Ports and Shipping Minister M.H.M. Ashraff has been in focus for quite some time.
It started with the controversial Galle Port development project, then shifted to Oluvil port and the Queen Elizabeth Quay. The latest, the Deegawapiya issue in which he has come under heavy fire from the UNP and the Buddhist clergy.
Mr. Ashraff was quick to issue a statement accusing the UNP of fanning communal tension over the Deegawapiya issue.
Despite all these Mr. Ashraff is happy over his achievements in the past two years and has come to be identified as ‘Iron Man’ in his community.
Quite content with his achievements, he told friends recently that attention was being focused on him constantly.
When some one said that he was the ‘Thondaman of the Muslim Community’ he smilingly quipped his achievements may be far greater. ‘Thondaman is eighty.... I am only 48 and so much of attention is focused on me,’ he said.
But Deegawapiya could be a big problem for Mr. Ashraff since it is connected with the sensitive issue of land settlement.
On the day of the protest, Mr. Ashraff drove through the Bauddhaloka Mawatha where the demonstrators displayed their placards prominently demanding that the settlers quit Deegawapiya land.
As Mr. Ashraff passed the protestors, he identified the main people behind it. He saw UNPers P. Dayaratne, Susil Moonesinghe, Jayalath Jayawardena and two other MPs from Ampara district.
Feeling the UNPers were unreasonable to the Muslims, Mr. Ashraff spoke to UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and General Secretary Gamini Athukorale in the Parliamentary canteen that afternoon.
He complained to Mr. Wickremesinghe about the role played by the UNPers in the protest that day and identified those who were present. Mr. Wickremesinghe expressed surprise about Mr. Moonesinghe’s involvement but not the others.
He told Mr. Ashraff that his party was not involved in the matter and promised to look into it.
Mr. Ashraff briefed the UNP leader on the ground situation in Deegawapiya. He said the surrounding lands of Deegawapiya had been colonised by the Muslims but they protected and respected the rights of the monks living there during the past 500 years.
It was through the benevolence of Kandyan King Senarath that the Muslims were allowed to settle there when they were driven out by the marauding Dutch after the maritime administration was taken over by the British.
Mr. Ashraff explained the backdrop to the Deegawapiya problem to friends in late November.
He said 150 Muslim families who displaced from Pounaveli in Ampara during the previous regime were clamouring for alternative land in the area and the Ministry, with the assistance of the Land Commissioner and the Government Agent of Ampara demarcated some land to be distributed among them.
The ceremony to formally hand over the land to these families was to be held on November 23. There was a problem when the bulldozer operator demarcating the land had moved into the temple land at Deegawapiya .
Mr. Ashraff then directed the Ampara GA to postpone the November 23 ceremony in view of the dispute on November 22. When Mr. Ashraff met President Chandrika Kumaratunga she asked what happened at Deegawapiya. She said she had received many letters and faxes protesting over the matter.
When Mr. Ashraff explained, she said he should go ahead and distribute land to the displaced.
But Mr. Ashraff said he did not want to rush as the people had borne this problem for several years.
He told the President that he would not attend any ceremony in the area until the matter was resolved.
On Tuesday when Buddhist monks and others protested over the dispute, he went on state television and radio to clarify the position.
Mr. Ashraff feels this was part of a major conspiracy by a section of the UNP to fan communal tension between Sinhala and Muslim people.
He warned that such acts might only push Muslim youths also towards the LTTE and aggravate the ethnic problem.
Meanwhile, Land Minister D.M. Jayaratne moved to cancel the earlier plan to distribute the land adjoining the Deegawapiya temple to the Muslims, but Mr. Ashraff told him that after demarcating the temple land, the rest should be distributed among the landless Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils in the area.
It is likely now that three Ministers - Mr. Ashraff, Mr. Jayaratne and Mr. Lakshman Jayakody - will sit in a committee to resolve the matter.
At the UNP headquarters, Sirikotha, former Minister M.L.M. Aboosally told Mr. Athukorale that the way the UNP handled the issue was unfair.
The UNP should realize it got nearly 25,000 Muslim votes from that area which helped the party to return three members to Parliament.
He also said the people had lost their land during the setting up of the Hingurana Sugar factory during the UNP regime, and nothing had been done to give them alternative land.
At Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake told Mr. Ashraff, he had now become a national leader more than a Muslim leader, after having listened to his explanation over the media on the Deegawapiya issue.
At present, the People’s Alliance is facing a problem as to how it should consolidate power in the provinces.
In the process, the government feels it is important to have local elections in Jaffna. It feels it would help the people to set up their own democratic local institutions for administration.
The armed forces who are now controlling the peninsula had pointed out to the Government the importance of having local administration there.
Accordingly, the Government decided to hold the local elections in the North and East to the surprise of the Tamil parties and the opposition.
On earlier occasions during the UNP regime, it took few years for the Government to decide on elections after having restored civil administration in strife-ridden areas.
The opposition is wondering why the Government is in a hurry to hold elections in the liberated areas of the North and East.
On the other hand the Government thinks elections would help push the LTTE to a tight corner, forcing it even to field independent candidates. But a lot depends on how the LTTE looks at the whole problem.
In this backdrop, the Tamil parties met the President last week to urge her to put off the elections. They feel the timeframe was not enough for any party to organise itself for the elections. On the other hand they were also reluctant to go to the North sans their cadres.
The Government appeared to be firm on the issue, of not allowing party leaders to be accompanied by their cadres during the election campaign. But the Tamil parties have urged the Government that they should at least be allowed to set up mini camps in the respective areas from where they could function. It is a matter to be discussed further with the security authorities to see whether they could provide enough security for the Tamil parties.
The Tamil parties feel it is the responsibility of the Government to create an atmosphere conducive to hold elections and for the parties to work in their electorates freely. At the same time the Government taking note of the situation in these areas had told the Tamil parties they should not indulge in fund-raising campaigns, specially for the elections.
At the meeting the Tamil parties handed over a document titled ‘The need for a North-East Interim Council and the Ministry of North-East Affairs in Sri Lanka.
Among other matters, the government is planning to hold local elections countrywide by April next year. As a prelude, it is mapping out strategy to gain control of grassroots local bodies such as Pradeshiya Sabhas. The government’s main allies would be the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Ceylon Workers Congress. If the CWC decides to join hands with the People’s Alliance the government thinks it would be a cakewalk for it in the Central, Uva and Sabaragumuwa Provinces. For this, the PA is holding regular discussions with the CWC trying to resolve the main problem of the estate workers.
The initial talks in this connection were held between Arumugam Thondaman, Minister S.B. Dissanayake and Minister G.L. Peiris. Minister Anuruddha Ratwatta joined at a later stage.
The talks were quite successful and Arumugam Thondaman expressed satisfaction at the birthday party of a leading businessman, saying ‘I could drink to-day’.
At the same time the government is trying to topple the UNP held Provincial Councils with the help of the Democratic United National Front.
The DUNF members of these Provincial Councils are working with the UNP, but under the DUNF label whose legitimate secretary is Ariyawansa Dissanayake.
A discussion was held at Minister G.L. Peiris’ residence as to how they should make it a reality and the plan appears to be to sack the present DUNFers who are working with the UNP and to appoint members who support the PA government. The legal action on the legitimate DUNF was decided in favour of the Ariyawansa Dissanayake faction, which later held talks with Minister S.B. Dissanayake to take a decision on the future of the UNP-controlled Provincial councils.
Another discussion was held at Temple Trees on Thursday presided over by President Kumaratunga in a bid to defeat the UNP-controlled Provincial Councils with the help of the DUNF.
The DUN(L)F headed by Minister Srimani Athulathmudali was formed after problems cropped up as to who heads the legitimate DUNF.
The DUN (Lalith) Front led by Ms Athulathmudali feels the government is trying to give confusing signals to the people as to who leads the legitimate DUNF. Meanwhile it is learnt that there is another factional war brewing in the DUNF between the Ariyawansa Pathiraja faction and the Mahendra Amarasekera faction.
But if the government tries to topple the Provincial Councils the UNP is likely to dissolve them, forcing the government to hold elections.
At the UNP Working Committee meeting held on Tuesday at Sirikotha many issues were discussed, including the death of Provincial Councillor Davindra Seth Vijaya Mendis the only son of chief opposition whip Wijeyapala Mendis.
Mr. Mendis said a lawyer from Negombo Nalin de Silva should be appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of his son.
Mr Mendis who spoke in emotional tones said his son died because of politics. Warning that the situation in Negombo was deteriorating, he said the party should appoint a person who could face all these challenges.
With this, Mr Mendis proposed the name of Nalin de Silva and said though Upul Deva Wanawasa is the next man in line he had not worked for the party. Mr De Silva is a close relative of Mr Mendis and has considerable practice in Negombo as a lawyer.
Former Minister John Amaratunga who intervened at this stage said Upul Wanawasa worked for him during the General Elections.
Former speaker M.H. Mohamed and former Minister Dharmadasa Banda too spoke in support of Mr Mendis’ claim but Ravindra Samaraweera said it would be better to appoint a committee to look into the matter.
Finally it was decided to put the matter before a committee comprising Gamini Athukorale, Nanda Mathew, Tyronne Fernando, Ravindra Samaraweera and Daham Wimalasena.
As the matter came to an end Susil Moonesinghe pointed out that though the UNP had taken a decision to boycott Lake House papers some UNP leaders quite often appear in Lake House papers..
He said though the party didn’t want him to give an interview to the Rupavahini he had seen other UNPers appearing on Rupavahini and asked as to why the party had adopted double standards.
Replying, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said he was not reading Lake House papers and that if Mr Moonesinghe wanted, he would read and see as to what was appearing in the Lake House papers.
The Working Committee also considered the current position on the Devolution Proposals. Mr Moonesinghe asked the party leader whether it would not be possible for the UNP members on the Select Committee to keep the Working Committee members informed of the progress at least once a month. Mr Wickremesinghe said it was not possible to do so. He said the Party was not opposed to the peace process and that discussions were essential because they helped to minimise differences. Ronnie de Mel said the talks were proceeding and the position of the UNP was that the Constitution should be Unitary and that the N.E. merger was not possible. A.C.S. Hameed said there were two Committees - one the Members in the Parliamentary Select Committee, and another Committee appointed by the Leader of the Party to talk to the Tamil parties. Both these Committees once they reach a broad consensus would report to the Parliamentary group and the Working Committee. At present members participate in the Select Committee on the understanding that the final position of their respective parties would only be known once the discussions in the Select Committee had been completed. The leadership of the Party would also be briefed by the other Committee that is talking to the Tamil Groups on their progress also.
Former UN envoy, Stanley Kalpage, while thanking Mr Hameed for his concern said they only heard what Minister G.L. Peiris said about the devolution package and therefore it could create a wrong impression in the minds of the people. But Mr Hameed once again said a final decision would be taken only after discussing the matter with the UNP’s apex body, the Working Committee.
The Select Committee has covered substantial areas of work, especially during the last one month when it had a series of meetings presided over by Dr. Peiris. Every item is being debated and discussed in detail. Some of the provisions are being amended. This week, one of the contentious issues has been about fishing. Minister Indika Gunawardena has asked that deep sea fishing be brought under the Central Government, and Mr Hameed has urged that the existing pattern with regard to fishermen using the territorial waters without any limitation be continued.
Mr. Hameed inquired whether the definition of a region would include only the land mass of that particular region or whether it would also include the sea territory that comes within a particular region. The Select Committee sometimes also relaxes its seriousness and enjoys now and then a little bit of humour. When Mr. Hameed raised this question. SLMC Parliamentarian M.N. Zuhair remarked ‘You are fishing in troubled waters’. ‘I enjoy doing that’ replied Mr Hameed, and Mr Peiris quipped in ‘That is an activity which Mr Hameed congenially carries out’.
The Committee now is in the process of a full study of List No. 1 - the areas that come under the Central Government. Dr. Peiris has always displayed an open mind anxious to accommodate whenever possible changes, though however minister Peiris and Ravi Karunanayake seldom agree on any issue in the first instance.
But now it appears that the sole aim of the Government is to push the devolution package through Parliament. For this it needs the help of the opposition UNP, which is doubtful.
In the alternative, the government is planning to go before the people for an unbound referendum (which has no bearing on the constitution) so as to put the UNP into a difficult situation and thereby force it to help the government to implement the devolution package.
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