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| Sunday, 28 April 2002 |
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Rajitha reassures expats in UK by Reggie Fernando, (London Correspondent) Lands Minister, Rajitha Senaratne, on a short visit to the UK last week, was afforded the opportunity of clarifying the doubts of expatriate Sri Lankans concerning the Ceasefire Agreement at a large gathering of expatriates and British politicians on Wednesday. The occasion was a very special New Year function organised by the Ven. Pahalagama Somaratana of the Thames Buddhist Vihara in Selsdon, Surrey. Addressing a huge gathering of Sri Lankans, representatives from many other nationalities including British parliamentarians, local councillors and mayors, Dr. Senaratne cleared many misgivings and misconceptions relating to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed recently by the Government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Minister kicked off by stating that there was much merriment by people of all communities in Sri Lanka after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe initiated the peace process and signed the MoU. "The passion for peace is not confined to a section of our people but to the vast majority of them," he said. He said: "The United National Party has changed the lifestyle of the people after years of fighting terrorism on our very doorstep and today we have extended our hand to the LTTE in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness and has appealed to them to establish bonds of co-operation and mutual help with the other communities in the island." The Minister was challenged constantly with a barrage of tricky questions fired by members of various Sri Lankan organisations here. Having stated that the ethnic war had provided some sections of the society with an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate their qualities of hatred towards other people, the Minister lashed out saying: "No one who cares about peace, justice and the rule of law should defend terrorism in any form." Dr. Senaratne said: "Now in the south, there are no Bodhi Poojas by the mothers of the soldiers. They sleep peacefully. They don't dream of their sons and they don't have nightmares. Even in the north, people are jubilant. Over 100,000 people joined in the musical show and they received Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and never thought he was a Sinhalese. They garlanded him. They all cheered him. "So that means the people will never allow war to be started in the North and East again. That guarantee I can give you. There won't be any war hereafter. There will be peace but the settlement is still a question. I don't say that there will be a settlement or a solution very soon. It is a very difficult way ahead. Everyone has to understand that we have to give and take. We have to give something and the same way the Tamils - they will also have to give something. And at one point, we have to meet each other and reach a settlement. So that is the present state of play." |
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