"Minorities have right to administer their areas" - Vasudeva

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 00:03 GMT]
"Tamils and Muslims in the northeast have a right to set up their administration in their traditional areas under the devolution of power. No one can deny this right," said veteran trade unionist and the national organizer of the Democratic Left Front(DLF), Mr.Vasudeva Nanayakkara, at the second annual general meeting of the DLF held Saturday evening at the auditorium of the Colombo library, media sources said.

He further said Sinhalese should not get perturbed when Tamils and Muslims are allowed to administer their areas. "Instead of opposing it, Sinhalese should come forward to extend their wholehearted support to the minority communities to enjoy the right of governing their areas", former parliamentarian Mr.Nanayakkara said.

He added majority of Sinhalese people in the south are for peaceful solution to the national conflict and few are clamouring for war.

The President of the New Left Front, Dr.Wickremabahu Karunaratne, warned that democratic forces in the north and south would be suppressed if a national government by two major political parties were formed. "Even the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) could also be crushed in the name of national government," he said, and appealed to all leftist forces to unite under one banner to safeguard the rights of leftist movement, the sources said.