The UNP accuses PA of broken promises such as a speedy solution to the ethnic conflict and the abolition of the executive presidential system of government. Media minister Mangala Samaraweera claims that the government has fulfilled 40% of the promises and reached the last phase of military operations to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to solve the ethnic conflict through devolution of power.
Many UNP meetings were disrupted by PA supporters. Beliatta Regional Council opposition UNP leader Kalyanadasa Gunaratne was shot dead on 13 August. Three days later Nuwara Eliya UNP MP Rohan Abeygunasekera’s house at Rikillagaskada in the Hill Country was looted and smashed. PA’s Puttalam MP DM Dassanayake was arrested on 27 August for setting ablaze a UNP branch office.
The UNP carried its dissent into Parliament where the Speaker was forced to adjourn sessions on 19 August after UNP MPs walked out protesting against “injustices of the government”. The following day argument among MPs within the Parliament nearly ended in blows.
The increasing violence between the two major political parties may affect the fate of the devolution proposals, observers say. The UNP has neither expressed support for the government devolution package nor submitted its own proposals. Without UNP support the government will not be able to obtain the two-thirds majority in Parliament required for a new constitution incorporating the devolution proposals. In addition a final verdict by the people at a referendum is required. UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe says that his party will make public its decision only after the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Reform (PSC) completes its discussions.
After 18 months of deliberations, the PSC seems far from reaching consensus on the key aspects such as the unit of devolution and whether Sri Lanka would remain a unitary state or become a union of regions. The PSC has been given additional responsibility to discuss the new electoral reform proposals.
President Chandrika Kumaratunge declared in late August that the government was determined to enact a new constitution before June 1998 even without a two-thirds majority in Parliament. The government may hold a direct national referendum without parliament’s approval or appoint a Constituent Assembly to adopt a new constitution, both of which will ignore the existence of the present constitution.
Government sources are promoting these measures as a “constitutional revolution”. But there are cracks within the PA itself. PA ally LSSP’s General Secretary Batty Weerakoon has warned that his party would not support any attempt to by-pass the Parliament.
Four PA members - SLMP, LSSP, DJVP and CP - issued an ultimatum to the government in August threatening to abstain from voting in Parliament unless they are consulted on policy issues. The parties allege that the government is currently run by an inner circle close to the President, far removed from the realities of life in Sri Lanka.
Another PA partner Hill Country’s Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) made public three demands in early August if it were to canvass support among the million-strong plantation workers for devolution. CWC wants an end to distribution of land on tea and rubber estates for political advantage, continuation of government subsidy for estates not privatised and a special tax on tea to provide welfare facilities for the plantation population. The Tamil parties supporting the government are increasingly frustrated and have threatened to quit. Tamils are concerned over President Chandrika’s new “One country, one race” slogan and say such campaigns ignore the distinct identities of the minorities and the multiethnic, multireligious and multiracial character of Sri Lanka. Others view this as an attempt to downgrade devolution.
In this bleak atmosphere, questions have been raised about the bipartisan agreement between the UNP and PA brokered by former British Foreign Office minister Liam Fox to pave the way for peace talks with the LTTE. Former peace negotiator and UNP stalwart ACS Hameed believes the agreement has no more validity. British officials say that Britain would not intervene unless invited by the Sri Lankan government.
Justice minister GL Peiris, participating in an international seminar in Colombo on the draft constitution on 9 August conceded that the whole devolution exercise would be as abortive as other attempts in the past if LTTE is not involved and that PA and UNP should reach consensus before the Tigers are expected to respond.