Communities living in peace and amity - Prime Minister

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka today is facing a terrorist problem rather than an ethnic problem. Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities are living in peace and amity throughout the country while a band of terrorists have taken the law into their own hands in a small part of the North trying to portray Sri Lankans as barbarians to the outside world, said Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.

The Prime Minister expressed those views when a visiting Chinese delegation led by China's Director for Asian Affairs Wang Yungse called on him at the Prime Minister's office recently.

Wickremanayake said although Sinhalese constituted 72 percent of the country's total population they have become a minority in Colombo city where Tamils constitute the majority.

Tamils in Colombo are living in peace engaging in their vocations with full freedom and to say that Tamils are oppressed in the South would be an insult to Sri Lanka and the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities.

A press release by the Prime Minister's office said long-standing economic, political and cultural relations between Sri Lanka and China were discussed at length during this meeting.

Wickremanayke said: "Asia today had surpassed Europe in the economic and other fields. The Day China would become world's economic giant was not too far. China today is funding nine giant projects in Sri Lanka.

Wang Yungse said he would soon launch a programme to develop tourism between China and Sri Lanka.