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COLOMBO (AFP) - An estranged Muslim ally of the Sri Lankan government resolved its differences Thursday and agreed to contest the October parliamentary elections with the ruling party, officials said. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) held lengthy talks till early Thursday with President Chandrika Kumaratunga to agree on their electoral arrangements for the October 10 elections, party officials said. SLMC leader and Ports Minister M. H. M. Ashraff quit the cabinet last week in protest after a scathing attack against him launched by cabinet colleague and fellow Muslim Transport Minister A. H. M. Fowzie. Following their latest talks, SLMC officials said they would go back to their original position of contesting four out of the 22 electoral districts on their own and the balance together with Kumaratunga's People's Alliance. However, the SLMC will run as the National Unity Alliance (NUA), giving it a more secular identity, but use the Muslim Congress symbol of the tree in the four districts they will contest on their own. Ashraff went to Mecca in a huff last week after quitting, returning Tuesday. Party sources said the government had assured him there would be a disciplinary hearing against Fowzie. Earlier, Ashraff had insisted on Fowzie's sacking even before entering talks with the government. The SLMC, which won seven seats at the August 1994 elections, provided crucial support, which allowed Kumaratunga to form a government even though it only had a one-seat majority. The SLMC has had an uneasy relationship with other Muslim leaders within Kumaratunga's PA. The crisis in the ruling party came to a head when Fowzie issued a statement slamming the SLMC over the party's demand for a higher quota of seats at the parliamentary polls. Nominations for the election opened Monday and will be kept open for a week. Some 12.07 million people are eligible to vote to elect 225 members of parliament under a system of proportional representation. |
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