When the premiers away

last updated 8 January 2015

Colombo, Sri Lanka

The president of Sri Lanka suspended Parliament this week and fired three powerful Cabinet ministers while the prime minister was off visiting the United States. President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is a member of the opposition party, said she was concerned that the government was being too soft on the Tamil Tigers, the rebel group that has terrorized Sri Lanka for decades. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in Washington to brief President Bush on Sri Lanka’s fight against terrorism, said he would not allow the president to endanger the peace process he has been nurturing with the Tamils. Kumaratunga’s “irresponsible and precipitous” action, the prime minister said, was “aimed at plunging the country into chaos and anarchy.” It’s unclear what Wickremisinghe will be able to do, though, since the president is the head of the army and was acting within her authority.