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Sri Lankan Ruling Party Seeks to Oust Muslims From Parliament
COLOMBO, July 12 (News Agencies) - Sri Lanka's ruling coalition Thursday launched actions intended to sack from parliament seven Muslim legislators who defected from the government and cost it its majority, news agencies reported.
The ruling People's Alliance's (PA) general secretary, D.M. Jayaratne, said he had asked the seven Muslim MPs to explain why they abandoned President Chandrika Kumaratunga's coalition on June 20th for the opposition, plunging the government into deep political crisis, the French news agency AFP reported.
"I am sending them letters asking them why they should not be sacked for bringing the government to disrepute," Jayaratne said.
The seven members of the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress (SLMC) will have one week to send in their formal responses and a possible expulsion could be challenged in court within a month.
The government argues that since the Muslim legislators were elected under the People's Alliance, the ruling coalition can still sack them from the party. The legislators would then automatically lose their seats, AFP reported.
However, SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem said the PA's own constitution prevented it from acting against constituent members of the coalition.
Seven SLMC MPs were elected as part of the PA, while another four ran as members of the National Unity Alliance, a front organization for the Muslim Congress.
Hakeem took seven parliament seats to the opposition last month after Kumaratunga sacked him as trade minister. The other four SLMC MPs remained with the government.
The defection made Kumaratunga's government a minority administration.
Since then, Kumaratunga has been battling to prevent a test of her party's strength in parliament and on Tuesday suspended the assembly for two months, giving her party more time to maneuver.
According to BBC online, opposition parties in Sri Lanka on Wednesday attacked Kumaratunga's move of suspending parliament.
The decision was an apparent attempt to save her nine-month-old coalition from defeat in a no-confidence vote, BBC online said.
The opposition hit back, calling the president's move undemocratic.
"We will challenge this unexpected travesty of democracy on the streets," Ravi Karunayake, of the main opposition United National Party, said.
Kumaratunga's government said in statement Wednesday the parliament would reconvene on September 7th.
Kumaratunga also called for a referendum on a new constitution for August 21st, the statement said.
Since the ruling People's Alliance lost its slim majority in parliament, there has been much speculation that the president would use her powers to suspend parliament, BBC online reported.
Suspending parliament is the only option available to Kumaratunga, because under Sri Lanka's constitution, she cannot dissolve the House until one year has passed since the last elections.
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