NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
V.Anandasangaree,
President – TULF.
24.11.2007.
Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe, M.P,
Leader of the Opposition.
Dear Leader of the Opposition,
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Hon. Mahinda Wijesegara, M.P and Minister at a press meet last Thursday
22nd had revealed that His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa the President,
had asked him to convey to you, his offer to from a National Government
with your party and with you as Prime Minister. Please permit me to
make my observations on the proposed offer of the President. At the
very outset I wish to say that you have a moral duty to accept this
offer in the greater interest of the country and its people. I am sure
this will receive the support of the majority of the people of this
country and will also be applauded by people belonging to all ethnic
and religious groups and leaders of all religions. Our people had suffered
beyond ones endurance and are yearning for peace. Both you and the President
being very seniors in politics know fully well what the country had
really lost during the past fifty years and how it can be rectified.
Lack of knowledge of the past, among the people especially younger generation,
is the cause for the problems the country is facing today.
Apart from the extensive damage caused to both public and private property
worth several billions, the other losses cannot be assessed in terms
of money and what is lost cannot be replaced too. The number of human
lives lost in all the three main communities the Sinhalese, Tamils and
Muslims exceeds 70 thousand, whether combatants or otherwise. Several
thousands of lives are lost and are being lost even today in claymore
and bomb attacks in buses, trains, hotels, market places and road sides.
The innocent civilian lives lost are innumerable. There had been several
massacres in Mosques, Buddhist and Hindu Temples. You are not unaware
that we have more than 30 thousand Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim widows
and a large number of Orphans. We have very many destitute persons.
There had been communal riots on a large scale in 1958, 1977 and 1983
and also a few small ones. The Muslim people from the entire Northern
Province had been ordered to quit leaving behind all their possessions
like Houses, Jewellery, T.V., Radio, Car, Lorries etc. at very short
notice, with just Rupees five hundred each. You are also aware that
all these Muslims are languishing in over 160 Refugee Camps for over
17 years in the South with hopes of returning to their birth places
one day soon. How many had been disabled with their limbs and eye sights
lost? How many rich had become paupers over night?
How many children had lost their education? How many skilled persons
had lost their varieties of skills? How many people in the North had
lost their fishing and agriculture? How many people had lost their dear
ones and how many had lost their sole breadwinners? Even I have lost
two brothers four nephews and nieces. How many families are broken and
shattered? Fishermen, farmers, skilled workers are idling in their thousands.
Above all every one lives in constant fear and tension. Should not all
these miseries stop once and for all? To stop this, the only option
responsible leaders of this country have today is to soothe the wounded
hearts of all the people by joining hands and find a permanent solution
in full and not in installment.
Not only these, many more unpleasant things happen in our country. Yet
there is one section of the people who are not bothered of the woes
and sufferings of our people. Some are worried of their positions and
are not prepared to shed a few drops of tears in sympathy for the suffering
masses. You may determine the period of the existence of the National
Government and also fix the deadline for solving the ethnic problem.
I wish to remind you that during the last Presidential Election I made
an appeal to the Presidential Candidates to take the “ethnic issue”
out of the election campaign and to jointly find a solution after the
election.
You as the country’s alternate President should rise to the occasion
by settling your differences and accept this offer in the greater interest
of our suffering people. If both of you with your teams of devoted Parliamentarians
get together and find a solution to the ethnic problem that is over
50 years old, both of you will go down in history as the joint saviors
of the country, its people and their democratic rights. I plead with
you, as a patriotic citizen of this country who loves the country and
its people and on behalf of the people, that both of you and your respective
teams should forget all your political differences and unite to bring
the country back to its old glory and create a situation for all the
people to live as equals enjoying all rights as children of Mother Lanka.
The blessings of all religious leaders will be there to guide you in
this worthy cause.
Thanking you,
Yours Sincerely,
V.Anandasangaree,
President – TULF.
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