The growing disunity among members of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) found its way into parliament chambers last week, with government members having a field day at the expense of an opposition that seems to be in disarray.
It was minister Jagath Pushpakumara who interrupted proceedings on Tuesday morning to inform the House that there was an attempt, by a group of UNP MPs to assault Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Party’s parliamentary group meeting, which was underway in a committee room at the parliament complex.
Although there was no truth to the attempted assault rumour, heated arguments had taken place, providing enough ammunition for the state media to exploit the divisions within the UNP, resulting in it being brought up again in parliament the next day, this time by angry members of the UNP.
Badulla district MP Lakshman Seneviratne whose name emerged as one of those in the forefront of the group calling for Mr.Wickremesinghe to step down as Leader of the UNP at the previous day’s meeting, was irked that the floor of the House had been used by a minister to spread a false story which was later aired on state media. “The UNP is a disciplined party and this kind of incident never has and never will take place. It is sad that a minister was allowed to use the floor of the House to speak such a falsehood,” he said.
Chief Opposition Whip Joseph Michael Perera joined in saying that minister Pushpakumara acted contrary to parliamentary decorum. “Anyone can come here and utter some falsehood about another member and then get it aired on television. The Speaker must rule that what we say also gets the same prominence in news telecasts too,” he said.
Minister Pushpakumara attempted to put the record straight by saying his information to the House was based on a telephone call he received from a UNP MP, whose name he did not disclose when he was pressed to.
There were many on the government side who were willing to give a sympathetic ear to UNP woes, with Leader of the House Nimal Siripala De Silva coming to the defence of Minister Pushpakumara saying what he told the House was based on information he received and the government had no control of what gets into the media.
The end result was Speaker W.J.M.Lokubandara stating that if both sides continued to bicker over the contents of television footage of Parliament proceedings that get aired, he would have to resort to some strong measures.
The reality is that both the government as well as the UNP allow segments of speeches their members make in the Legislature to be aired on TV – state or otherwise-- to gain maximum political advantage. They only cry foul when things work to their disadvantage.
UNP party politics aside, the war against the LTTE too figured prominently when Parliament debated amendments to the armed forces Widows/Widower’s and Orphans Pension Scheme Act to extend retirement benefits to those serving in the volunteer forces too.
Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka used the debate to tell the House that the terrorists would be eliminated within days and the country was indebted to those serving in the military for the scarifices they have made to rid the country of terrorism. “This humanitarian operation was started to rid the country of terrorism and a large part of that task is complete. The rest of it will also be completed within days,” he said.
One UNP MP who manages to strike a good balance between supporting the war against the LTTE, while criticising other misdeeds of the government, is Kurunegala district parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekera. He was critical of international organisations who point fingers at the armed forces for violating human rights and choose to remain silent about the atrocities committed by the LTTE.
“There are attempts to bring about a stop to the military action against the LTTE using various international organisations to exert pressure on the government. This should not be allowed to happen,” MP Jayasekera said.
However, he was critical of the government for failing to disarm the members of the TMVP. “Karuna has joined the SLFP with 2,000 of his men. He has not handed over his own weapon. Now the SLFP will become the only political party in the world with suicide cadres among its ranks,” he chided. |
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