Unity key to EPC’s success - President

Rohan MATHES

COLOMBO: President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday urged the newly-formed Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) to function as a closely knit, single family unit and be the guiding star of democracy to the entire nation.

Addressing the swearing-in ceremony of the new Chief Minister for the Eastern Provincial Council Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Pillayan), at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, President Rajapaksa re-iterated that all stakeholders to the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) should refrain from cultivating any type of animosity, jealousy and discord.

They should work unitedly, in harmony with each other, to realise the true value and potential of the franchise of the people whom they represent, irrespective of their race and creed.

“They should set the standards and benchmarks to the entire nation. They should work in unison for the betterment and prosperity of their motherland. If they fail to achieve these objectives, the whole country would suffer the consequences and head for chaos and destruction.”

“This land belongs to all of us, to the Sinhalese, Muslims and the Tamils, sans any discrimination, to live in harmony. “ the President stressed.

He pointed out that although the Provincial Council Administrative System was initially devised for the benefit of the Tamil speaking people of the North and the East, ironically to date, it had failed miserably in its implementation within that region.

“Political solutions need not be confined solely to racks and tables or to Constitutions, but they should evolve from the people, the man on the street, and be implemented for their benefit.

We are a Government which understands when and where we should legitimately adopt a gun or the political solution policy, as appropriate, to suit the conditions and situations demanded”.

“However, today for the first time ever, we have accomplished that arduous task of establishing the Provincial Council, as a remedy and solution to the problems faced by the Tamil-speaking community and also succeeded in electing their own representatives to fulfil their aspirations”, he noted.

President Rajapaksa said that this day, a ray of hope dawns on the democracy of the country, as it is the day the Eastern polity came under a democratic administration, after several decades of conflict. It was also the day for those that believed in the bullet, to abandon their weapons and become true representatives of the oppressed and downtrodden masses whom they represent.

He said that many valiant soldiers and others made the supreme sacrifice of their lives in defence of the Motherland.

“Do not think in terms of a Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslim leader, and lead the country to chaos. Let us think as Sri Lankans,” President Rajapaksa added.