SLMC,TNA to hold talks

Chaminda Perera

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) yesterday said the party will hold talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to persuade them to achieve a lasting solution to the ethnic issue through Parliamentary Select Committee.

SLMC leader and Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem said he would meet TNA representatives over this during this week.

Minister Hakeem in his debut appearance in a May Day rally said the SLMC will not allow extremism to raise its ugly head in any part of the country and regretted that his comments on recent issues have been misconstrued by some sections of the media.

He stressed that his party will provide all sorts of assistance to the government to meet its post conflict challenges. “We have a special

role to play to achieve lasting peace in the country and that’s why we are trying to persuade the TNA to attend the Parliament Select Committee, he said.

The minister said the government would bring amendments to the Labour Tribunal Act, under which labour disputes have to be settled in a time frame not exceeving two years.