Muslim regiment, a calculated attempt to seed disunity- TNA MP
[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2006, 00:24 GMT]
"President Mahintha Rajapakse's announcement of launching a Muslim Regiment, recruiting Muslim youth, ostensibly for the security of the Eastern province Muslims, is a calculated attempt to drive a wedge between the Eastern province Tamils and Muslims," said S. Jeyanandamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance Batticaloa parlimentarian, Wednesday. "This can be construed only as a deliberate attempt to derail the peace process and to wage war against the Tamils," added Jeyanandamoorthy in his statement.
Voicing his oppostion to the recruitment of Muslim Youth in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), he further said, "If the Sri Lanka government is genuinely interested in solving the issue of the Tamil speaking people, there is no need to recruit Muslim youth to its army. "Recruiting new cadres and creating an ethnic oriented regiment forewarns of the hardline attitude the government intends to adopt in the future. Besides this act will create an ethnic gulf between the two communites," Jeyananthamoorthy said. "I appeal to the Muslim people and innocent Muslim youth to be cognizant of the grave consequences that may arise due to this deliberate act of the Sri Lanka Government, and to resist supporting politicians who may exert pressure on Colombo to recruit Muslim youth in its army. "I have great confidence and faith that the Muslims in the east will act with foresight and to ensure the peaceful co-existence of both communities," said Jeyanandamoorthy.
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