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Is the ant more stronger than the elephant?Noor Nizam. Sri Lanka Peace Activist. Canada.Can a political similarity happen in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the East PC elections. Can the Muslim representatives in the UFPA alliance who helped pull the carriage of victory of the government in the newly elected Eastern PC lay down the rules for the appointment of the CM. The reporting in the Morning Leader today that the Muslims members
from the UPFA will not support Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan
in the Eastern Provincial Council administration if appointed as chief
minister by the government, will turn out as a political disaster to
HE. Mahinda Rajapaksa if the facts of the claims are true. It goes on
record that the President made a public announcement in the run-up to
the PC elections via satellite communication to the Muslim voters of
the East that the CM post will be given to the community that voted
the highest numbers of members to the council. Whether it will be acceptable
or contradicted remains in the decision to be made by HE. Mahinda Rajapaksa
on his return from the UK after making a challenging speech where the
President told the Oxford Union that if Sri Lanka fails against LTTE,
the world fails fight against Terrorism. The reality of this courageous statement remains in the sincerity of resolving the new issue of naming the appropriate CM for the Eastern Provincial Council soon.
What then is the reality that the President and his advisers have to face?
With the indulgence of the would be geopolitical powers of the Indian Ocean ring, the LTTE was made to split into what it became the LTTE of Prabaharan of the North and the LTTE of Karuna Amman of the East. The struggle to split the LTTE was not a power struggle within the movement itself, rather a struggle of identity viz-a-viz the Northerners and the Easterners within the movement, induced by an outside geo-political force, a similarity to what happened to Pakistan under the regime of the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto which drew lines between Punjabis and Bengalese (the Mukti Bahini scenario). The ultimate was the divide of Pakistan into Pakistan and Bangaladesh. Though very small in comparison, what makes it different is that unlike Pakistan ( Karachi ) and Bangaladesh ( Dhaka ) which are nearly a 1000 miles apart, the North and the East are divided on either side by borders within a sovereign state. The East is also a much more multi ethnic demography with Muslim villages sand witched between Tamil villages of easterners than the North where only around 120,000 Muslims live, but have already been driven out by the LTTE. A few still remain in the Mannar district, but very negligible in terms of population statistics.
It was in this backdrop that the late Hon. M.H.M.Ashroff was able to focus the issues of the Muslim Community in the East as the primary political instrument, (though the SLMC later on embraced the Muslim issues nationally), which fetched the support of the Eastern Muslims in making the SLMC what it is today. This political dimension of the Muslims came to reality in the Provincial Elections in 1988 and later on it took a strong appearance in the local and parliamentary elections that followed – the Muslim political “Representative and Brokerage Strength” that the SLFP,UNP and the FP then, later the TULF and now the TNA cannot deny to accept. The SLMC and it's voters/supporters (poraaligal – soldiers of democracy) became the voice of the Muslims of the East as the SLMC evolved into a National political entity with the late Hon. Ashroff , the charismatic leader he was, at the helm. There was no question about his leadership and he was the SLMC to all the aspirants of the Muslim Factor and voters in the East. The ministers of the East who have now signed the demand for Mr. Hisbullah to be made the CM were just “podiyans” in the SLMC during the tenure of the late Hon. M.H..M.Ashroff. But he was proactive and gave opportunities to the young and vibrant youth who merged forward to take up the challenge of the SLMC under his commandments. The late Hon. Ashroff harnessed the vigour of these aspirants by making sure that they did not take to violence or any form of arms struggle, though the East was entrenched in a culture of violence and arms environment as a result of the ideology of the LTTE being embraced by the Tamil youth. The credit of keeping the Muslim youth of the North, North Eastern and East away from taking to arms should go to the credit of the later Hon. Ashroff and few of his close associates who can be seen as the present hierarchy of the SLMC.
The challenge of Pillayan and the Muslim reality of the PC elections. The PC elections has clearly demonstrated the vision of the late Hon. M./H.M.Asnroff as being alive, even after his demise in 2000. The tragedy of September 16 involving an MI-17 helicopter of the Sri Lanka Air Force above the Urakanda mountain range in the Aranayaka area in Kegalle district of Sabaragamuwa province resulted in the death of a dynamic political leader of the island. Along with him were killed 14 others including crew members, security personnel, personal staff and political supporters. That created a very big democratic political vacuum, specially in the East. If HE. Mahinda Rajapaksa and his team are of opinion that Pillayan of the TMVP and a former LTTE’er can take the mantle of becoming a “DEMOCRAT” or democratic leader of the EAST, to fill the vacuum created by the demise of the late Hon. M.H.M.Ashroff, then it becomes the “REVERSAL” of DEMOCRACY in the EAST. If the process of the Pillayan group embracing DEMOCRACY was true, then the PC elections was the best opportunity to demonstrate the TRUTH – denouncing violence and laying down the arms. The foul cry made by TMVP supported by some of the Ministers of the UPFA that the Pillayan group have come into the fold of DEMOCRACY is a “little red riding hood” and the fox story. Thus the credence of HE. Mahinda Rajapaksa as a ”true democrat” and a champion of HR has been tarnished by the deficiency of the TMVP and alliance of the UPFA not willing to lay down arms in the run-up to the PC elections. Whatever the arguments may be in terms of self defense, it still has overshadowed his credence. The Sri Lankan security forces were still capable of providing the security. On the contrary, one of the sympathizers of the SLMC now, Mr.Segu Dawood Basheer had been one time the EROS leader for Eravur. He tucked his pistol under his shirt and sarong when he started his politics with EROS. Hon. Segu Dawood's former leader of EROS at that time was one Mr.V. Balakumar who was a confidante of LTTE leader, Mr.V.Priphaharan. There was a time when Mr.Segu Dawood vowed to defeat the SLMC by all means as (in his opinion) it was a dire threat to the struggle of the "Tamil speaking people". But the same Segu Dawood is a total “DEMOCRAT” today and has even risen in the hierarchy of the SLMC in recent times to become it’s Chairman. He is also now a confidant of Hon Rauf Hakeem the leader of the SLMC., and led the UNP/SLMC Alliance in Batticola. Mr. Segu Dawood Basheer does not carry arms.
In the force of “DEMOCRACY” Hon. Segu Dawood Basheer led the UNP/SLMC alliance and got 4 seats while the UPFA captured 6 seats.
It is the contrast of these two situations that shows the reality of the Muslims in the EAST in their democratic struggle which is “What the reality that the President and his advisers have to face”?
The President should not be used as the reason to fan violence in the EAST at any cost by a few armed Tamil militants pretending to be democratic. At the same time, the President has to face the reality that, it is the Muslims of the EAST that has given him the bulk votes and enough members to claim the majority, be privy to the 2 bonus seats and be the winning alliance in the PC elections. President Mahinda Rajapaksa should stand by his word and help make
the EAST free of any more violence of armed struggle. It is not like
whether the ant is more stronger than the elephant? But the President
should not allow the Muslim support (Muslim Ministers) slip from the
government’s support base as it is. The President should not
either allow the Muslim support in the EAST to slip too, as a result.
The appointment of a Muslim CM in the East will help resolve a major
part of the “Muslim Factor” issue in the political arena of
the country. Otherwise, like the ant that dragged itself into the trunk
of the elephant causing the elephant to kill itself by dashing the trunk
to the tree, a similarity of events can happen in Sri Lankan politics,
in the present scenario in the EAST. Both the government and the SLMC
missed very much by not going into an alliance with the SLMC. The Muslim
voters represented by the Muslim ministers are indeed SLMC votes polled
because of the Presidents promise of a Muslim CM. Therefore the Muslims
deserve the CM post. The President has no time to play around in the EAST anymore. He has to take care of the North now. Taking care of the North is not just development and appointing task forces and fighting a battle – it is talking to the Tamil community, talking to the Northerners, talking to Prabaharan directly. If Ms.Priyanka Vadra, daughter of Ms.Sonia Gandhi met Ms.Nalini Sriharan, who was involved in the assassination of her father Mr.Rajiv Gandhi in Vellore on 19th March 2008 wherein Ms.Nalilini is lodged, similarly there are many possibilities for the Government to talk to the LTTE. The Government does NOT need facilitators or mediators or any truce to do that talking. A fair resolution to the issue of the appointment of the CM in the EAST will help very much to do so. |
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