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| Saturday, 14 February 2004 |
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Politics | |
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| General elections 2004: Hakeem to go it alone! The Rauff Hakeem-Athaullah split in the SLMC is likely to prevent either group from receiving the "Tree" Symbol, well known to voters in the Eastern Province, following representations made by both groups to the Commissioner of Elections. The Hakeem group, which met on Thursday night, decided to distance itself from the UNF following intense pressure from within the group, and had reportedly decided to contest the general elections as an independent group. Recent visits to the East had confirmed Hakeem's worst fears that Muslim security in the East which had eroded under the UNF's two year neglect, had destroyed the UNF's support bases amongst Muslims in the East, forcing him to take a more prudent course, by going solo and keeping the options of supporting the Alliance open. The SLMC broke into two factions following a near unanimous decision of the party High Command on December 1, 2002 to remove Hakeem from the party leadership. Members of the High Command, comprising several SLMC MPs including Highways Minister Athaullah, Vanni Rehabilitation Minister Noordeen Mashoor, and Deputy Minister of Co-operatives Abdul Cader were agitated that Hakeem under pressure from UNF leaders was caving into LTTE demands, betraying Muslim as well as Sinhala security concerns which led to the sacking of Hakeem, when he was in Oslo. Hakeem allegedly using his ministerial position, made the sacking to appear as a split in the party. At Thursday night's meeting, Hakeem loyalists in the group were confronted with the deteriorating prospects of the party losing heavily in the East by going along with the UNF any longer. Hakeem elected on a UNF ticket from Kandy in the December 2001 elections, is saddled with the additional problem of finding a seat to contest the 2004 elections. Following Thursday night's meeting, Hakeem had reportedly told confidantes that he feared he may lose the party symbol and name, as he has been now advised that the High Command had the power to remove him under the party constitution.Meanwhile, the Athaullah group composed of the then SLMC High Command made a request on Wednesday to the Commissioner of Elections not to accept any nomination paper under the name "Sri Lanka Muslim Congress" or the "Tree", until the settlement of the conflict. The request has been signed by S. Subairdeen Leader, A. L. Athaullah former Minister of Highways, Dr. A. Uduman Lebbe, Deputy Leader, Dr. A. L. M. Hafrath, former MP and General Secretary of the SLMC, S. S. Thajudeen, Basheer Niyasdeen, former MP Abdul Aziz and U. A. Marzook. Both factions were anxiously awiting the Election Commissioners ruling expected after the Commissioner receives Hakeem's observations on Athaullah's memo. By the Watcher |
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