WPC polls: Labour leaders pledge support to UPFA

More than 100 labour leaders from estates in the Kalutara district who met Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka last Sunday at Horana pledged their support to the UPFA candidates at the forthcoming Western Provincial Council election.

These leaders further stated that their support to the UPFA is based on the Government’s genuine commitment towards protecting the rights of the Tamils in the country.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka said the UPFA Government which consists of 21 political parties will take all possible measures towards protecting the rights and privileges of the Tamil people. The Bill which seeks to grant Sri Lanka citizenship to those remaining Tamils of Indian descent under the Sirima-Shasthri Pact has already been passed in Parliament.

This will ensure Tamils rights they were denied earlier. This Government has never done anything against the interests of the Tamils, but we have acted only against the LTTE, the Prime Minister said.

Terrorism is one thing and the Tamils are different from that.

We have the capacity to differentiate these two despite the fact that certain foreign organisations fail to do so.