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President refers world community to UN charter :
‘No nation can browbeat another’
President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday reminded the international
community about the provisions in the United Nations Charter that enjoin
every memeber nation to refrain from threatening or using force to
undermine the territorial integrity or political independence of any
other.
He said nothing contained in the present Charter authorises the UN to
intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic
jurisdiction of any state, or require the members to submit such matters
for settlement under the present Charter.
President Rajapaksa addressing the nation’s 65th independence
anniversary celebrations in Trincomalee, stressed that Sri Lanka is a
country that always respects the Charter of the UN and that all member
countries, whether powerful or weak, should respect its Charter. Urging
the importance of unity among all people, he said as much as racism,
religious differences too can be a cause for the destruction of a
country.
“Those who try to provoke religious tensions in the country do not
serve their religion, but serve the interests of separatism. We cannot
leave room for what could not be achieved through terrorism to be gained
by this means,” he said.
President Rajapaksa said not only the government, but the opposition
too has the responsibility to safeguard the freedom won by the nation.
Protecting the country and building reconciliation is not support
extended to the government or the opposition but doing one’s duty by the
land of one’s birth, he said.
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