Political Column

Political Column

Muttur puts SLMC in soup
By Our Political Editor

Harassed Hakeem on Friday

On Friday Defence Minister Tilak Marapana was on his way back to Colombo after presiding over a meeting aimed at defusing tension in Muttur. The meeting itself was interrupted at regular intervals as sporadic gun fire was heard outside the venue, an army camp at Kattaparichchan.

The Minister himself and top security forces men made a hasty withdrawal once the intensity of the firing increased and the army was trying to push back Tamil mobs near the Kattaparichchan camp.

The helicopter carrying Minister Marapana and the service chiefs was flying over Hingurakgoda on its way back to Colombo when suddenly a message from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe came through the copter's radio.

His instructions were that they should immediately return to Trincomalee and ensure that any likely incidents be averted after the same day's Jumma prayers. The pilot was asked to turn back to China Bay.

The Prime Minister has been keeping a close tab on developments in the area to prevent further incidents as the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) demanded more security for civilians in the area.

The security situation had deteriorated over the past few days and SLMC's disputed leader Rauff Hakeem himself has been forced to take added security precautions.
That day, Hakeem moved into the Prima residential chalet. He wanted to visit the Muttur area with Labour Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, but was adviced against such a move by the army due to the prevailing tension.

The pressure from Rauff Hakeem on the UNF-SLMC government has intensified over the past few weeks. With the Muslim Congress divided into three (the other two factions being the Athaulla faction and the Ferial Ashraff faction) Minister Hakeem has been carrying on a single handed fight to restore what is left of the SLMC.

The developments in Muttur where Muslim-Tamil tension had been on the ascendent comes in the backdrop of such in-fighting within the SLMC. The abduction of two Muslim youth by Tamil guerrillas, followed by the mother of one of them committing suicide, triggered off the communal tension in Muttur. But the abductions were not the first reported from the Eastern province in the past few months.

Mr. Hakeem has been making efforts to get the LTTE to stop abductions and collecting of ransom from Muslims for the past few months and has brought up the issue earlier with the LTTE representatives at the negotiating table, but it has brought little or no response.

With these two abductions the Muslim Congress leader decided to camp in the Muttur area and was calling Prime Minister Wickremesinghe who was in Nuwara-Eliya for the April season, to visit the trouble-torn eastern city, instead of him (Hakeem) returning to Colombo for talks with the Premier.

The remarks made by UNP MP, M.A.M. Mahroof that the Muslim Congress members should resign taking the responsibility for the failure to provide security has further irked Minister Hakeem who is already under pressure from his party members.

The remarks were made at a mosque where both SLMC and UNP representatives were meeting to discuss ways of settling the conflagration following the abduction of the two youths. But on the contrary, there was further provocation by the comments made by both sides.

Before Mr. Mahroof made his comments, SLMC members blamed the government for its failure to provide security to the Muslims in the area. Mr. Mahroof was attempting to respond to the allegations and had gone on to explain that there were at least five SLMC members from the North and East who are either ministers or deputy ministers.

Already there had been a faux-pas when UNF Ministers Azwer and Dayaratna had visited the East and said the dog must wag the tail and not vice-versa - a reference to the SLMC dictating terms to the UNF.

However since the latest guffaw, Mr. Mahroof has been advised by the Prime Minister to refrain from making further comment and aggravating the situation. Minister Hakeem has been repeating his veiled threats of quitting the government - a constant refrain of his.

'I am under pressure from the high command to leave the government', Mr. Hakeem has been saying over the past few days and on Friday he repeated this when he addressed a press conference in Kattaparichchan, adjoining strife-torn Muttur.

The cracks within the SLMC has been widening over the past weeks, and the party leadership has not been able to take action to close the widening gap. The Athaulla faction has already sought permission from the Prime Minister to function as an independent group within Parliament.

The growing differences are being closely monitored by the PA who are working out broad strategies in the South with the JVP to form a broad coalition. The PA thinking seems to be to tinker away at the slender UNF majority in Parliament, before, may be, springing a surprise snap election on the people.

Over the Avurudhu holidays, Mangala Samaraweera is reported to have reserved a holiday resort in the South and was believed to have been finalising details of a Joint Action Programme between the PA and the JVP.

As Mr. Hakeem tries to rebuild his group in the party by adding further pressure on the government over the coming weeks, the PA is likely to take advantage of the carnage in Muttur. Mr. Hakeem, in the process is hardly adding pressure on the LTTE, despite suspecting the LTTE for the abduction.

"I am confident in working with Mr. Prabhakaran and trust that he control his forces" Hakeem told reporters. But, ironically the minister refrained from blaming the LTTE for the abductions of the two youth, which seemed to be the main cause for this week's incidents.

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