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| Tuesday, 02 November 2004 |
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Politics | |
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| SLMC will not attend NACPR - Hakeem by P. Krishnaswamy The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) with its parliamentary representation reduced to six, following the recent defection of three MPs to the UPFA, has decided to suspend its participation in the National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR). At a press conference at the SLMC headquarters, "Dharusalam", party leader and former Minister, Rauff Hakeem MP, announced that the SLMC will not participate in the recently constituted NACPR and also will refrain from extending any support or co-operation to the UPFA government. He also said that the "treacherous" cross-over of three of their MPs to the UPFA, with the offer of Ministry portfolios, had prompted the party to change its earlier decision to participate in the NACPR. Six MPs including party Secretary General, Hasan Ali, and chairman Basheer Segu Dawood, who remain loyal to the party leadership were present at the media briefing. Hakeem denounced the defection as a sinister move of the government to destabilise the national Muslim political forum'. He said that the SLMC would vehemently oppose the government's moves to transform the parliament into a Constituent Assembly and thus deprive the MPs their right to represent the people. They would mobilise the people's support against any moves to effect constitutional amendments encompassing electoral reform. The SLMC would be able to muster a minimum of 500,000 votes against such moves in the event of a referendum, he said. The claim of the three defected MPs that the Government had given them an assurance of independent participation of the Muslims at the peace talks in the future was false, Hakeem said. Although SLMC MPs had crossed over for personal gains, the people were with the party and the vote bank of the party had increased at every election, he said. |
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