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SLFP, UNP responsible for 'Tamil unrest' | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All major political parties that ruled Sri Lanka are responsible for Tamil youths taking arms, a senior government minister said. Transport Minister Dalas Allahapperuma told BBC Sandeshaya that it was the policies of the two major parties that helped the emergence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE). The minister who is a close confidante of President Mahinda Rajapaksa made the remarks after attending a ceremony in Trincomalee. Education standardisation "Tamil youths were deprived of their right of entering the university as a result of the standardisation introduced by the then government in early 70's," Minister Alahappperuma told journalist RG Dharmadasa.
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike introduced standardisation that resulted in fewer Tamil students could enter the universities. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the current leader of the SLFP. The minister who was appointed as a national list MP by President Rajapaksa made these remarks days after the powerful Defence Secretary proclaiming the military action as the only way forward to solve Sri Lanka's national problem. UNP 'rigging elections' Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the younger brother of the President, has repeatedly announced the government's plans to wipe out the LTTE from the north.
The minister also blamed the United National Party (UNP), the party that ruled Sri Lanka for over 25 years, for being partially responsible for the Tamil youths to take up arms. "The UNP violated the democratic right of the Tamil community in 1982 at the Development Council elections," he said. And the open economy introduced by the UNP government in 1977, the powerful Transport minister said, was another reason for the Tamil uprising. "The farmers in north and the east could not sell their crops as a result," Dalas Alahapperuma told BBCSinhala.com. | LOCAL LINKS  Political solution soon - President25 September, 2007 | Sandeshaya UNHRC special session on SL: AI24 September, 2007 | Sandeshaya UN mission 'no threat to sovereignty'23 September, 2007 | Sandeshaya Sri Lanka rebels urged to negotiate23 September, 2007 | Sandeshaya PSC to probe alleged Govt - LTTE deal20 September, 2007 | Sandeshaya Basil 'committed' to serve Sri Lanka19 September, 2007 | Sandeshaya | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tamil youths were deprived of their right of entering the university as a result of the standardisation introduced by the then government in early 70's
