Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, Eastern Governor MLM Hizbullah and Western Province Governor Azad Salley should resign from their posts, Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP) National Organizer and Parliamentarian Duminda Dissanayake said.
He said that since these three politicians have been accused by the Sri Lankan society, they should resign from their posts now and return when their names are cleared of the charges.
The MP’s statement comes after he visited the Buddhist monk and parliamentarian Ven. Athuraliye Rathana thera, who is on a fast-unto-death since Friday (May 31) demanding the ouster of the politicians from their posts.
Speaking to media in Kandy today, MP Dissanayake said the current problem is not limited to just one community or religion. Therefore, discussions have already begun to resolve this problem which has impacted the entire Sri Lankan society.
“When looked at the recent problems in the country, there were unnecessary personal uprisings making it difficult not only for the Sinhala community, but for the entire country to live in harmony as a united country,”
“Therefore, I believe that this act by the Rathana Thero is not only to protect Buddhists, but also to affect the entire people’s unity and harmony, and cooperation,” MP Duminda Dissanayake said justifying the action taken by the Thero.
He explained that since the attacks on April 21 by Muslim extremists, both Sinhala and Tamil communities have harbored suspicions against the Muslim community. “It is not national or religious, it has arisen with this incident.”
“If so they (Muslim politicians) have a responsibility to make a commitment. Rishad Bathiyutheen, Hezbollah and Azath Sally should make a certain contribution to the investigations. The people in the country want to see transparency and efficiency when conducting these investigations. It is the opinion of the society that these investigations cannot be carried out while they hold offices.” “Therefore, we ask them not to make this a nationalist issue or issue destroying the national unity and resign from the posts and contribute to the investigations. In the future, if they are innocent, they can contribute to build the unity in the country again.” The MP said the Buddhist monks always come to the front when there is a catastrophe in the country and appealed the people to support Ven. Rathana Thero’s in his fight as it is not a personal fight but an act to save the country. When asked, how long will it take for the three politicians to resign, the SLFP parliamentarian said discussions are currently being conducted with the relevant politicians and expects to resolve the problem soon. “We need to fix this issue in a short time,” he added.
