THE drama that unfolded on May 16, hours before Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan was administered the oath of office and secrecy as the first Chief Minister of Sri Lankas Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, best captured the significance of the event to all the stakeholders in Sri Lankas 25-year-old ethnic strife.
Four hours before the ceremony was held at the Presidential Secretariat, a suicide bomber suspected to be of the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on a motorcycle rammed a police vehicle right opposite the high-security zone killing 12 persons and injuring 70. A week after the tragedy, the security forces had no clue how a suicide bomber on a motorcycle laden with high explosives penetrated the heavily guarded zone.
Ironically, the van was carrying police personnel deployed to provide an additional layer of security to the Chief Minister-elect and prevent the proposed opposition protest against the alleged irregularities in the EPC election getting unruly. The attack was presumably carried out by the LTTE to signal its intent to destabilise the new administration in the Eastern Province right from the beginning.
Coupled with the carnage outside the Presidential Secretariat was the unsuccessful attempt by M.L.A.M. Hizbullah, a newly elected member of the EPC, to grab the chief ministerial post. An erstwhile leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Hizbullah had defected to the ruling combine just before the EPC election in the hope of occupying the top job by harping on the Muslim factor in the East.
Hizbullah and two other newly elected members, who stayed away from the oath-taking ceremony, argued that the newly constituted EPC had more Muslim than Tamil members from the ranks of the ruling combine. However, Rajapaksa preferred the former rebel from the LTTE to the defector from the SLMC, for obvious reasons.
The anointment of Pillayan suited the military-political strategy the Rajapaksa government is pursuing against the LTTE. By backing the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), the President has shown his regimes gratitude to the Tiger breakaway faction in its fight against the LTTE in the East and proclaimed the governments determination to continue its battle against the Tigers in the North.
The revolt of Hizbullah and his comrades lasted all of six days, the time it took to persuade him to become a Minister in Pillayans government. But it is difficult to say at this juncture whether Hizbullahs induction is enough to push the agenda for Tamil-Muslim unity in the East. The already fragile relations between the two communities came under strain in the run-up to the election campaign as elements from the ruling combine and the opposition sought to convert the race into a Tamil vs Muslim issue.
Ironically, the very day Hizbullah was sworn in Minister in the EPC government, violence erupted in Batticaloa district among supporters of the TMVP and Muslims, leading to five deaths. Fortunately, the violence was contained within a day. But it does not mean everything is hunky-dory in the East vis-a-vis the Tamil-Muslim equation.
Pillayans has been a meteoric rise. The TMVP is formally headed by former LTTE Eastern Regional Special Commander Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias Colonel Karuna. Pillayan is the Deputy Leader. A few months ago, Pillayan succeeded in overwhelming the Karuna group militarily and Karuna fled to the United Kingdom on a forged diplomatic passport with help from the establishment. There he was caught and jailed for the violation of immigration laws.
News is that Karuna has not only completed his prison term but moved an application before the British government for voluntary repatriation to Sri Lanka, withdrawing his earlier petition seeking political asylum. So, it would be a matter of weeks if not days before Karuna is back in the island nation.
It is difficult to envisage what role Karuna will play in the politics of the East once he is back. For the record Pillayan has been maintaining that his leader is out of the country for personal reasons and he was holding the TMVP fort on behalf of Karuna.
The truth is entirely different. Demilitarisation of the TMVP ranks and reconstruction of the war-torn East and rehabilitation of the displaced are the other serious issues that stare the new administration in the face. It is indeed an uphill task for Pillayan and all eyes would be on the EPC and his government in the weeks and months to come.
B. Muralidhar ReddyCOMMents
COMMents
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