SLMC leader Hakim meets Akashi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2004, 12:00 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader and a senior Minister in the United National Front government Mr.Rauff Hakim told Japanese special peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi that necessary steps should be taken to ensure that the foreign aid earmarked for the development of the northeast province to reach all communities in the province in a just and fair manner if the international community is prepared to channel such aid direct to the northeast rehabilitation and reconstruction without waiting for the stalled peace process to restart , party sources said.

The discussion was held Tuesday evening at the auditorium of the Port and Shipping ministry the delegation of the SLMC and Mr. Akashi, sources said.

Mr. Hakim is reported to have told Mr. Akashi that future peace talks should be held not only between the government and the LTTE but also should accommodate Muslims and other alternate government groups. Otherwise the peace talks would fail, Mr. Hakim cautioned.

Mr. Hakim reiterated that stalled peace process should be taken forward without further delay. He said a separate Muslim representation was not accomodated in earlier peace talks held between the government and LTTE. Humanitarian and rehabilitations issues were discussed in earlier talks. As the future peace talks could focus attention on core problems in the ethnic conflict, Muslims should be included in such as an independent group to place their aspirations and grievances, Mr. Hakim said, according to party sources.