Sunday Times. He said he would hold further discussions with TNA leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, who returns from the UK later this week.
Addressing a news conference held at the Renuka Hotel in Colombo last Monday, Mr. Sampanthan said: “The results of the Presidential election indicate that the TNA and the SLMC are the legitimate representatives of the people in the North and the East.”
Mr. Sampanthan said the two parties should jointly implement programmes in the North and the East. He said preserving the unity among Tamils and Muslims was important.
During Friday’s Parliament debate on the extension of the emergency, Mr. Hakeem said the Presidential election had resulted in “ethnic polarisation”.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Mr. Hakeem said the SLMC and the TNA should not ignore the opportunity presented to them by the peoples of the North and the East. He said both parties had “historic” roles to play in post-war Sri Lanka in terms of securing the rights of minorities.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s re-election appears to have got the two parties re-thinking about their terms of engagement with the government.
“When we speak of co-operating with the government on certain matters, we mean that there should be ways of working out a meaningful agenda to address the long-standing problems of minorities,” Mr. Hakeem said.
Meanwhile, Colombo District parliamentarian and Democratic People’s Front (DPF) leader Mano Ganesan told the Sunday Times that an SLMC-TNA alliance would be mostly for working out a joint electoral policy for the North and the East. Such an arrangement would not have a negative impact on the UNF, he added.
“I think we are still a team,” said Mr. Ganesan, referring to the opposition coalition of which the SLMC is a member. The DPF leader confirmed that the TNA had provided the UNF with “outside support” during the Presidential poll.
The surprise bonding of the SLMC and the TNA during the Presidential election had sections of the minority polity talking. In a post-poll media statement, former Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) parliamentarian Veerasingham Anandasangaree said: “I humbly plead with the TNA to quit Parliament without fooling the Tamils and the Muslims of the North and the East.”
“As representatives of the LTTE, the TNA could have persuaded the LTTE to allow the re-settlement of Muslims in the North, and allowed the Muslims in the East to cultivate their lands. But they didn’t,” Mr. Anandasangaree said. “It is surprising the SLMC tolerated this, and that they came to an understanding with the TNA. The TNA said the LTTE were the sole representatives of the Tamil people.”
Another TNA critic, T. Sritharan, general-secretary of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF- Padamanabha faction), told the Sunday Times that “alternative politics” was necessary to address the problems of the country’s Tamil and Muslim people. |
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