SLMC leader betrayed Muslims by forging pact with UNP - MNA Leader

The present SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem after succeeding the founder leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress betrayed the Muslim community by forging alliance with the United National Party, said Muslim National Alliance leader Hafeez Nazir Ahamed addressing members of MNA at a meeting held to celebrate the victory of President Mahinda Rajapakse at the MNA Head Office at Ward Place office yesterday.

He said that the late M.H.M. Ashraff formed the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress to fight for the rights of the Muslim masses in Sri Lanka, and he witnessed three Presidential Elections, in 1988, 1994 and 1999.

After the demise of late SLMC leader Ashraff, Rauff Hakeem succeed as leader and after taking over the SLMC he formed an Alliance with the United National Party and became a part of their Wing.

He never followed the principles and ideals of late Ashraff, and became a slave and prisoner of the UNP, for his personal benefits and for monetory gains. He let the Muslim masses down ignoring the cherish dreams of the late Hon. Ashraff, Ahamed said.

The Muslim National Alliance was formed to follow the golden principles and ideals of the late Mr. Ashraff and to combat this very dangerous trend and the pitfalls the Muslim masses have fallen into, he pointed out.

At the recently concluded Presidential Elections it was a wise and timely decision of the MNA just 20 days before the Presidential Elections to give Mahinda Rajapakse unstinted support as he was the only person who could sympathise with the Muslims' causes. It was the same decision the late Ashraff made to give his support to former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, he added.

It is not too late even at this stage for the members of the S.L.M.C. under the leadership of Mr. Rauff Hakeem to join the MNA who is truly behind the Muslims in Sri Lanka and who follows the principles and ideology of the late Ashraff, he observed.