{"id":28476,"date":"2014-03-01T22:15:43","date_gmt":"2014-03-02T03:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=28476"},"modified":"2014-03-01T22:15:43","modified_gmt":"2014-03-02T03:15:43","slug":"if-you-cannot-stay-in-the-govtyou-can-get-outmahinda-rajapaksa-lashes-out-at-rauff-hakeem-in-cabinet-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=28476","title":{"rendered":"“If you cannot stay in the Govt,you can get out”:Mahinda Rajapaksa Lashes out at Rauff Hakeem in Cabinet Meeting."},"content":{"rendered":"

“If you cannot stay in the Government, you can get out,\u201d President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem at Friday\u2019s re-scheduled meeting of ministers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He accused Minister Hakeem of \u201cbetraying the country\u201d in what seemed a simmering battle for months now with the SLMC, one of the UPFA\u2019s partners. Rajapaksa had been angered by allegations that the Muslim Congress was behind some of the lobbying of West Asian countries over attacks on Muslims or their establishments in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n

Hakeem also stands accused of giving UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay when she was in Colombo last year, a report detailing out attacks on Muslims and their establishments \u2014 a charge which he has denied. That the issue has re-ignited ahead of UN Human Rights Council\u2019s 25th sessions which begin in Geneva tomorrow, was to exacerbate the situation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) frontliner and Science and Technology Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka who originally brought out the subject when the ministers met. Joining him was Minister Wimal Weerawansa. Hakeem, one ministerial source said, fought back arguing that his party stood for \u201ccertain principles\u201d. There were members within his party who were perturbed by attacks by \u2018extremist groups,\u2019 a fact that has caused concern even in other non-SLMC sections of Muslims, he had said. He was to cite an instance where even External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris had met with different Muslim groups to obtain their views on recent incidents. He said some of the representatives had raised issues of a more serious nature than those in the SLMC. However, Peiris was to interject to point out that \u201cwe have to resolve such issues locally,\u201d a suggestion that the SLMC had not done so to a foreign audience.<\/p>\n

Hakeem told his colleagues that there had been several foreign media reports on attacks and \u201creligious intolerance.\u201d He defended himself by saying he could not hide everything and drew an analogy that it would be akin to covering a large pumpkin on a plate with rice. Yet, there were no ministers to back him until the meeting was over. Some senior ministers were seen advising him not to take the issue \u201ctoo seriously.\u201d There were others who were visibly livid and exhorted that he had no place in the Cabinet of ministers. <\/p>\n

This is not the first time that President Rajapaksa used strong words against the SLMC and its leader, Justice Minister Hakeem at a ministerial meeting, which had been put off from Thursday on account of it being Maha Sivarathri, a public holiday. Rajapaksa had been angered by reports of alleged SLMC lobbying of West Asian countries over reported attacks on Muslims and establishments belonging to them. On the first occasion, as reported in these columns, Rajapaksa had telephoned Hakeem to question him. That included one on whether he handed over a report to Pillay. Hakeem had then denied that the SLMC had any role to play in such lobbying. <\/p>\n

The issue also figured at the ministerial meeting on February 13. Rajapaksa then raised issue over a document circulated by the SLMC listing places of Muslim worship where attacks have allegedly been carried out. The anger over SLMC is particularly in the backdrop of reports that at least two West Asian countries, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, would vote in favour of the United States resolution this month at the UNHRC sessions. The position of the third country, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which voted against the second US resolution last year, is not yet clear.<\/p>\n

Rajapaksa also raised issue with his ministers over a purported letter which six of them had signed urging him to take action to forestall any sanctions on Sri Lanka after the Geneva sessions. The report was posted on a website linked to Minister Wimal Weerawansa. The letter had also purportedly urged that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution be implemented in full. The ministers who had been named were Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Tissa Vitharana. D.E.W. Gunasekera, Navin Dissanayake, Rajitha Senaratne and Reginald Cooray. However, it turned out that there has been no such letter. The President strongly asserted that \u201cI have not received any such thing.\u201d Minister Navin Dissanayake then added, \u201cI signed no such letter as reportedly claimed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minister Ranawaka said that sanctions were not possible by way of the UNHRC resolution and stressed that the public be educated on the matter. Rajapaksa noted that such sanctions had been placed before, like for example, the withdrawal of the GSP plus (preferential tariffs) by the European Union. \u201cMata nang ehema ekak peynna nehe,\u201d (I cannot see anything like that), he declared referring to purported claims that the passage of the third US resolution would lead to sanctions on Sri Lanka. Rajapaksa thereafter directed Chief Government Whip Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to conduct workshops for Government parliamentarians and explain the issues related to sanctions. He said this should be given immediate attention to prevent them from making different statements at public events. President Rajapaksa explained that they \u201cshould not take the wrong line.\u201d
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\nCOURTESY:SUNDAY TIMES<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“If you cannot stay in the Government, you can get out,\u201d President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem at Friday\u2019s re-scheduled meeting of ministers. He accused Minister Hakeem of \u201cbetraying the country\u201d in what seemed a simmering battle for months now with the SLMC, one of the UPFA\u2019s partners. Rajapaksa …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘“If you cannot stay in the Govt,you can get out”:Mahinda Rajapaksa Lashes out at Rauff Hakeem in Cabinet Meeting.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28477,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28476\/revisions\/28477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}