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Media’s role in solving ethnic conflict discussed

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2003, 04:17 GMT]
“The Muslim people should come together to express their aspirations in one voice and first talk to the representatives of the Tamil community candidly. Then both communities can make compromises, turn their aspirations into policy, and negotiate with the Sri Lankan government; by doing so, a solution [to the ethnic conflict] can surely be found,” said Mr. M.S.Mookiah, the Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka, at a conference titled “Media’s role in solving the ethnic conflict” Saturday at the Mahapola training center in Oluvil.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum (SLMMF) and the European Union jointly organized the conference.

Mr. Woulter Wilton, the European Union’s Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Mr. N.M. Ameen, the president of the SLMMF, Mr. M.S.M. Ayub, Editor of a newspaper, Mr. Ananda Welangama, the Senior Superintendent of Police in Amparai, and many prominent University lecturers participated at the conference.

Mr. Ameen in his speech said that journalists in the region should use their pen humanely for ethnic amity between the Tamil and Muslim communities in the East, without harping on the bitterness caused by past events.

More than 50 journalists who participated at the conference were awarded certificates.