<b>Kadir wants Liam Fox pact revived: Ministers snub Chandrika</b>

Shamindra Ferdinando - The Island

The rift between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the UNP-led United National Front (UNF) has widened with the government ignoring the president’s invitation for the inauguration of the National Consultation on Ethnic Reconciliation which began on Friday (26) at the presidential secretariat.

The president told the gathering that none of the 12 ministers invited by her turned up and pointed out the difficulty in co-operating with the government as they (the ministers) have simply ignored the launch of the national consultation.

Of them, only Justice Minister W. J. M. Lokubandara bothered to inform the presidential secretariat of his inability to attend, Kumaratunga said. Some of the invitees were abroad, she admitted, expressing the belief that the rest should have come if they really believe in cohabitation.

"President Kumaratunga feels snubbed," a source said, adding that their absence made the whole exercise futile.

Friday’s boycott came after a series of clashes between a section of ministers and President Kumaratunga over a gamut of issues including her recent speech at Polonnaruwa in which she levelled a series of allegations against some ministers — particularly Ravi Karunanayake and Dr. Rajitha Senaratne and ridiculed Finance Minister K. N. Choksy. In the past two weeks, she has included Defence Minister Tilak Marapana and Minister Choksy in her ‘black list’.

None of the PA dissidents were among the invitees, the sources said, adding that Ministers, Karu Jayasuriya, Milinda Moragoda, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, Karunasena Kodituwakku, Kabir Hashim, Rukman Senanayake, P. Dayaratne, Rauff Hakeem, Arumugam Thondaman and Mahinda Samarasinghe were among those invited.

Jayasuriya was away in China while Moragoda was with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on an official visit to Washington where he met with US President George W. Bush.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan was present. His presence raised eyebrows as many did not expect him to accept President Kumaratunga’s invitation as she continues to criticise the LTTE over a range of issues. President Kumaratunga took advantage of Friday’s forum to reiterate her concerns. The sources said that Sampanthan whose alliance has designated the LTTE as the sole representatives of the Tamil speaking people, has defended the LTTE.

In her speech, Kumaratunga claimed that the consultation was the second major attempt at ending the ethnic crisis, the first being the PA’s Sudu Nelum movement launched shortly after she was elected president for the first time over seven years ago.

Taking a shot at the government, she said that peace cannot be achieved only by winning war or signing MoUs, cease-fire agreements or settlement.

She also took advantage of the opportunity to remind the gathering of the July, 1983 riots which paved the way for the militant Tamil movement to step up its campaign. Claiming that her government formulated new constitutional draft, which contained very wide devolution which her government proposed to offer the minorities.

"We continued this while the LTTE was waging war and the government had to respond militarily," she said.

Blasting the then opposition for refusing to back her government’s efforts to end the ethnic conflict, she said that she would nevertheless support Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe’s effort. She had not insisted on being informed in great detail of the negotiations that are going between the premier and the LTTE "unless the PM wishes to inform me of those details." She also mentioned former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar’s role in the peace process while stressing that she will continue with the process of consultation and dialogue. She said that she intended to carry out the process.

Kadirgamar spoke of the need for the government and the opposition to co-operate on the ethnic issue mentioning the 1977 Liam Fox agreement under which letters were exchanged between the president and the then leader of the opposition (now prime minister). Fox was the junior minister in the British Foreign office under the previous administration. It resulted in an agreement to adopt a bipartisan, consensual approach to the resolution of the conflict.

Kadirgamar said that it took courage for the leaders to have made an arrangement of this kind because it involved renouncing the prospect of extracting short-term political advantage from an issue which so vitally affects the future of the country.

Under the agreement, the government of the day was to consult the opposition on matters relating to the resolution of the ethnic problem and in the event the opposition returns to power it would not undermine arrangements entered into by the previous administration, including arrangements with the LTTE.

Praising the 1997 agreement, Kadirgamar stressed that "the time is nigh when the provisions in the letters exchanged between the president and the present premier in 1977 should constitute the foundation on which a common platform can be built."

-The Island -