Hisbullah's decision hasty, says Salley
BY CHAMIKARA Weerasinghe
FOUNDER member of the National Unity Alliance and Chairman of Islamic
Solidarity Front of North America, Riyaz Salley yesterday described
their Alliance Deputy Leader M. L. A. M. Hisbullah's decision to pull
out support for the Government, as hasty and which smacks of
ingratitude.
Salley said he was surprised that Hisbullah went as far as to issue a
48-hour ultimatum to their Leader Ferial Ashraff at short notice, asking
her to follow suit with him to quit the Government.
"Hisbullah's action stands to reason in that he was trying to get
political mileage over the issue surrounding the P-TOMS signed between
the Government and the LTTE amidst a tense political atmosphere," he
said.
Hisbullah is reported to have decided to leave the Government on
account of omission of Muslims in the signing of the P-TOMS agreement.
Salley explained that the P-TOMS was signed between parties
controlling areas, that is to say a party from the Government controlled
area and the LTTE controlled area.
"This does not mean that the agreement had ignored the Muslim
community," Salley explained.
He said it was only the PA and UPFA regimes which have served the
Muslim community under President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's
leadership.
Leave aside Hisbullah, the President had risked her political career
by signing this agreement, he said.
Hisbullah's decision to leave the Government had come at a time that
the country should in fact salute the President for setting up the
P-TOMS for the country's benefit.
"It was wrong to doubt that the UPFA would overlook the problems of
the Muslims in this all important tsunami aid deal just because it was
signed between the Government and the LTTE," he said. |