East undergrads urge Muslim politicians to unite

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2008, 11:30 GMT]
The student community of Southeastern University staged a peaceful rally Wednesday morning 9:30 a.m. outside the Oluvil campus demanding the need for all Muslim political leaders to come to an understanding and to contest under a common symbol in the forthcoming Batticaloa Provincial Council Elections, sources in

The students participating in the rally lasting over an hour, carried placards which stated: "Let social service minded people who voice the grievances of Muslims stand in the elections," "Drop the politics of cheating Muslims," "Muslims unite," "Forget selfishness and win self determination," "Let us forget our differences and win the East," and "Let us join forces to revive our community."

K.M.Thulbakkar, representative of the student council addressing the students said, "When the Muslim leaders stand divided on the basis of political parties, the Muslim votes are split resulting in a decreased number of our representatives. This is a huge loss for our community. We emphasize that the Muslim political leadership must avoid their myopic thinking in terms of "my party" and "my leadership," and think in broader terms as "my community," and face the provincial elections under a common symbol as a united front.

A pamphlet issued by the students of Southeastern University released during the rally said:

• Let us build up a healthy relationship between Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala communities through this election,
• We call upon the voters to put an end to put an end to all racist activities such as land encroachment by electing suitable representatives,
• We call upon the people to make effective use of the elections to create a safe environment in the East to protect Human Rights,
• Let us obtain a good Political Leadership for the eastern community already imprisoned for 20 years by Executive Power and crushed by interference and favouritism,
• We call upon all Muslim politicians in the East to forget party and political differences and join together as a common group keeping in mind the welfare of the Muslim community,
• Eastern province elections have provided an opportunity for the helpless Muslim community who were unable to decide the politics of the East. We call upon those who make use of Muslims for their political benefit and the Muslim voters to think properly and take suitable decisions,
• Let us form a democratic coalition to strengthen a group that has faith in democracy,
• The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the International Community (IC) must ensure that that the elections will be conducted democratically,
• Let us reject the politicians who live off the votes of the general public and instead elect those who sincerely think of social politics in the forthcoming elections,
• There should be healthy discussions in order to take proper decisions at the appropriate time as well as to obtain proper advice. In order to get this done a special think tank that acts beyond political and party differences should be created.
• It is a rare phenomenon to find any group among any Muslims political groups that provides prominence to the social welfare of the Muslim community. However, it is the duty of Muslim voters to elect the group that causes the least damage.
• For the past two decades, we have been conducting politics of finding a solution within the merged North and West, a Muslim province with no land continuity, a Separate Province, a South East Unit, a Coastal district or Muslim self rule. The time is now ripe for us to share the power. Let us assure our political power in the East through these elections.