'Sri Lanka one nation under President'
M.P. Muttiah
The forthcoming Presidential Election offers the people an
opportunity to set in nation a process that would undo the damage of the
past and move towards re-building and developing as one Sri Lankan
nation, said Science and Technology Minister and LSSP Leader Professor
Tissa Vitarana.
Speaking at a meeting in Jaffna in support of President Mahinda
Rajapaksa, the LSSP leader said Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays,
Burghers and all other sections of society must come together to forge
one Sri Lankan identity. The country needs a new Constitution that
ensures every citizen has equal rights and privileges, lives in dignity.
All Sri Lankans should share power both at the Centre and the periphery,
he added.
Professor Vitarana said the attacks on innocent Tamils organized by
the UNP Government in 1977, culminating in the pogrom of 1983 led to the
emergence of several militant groups. The LTTE proclaimed itself the
sole representative of Tamils and the Tamil National Alliance is the
proxy of it. The JVP that opposed the 13th Amendment staged a terrorist
war against the State in 1988-89, and for the first time in history of
Sri Lanka, when the UNP Government promoted counter-terrorism, the white
van abductions, killer squads and torture chambers appeared, he added.
Minister Vitarana said the LTTE spurned all attempts to reach an
agreement for a political solution. Mahinda Rajapaksa as the President
sought to have talks for peaceful solution while respecting the CFA. But
the LTTE not only abandoned these talks but violated the CFA , directly
attacked military and Government leaders and stopped the supply of water
to farmers at Mavil Aru. The Government launched the fourth Eelam War
and defeated the LTTE and united the whole country, he pointed out.
Professor Vitarana said in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's Manifesto he
has committed himself to implement some of the proposals accepted by the
APRC. Several proposals, including the principle of establishing a
Senate, have been accepted. The need for electoral reform with a return
to first-past electorate representation as the major component, and
party-based proportional representation as a minor one, had also been
accepted, the Minister added.
The Science and Technology Minister warned that the UNP,JVP, TNA
candidate winning would only result in policies that would once again
retard economic development and promote naked colonial exploitation of
the economy. There would be more economic burdens. When the people
protest there would be, without a doubt, imposition of a military
dictatorship. The three parties cannot form a stable Government in the
resulting chaos, Sarath Fonseka could use the powers of the Executive
Presidency to legally become a dictator as he would have complete
control over all the Armed Forces and the police.
The people of the North must join their brothers in the South to save
Sri Lanka from this tragedy. |