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| Sunday, 5 May 2002 |
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Azwer seeks Gulf help Help from the oil-rich Persian Gulf countries has been sought for rehabilitation of the war-torn North-East region by Parliamentary Affairs Minister A.H.M. Azwer. In an appeal addressed to governments of Gulf states to extend financial aid for rehabilitation programs for people of all ethnic communities in North-East who have been affected by the war. Minister Azwer made this in an interview last Monday with 'The Gulf Today' newspaper in Sharjah. The Minister especially asked for help for displaced Muslims. 'The Gulf Today' news report also said: "In an interview to 'The Gulf Today', Alhaj A.H.M. Azwer, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, on Monday said the Gulf countries could provide monetary aid to Muslims who, in an agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran are gearing up to move into their homes they had deserted two decades ago. They, like the Sinhala people and a lot of Tamils themselves, had fled northern Sri Lanka for the safe South. "Like the Muslims from Mannar and Jaffna had abandoned their homes 20 years ago, some 170,000 members of the Sinhalese community had also left Trincomalee and Ampara for the South of the country when LTTE began their reign," the minister said. A senior member of the United National Party (UNP) led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Azwer, also said Buddhist viharas and Hindu temples need to be reconstructed. Referring to the recently signed peace agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, the Minister said it would be in good stead to maintain the secular fabric of Sri Lanka where, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims had lived in amity even during the civil unrest. The Norwegian brokered peace agreement, Azwer said, had provided a new lease of life for the war-torn country which could now look forward to developmental activities. "We need the international community, especially our big neighbour India and the United States to help peace reign in our country," he said. Following the peace deal, the Minister said the Sri Lankan government had started pumping in all possible relic of material into the northern region which continued to be under the control of the LTTE. Food, medicine, fuel and lots of other relief materials were being supplied to the Tamil dominated region, he said. |
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