CBK's views harden over LoE

Mr. Wickremesinghe appears to be determined to tread the dangerous path ahead, which he did not see as a smooth one. And on the very first day of the permanent ceasefire, a political bomb was dropped by President Kumaratunga with whom he is destined to work in a spirit of cohabitation. Ceasefire on the battlefront, but war at political front seems to be the new political order of the country. (See box story).

But has the Prime Minister taken the right decision at the right time? This is the question posed by concerned citizens who seem to be perturbed over certain reports from the North and East. Last week the media reported that the LTTE had carried out the fourth logistics run in the seas off Mullaitivu since the December 24 informal ceasefire began. And a day before the D-Day 2.2.2002, the Navy and the LTTE clashed in the eastern seas, resulting in the death of three sailors. 

Questions are being asked as to whether the LTTE is making use of the truce to regroup and rearm itself. It is naive to assume that the Prime Minister had not taken this aspect into account when he revived the peace initiative soon after the UNF was elected to office. Ceasefire violations said to have taken place in the past two months, we believe, must have been brought to the notice of the Norwegians who are acting as facilitators between the government and the LTTE. With his image getting a major boost in the international scene, the Prime Minister gave the country something to hope for. But he is facing new challenges in the local political scene with the President sending a signal, saying the "buck stops here." Or in other words, "I am in charge of war and peace."

Analysts believe the thaw between the President and the Prime Minister began to give way when reported moves by the President to prevent the arrest of one-time PA strongman and her uncle Anuruddha Ratwatte failed.

The President was visibly disturbed when she heard about the move to arrest Mr. Ratwatte. She is reported to have searched for some valid reason to prevent the arrest, using her powers. 

Failing all that, she telephoned Mr. Wickremesinghe who was at the time addressing his ministers at Temple Trees. The President reminded the Prime Minister that Mr. Ratwatte was under LTTE threat as he spearheaded the takeover of the Jaffna peninsula. 

PA supporters believe Mr. Ratwatte's arrest was linked to political motives related to the upcoming local polls. If that is the case, then the UNF was no better than the PA. 

Soon after the President's telephone call, the Prime Minster directed Interior Minister John Amaratunga to find out as to what was happening.

Mr. Amaratunga who returned in a few minutes said that Mr. Ratwatte was under arrest and that he would be produced before a Magistrate on the following day.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe inforrmed the President, that he would look into the matter.

But later Mr. Wickremesinghe told his ministers that it was a matter entirely within the purview of the Magistrate.

'The government should not get involved in matters connected to courts,' he said.

On Tuesday night, about 100 CID officers led by Lionel Gunatilleke and Sisira Mendis moved strategically to arrest him. Fearing an armed confrontation with the security outfit of the former minister, the CID team waited for hours before entering Mr. Ratwatte's Rajagiriya residence.

The CID officers told Mr. Ratwatte they wanted to take him to the CID headquarters. On a request made by Mr. Ratwatte, the team delayed the departure till 11 p.m. This gave time for several of Mr. Ratwatte's confidants to visit him. His lawyer and former Chairman of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Anil Obeysekera led a team of lawyers into the house. Soon after that Mangala Samaraweera, former ITN Boss Newton Gooneratne, a Buddhist monk and few others visited the residence.

They had dinner at the Ratwatte residence while discussing the sudden development. After the Buddhist priest chanted pirith, around 11 p.m., they decided it was time for Mr. Ratwatte to go with the CID team.

Mr. Ratwatte stepped out of the house, carrying a copy of the LTTE-Government ceasefire agreement.

The following day, Wednesday, Mr. Ratwatte was flown in an Air Force helicopter to the Teldeniya Magistrate courts where he faced charges relating to the Pallethalwinna massacre. After an initial inquiry, the Magistrate remanded Mr. Ratwatte till March 4.

Mr. Obeysekera, his lawyer, made a lengthy submission in the magistrate's chamber, but Mr. Ratwatte did not want to make any comment other than to say, 'I respect the rule of law'. 

Mr. Ratwatte had a courageous look on his face when alighting from the Air Force chopper at the Police Park on Wednesday but looked sad when he was driven away in a police car with escort.

In Hulftsdorp, the Ratwatte case has become a hot topic. Some lawyers argue that if the questionnaire had been leaked out to Mr. Ratwatte before he was questioned by the CID as reported in some sections of the media, he wouldn't have told anything to implicate himself. But others say the evidence unearthed by the Attorney General's Department should be of serious nature, warranting his arrest. 

There is another theory ó that is the arrest was linked to the signing of the MoU between the government and the LTTE. According to this theory, there are disgruntled elements in the army who are against the signing of the MoU and there was a fear that these men could rally around Mr. Ratwatte, who still wields much influence in the army. 

Meanwhile, some hardliners see the arrest as the government dancing to the tune of the LTTE. 

It is said that the evidence against Mr. Ratwatte was sifted jointly by Attorney General K.C. Kamalasabeysan and Solicitor General C.R. de Silva before a directive was given to the CID for his arrest. But some others say there was a difference of opinion among state legal officers. 

However, it is believed that some CID officers warned Mr. Ratwatte of his arrest. 

On Wednesday night former Minister Mangala Samaraweera and SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena issued statements condemning the arrest, saying it was politically motivated.

Mr. Samaraweera and other party activists wanted Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse to issue a statement on the matter. Mr. Rajapakse, however, prepared his own statement, which was not in line with the thinking of Mr. Samaraweera and others. Mr. Rajapakse's statement not only referred to the Ratwatte case but also the cases of several PA activists who are languishing behind bars facing election violence related charges. 

At the PA Parliamentary group meeting held last week, Mr. Samaraweera said that the arrest of Mr. Ratwatte and others is an organised campaign by the UNF to cripple the PA in view of the impending elections.

Mr. Rajpakse agreed that the party should take positive steps against the intimidation and harassment meted out to SLFPers by the UNF government. Minister Samaraweera alleged that Minister Rauff Hakeem wanted to see Mr. Ratwatte arrested and the UNP leadership had given into this demand.

Meanwhile, President Kumaratunga has once again run into problems with the UNF Government on the expansion of the cabinet 

It is obvious that she is harbouring a grudge against her one-time confidant S.B. Dissanayake who, along with Minister G. L. Peiris and others, were instrumental in bringing down the PA government.

After the PA defeat at the December elections, the battle between the President and Mr. Dissanayake intensified with the former refusing to swear in the latter as the Samurdhi minister but the latter was determined to get it.

Because of her reluctance to assign Samurdhi to Mr. Dissanayake, the Prime Minister was compelled to put off the swearing in of six non-Cabinet ministers as Cabinet ministers several times.

Last Monday, the President once again refused to swear in Mr. Dissanayake as Samurdhi minister after agreeing to do that.

The UNF saw this as a move that contrary to her earlier position that she would allow the UNF government to handle its affairs the way it wanted.

At a meeting with the Prime Minister a week before his departure to Singapore, the President agreed to swear-in the eight ministers, including Mr. Dissanayake. But on Monday, she wrote to UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickrama, outlining her problems with three ministers ó Rajitha Senaratne, Ravi Karunanayake and S.B. Dissanayake.

The President said though she was not happy with ministers Senaratne and Karunanayake, she would swear them in. But she flatly refused to swear in Mr. Dissanayake as Samurdhi minister.

This irked the UNP and the ministers in waiting. The President's explanation was that since R.A.D. Sirisena, the non-Cabinet Minister on Samurdhi, was performing his duties with responsibility, it was not necessary to have another minister to handle the same subject.

The UNF discussed this matter at length. Some were of the view that if the President refuses to administer the oath to Mr. Dissanayake, they too should refrain from taking oaths.

However, Prime Minster Ranil Wickremesinghe moved fast and drafted a strong letter, making out a case for Mr. Dissanayake.

Finance Minister K.N. Choksy who was in Parliament on Tuesday to present the Appropriation Bill for 2002, was summoned to Temple Trees. He went through the letter drafted by Mr. Wickremesinghe who personally handed it over to the President at the Security Council meeting.

The Prime Minister's letter said that since the UNF had received a mandate from the people to form a government it was the prerogative of the Prime Minister to nominate ministers whom he thought were suitable to carryout the duties.

Soon after the Security Council meeting, the President and the Prime Minister settled for one-to-one talk on governmental affairs.

It appeared that the President had done some hardwork on Mr. Dissanayake when she said that she had found fresh allegations against the minister.

The President said all the papers relating to the fresh allegations have been sent to the Commission probing Bribery and Corruption.

At this stage Mr. Wickremesinghe said she could remove Mr. Dissanayake if there was a prima facie case against him and take legal action.

On those assurances, the President eventually agreed to assign the Samurdhi portfolio to Mr. Dissanayake and subsequently the Presidential Secretariat issued a statement to this effect.

After everything was sorted out, the Prime Minister had a meeting with his ministers on Tuesday evening at Temple Trees while moves were underway to arrest Mr. Ratwatte.

At the meeting, a visibly happy Mr. Dissanayake was seen with a broad grin. 

Four non-Cabinet Ministers who are to be elevated to cabinet rank - Mahinda Samarasinghe, Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku, Imitiaz Bakeer Markar and Ravi Karunanayake ó were also present at the meeting.

Mr. Karunanayake elaborated on how he proposes to bring down the cost of living by maintaining buffer stocks to cater to the market when there was a shortage. 

The government now hopes that things would come right by the Sinhala Tamil New Year in April. Power and Energy Minister Karu Jayasuriya also made it a point to say that the present power crisis would come to an end by June. He said the Ceylon Electricity Board would be able to lift the power cut by that time. He said his Ministry had signed an agreement with Agrico, a private power company, to buy a unit of power at Rs. 7 whereas the previous government bought a unit at Rs. 13.

He said the power supply sub-committee headed by Charitha Ratwatte was looking at medium term projects while the Ministry was trying to handle long term projects to avert future power cuts. Meanwhile, Labour Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe launched a website of the Ministry with the hope of encouraging the people to come up with views, proposals and criticisms etc., on the country's employment and labour policies. Minister Samarasinghe's idea is to maintain a high degree of transparency in his ministry.

Was the President sidelined?

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe briefed her on the final draft of the Norwegian initiated Memorandum of Understanding for a long-term ceasefire only a few hours before he was to sign the historic agreement. When the duo met on Thursday evening, the other party to the MoU, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, had already signed the document.

The Prime Minister spent nearly two and half hours at President's House apprising the President on the plus points of the long-term ceasefire deal.

Associated with the President at the talks was former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadiragamar..

Soon after the Prime Minister left the President's House around 8. p.m., to brief ministers and newspaper editors who were waiting for him at Temple Trees, the President sat with her advisory council on peace, dissecting the final draft on the MoU.

The advisory council comprised former ministers Lakshman Kadirgamar, Mahinda Rajapakse, Mangala Samaraweera Senior lawyers H.L. de Silva, Jayampathi Wickramaratne, M.M. Zuhair, Javed Yoosuf and Professors Gamini Keeramulla and Ranjit Amerasinghe and Major General Asoka Jayawardena.

It was claimed at this discussion that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had given his approval to the draft memorandum on Monday night, but till Thursday evening, the President had not been kept informed of the developments. They noted that a statement made by Minister G.L. Peiris on Tuesday in parliament was misleading.

Minister Peiris told parliament that memorandum was yet to be finalised with ìmore questionsî to be asked and more answers to be given.

The minister may have said this in response to a question raised by the JVP, on the basis that LTTE leader Prabhakaran had not seen the draft at the time the question was raised. However, the Presidential advisors say Mr. Prabhakaran had given the greenlight on Wednesday night and it reached the Norwegian facilitators by 9.00 p.m. the same day.

A Presidential House source said that neither the government nor the Norwegian facilitators apprised the President of what was going on with regard to the MoU.

The sore point in the whole exercise was that President Kumaratunga was only shown the draft MoU in the evening, hours after LTTE leader Prabhakaran placed his signature on the document.

The Presidential advisors are of the view that Mr. Prabhakaran had placed his signature between 12.00 and 2.00 p.m. on Thursday whereas the President was given her copy only around 5.30 p.m.

The President's complain appears to be that in the circumstance it would be difficult for her to participate in the process meaningfully. However, a presidential source said she had expressed her keen commitment to restore peace while expressing her reservations on certain clauses of the MoU as pointed out by her advisors.

A detailed response to the MOU will be released in a few days time by the office of the President, after careful study."

The presidential advisory council also expressed concern over the authority exercised by the international monitoring committee.

Both parties to the agreement are bound by the interpretation of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and any litigation on violations could only go before an international committee or tribunal.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) is strictly responsible to the government of Norway.

The SLMM within 30 days of the agreement will complete the demarcation lines between the LTTE controlled areas and areas coming under the control of the government. Until such demarcation lines are drawn up the status quo will remain as at 24th of December, the day the LTTE announced a unilateral ceasefire.

The President is advised that the demarcation of areas will be monitored by the international monitors.

The announcement the ceasefire will not be extended to sea was also closely scrutinised by the advisory council.

However they drew the attention of the President to clause 1.2 and 1.3 which states:

1.2 Neither party shall engage in any offensive military operation. This requires the total cessation of all military action and includes, but is not limited to, such acts as:

a) The firing of direct and indirect weapons, armed raids, ambushes, assassinations, abductions, destruction of civilian or military property, sabotage, suicide missions and activities by deep penetration units;

b) Aerial bombardment;

c) Offensive naval operations.

1.3 The Sri Lankan armed forces shall continue to perform their legitimate task of safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka without engaging in offensive operations against the LTTE.

The Presidential advisory council also raised questions as to why the SLMM would not set up offices in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu district.

Does this mean that the SLMM will not have access to these districts? This point is yet to be clarified. They also discussed about the type of administration that would be established in the North and the East. In addition to these, the President expressed her concern on clause 1.8, which states: 

1.8 Tamil paramilitary groups shall be disarmed by the GOSL by D-day +30 at the latest. The GOSL shall offer to integrate individuals in these units under the command and disciplinary structure of the GOSL armed forces for service away from the Northern and Eastern Province. 

This means the EPDP, PLOTE and the other Tamil groups operating with the armed forces to be incorporated into the army.