24.11.2007
Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe, M.P,
Leader of the Opposition.
Dear Leader of the Opposition,
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.
