Outcome of Eastern PC election is message of freedom from East to North

Government Defence spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday (14 May) told media that the outcome of the Eastern Provincial election is the message of freedom and democracy sent by the Easterners to their brethren in the North. He said that the people in the East have clearly rejected Prabhakaran's desire to create a mono ethnic separate homeland for Tamils but embraced the democracy. The Minister made these comments addressing at the weekly media briefing held at the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS), Colombo.

Recalling the Indo - Sri Lanka peace pact signed by late president JR Jayawardane and Late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the Minister pointed out that the Provincial council system was originally introduced as a probable solution to the ethnic issue but none of the previous governments could implement it in the areas where its is really intended for.

The Minister further said that the present government has not only liberated the Eastern province from the clutches of terrorism but also launched a massive development program in the area which had been long neglected by previous governments. While doing so, the Minister said that the government has now given the political freedom to the easterners by conducting, the local and provincial council elections peacefully. He added that the elections have created a history as a group of former LTTE cadres had abandoned terrorism and joined main stream politics to achieve their missions.

He further said that election itself was a unique achievement in that the people who were denied the basic fundamental right of franchise did exercise the right after a lapse of 30 years, many for the first time in their life.

Commenting on the opposition's allegations over the election that it was not a free and fair one, the Minister told that the any party has democratic rights to make any such comments, but highlighted that it a natural occurrence in the political field in Sri Lanka to see the defeated parties blaming the winning party. However, he hoped that the opposition would be fair enough to highlight the LTTE terror attacks that had been launched to cripple the election with the other violent activities that it is going to take up in future.