Colombo, Sri Lanka: Mahinda Rajapakse enjoying the over whelming support of the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists, has become President, thanks to the boycott of polls in the North-East. Although he is Head of State, he is still unable to get out of the clutches of the extremists in the South.

Without an absolute majority in Parliament, his government is counting its days. He has no trust in the major opposition party –UNP, but is striving hard to solve the pressing ethnic issue and the economic problems. He is unable to make any headway due to the influence of communal forces over him and his government.

There are reports that the President proposes to dissolve Parliament and hold a general election in order to contain the extreme forces. Having been encouraged by the results of the local polls, where the JVP and JHU made poor performance, he believes they could be defeated at a general election and that his party could win.

He is also aware of the fact that his party would not be supported by the Tamils in any elections in view of the violence unleashed in the North-East and that he would have to depend on majority extremist elements to secure a victory.

Therefore the President is portraying a posture of being a greater hard liner than those extremist forces of the South.

But, they seem to have forgotten an important fact that the political destiny of the country at any poll be it the general election or otherwise have come to be determined by the forces in the Vanni jungle.

Any political strategy that fails to address the ethnic issue can but fail.

An English translation of the Editorial in Sudar Oli, a Tamil national Daily

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