SLMC Issues Ultimatum By Indika Sri Aravinda The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) has issued an ultimatum to the government saying it will be forced to part ways in the East if the government fails to address several issues. SLMC General Secretary Hassan Ali said that the ruling UPFA and the SLMC had reached an agreement on several points ahead of the 2012 Eastern Provincial Council elections. The deal also included handing over of the Chief Minister’s post and Provincial Council Ministerial posts to the SLMC two and a half years after the Council was formed. With just over one and a half years to go the SLMC says it will now push for an SLMC member to replace the current UPFA Chief Minister in the Eastern Provincial Council. Hassan Ali says the government has so far failed to meet its commitments given ahead of the 2012 provincial polls, including on land, resettlement and other issues. Under the deal with the government, the SLMC had asked for land issues faced by Muslims to be addressed, displaced Muslims to be resettled and a Tamil speaking Government Agent to be appointed in Muttur to work with the Muslims. However Ali says the government has yet to fulfill the commitments and as a result the SLMC has no faith in the government meeting the commitment of having a SLMC member as the Chief Minister in the Eastern Province by 2015. He said if the government fails to show signs of meeting its commitment to the SLMC then the seven SLMC members in the Council will support the opposition. Recently the SLMC had voted with the opposition in the Eastern Provincial Council on the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution despite the other government backed Provincial Councils voting for changes to the 13th Amendment. The SLMC General Secretary said that the SLMC High Command will further discuss the future of the SLMC with the government.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 17:42:51 +0000
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