unleashed against them by paramilitary forces in the
Eastern Province in particular.
Mr. Hasen Ali also submitted
many documents to prove his claims. The SLMC delegation
headed by SLMC UK President Mr S M Haleem, requested Andrew Love to voice for the helpless Sri
Lankan Muslim community in the international arena
whenever and wherever the Sri Lankan issues are debated.
MP Andrew Love
sympathized with the Sri Lankan Muslim community and
pledged his whole- hearted support to lobby the Sri
Lankan Muslim issues.
As a result, on the
adjournment debate held in the British Parliament on the
January 17, Parliamentarian Love made the following
observations on Sri Lankan Muslim issues during his
speech.
'A representative
from Sri Lanka's Muslim community visited me last week
to express the considerable concern that exists about
what is happening to Muslims, especially in the east of
Sri Lanka. Representatives of the Muslim community come
to me saying that they want to be involved in the peace
process.’
'I agree with
the hon. Gentleman. Again, I remind the House that the
LTTE decided that it no longer wanted the Muslim
community to be part of the polity that was created in
the north of the island, and many members of that
community became internally displaced as a result. I
have great sympathy with the hon. Gentleman’s comments,
which reaffirm that we need to include democratic
representatives of all parts of all the communities if
we are to reach a solid, permanent and sustainable
solution'
'There also
seems to be no dialogue with the Muslim community, which
recently left the Government coalition. That is another
worry. The international community has a role to play in
trying to re-establish dialogue, whether private or
public'
Whole contents of the debate is published on UK
Parliament's website:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080117/debtext/80117-0017.htm
