COLOMBO : The time has come to prepare a general plan to solve the contemporary challenges of the Muslim community. It has become clear that it is impossible to win social rights by acting individually, Environment Minister Naseer Ahamed said in a statement to Colombo Times on Monday, May 8
“ I know that the President is working diligently to solve the problems of the minority communities.
Therefore, there is a need to prepare a general plan to recover the lost Muslim lands and other related issues.
There is a need for us to get the native lands of the Muslims who have been swallowed up in a planned manner.
For example, 27 percent of Muslims live in Batticaloa district. Out of the total of 14 divisional secretariats in this district, Muslims are the majority in four divisional secretariats. Only 1.3 percent of the land is available to the Muslims living in these offices. These have been imposed on them. The same situation prevails in other districts of the North including Amparai and Tirumala.
Apart from this, there are some doubts and huge dangers in the delimitation reports. This report is in such a way as to reduce the Muslim representation or destroy their majority strength. We have to work so that the Muslim community is not affected in the new election system. Therefore,
It is necessary to have a consensus among the community representatives regarding such contemporary challenges of the Muslim community. Muslim representatives should meet the President with this consensus and sufficient documents. For this, I call upon all Muslim leaders and MPs to put aside their political concerns and unite. Only in unity, the common draft can be prepared. With this draft, brotherly communities can also be brought to an understanding. The Minister said that history has shown that Tamils and Muslims, who are the same mother tongues, are constantly caught in conflicts, which will not compensate the minority communities,” he concluded.
