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The rebel Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Member of Parliament and UNF Minister for Highways A.L.M. Athahulla who is leading a team of Muslim MP’s in the controversial boycott of parliament said the attitude of the Norwegians regarding the Muslims of the country was very suspect. He accused Norway, which is overseeing Sri Lanka’s peace of paying no attention to the sorry plight of the Muslims in the Eastern Province and said due to the activities of the LTTE in the area the Muslims had become second class citizens who should live at the mercy of armed group. Athahulla said the Eastern Province members of parliament in a strong voice demanded that the Muslims should receive a separate entity of administration only in case of the LTTE was being granted an interim administration for the merged North and the East. He said the most number of armed guerillas of the rebel groups were concentrated in the Eastern Province and it was unfortunate that the Norwegians were unable to appreciate the plight of the Eastern Province and failed to draw their attention to the grave problem. Even now Muslims periodically were becoming victims of extortion, kidnapping, murder and mayhem by the Liberation Tigers, he charged. Under those circumstances the condition of the Muslims would have known to the Norwegians and it was unfortunate they were paying scant attention to it, Athahulla reiterated. If the Northern and Eastern Provinces were merged it was absolutely necessary that the Muslims also received their own administrative unit, he said. He said it was not true that he was meeting, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s rival, President Chandrika Kumaratunga for political discussions. So far, he said there was no necessity to change sides. He said all this time the Muslims were only waiting for a reply for their problem from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe Athahulla also denied that he and his colleagues were patiently waiting until next December to overthrow the government of Ranil Wickremesinghe. He said if the hopes of the Eastern Province Muslims could not be fulfilled now those could not be fulfilled ever. Athahulla reiterated that they could not live under an administration dominated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. (EOM) (02/10/22 go2lanka.com) |