US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO290

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000290 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS; NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC 
 
E.O. 12958:   DECL: 02-23-14 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINS, CE, Political Parties 
SUBJECT:  Muslim MPs cross aisle to President's party; 
key Muslim leader throws support to PM's party 
 
Refs:  Colombo 266, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by James F. Entwistle, Deputy Chief of 
Mission.  Reasons 1.5 (b,d). 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  On February 22, four Muslim MPs who 
had been aligned with the PM's party signed an agreement 
stating they would now support the President's party in 
the upcoming elections.  In reaction to that move, the 
Sri Lankan Muslim Congress has moved to support the 
Prime Minister's party.  Muslim political support is now 
fairly evenly divided between the parties of the 
President and Prime Minister.   END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) On February 22, four MPs crossed over from the 
Sri Lankan Muslim Congress (SLMC) and signed an 
agreement to support the President's United People's 
Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in the upcoming April 2 
parliamentary election.  (The 12 MPS of the SLMC had 
been part of the PM's United National Front "UNF" 
coalition in the previous government.)  Three of the 
four MPs who switched their support to the UPFA, A.L.M. 
Authalla, M.M. Harees and M.I.A. Anver, were all from 
the same eastern district of Ampara.  The fourth, M.B.A. 
Azeez, was a national list MP, also from Ampara 
District.  Authalla and Azeez, part of the so-called 
"Authalla Group" within the SLMC previously had 
threatened to side with the President's party at various 
times over dissatisfaction with Rauf Hakeem's leadership 
of the SLMC. 
 
3.  (C) Specifically citing Hakeem's lack of progress in 
ensuring security for the Muslim community as the key 
reason the group had switched sides, M.B.A. Azeez told 
poloff on February 23 that the group had had "no choice" 
but to support the President's party.  (Note:  Sri 
Lanka's eastern province is an ethnic patchwork, with 
Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils each constituting one- 
third of the population.  The Muslims in the eastern 
province have long been subjected to attacks and 
harassment by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
"LTTE.")  Azeez said he thought President Kumaratunga 
would be "much more dedicated to Muslim security" than 
Hakeem had been, and added that he "had absolutely no 
doubt" of a nationwide victory for the President's party 
in the upcoming election.  Azeez also felt there was a 
"great amount of support" for the UPFA among Muslim 
voters in the north/east. 
 
4.  (C) In reaction to this move, the SLMC signed an 
agreement of its own late on February 22 with Prime 
Minister Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP). 
The SLMC-UNP agreement, officiated by the two parties' 
general secretaries, states that the SLMC will support 
the UNP in several districts, but will run candidates 
under its own electoral symbol in the north/east. 
Although Muslim political groups have been divided in 
the past, Hakeem, in recent weeks, was lobbying for all 
Muslim candidates to join together and run under a 
united Muslim banner.  Ferial Ashraff, leader of the 
Muslim party National Unity Alliance (NUA) -- long a 
supporter of the President -- rejected Hakeem's call for 
unity on February 18.   With the breakaway of the four 
SLMC MPs from Authalla's group and Hakeem's alliance 
with the UNP, the idea of a national Muslim party is 
clearly finished. 
 
5.  (C) COMMENT:  With the defection of the four SLMC 
members to support the UPFA, Muslim political support is 
now closely divided between the parties of the President 
and Prime Minister.  The PM has the support of eight 
SLMC MPs and the President has seven -- the three NUA 
MPs plus the four SLMC defectors.  Geographically, this 
move leaves the SLMC strongest in the central and 
western regions of the country, with lessened support in 
the east where the majority of the island's Muslim 
population is concentrated.  Although Muslim voters in 
the eastern province have tended to back the SLMC in the 
past, with this breakaway SLMC faction added to the 
NUA's support for the UPFA, Muslim political support is 
now more likely to be divided.  Showing how seriously 
the party is taking recent developments, SLMC leader 
Rauf Hakeem announced February 23 that he would be 
running from the eastern Ampara District, not his home 
constituency of Kandy in the center of the country.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
6.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
LUNSTEAD