The failure of the latest round of talks on 10 December between the warring political foes in Colombo dashed any hope for an early solution to the over-a-month-old political impasse. After the expiry of 15 December 2003 deadline set by the two leaders, no fresh deadline has been set. Earlier on 5 November, President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who belongs to the opposition Peoples Alliance (PA), in a constitutional coup declared emergency in the country. Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe of the United National Party (UNP), which holds majority in the parliament, was on a visit to the United States and it was in his absence that on 4 November 2003, President Kumaratunga sacked the ministers for information, defence and home, suspended parliament for two weeks upto 19 November and ordered deployment of the troops at key installations.
President Kumaratunga has so far been able to sell her drastic measures on the grounds of the alleged threat to national security arising from the submission of the proposals for the Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 31 October. While most political analysts and Sri Lanka watchers bought her story, the question remains whether allowing the LTTE to put across its proposals constitutes what President Kumaratunga calls "making too many concessions", and warrants the imposition of emergency. The president's drastic action in reality has more to do with the UNP government's adventurism in submitting a motion for impeachment of the controversial Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarath N Silva. The move sought to arrest an impending judgement from the apex court as to who really is the 'boss' of the defence forces as well as the government of Sri Lanka. Since any impeachment motion against the president ultimately has to be referred to a referendum by the chief justice, many Peoples Allaince (PA) leaders saw the impeachment of the chief justice as the first step towards impeaching President Kumaratunga. The president has asked for the impeachment motion to be withdrawn.
Old rivalry and biased judiciary
The rivalry between the president and the prime minister in Sri Lankan politics has been continuing for over a decade. But it has become even more apparent since the UM' came to power after the last general elections held in December 2001. While President Kumaratunga welcomed the start of negotiations with the LTTE, she gradually hardened her stand. Meanwhile, the government and the LTTE signed a ceasefire agreement in February 2002 and formal peace negotiations started in September 2002. The talks broke down in April 2003, in large part because of Kumaratunga's increasingly provocative actions, in league with sections of the armed forces. The last two rounds of talks were disrupted by naval incidents involving the seizure or sinking of LTTE vessels. To add to it, on 25 October 2003, Kumaratunga wrote to the Norwegian prime minister, Kjell Magne Bondvik requesting the recall of the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Major General Tryggve Tellefsen. The president also wrote to the armed forces chiefs on 24 October 2003 directing them not to follow any of the SLMM's instructions or advice.