SLMC and DUA to merge?

4 January 2012 05:21 am Views - 6031

Moves are afoot to create a political union between the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Democratic Unity Alliance (DUA), the Daily Mirror reliably learns.

DUA Secretary-General Hafiz Nazeer Ahamed is tipped to be appointed as the Deputy Leader of the SLMC as part of a deal aimed at ending a legal dispute over properties. 

Mr. Nazeer Ahamed is likely to act in the capacity of Deputy Leader informally until being officially appointed to the post at the next Delegates Conference in September, in line with the SLMC Constitution.

A meeting between SLMC Leader Minister Rauf Hakeem and Mr. Nazeer Ahamed will be held this evening (04 January) to seal the deal. 
When contacted by the Daily Mirror, SLMC General Secretary M. T. Hassen Ali confirmed that discussions are underway between the two parties aimed at bringing about a merger. 

“The SLMC has always stood for unity among Muslim political parties and reconciliation between the SLMC and DUA will strengthen the position of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka,” Hassen Ali said. 

‘Darussalam’, the SLMC headquarters in Colombo, and a bare land adjoining it has been the subject of a legal dispute between the SLMC and Unity Builders, a private company in which Nazeer Ahamed serves as one the main directors. 

The properties, which have been the main bone of contention between the SLMC and DUA, will be handed over to the SLMC upon finalisation of the talks, informed sources said. 

The ‘Darussalam’ was initially funded by the late Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi. (Ayesha Zuhair)