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Kumaratunga tells forces she is still boss

K Venkataramanan in Colombo

In what appeared to be the beginning of a power tussle, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga issued a special directive to the armed forces asserting that she continued to be their commander and would brook no undermining of her authority, as opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, whose party won the elections, prepared to form the government.

Kumaratunga, who invited the United National Party leader to form the government, asked the armed forces and police to act impartially while dealing with law and order problems, especially of a political nature.

"I will not hesitate to take stringent legal action against anyone who acts extraneous to these directives or neglects them," the president, whose tenure ends in December 2005, said.

Her order came amidst charges that supporters of the outgoing People's Alliance government, which was in power for seven years, were being harassed and attacked by UNP men in various parts of the country and that the new regime might direct the police to arrest PA bigwigs allegedly behind electoral violence.

The election results have created a dispensation in which a constitutionally strong executive presidency and a legislature controlled by the incumbent's main rival will have to share power.

Kumaratunga invited Wickremesinghe on Friday to form the government after his party finished with 109 seats in the 225-member Parliament.

The People's Alliance will now sit in the opposition with 77 seats.

The president, who will continue to head the government and the cabinet, had earlier expressed fears that she might find it difficult to work with a UNP-majority legislature, as she did not see eye-to-eye with its political and economic policies.

Meanwhile, another dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed throughout the country from Sunday evening, the fourth consecutive night that the people are being asked to stay indoors.

Police sources said there were a few stray incidents of stabbing in different places, and the curfew was a precautionary measure.

The European Union's election observation mission had indicted the major political parties for widespread violence that marred the elections, but endorsed the overall result as a reflection of the popular will.

In a statement in Colombo, the mission's chief, John Cushnahan, praised the people for turning out in huge numbers to exercise their franchise despite all the murders and intimidation that marked the run-up to the poll.

"The main political parties failed to give the necessary leadership and failed to take action against their members (who indulged in violence)," he said.

"Despite the problems that voters faced, it would seem that the result reflects the political will of the people who clearly wanted change," he said.

PTI

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