It was Highways Minister A.L.M.Atha-ullah who informed Parliament on Monday (December 2) that the executive committee of the party had removed Mr.Hakeem from the leadership of the party and suspended his membership from it. Mr. Athaullah demanded that either the SLMCs newly appointed leader S.Subairdeen or he himself should attend future party leaders meetings held in Parliament instead of Mr.Hakeem.

Although Mr.Atha-ullah was given a warm reception when he entered the chambers by the opposition members that day, it was the government members who were patting him on the back after he told the House that despite the internal crisis in the party, there would be no change in their support for the UNF government.

On Tuesday too, Mr.Athaullah took a few minutes of the time of the House by way of raising a point of order to inform that the District Court of Colombo had issued a restraining order against Mr.Hakeem from acting as the leader of the SLMC but this was met by a somewhat subdued response except from the few JVP MPs who thumped their tables upon hearing the announcement.

But Mr.Athaullah's triumph was short lived because it was Mr.Hakeem's moment of glory when the restraining order on him was overturned by the Colombo District Court on Thursday. Ironically, it was also the day that Parliament was debating the votes of the Ministry of Highways Mr.Ath-ullah's Ministry that Mr. Hakeem chose to speak since the failed attempt to oust him.

Shortly before Mr.Hakeem spoke, his opponent was on his feet to speak on the progress that the Ministry of Highways had made in the past year. However he strayed from the subject to reiterate that the SLMC had a new leader and this had been an outcome of the struggle between "truth and falsehood."

Mr.Hakeem who was seated in the front row, could be seen smiling to himself upon hearing these comments but chose not to say anything at that time. Mr. Athaullah made a hurried exit soon after making his comments and was no where in sight when Mr.Hakeem rose to speak. Unconventionally, he chose to start off his speech in Sinhalese first wishing his rival the best in his endeavours and then stating that he would not be shaken by the traitorous decisions made by a few people holed up inside five star hotels.

"They are playing with the sentiments of the Muslim community. They waited till I left the country to do this. This is a traitorous act," a defiant Mr.Hakeen said even though he seemingly lacked his usual composure. He also did not fail to recall the sacrifices his party had made to join the UNF mentioning in particular last year's December massacre of ten Muslim youth in Udathalawinna.

December 5 too dawned quietly but the SLMC crisis seemed to have overshadowed the significance of the day when the UNF completed a year in office. Except for a few opposition members telling government legislators "parissam wenna", there seemed no outward signs that there was any immediate threat to the UNF continuing in office even though the President now has the constitutional power to dissolve Parliament at any time.

Politics aside, it was a week when the role of the media was put in the spot light with JVP and PA legislators damning the government for its efforts to curb media freedom and accusing it of using the state media and manipulating some private state institutions to suit its agenda.

Strange as it may sound, Mass Communication Minister Imtiaz Bakeer Markar didn't have any critics but only sympathizers who praised his humility but said he had been put there as a ceremonial figure while the media Mafia was working behind his back.

PA's Mahinda- nanda Aluthgamage said it was the RMU (Ralahamy's Media Unit)-comprising a hand picked group of UNF-friendly media personnel-that was controlling all the news coming out in both electronic and print media ."The RMU sent Paul Harris out of the country. Now they want journalists to fill out a form before they file a story giving the name of their source. Is this the press freedom you promised," he queried.

JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake too attacked the government for forcing editors to run only stories that had government approval especially those regarding the peace process.

" Prabhakaran has been sentenced to 200 years in prison and he is shown on national TV. Will other convicted criminals get a similar opportunity?" he asked.

Defending the government was Rehabilitation Minister Jayalath Jayawardena who said the UNF had not resorted to dirty deeds like under the PA regime. "They made a false "koti" tape about me. I want this issue investigated at least now. This was a doctored tape made to ruin my reputation by PA's media Mafia, " he charged.

He said the media was free to write what they wanted and there would be no controls by the government.

Whether they truly stood for press freedom or not, legislators on both sides of the House were on their feet shouting accusations at each other during the course of the entire debate on the media. The PA's Nimal Siripala De Silva was one who had to shout to be heard amidst the cacophony of voices.

While castigating some media personnel whom he referred to as the "lap dogs" of the UNF government, Mr.De Silva had a word of praise for those journalists who have defied government threats to reveal the truth.

The only good news coming out of the Mass Communication Ministry debate was that all in-coming mobile calls would be free of charge starting next year as announced by Minister Bakeer Markar.

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