KATTANKUDY MOSQUES AND MUSLIM INSTITUTIONS LETTER TO ELECTION COMMISSIONER

Commissioner of Elections
Elections Secretariat
P.O.Box- 02
Sarana Mawatha
Rajagiriya
Sri Jayawarthanapura.

Through : Divisional Secretary, Kattankudy

Honoured Sir,

Postponement of election for Kattankudy Urban Council

Our federation is an organization representing 40 Mosques and 84 social service institutions. Our Kattankudy town has a population of 45000 people and this town is supposed to be the

most thickly populated town in the whole of South East Asia. First of all let us express our vehement and sorrowful protest against your decision to postpone the election to our Urban Council.

The decision that you have taken is a denial of the basic democratic rights of the Muslims living in Kattankudy as well as in Batticaloa district. Moreover, it is very biased, unjust and unfair.

Therefore, we urge you to reconsider your decision and to take early action to conduct the election to our Urban Council. In support of our request we, in addition to various other obvious facts, urge you to consider the following facts as well.

Kattankudy town consists of 100 percents Muslims population and comes under complete government control.

As elections were not held for the last 9 years instead of being administered by Kattankudy Muslims, this town is run by officers who are non-Muslims.

As the representatives of the people are not governing the Urban Council, many basic problems such as non availability of pure drinking water, continues piling of garbage all around the town, very badly damaged roads, no proper drainage systems, frequent flooding of the town after every rain, remain unsolved, uncared and un attended for the last so many years.

In-sufficient staff to run the council also could be added to the list.

No development programmes for the town is put forward or planned or under taken by the officers of the council for many years.

Sir, your decision to postpone the election..

will deny the opportunity to our people to rule themselves and will make our people the slaves of those superior officers who are keen to block the development of the Muslims in the district.

will prevent us from placing our urgent needs and requirements and will make us depend on the bones thrown by the officers who are biased against Muslims.

our town which has not seen development for a long time will fall definitely to the bottom very soon.

Further, we categorically state that no officer in this district or party has the moral right to make recommendations that will deny our community it’s life and development.

And also if the general election, presidential elections could be held without any disturbance why not local body election in an exclusive Muslim town?

Therefore, we earnestly request you reconsider your decision and hold elections to our Council.

Thanking you

Yours Sincerely

(Moulavi AJM Ilyas-falahi)

Secretary

24^th March 2006

Mr.John Cushnahan , Chief Observer for the EU Election Observer Mission (EOM) hand over his final Report regarding the Presidential Election held last year to the S.L.M.C. National Leader Rauff Hakeem at his residence today . 

SLMC to seek relief from Court of Appeal to accept their

SLMC intends to file applications in the Court of Appeal tomorrow to get an order from the court instructing the elections commissioner and the returning officers, especially in the electoral districts of NE and Puttalam to accept the nominations submitted under the party symbol Tree.

The decision to file this application was taken after the SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem accompanied by his Secretary General and other official had met the elections commissioner yesterday to discuss the course action to be taken lift ban on the nomination lists by the party under its symbol, consequent to an order by court suspending the restraining order issued against the party, its leader and the secretary general on the eve of the local government elections.

During the meeting the commissioner has regretted to the SLMC delegation for having rejected the nominations by the party under its symbol the tree in accordance with the enjoining order issued on February 15. He had also appraised the party officials that in order to accept the rejected nominations a court order was required and the commissioner had assured them that his department had no objections whatsoever in the SLMC getting a court order to the effect and it will not interfere in any move by the party.

This decision was also endorsed at the meeting of the High Command of the SLMC held last night at Party's head-quarters Daarussalaam.

New moderate Tamil party recognized in Sri Lanka

Munza Mushtaq in Colombo, March 23, 2006, 1.29 p.m.. A new Tamil party, consisting of some very senior Tamil politicians has come into being. The party, Akhila Illankai Tamil United Front (AITUK) has also been given recognition by the Commissioner of Elections.

The party which aspires to be a driving force against all anti democratic Tamil political parties also envisages that the country's two decade long ethnic conflict should be resolved through a federal solution in a united Sri Lanka.

The AITUK's constitution while impressing upon equality of citizens in all parts of the country has also stressed that the rights of Tamils and Muslims must be secured. The party has also vowed to work for the betterment of those who were displaced internally and externally due to the war.

"Recognition for the party by the Elections Commissioner was granted on February 10, 2006," the AITUK General Secretary K. Vigneswaran told the Lanka Academic. Dr. Vigneswaran a former parliamentarian was earlier an advisor to Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) leader Douglas Devananda, but broke ranks with him several months ago owing to alleged 'undemocratic' style adopted by the EPDP leader.

Emphasizing why such a party was created, Dr. Vigneswaran pointed out that the aim of AITUK was to rally together democratically minded and likeminded people, as there was a void of such 'democratic organizations' in the country's Tamil political sector.

Meanwhile, it is reliably learnt that many top notch Tamil politicos such as former parliamentarians from the Tamil United Liberation Front, Eelam Peoples Democratic Party, Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam,, North East Provincial Council members and several Local Authority Chairmen are said to be part of this new party.