No room for re-merger of North, East - ACMC Sec.Gen.

by Mohammed Naalir

The All Ceylon Muslim Congress (ACMC) will leave no room for another re-merger of the North and the East, its Secretary General Y.L.S Hameed said.

He said one must understand the background in which the late Muslim leader M.H.M. Ashraff tabled the demand for a separate unit of devolution for the Muslims in the North and the East.

According to Hameed, the merger of the two provinces took place without consulting the Muslims who formed one third of the population in the Eastern Province.

When the de-merger appeared to drift away, notwithstanding the assurance of a referendum which had the likelihood of causing a bloodbath between the two communities, given the brandishing of lethal weapons by the LTTE, the late leader, as a prudent alternative devised the concept of a separate non-contiguous unit for the Muslims, which has to-date not found favour with any other political party except for the UNP which recognised a sub-unit for the Muslims in the 2005 Presidential manifesto.