Diaspora proposes President for Nobel Prize

A strong trade union in Italy with a large number of members of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora had proposed to nominate President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the Nobel Peace Prize. The union had made this suggestion in a memorandum handed over to the Sri Lankan mission in Rome. They had praised the President for defeating terrorism and bringing peace to Sri Lanka. The members of the Tamil Diaspora were appreciative of the policies of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Along with the memorandum submitted to the embassy the members of the union had also commended the role played by the embassy in serving members of all communities living or working in Italy. They had praised the President for implementing a policy to bring back peace and ethnic harmony.

It was also the first time that members of the Tamil Diaspora had openly declared their support for the Government and President Mahinda Rajapaksa becomes the first Head of Government to win the cooperation of the Diaspora that left the country when ethnic harmony was shattered in the July 1983 race riots.