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| CBK
kindles French connections She had worked a deal with the French Government to obtain specialised training for ten of her former President's Security Division personnel. Perhaps, the request was made from French President Jacques Chirac when Kumaratunga met him during a state visit days ahead of the presidential elections. But, it is only now that she had been moving things, reportedly using a letter-head of the President's Office. It is alleged that no reference about a "former President's office" had been made. We would welcome a response from the former President on this, and would be happy to carry any clarification on it. Without the knowledge of President Rajapakse or any of his senior administration officials, Kumaratunga has been moving matters whilst holidaying in the United Kingdom. Things came to a head after she spoke to the Inspector General of Police, Chandra Fernando about clearing formalities before the team left for France. The Police Chief had to seek the approval of Defence Secretary, Gothabaya Rajapakse. This is where things began to unravel. Gothabaya Rajapakse spoke to his brother - the President. And President Mahinda Rajapakse was a very angry man. Surely, no country can have two functional Presidents. He insisted the request should not be allowed since the former President did not have the authority to deal directly with a foreign government and to initiate action with Government officials. Quite apart from the courtesy of telling him about what she was up to, Kumaratunga later tried to send messages to Rajapakse, but to no avail. It was his turn to ignore calls. Then she telephoned from London and had a 45-minute chat with brother Gothabaya. What she told him was something startling. She asked Gothabaya Rajapakse to tell the President that she would no longer do politics and to allow her request. This, Gothabaya Rajapakse conveyed to the President. Grasping the offer, the President offered a compromise. He said he would allow the request on the basis that five policemen would be Kumaratunga nominees and the other five nominees would be by the President. The Mahinda Rajapakse chintanaya was conveyed to Piyadasa Dissanayake, secretary to former President to be relayed to her in London. But that was not the end of the drama. The Government now wants to find out how Kumaratunga was able to deal directly with the French Government casting aside all norms and protocol. President Rajapakse told a confidant that he was not really obliging Kumaratunga because she had offered to quit politics. That she would never do, he said. And we know all about her solemn promises. Nor would she give up sniping at him at any given opportunity, he said. The confidant quipped that Kumaratunga was regularly in contact with Opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, and may be hatching something together. Rajapakse gleaned this from a number of recent events. One was a visit to Britain by Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. Learning that he was in London, Kumaratunga had been telephoning him time and again for a meeting. De Silva found no time for Kumaratunga. But for old time's sake, before he boarded his return flight to Colombo, he telephoned Kumaratunga from the Heathrow Airport to say he was sorry for not being able to come over. Work had been so heavy. It is just then that Kumaratunga had quipped "Apey Yaaluwa Anaagena Nedha (our friend has made a mess of things, no !! ) De Silva asked what the reference was all about. "Why, didn't you read the Kotakadeniya interview," she had quipped. On her arrival in London, Sri Lanka High Commission officials there had tried hard to have the VIP Lounge opened for Kumaratunga. It is well known that High Commissioner Kshenuka Seneviratne is a close friend of the former President. One or the other would telephone each other when Kumaratunga held sway as President. But British authorities made clear the VIP lounge was not for former Presidents. Someone had to fork out Sterling Pounds 300 to have Kumaratunga use the CIP or Commercially Important Persons lounge. Now, Government officials want to ascertain whether High Commission funds were used for this or whether it was paid out of someone's personal pocket. President Rajapakse was receiving reports of periodic Kumaratunga sniper fire but has chosen to ignore all of them. Last Monday, he had two important engagements - in the morning he met envoys of the Donor Co-chairs of the peace process. He told them that since becoming President there had been a number of ceasefire violations by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He said all through, the armed forces and the police had acted with great restraint. Otherwise, his Government and the country would have faced a very serious situation. Envoys urged President Rajapakse not to be engaged in a controversy over the venue for talks with the LTTE. They said he should be magnanimous enough. This prompted Rajapakse to say "well, we could meet elsewhere." The LTTE is demanding that such talks be held in Oslo. The Government insists it should be in an Asian capital. Rajapakse however did not say what he meant by "elsewhere." There was a diversion during the discussion. President Rajapakse wanted officials to immediately summon the Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat, John Gooneratna for the meeting. His presence was felt essential since the envoys of donor co-chairs community were discussing the subject of talks with the LTTE. It is only then that Rajapakse learnt Gooneratna had gone to the United States as a member of Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera's delegation. "How can that happen without my knowledge. Peace Secretariat is under me. He should have first sought my permission. He should have informed me before leaving," Rajapakse exhorted. Later he ordered a senior official to warn Gooneratna that in future he would not tolerate such discourteous conduct. He wanted this conveyed no sooner Mr. Gooneratna returned to Sri Lanka. Co-chair envoys were also to question Rajapakse on the strong speech he made at Horana last Sunday. In that speech he warned the LTTE that his patience was running out. He said his silence should not be mistaken for weakness. Later in the afternoon President Rajapakse met with representatives of political parties except the Tamil National Alliance. He said he was conducting a separate dialogue with the TNA. He said he proposed to meet leaders of political parties on January 19 with the intention of arriving at some common ground and to examine a joint approach to the prevailing situation. He said at this meeting he would call upon all participants to treat the issues as a national problem and not that of the government. LSSP's Tissa Witharana asked President Rajapakse what he proposed to talk with the LTTE. He said it was on the question of the Ceasefire Agreement and a final settlement to the ethnic issue. UNP's Mahinda Samarasinghe welcomed the move. That prompted Ven. Ellawala Medhananda of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) to suggest that all southern political parties forge an alliance for a limited period with the common objective of settling the ethnic issue. JVP's Wimal Weerawansa proposed that one way in which solidarity could be expressed was for the parties present to adopt a resolution condemning LTTE killings. This drew a prompt response from the Up Country Peoples Front leader Periyasamy Chandrasekeran. He said he would agree to such a resolution only if there was no reference to the LTTE. The LTTE should be left out, he insisted. Such a move, it was pointed out, would then mean the parties to the resolution were pointing the finger for all the killings at a third party. The resolution was not adopted. Chandrasekeran also raised the issue of the Police operation 'Strangers Night'. President Rajapakse said the notion that it was directed against the Tamil people was wrong. He said the Police were doing so to nab criminal elements. However, the President said he had given strict orders that members of the public should not be harassed. He said he had, however, asked that people in their night clothes should not be hauled into Police Stations. It was decided that representatives of political parties would meet on January 19. Party leaders then met in Parliament last Tuesday. Wimal Weerawansa was to ask why the Hanguranketha seat rendered vacant following the conviction of S.B. Dissanayake was still not filled. He wanted to know whether it was due to political reasons, or for any other reason. Deputy speaker Githanjana Gunawardena said the matter should be taken up at the next meeting on January 17 when Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara would be present. On Friday night, President Rajapakse chaired a meeting of senior SLFP leaders at Temple Trees. One of the subjects of discussion was a complaint by The Sunday Leader editor, publicised in pro-LTTE websites and sections of the media, that President Rajapakse had abused him in foul language. "I cannot understand this. I never said anything like that. I only told him to act as a responsible journalist and not target members of my family," he said. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera - a one-time, if controversial, Media Minister, was to join in with some advice - do not engage such persons in any conversations in the future. Rajapakse also held a meeting with JVP and JHU representatives. The subject of discussion was the deteriorating security situation in Trincomalee. JVP MP Jayantha Weerasekera, had been manhandled and his car badly damaged. Rajapakse asked who carried out the attack and whether the JVP was involved in the protest campaign. Wimal Weerawansa said the protest campaign was not organised by the JVP. He alleged that another political party was behind it. They had manhandled Weerasekera after he made a plea for shop owners in Trincomalee to keep their premises open on account of yesterday being Thaipongal. The President asked the JHU 'whodunit', to be told that neither were they responsible for the protest. This led to Rajapakse calling for a full report from the Directorate of Internal Intelligence over who was behind the protests. At last Wednesday's Cabinet meeting Rajapakse made an appeal to Ministers. He said those holding Ministerial and Deputy Ministerial posts together should give up one of them. This was to enable such portfolios to be given to suitable people. Though he did not explicitly say so, they were for UNP members who were crossing over. The UNP's internal squabbling was nearing some settlement, or so it seemed with those out for the party leader's throat after his defeat at the last Presidential elections dividing among themselves as how to settle the issue. Several of them are now coming around to a settlement which would see incumbent leader Ranil Wickremesinghe remain where he is, but with his wings somewhat clipped, so to say, and deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya given greater responsibility. The unhappy one's are those who have almost a personal grudge against Wickremesinghe and the coterie around him, and the very senior party members (age-wise) who feel that time is running out, and that they should do a high jump, long jump, even a pole-vault, or simply walk across the line separating the opposition from the government benches in Parliament. Hard-core
party members doing the backstage work to bring about a settlement
say this is not entirely a bad thing; using the oft-used quote for
such occasions that it would purge the party of the bad blood in
it. |
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