Don’t give terrorists an ethnic or religious label: Ranil

The late Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake once said citizens of this  country should identify themselves as Sri Lankans no matter whether they  were Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims or Burgher

By Yohan Perera   

Terrorists should be treated as terrorists no matter what ethnic or religious group they belong to, while extremism should also not be tolerated, former premier and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.   

He told an election rally in Batticaloa that terrorists should not be given an ethnic or religious label.   
“There are terrorists among the Muslims, Tamils and the Sinhalese. I do not know whether there are terrorists among the burghers in this country. We should get rid of extremism. Extremism and terrorism go together,” Mr. Wickremesinghe said. “Muslims in this area helped the security forces to destroy Zahran’s safe house. All people helped us to do it.”   

He said the founder of our party the late Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake once said citizens of this country should identify themselves as Sri Lankans no matter whether they were Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims or burgher.   
Referring to the UNP manifesto Mr. Wickremesinghe said if his party was elected to office it would help those who lost their jobs as a result of COVID-19 by paying them Rs.10,000 monthly for a period of one year, assisting private schools and help resolve the foreign exchange shortage the country was currently facing.   

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***There are terrorists among the Muslims, Tamils and the Sinhalese. I do not know whether there are terrorists among the burghers in this country. We should get rid of extremism. Extremism and terrorism go together 
***