LMC Leader Rauff Hakeem addresses the press conference held at Hizbullah Islamic Cultural Centre at Kattankudi in the Estern Province this morning.Former Deputy Minister for Telecommunication and Media M.L.A.M Hisbullah on also addressed the press.SLMC officials and large number of supporters are present. 

Hisbullah, Harees back home

M.L.A.M. Hisbullah, former deputy Minister, Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Authority and deputy leader of National Unity Alliance has formally announced his re-joining the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress this morning at a ceremony being held at the Hisbullah Cultural Hall in Kattankudi in the presence of SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem.

Hisbullah is scheduled to address a SLMC rally in Nintavur in support of UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe later today. He will have the company of another SLMC dissident, former Parliamentarian H.M.M. Harees who will re-join the SLMC during this week.

SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem who is busy campaigning in support of Ranil Wickremasinghe's bid for presidency will now have the oratory powers of the former PA strongman Hisbullah in his campaign.

Hakeem in Ampara

‘Ranil Wickremasinghe is a leader who treats Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities equally and one who does not ally with Sinhalese extremist groups' said Rauff Hakeem when he was addressing an election campaign meeting at Damana, a predominantly Sinhala village in Ampara.

SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem had commenced a series of meetings in the Sinhalese areas of the Ampara district, as part of the campaign in support of opposition leader Ranil Wickremasighe for presidency, yesterday (9/10/05).

Meetings were held at Sinhalese villages Damana, Keselwatte, Japan Malwatte, Nawagampura, Hingurana, Muwanhala and Polwatte in Ampara. The SLMC is enjoying a new waive of support among the Sinhala masses in these areas. Large crowds have attended the meetings.

He said that Ranil Wickremasinghe's priorities were to introduce a realistic action plan to brining in permanent peace, develop the rural economy and uplift the quality of life of the farmers, fishermen and the entrepreneurs, make them to give added contribution to the national economy.

"Muslims of the coastal areas in the east are frustrated with the UPFA government, it is the same situation with the Sinhalese people here' he said.

Hakeem also said that "this is not a battle between Ranil and Mahinda, but we see this election as a test of strength between the JVP and the SLMC".

People carry the dead body of a quake victim in Balakot, 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005. The death toll from Saturday's earthquake that struck Pakistan, India and Afghanistan rose above 18,000 on Sunday, the Pakistani army spokesman said, as rescuers struggled to dig victims from destroyed apartment buildings, schools and mud-brick homes 

An injured Kashmiri girl is carried as she arrives at a military base after she was transferred from an earthquake-affected area of Pakistan, in Rawalpindi October 12, 2005. REUTERS/Mian Khursheed