Threat of revolt by Muslim ministers

The crisis over the appointment of TMVP leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan deepened yesterday with an angry-rejected aspirant M.L.A. M. Hisbullah accusing President Mahinda Rajapaksa of ‘betraying the Muslim community, while government Muslim ministers were reportedly threatening to move out as an independent group.

These Ministers told The Sunday Times yesterday they were having consultations among themselves and would meet senior Muslim religious leaders today to decide on their course of protest action. Ministers Rishard Bathiyudeen, Ameer Ali and Najeeb Majeed confirmed these moves amidst reports that at least three more Muslim ministers, including A. H. M. Fowzie, were backing them.

Mr. Fowzie did not turn up at Friday’s ceremony where President Rajapaksa swore in Pillayan as chief minister. Mr. Hisbullah in an interview with The Sunday Times said that President Rajapaksa had promised that he would be named as chief minister if a majority of the UPFA members elected were Muslims but on Friday, the President told Mr. Hisbullah that as he wanted to “finish the war” he needed the support of Pillayan and therefore decided to appoint the TMVP leader as the chief minister.

Mr .Hisbullah declared in the interview his three-member group would function independently in the council, setting off a crisis where both, the ruling UPFA and the opposition will have 17 members each.

Mr. Hisbullah said they were also consulting other members of the party and lawyers to discuss further action as they believed Pillayan’s appointment was not only a breach of promise but also illegal as the UPFA now did not command the majority in the newly-elected council.

Meanwhile, SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem whose UNP-SLMC alliance lost the elections, said the appointment of Pillayan as chief minister was a violation of the constitution while some of his party members said they were in contact with the Hisbullah group.
In the Eastern Province itself, tension was running high yesterday, with Hisbullah loyalists staging a hartal in Kattankudy where several shops were closed in protest and tyres burnt. But armed supporters of the new chief minister Pillayan and the army acted immediately to get the shops opened.

Meanwhile, the other major opposition party, the JVP, said yesterday that though it had only one seat in the Eastern Provincial Council, it could now play a crucial role because the UPFA and other opposition parties were tied at 17-seats each. JVP frontliner Vijitha Herath said the party believed the newly-elected council was in crisis even before it started functioning but he did not indicate the JVP would respond.

He, however, accused the government of rushing through with the Eastern Provincial elections under pressure from the Indian government though the JVP had warned that the situation was not conducive for a free and fair poll.

He said that the Indian government wanted to achieve two agendas -- give police and land powers to the Eastern Provincial Council and set up an interim council for the Northern Province. Both have been achieved, he said.