President will not succumb to foreign pressure - Mahanayake

Indika POLKOTUWA and Bandara PILAWALA

The Most Ven Udugama Sri Buddharakkhita Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiriya Chapter said yesterday that he is fully confident that President Mahinda Rajapaksa will not be a signatory to any treaty or agreement that may damage the interest of the motherland.

He said the President's record of service amply proved this for he did not succumb to any foreign pressure even at the height of the humanitarian war to liberate the Northern people from the LTTE terrorists clutches.

The Prelate expressed these sentiments when a delegation from the Young Entrepreneurship Board called on him at the Asgiriya Viharaya in Kandy to handover a memorandum containing their concerns about the proposed comprehensive economic Partnership Agreement to be signed between Sri Lanka and India.

Most Ven. Buddharakkhita Mahanayake Thera who said he could not take any specific stance in favour or against the proposed agreement since he was unaware of its contents, said he would request the President to look into it once again and take whatever suitable action he deemed fit. The Most Ven. Tibbotuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter who was also presented with a copy of the memorandum by the delegation said he too would request the President to look into it and take suitable action.

A member of the delegation Ruwan Edirisinghe told the prelates that their opposition to the CEPA agreement should not be construed as opposition to the Government.