Agence France Presse

Colombo, April 16:

Buddhist monks will rub shoulders with Tamil militants for the first time after their request for special seating in Sri Lanka’s parliament was turned down, officials said today. The nine saffron-robed MPs elected from Sri Lanka’s first all-clergy party were body-searched like lay legislators when they visited the red-carpeted assembly yesterday to prepare for the first sitting next week, officials said.

Officials rejected the monks’ request for a special section in the 225-member parliament, where seats are decided by a complex system based on British tradition that combines seniority and alphabetical order. The monks, who take a hard line against Tamil Tiger rebels, will be sandwiched between other legislators including the proxies of the guerrillas.

"The monks also wanted white cloth draped over their leather seats in the assembly, but we are not in a position to accede to that demand because of traditions in the House," an official said.

However, in one concession, the monks will be allocated a separate dining area. The monks need vegetarian meals and must have lunch before 12:30 pm. The monks have ruled out supporting any coalition in the closely divided parliament, saying they were not elected to align themselves with either of the two major parties. But their nine votes will be crucial to elect the speaker of the hung parliament where President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Freedom Alliance is eight seats short of an absolute majority. The monks say Sri Lanka faces a problem of terrorism, not ethnic strife. In their campaign for the April 2 polls, the monks also vowed to save Sri Lanka’s heritage from "cultural pollution" such as sexually explicit movies.