We must love all Tamils like we love Muralitharan

By Hemantha WARNAKULASURIYA

Muttiah Muralitharan claimed his 500th ODI wicket, just two less than Wasim Akram. The whole of Pakistan and those in the Gaddafi Stadium cheered loudly when Muralitharan achieved the feat of being the second bowler in the world to have grabbed 500 ODI wickets. All over Pakistan, photographs of a smiling Muralitharan were published, and someone even asked him whether he would be going for the 600th wicket. In Sri Lanka, after President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the most loved hero and others are from a different playing field.

They are all cricketers. I believe Sanath Jayasuriya is the hero of millions, and Muralitharan would come very close to him. When Muralitharan delivers the ball, all Sri Lankans believe that it is a dangerous weapon and would destroy the opponent's wicket. So we love Muralitharan.

As we inch forward in eliminating terrorism from our motherland, we have another mission to accomplish and that is to love all Tamils like we love Muralitharan.

This is the only way we can thwart racial bigots from preventing a substantial devolution package being approved in Parliament. The wish of President Rajapaksa is clear: "First, we must eliminate terrorism; secondly, we must eliminate the causes of terrorism". I believe that the second task is as equally important as the first: We must make all Tamils feel that they are partners in the engine of growth, we must make all Tamils feel that they are not being discriminated by what happened during the last 30 years. President Rajapaksa is one of the most anti-racial persons I have known since his days at Law College. Among his best friends are Tamils, and he is genuinely interested in helping them with their grievances.

majority must feel that without a joint effort of all races, we can never become a fully developed state.

Take Malaysia and Singapore as examples; the contribution that the Tamils made for their economic development is great. We must believe that the defeat of terrorism is the defeat of racialism.

The whole of Sri Lanka wants Muralitharan to play as long as possible to grab 600 ODI wickets. We pray for him that he will have the strength and the capacity to grab 1000 Test wickets.

We must also pray that we will embrace all Tamils with open arms, even the former LTTEers, so that we can show the world that our country is unique, being the first country to defeat terrorism and ensure peace, tranquility and security to all for the wellbeing of the nation.