Say what you mean and mean what you say; Mangala tells President

Urges political solution be outlined and public referendum held

By Uditha Jayasinghe

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday received a hallenge from SLFP (M) Leader Mangala Samaraweera and Western People Front Leader Mano Ganesan to make his stance regarding a political solution to the ethnic conflict clear and hold a public referendum before a Presidential Election.
Addressing the media both politicians questioned the reason behind the delay in getting together a political solution and demanded that the government make their stance clear on the 13th Amendment. Samaraweera quoting from the recent The Hindu interview given by the President asked as to why local and international reports varied over the political solution and its basis.
“President Mahinda Rajapaksa is an old friend of mine and I know how good he is at saying what others want to hear. So that we hear him saying one thing to the Indians and the complete opposite to other people within his government. On one hand he talks about a political solution that goes beyond the 13th Amendment and another that doesn’t even give the powers within that same document. What is the meaning of this? This sort of behaviour is not going to win the trust of the people,” he insisted.
Emphasising on the need to find out what the people feel regarding this political solution he maintained that if the government has money to spend on Uva Provincial Council elections and Local Government polls in the north then there is no excuse for not holding a public referendum to ascertain the sentiments of the people. “The President should not seek a second mandate from the people without first fulfilling what has already been given to him. In the Mahinda Chinthanaya it is clearly stated that a political solution is needed for the ethnic crisis and therefore it must be achieved before another Presidential Election, not after.”
Pointing out that if the political solution is not finalised soon the economic battle too would be difficult to win, Samaraweera mentioned that the longer the process is delayed the more extremist views would multiply. He reiterated his support for a negotiated political solution and pledged support to the government in this regard.
Moving on to the topic of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) Samaraweera was vehemently condemning of the government treatment of people in welfare centres. Citing from The Hindu newspaper he noted that if Sri Lanka’s welfare camps are the “best on earth” then why Presidential Advisor Vasudeva Nanayakkara told Ravaya newspaper that those same camps are “hell.”
“We have these contradictory statements of hell and heaven. What are we to believe? This is why we question the government. It is time they made their stance clear. It is time that the President clearly outlines what he plans to do.”