Lobby

When a group of Government Legislators decided to end last year’s Parliamentary sittings in a dramatic manner by placing a floral wreath in front of the table of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, it is unlikely any of them had a foreboding they would soon be placing wreaths for two of their Parliamentary colleagues, both cruelly assassinated for placing their faith in the democratic system.

The killings of UNP Colombo district MP T. Maheswaran and Minister (Non Cabinet) and Puttlam District MP D.M. Dassanayaka within the first week of January not only shocked the country but also highlighted the serious threat posed to elected representatives, irrespective of which political party they belong to.
The killings also added to the woes of the Government in the new year, which, while having to over come the hurdle posed at the last Budget in December, is now grappling with how it can protect Legislators.

The UNP on Tuesday morning walked into the Chamber with posters of Mr.Maheshwaran as well as banners directly accusing the Government for complicity in his killing while the Government was quick to blame the LTTE for his death.

Who ever maybe behind this killing, the decision by the defence authorities to withdraw his security soon after the final vote on the Budget on December 14 leaves room for doubt in the minds of the slain MPs party men as well as his supporters as to what role the Government played in the demise of Mr. Maheswaran. Their doubts are aggravated by the fact that the killings of two other Tamil MPs, namely Batticaloa district MP Joseph Pararajasingam in December 2005 and Jaffna district MP Nadaraja Raviraj in November 2006 still remain unresolved and the Government’s attitude of blaming every killing on the LTTE and forgetting about the matter has done little to instill confidence among members of the Tamil community, injustices against whom Mr. Maheswaran went to great lengths to highlight.

Tragically four out of the five parliamentarians from the 2004 Parliament who have been assassinated have been Tamil nationals including former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar who was gunned down in August 2005 by the LTTE. Emergency regulations were re-introduced following his killing but as Parliament debated its extension for another month on Tuesday, how far emergency rule has helped curb violence is debatable.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake in his customary manner read out the long list of atrocities attributed to the LTTE in the past month to make the case for the continuation of the emergency. While it won the support of the JVP, the TNA opposed it while the UNP abstained.

Despite the tragedies, Parliamentarians took time to fete the achievements of a remarkable Sri Lankan, world record breaking cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan along with members of the 1996 world cup winning cricket team as well as members of the present Sri Lanka team. While the cricketers looked on from the visitor’s gallery in Parliament, Government and Opposition members praised the achievements of the cricketers and the exemplary manner in which they played together for the good of the country.

Later they were hosted to lunch by Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara but the felicitation ceremony did not pass without some controversy. TNA MPs claimed they were not invited nor informed of the felicitation ceremony for Muralitharan and his team mates while members of the JHU said that attempts had been made to show they had boycotted the felicitation.

“The function was organised at noon, the time that members of the Buddhist clergy partake of their meals, so more attention should have been paid when the time was fixed. However, even belatedly one of our members Udawatte Nanda Thera went to the room where the function was being held but there was no arrangement made for a Buddhist monk to be seated and hence he left the scene,” JHU MP Ellawala Medananada Thera said.

Ironically Medananda Thera’s comments on why the JHU missed Muralithran’s felicitation came as he spoke on the condolence vote on MP Maheswaran whom he referred to as a close friend of his. “He was a regular viewer of the television programme on which I spoke about Sri Lankan history. He did not agree with everything I spoke about but one thing we agreed on was that we must all live together as brothers,” the Thera said.

A new parliamentarin Shafeek Rajabdeen was sworn in on Tuesday to replace Mr. Maheswaran while another waits in the wings to replace Mr.Dassanayaka. Under the existing electoral system, it is easy replacing a dead MP with another without going through the hassle of holding a by-election, but ensuring the security of Legislators is becoming more difficult by the day.

Minister Douglas Devananda escaped near death in late November in a suicide attack. Colombo district MP Mano Ganeshan has fled the country for fear of his life due to death threats. Two UNP Legislators Lakshman Seneviratne and Johnston Fernando told the House last week their lives are under threat while MP Anura Bandaranaike has written to the IGP saying he too fears for his life.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake assured the House that all MPs would be given maximum security in the wake of the recent killings. Only the coming weeks will show if that would be adequate to safeguard them from the killers, whose motive is to silence those who exercise their freedom of speech that is guaranteed to all citizens of the country. Failure to stop the killings could well spell the death knell for parliamentary democracy in the country with those elected to represent the people being silenced due to fear of reprisals against them.

And if this is the plight of this privileged set of people, the question is how secure can the ordinary people of this country feel? That burden of ensuring security for all lies with the Government and it needs to seriously address the issue before more lives are lost. But in doing so, the Government must ensure that Tamil nationals are not further alienated from the system than they already are.

Blame game with Tigers and ball game with cricketers