News
|
||||
Muslim
autonomy among SLMC’s 67 demands He said the SLMC leadership agreed to support Mr. Wickremesinghe’s candidacy after they had several rounds of talks with him over six months. “The SLMC central committee is convinced that he is a candidate who respects Muslim’s aspirations,” he said. According to Mr. Hakeem, some of the main points in the SLMC-UNP agreement are the inclusion of Muslims as a separate delegation in the peace talks, Muslim representation in post-tsunami reconstruction arrangements, refugee rehabilitation in the east and autonomy for a Muslim region in the east in any power-sharing deal with the Tamils. “Mr. Wickremasinghe is the only person who can put an end to the long-drawn ethnic conflict. When devolving power to the north and east we are confident that he will protect the rights of the Muslims and offer them some degree of autonomy without violating the the territorial integrity of the country. “Muslims don’t want to live under the domination of the LTTE. There should be a give-and-take policy with the LTTE when devolving power so that the rights of the Muslims in the area will not be compromised,” Mr. Hakeem said. Commenting on the party’s decision not to back the UPFA candidate Mahinda Rajapakse, the SLMC leader said: “We had talks with the Prime Minister as well. Although he agreed to consider our demands, we felt that he might change his stance once he is elected to office due to pressure from certain other parties in his coalition. “One could see that his manifesto has not even spoken about Muslim aspirations. Mr. Wickremesinghe has won international recognition and is experienced in handling the peace process. But Mr. Rajapakse is a virtual greenhorn in handling it.” |
||||
Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
