Shed prejudices against Tamils - President

by Lionel Yodhasinghe

It is high time that some factions of Sinhala society who continue to treat every Tamil person as a LTTE terrorist dispel such prejudices in the new social environment of national unity founded under this government, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

President Rajapaksa stressed the need for an attitudinal change in the petty minded few who continue to maintain such prejudices against the ordinary Tamils in the country.

During his address at the ceremony to inaugurate construction work on the second international airport at Weerawila in his constituent district Hambantota last Sunday which also marked his first year of office the President said that there was a vast gap between the innocent Tamil and Tamil terrorist and hence the majority Sinhalese should identify this gap to do justice to the innocents. He said he would not brook the nonsense created by a small bunch of terrorists who have been trying to destroy the centuries old brotherhood and friendship among the members of the three communities.

The President pointing to a bevy of jovial children belonging to all communities, Sinhala, Tamil and Muslims who flocked around to garland him at the entrance to the worksite said that he was dreaming of similar social harmony among the people of all communities.

He said that his dream would come true in the near future where Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim children move arm in arm in the same manner in this airport, board planes to travel to Jaffna while their Northern counterparts follow suit.

He said certain Sinhala groups have developed bigotry, a mania towards the Tamils as they fail to spot the terrorist, but such people should realise that more than half of the Tamil population, many of them following the footsteps of the late A. Amirthalingam, Lakshman Kadirgamar and Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam are living outside the North and East and others such as T. Anandasangaree and Douglas Devananda, amidst terrorist threats staying in the South to help build such an utopian society.

President Rajapaksa said that his main political rival, the UNP has pledged full support towards his peace effort, and his allies the JVP and JHU are still the pillars of strength for him to achieve this noble goal.

"We have checked the prolonged party political hatred, other petty differences and rallied around one goal - peace and development for all irrespective of caste, creed or race.