Move to force SLMC contest under PA banner

By Abu Ahmed

If polls are held for the northeast provincial council, it is likely that all SLMC candidates in the north-east will contest under the PA ticket and not under their party 12LABEL. This follows representations made by SLFP organisers in the Digamadulla district to their party headquarters.

A delegation from the SLFPers in the Ampara district made representations to Provincial Councils Minister S. Alavi Moulana, stating the difficulties faced by them in the Ampara district. They alleged that despite the SLFP being the pre-dominant party in the government, its supporters were being harassed by the SLMC leadership and they were not allowed to carry out their legitimate political activity.

The delegation said that since the SLMC fielded candidates outside the North and East on PA ticket it was only appropriate that they should do so in elections in the North and East too.

Mr. Moulana who gave the delegation a patient hearing promised to bring these matters to the notice of the SLFP leadership.

SLMC leader M. H. M. Ashraff is meanwhile visiting party branches in the Digamadulla district with a view to mustering support for the coming elections. During these visits he stresses the need for the party to reorganise itself to meet the challenges from the national parties. The SLMC leader did not have it easy from his cadres who questioned his failure to meet them earlier.

During the past three years his supporters from other parts of the east have met him in Ampara town where the minister stayed whenever he visited the East.

Ambassador's clearance

Sri Lanka's new Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Naufel Jabir had no problems when he went before the Select Committee of Parliament which screens appointments to high posts. Although there was speculation in certain newspapers (not The Sunday Times) that objections might be made to his appointment, his detractors seemed to have got cold feet and Mr. Jabir obtained his clearance easily.

SLMC circles however could barely hide their disappointment at the appointment as Jabir who was Minister A. H. M. Fowzie's nominee had been preferred to S.H.M. Jameel who was their leader's choice.

Hisbullah row

In the meantime Deputy Minister and SLMC Deputy Leader M. L. M. Hisbullah is embroiled in a controversy with reports saying he might cross over to the UNP.

The story gained momentum since UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe made some remarks that Mr. Hisbullah was a friend of the UNP. Mr. Hisbullah who faced such comments with a smile is having differences with the SLMC leader over the issue of the South Eastern Council.

The story of this impending crossover began to spread like wildfire in his electorate so much so that Mr. Hisbullah was compelled to make a statement denying that he had any such intentions.

It will be recalled that even during the UNP regime Mr. Hisbullah associated closely with the then Minister of Trade and Mr. Ashraff's rival in Kalmunai A.R.M. Mansoor. Mr. Hisbullah was involved in litigation with his party but the advent of elections resolved the matter.

Ikram this time

The appointment of President's Counsel was the subject of discussion among Muslim circles last week. The general consensus was that Ikram Mohamed who has a long civil practice should be appointed a PC, an appointment he deserves. But this year too Mr. Mohamed was not an automatic choice as SLMC leader Ashraff made a strong claim on behalf of his SLMC colleague M. M. Zuhair. However, finally Mr. Mohamed was appointed.

Last year, too, senior Attorney M. Marleen was disappointed when the appointments were made. Mr. Marleen, who approached Mr. Ashraff to support his application for President's Counsel and was confident that he would receive such support could not believe his ears when he heard that Mr. Ashraff himself had been appointed a President's Counsel.

Meelad show

This year's National Meelad celebrations will be held at Malwana. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting last week presided over by the Minister of Religious and Cultural Affairs Lakshman Jayakody and Minister Alavi Moulana. Earlier the decision was to hold the celebrations in Beruwela. However, conflicting claims to hold the celebrations in Beruwela and Alutgama resulted in the Ministry shifting the venue to Malwana.

The National Meelad celebrations is another policy of President Premadasa which is being followed by this government. S.H.M. Jameel who was brought in as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Cultural Affairs by the State Minister of Muslim Affairs during the Premadasa era now functions as Meelad Adviser to the Ministry.

This is the second time the National Meelad celebrations are being held in the Gampaha district since the present government came to power. In 1994 when the National Meelad celebrations were being organised under the Chairmanship of Minister A.H.M. Fowzie, the celebrations were held at Thihariya. On that occasion the SLMC organised another meeting at a nearby venue and boycotted the national celebrations.

NATO expansion:its effect on peace its effect on peace

The most dangerous frontier of the post Second World War was the Iron Curtain, the ideological barrier which at the command of Soviet Russia fell in 1945 from Lubeck Bay on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic. It was given its name by Winston Churchill and as Jan Morris has observed "it separated not just states, or people or territories, or histories, but ideas".

We had not counted on President Bill Clinton's decision to expand the military alliance NATO, whose sole raison d' etre was this Iron Curtain, right up to the western frontiers of the old Soviet Union, taking in the former Soviet allies, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

This is arguably the most short-sighted, dangerous and counter- productive act since Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev introduced nuclear missiles into Cuba. It smacks of the same hubris that led Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to say during last month's Iraq crisis, "It is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future." If only there was the same somnolence in Russia then perhaps Mr Clinton's gamble with history would be alright. But in Russia there is a deep and profound outrage. "Who lost Russia?" is a question that the next generation will sweat over, just as the pre-World War II generation sweated over a resurgent Germany under Hitler. As John Maynard Keynes had argued, the Versailles peace treaty imposed after Germany was defeated in the First World War was designed not to heal the scars but to keep open the wounds. Bitterness and vindictiveness became ingrained in the German psyche.

Russia's great reform government led by prime minister Yegor Gaidar was appointed by President Boris Yeltsin in mid-November 1991. This was a crucial moment-leadership had been bestowed on a tiny group of young radical economists committed to building a western-orientated capitalist country. If the West had seized the moment it would have done what it had then recently done for Poland - write off the debt and create a huge stabilization fund. Instead it sent in the debt collectors. President George Bush dispatched David Mulford, the Treasury Undersecretary to Moscow with only one item on his agenda, the Soviet debt.

The second profound mistake was to allow Senator Jesse Helms to effectively torpedo ratification of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that is meant to reduce the number of long-range nuclear weapons from 6,000 to 3,500. By holding upratification at a crucial time in 1995 Helms allowed his obscurantist counterparts in the Russian parliament a chance to assault it in Moscow.

And now come the expansion of NATO likely, unless there is an unexpected great debate, to be approved by the U.S. Senate later this month. As a group of mainly conservative experts, including Brent Scowcroft, President Bush's National Security Advisor, wrote in the New York Times a couple of months ago, "antagonism is sure to grow if the alliance extends ever closer to Russia ... We will have misplaced our priorities during a critical window of opportunity to gain Russian co-operation in controlling nuclear arsenals and preventing proliferation."

For what? For American hubris? Mr Clinton had better come up with a better reason. It seems he has none and history will surely judge him for having missed the twentieth century's most promising chance of a great peace.

Colombo Ladies CC annexed the SIRASA/FM Trophy at the women's six-a-side softball cricket tournament at the Colts Grounds beating Young Ladies CC in the final. The champion team standing from left: Janakantha Mala, Sharmila Kitchill, Ganga de Silva, Vajira Premaratne (Capt), Champa Sugathadasa (V.Capt), Gayani Fernando, Roshini Nanayakkara. Squatting (from left): Priyadarshani Silva, Sajeevani Mendis, Inoka Galagedera, Subhani Fernando and Champika Priyanthi.

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