At the centre of an escalating dispute is the approach of the two persons to the peace process with the Tamil militants. The prime minister, with his eye on the coming presidential polls, has vowed to be tough with the rebels should he becomes the president and said he would rethink the current peace initiatives with the militants. Mr Rajapakse is particularly against the power sharing arrangement with the rebels and wants to retain the unitary character of the country. On the other hand, the president says she wants to carry forward the efforts to settle more than two decades long crisis with the Tamil rebels and believes in the federal set up of the nation with devolution of powers, with the Tamils. Their differences have come somewhat as a bolt from the blue for the ruling circle and many apprehend that this will further complicate the political scenario of Sri Lanka in the near future.

Sometime before, Sri Lanka was shaken badly by the assassination of the foreign minister Laxman Kadirgamar as the gravity of the development had been so severe that a state of emergency was declared to meet any eventuality. The killing has once again brought the small but relatively economically and socially advanced nation in the South Asian region in the headlines of global news. Now the disputes between the president and the prime minister, which were least expected as both belong to same political platform and party, are creating new fissures for the country.

The violent death of the foreign minister had come when a confused and complex scenario existed about both the civil war and future of the government. Recently, a hope had emerged for a better time both for a settlement of the bloody conflict over Tamil issue and reconciliation of the government with the opposition. The government of president Chandrika Kumaratunga had succeeded in reaching an agreement with the Tamil rebels for relief operations caused by the "Tusnami" and thereby raised hopes for restoration of the stalled peace dialogue between the two sides. The opposition led by former premier Ranil Wickramsinghe pledged to support the deal on the relief works and in the process the differences between the government and opposition had also somewhat narrowed down.

But the brighter conditions turned otherwise rather unexpectedly. The supreme court has struck down the government-Tamil accord on disaster management, calling it "illegal" and also questioned the sources of huge funds of billions of dollars from international community and this dealt a serious blow to the government-rebel understanding. At the same time a key ally of the ruling coalition -- communist JVP -- has withdrawn support from the government protesting the deal with the rebels and this has reduced the government into minority. The situation prompted the opposition to demand midterm polls and political instability is stalking the island state.

The peace talks are stalemated for long and took a beating following exit from power of former prime minister Ranil Wickramsinghe, whose government had initiated the dialogue with the rebels but was dismissed by president Chandrika evidently for being "soft" to the Tamil militants. The elections that followed brought Chandrika's supporters in power under a new prime minister Mahindra Rajapakse and chances of a settlement of two-decade old civil war through discussions have since been hanging in the balance. The president is relatively tough on the peace process, but of late supports it, saying it is for the larger interest of the nation.

Six rounds of talks between the Colombo government and the Tamil Tigers during Ranil's time raised hopes for a negotiated settlement of the contentious civil war in the island state, which was virtually bleeding to white because of the long drawn conflict centering minority Tamil's armed struggle for a separate homeland in the north of the country. There was no decisive outcome of the civil war as the success in the battlefield swung from one side to the other and occasional cease fire produced no tangible results as hostilities resumed in quick time. However, situation marked a qualitative change when the government of prime minister Ranil Wickramsinghe took an active pro-peace policy with the rebels over three years ago, which facilitated a dialogue that went for several rounds in different venues abroad making some progress in the vexed problem.

While it will be a height of folly to expect easy resolution of the Sri Lankan civil war given the complexities involved in the issue, the dialogue gave hopes since both sides made significant concessions. The government conceded to some demands of Tigers while the later abandoned their main position -- an independent state for the Tamils -- and agreed for autonomy. The road to peace through negotiations is undoubtedly bumpy but what was remarkably encouraging was the marked willingness to find common ground towards a permanent settlement of the problem. Notwithstanding differences on some key areas, both sides demonstrated commendable attitude in carrying forward the parleys. Admittedly, talks occasionally went into rough weather and even had at one stage been suspended indefinitely but neither side ever spoke of chances of resuming hostilities. The deal on "Tsunami" relief operations brought them a bit closer despite differences.

The government suffered a serious setback a few months ago when communist JVP pulled itself out of the ruling alliance complaining lenient attitude to the Tamil rebels. Now prime minister Rajapakse has signed an agreement with the JVP to review the peace agreement with the militants in exchange of that party's support for him in the presidential elections. The prime minister is taking a pro-Sinhalese line to placate the majority Sinhalese in disputes with the Tamil rebels. This has infuriated president Chandrika, who believes that both community must live together and for this it is necessary to give some power to the rebels in their strongholds under federal structure. She reiterated the same during her visit to New York where gathered the world leaders marking the 60th anniversary of the United Nations. On the other hand, the prime minister sticks to his anti-Tamil postures. This has made situation within the Freedom Party of the president and the ruling PA alliance uneasy before the presidential polls, much to the glee of the opposition whose nominee former premier Ranil Wickwarsinghe much be enjoying this new development involving the two key persons in the government.

Presidency is very powerful in Sri Lanka as the head of state can dismiss the prime minister's government and scrap the parliament. True, Chandrika is quitting as president of the country since the constitution prevents a third term, but she can call the shots till she remains in the office. Besides, she will continue as a key politician even after expiry of her term. It is possible that she may not take prime minister's new postures kindly that runs counter to her policy. However, she may not like to compound the situation that may go in opposition's favour. But the bottom line is that she is known for taking tough decisions that she considers right and some steps from the president may not be totally ruled out. In any case, this pre-presidential polls period in Sri Lanka may witness new complexities stemming from the president-prime minister row.

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury is the Foreign Editor of the BSS