Future of Muslims hangs in balance, says Harees

By A.L.M Shinaz

Policy Makers should be appointed to implement community based policies, former State Minister H.M.M Harees said speaking at the prize-giving event of Kalmunai Mahmud Ladies, College on Thursday (28).Addressing the event he said that he was not a politically mature person and at the same time he was not a novice but an average politician.

“Our former leaders effectively maintained a non-aligned or a neutral political stance in Sri Lanka from the time of the British rule and even during the peak of the LTTE war,” he said.
“Particularly, there was no historical evidence to the effect that our former leaders took unilateral decisions. Our leader M.H.M. Ashraff did not maintain a unilateral policy and the policy makers behind him implemented his political activities in this country.

“We cannot change the present stance whether we like it or not that the Sinhalese are the majority community in this country. Our Muslim community had clashed with Mahinda for the last 20 years. When we knew very well that he would win in the year 2005 we stood against him and attempted to defeat him.

“Similarly, we stood against him in the year 2010 and the year 2015 the people’s power including the Sinhalese who disliked Mahinda defeated him.

“However, when the intellectuals, business community and the university students unanimously decided to elect a Rajapaksa after the Easter bomb attack , which was carried out by Zaharan who was from the Muslim community,” Harees said.

He said that the situation in the country thereafter changed and the Tamil-Sinhala divisional politics was changed to an anti-Muslim political agenda among the majority Sinhala community.
“As such, we have the fear as to how the constitutional and rights of the 2 million Muslims living in this country would be handled following the Parliamentary Elections,” he said.Under these circumstances, we have to go beyond individual party politics and guide the Muslim community as a separate community by appointing policymakers, said H.M.M Harees.

Situation in the country thereafter changed and the Tamil-Sinhala divisional politics was changed to an anti-Muslim political agenda among the majority Sinhala community.