President urges political parties to shed communalism

President Mahinda Rajapaksa speaking as the Chief Guest of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the  Sinhala weekly Ravaya said that the last stages of the humanitarian operation was carried out only to rescue the innocent Tamil population who were suppressed under the jackboots of the Tiger terrorists and to liberate the country from the terrorists.

He said that it was not an operation carried out against the Tamil population as some foreign funded anti-national elements attempt to project and this factor was evidently confirmed by the Tamil people from Kilinochchi up to the East holding massive demonstrations on Monday against the international conspiracy against Sri Lanka in Geneva.

The President said that the time has come for all Sri Lankans to unite as one nation under one flag devoid of party, color and other differences and to participate in the development process of the country.  He emphasized the importance of proceeding with the development process to ensure sustainable peace in the country.  It was also pointed out that there is no development without peace and similarly there will be no peace without development.

The government is totally against communalism and consider each and every one in this country as people of this country, said the President and urged the political parties to shed their notion of communal politics.

The Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, Tamil National Alliance Leader R. Sampanthan, government ministers, parliamentarians and journalists participated in the event. (niz+)

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