A key ruling coalition partner in Sri Lanka on Friday threatened to withdraw support to President Chandrika Kumaratunga's government on June 16 if she failed to back off from a tsunami-aid joint mechanism plan with the Tamil tigers.
"We will leave the government if the President does not withdraw the plan with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam by June 15," Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or People's Liberation Front said.
Any pullout by the JVP, which has 39 seats in 225-member Parliament, will lead to automatic collapse of the government that has a slender majority of five.
We will block any attempt by the president to enter into a joint mechanism to distribute foreign aid for survivors of the December 26 tsunami, JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe told reporters in Colombo.
"This is a violation of the sovereignty of the country. We will not allow it," the leader said, adding, "The president has no right to share sovereignty with anyone, particularly a terrorist organisation like the LTTE."
He said a joint mechanism was not needed to help tsunami survivors and said the affected coastal residents had been helped for nearly six months through the existing administrative structures.
"The government is even trying to make the joint mechanism sound like a humanitarian effort. But we will not allow it," he stressed.
Amarasinghe said they would ensure that their decision to quit the government will not be to the advantage of the main opposition United National Party, which has been backing Kumaratunga's peace overtures to the tigers.