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Hakeem To Contest from Ampara
Bandula Jayasekara in Colombo,
SLT 8.30 A.M Monday 23 February.
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauf Hakeem will contest the April electios
from the Ampara district leading his party in the SLMC home base. Hakeem
told The Lanka Academic that he would lead from the front and campaign to
ensure victory in the SLMC home base. He saiid " I need to expose the bluff
of the SLMC members who joined the Freedom Alliance. The party is in tact
and the party and its members are not with them" Hakeem also denied reports
that he was planning to contest Colombo from the UNP ticket.
Published: Sun Feb 22 21:50:22 EST 2004
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SLMC and the newly formed Muslim National Alliance seals agreement with UNP and UPFA
Alladin Hussein in Colombo,
February 22, 2004, 11.33 pm.
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress today evening extended their support to the United National Party at the forthcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for April 2. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two parties General Secretaries, Senerath Kapukotuwa and Hasan Ali at the United National Party office in Colombo. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem attended today’s signing ceremony.
The Muslim Congress is expected to contest Colombo, Kandy, Kalutara, Kurunegala, Puttalam and Anuradhapura districts under the UNP. The SLMC will however contest the North East province on its own.
Meanwhile the newly formed Muslim National Alliance led by SLMC dissident A.L.M. Athaullah signed a Memorandum of Understanding extending his party’s support to President Kumaratunga’s United People’s Freedom Alliance. The agreement was signed today afternoon at President’s house.
Published: Sun Feb 22 12:39:51 EST 2004
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SLMC portrays bleak picture on April 2 election, wants more foreign election monitors
Alladin Hussein in Colombo,
February 22, 2004, 12.18 am.
The country’s predominant Muslim political party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress has urged international monitors to be very vigilant when monitoring the polls at the forthcoming general election on April 2. The party’s leader Rauff Hakeem has also requested the European Union and the Commonwealth to bring in more foreign election observers to monitor the process.
The Muslim leader has said that like the last general election in 2001, this election too was likely to be full of violence, intimidation and stuffing of ballot boxes, which was why there is a need for more election observers to be posted at all polling stations around the country.
The party has also indicated that the impending election could be the most ‘violence prone’ election in Sri Lankan history ever. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress lost 12 of its supporters from the Kandy district at the last general election in 2001. The People’s Alliance’s former Deputy Minister of Defence Gen. Anurudda Ratwatte was accused of murdering 10 of the 12 SLMC youth in Kandy (known as the Udathalawinna massacre). The court case is still pending.
Published: Sat Feb 21 13:25:54 EST 2004
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