Speaking at a public meeting the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) had said that the Government must make a responsible statement with regard to the false and baseless statements made by Northern Province Chief Minister on resettlement of Sinhalese in the North and constructing of places of worship without having backbenches to do so, reports Daily Mirror.
“The government must reveal how many Sinhala families had been resettled in the North and how many Buddhist statues have been built and places of worship of other religions like Muslim and Christians. If not the international community may think that Sinhalese are invading the North,” he had said.
According to Mr. Warnasinghe about 20,000 Sinhala people had been living in the North according to the census conducted in 1971 and less than 5000 Sinhalese had been registered for resettlement there after the war.
“Only 110 families were resettled in Nawakkuli and most of them have already left there due to intimidation while only 33 Sinhala families went to Nari Kaadu for resettlement. Sinhalese and Muslims were chased away from the North during the war,” he had said.
Saying that statements of Mr. Wigneswaran were a hindrance to the reconciliation effort by the government the JHU national organiser Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe had said the government must make a statement with facts and figures as the international community may be misled by these baseless allegations.
Responding to the JHU Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran he was bent on national reconciliation and was contributing his mite towards promoting it.
In a letter to Daily Mirror CM said the needs, aspirations and individuality of one’s community was neither separatist nor racist and that he was working with the President, Prime Minister and others in the present Government in promoting national reconciliation.
“The Centre must not undermine the Provincial Administration. Such an observation is factual and relates to the preservation of the powers of the periphery,” he had said.
Responding to the allegation that only 20 per cent of the funds allocated for the Northern Provincial Council was spent and the rest had been returned to the Treasury, he had said almost 95% of the funds allocated last year were spent.
The Chief Minister said that irresponsible statements by those who hold responsible positions would no doubt be a hindrance to national reconciliation.
Source – Daily Mirror