The Hindu : Sri Lanka pact may give boost to hardliners

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 23, 2004

International

International

Sri Lanka pact may give boost to hardliners

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, JAN. 22. Tuesday's formal agreement between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the radical Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) marks the revival of attempts by the two parties to form a joint Opposition front to take on the ruling United National Party (UNP). A sense of déjà vu prevails, reviving memories of an earlier short-lived pact between the two parties in the 2001. While the imperatives then were to continue the life of the then ruling party, the People's Alliance (PA), in which the SLFP is a main constituent, the current dynamics aim at paving the way for the Opposition's return to power.

The latest agreement, giving birth to the United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) marks another chapter in Sri Lanka's historic rivalry between the two bitterly opposed parties — the UNP and the SLFP. The most serious consequence of the latest re-alignment of political forces is the possible re-emergence of hardliners on both sides of the ethnic divide. The formalisation of the SLFP-JVP pact, seen together with the implicit support that has been given to the UNP by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), foretells the rise of the hardliners in Sri Lanka's fragmented polity.

The radical left political space, usurped by the JVP, has grown over the past three Parliaments, with the former insurgent party now holding 16 seats and emerging as the third largest party. Disenchantment with the SLFP, rather than the pro-capitalist UNP has been one main factor for the rise of the JVP.

Of all the JVP's uncompromising positions, the one on the issue of devolution of powers is likely to cause the most serious irritants. On that issue, there is relatively more convergence between the SLFP and the UNP than the latest alignment. As uncompromising positions adopted by the two parties have had calamitous consequences, a coming together between the SLFP and the UNP, indeed, holds the only hope for lasting peace. Such a coming together would also make it difficult for the LTTE to lay the blame on a "divided southern polity''. With government formation a stated objective of the new alliance, Sri Lanka's political direction will be determined by how this end is reached. Parliamentary figures are not in favour of the combine, unless there is a cross over from the UNP. The President, who is also head of the SLFP, is empowered to dissolve Parliament and call polls. If such a turn of events were to stare on the face of Sri Lanka's polity, its future would depend on the rhetoric employed during electioneering. Even if the 2001 poll results were to be exactly repeated, the new combine can only marginally increase its vote. During those elections, the UNP won 45.62 per cent of the votes and the Peoples' Alliance and the JVP polled 37.19 per cent and 9.10 per cent respectively. Any shrill campaign in specific Sinhala-majority districts could result in a disastrous ripple effect across the island. The main gainers will be the JVP in the south and, any LTTE-backed Tamil formation in the north. Sri Lanka's mainstream parties, then, would be directed by the hardliners from both sides of the ethnic divide.

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