Athaullah and Hafrath attend parliament

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 December 2002, 14:54 GMT]
Although suspended from Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) party positions by the SLMC leader Rauf Hakim, Athaullah, party's Chairman and Minister of Highways, and M. Hafrath, General Secretary, attended the parliament today and occupied their seats, sources in Colombo said.

Athaullah, Hafrath and their supporters were received amidst applause by the Parliament opposition party Peoples Alliance (PA) members but the two suspended SLMC members left the building after 15 minutes.

Athaullah claimed that Hakim's directive of suspending them has no effect and that the party leader has no authority to issue such directive.

Both factions of the SLMC have been feverishly soliciting support for their respective groups within the SLMC membership, sources said.

Rauf Hakim who returned from Oslo, Norway yesterday night is due to arrive in Colombo any time and will attend urgently to the crisis that has engulfed SLMC, party sources said.