22 February 2016 10:00 am
He said that it was not prudent to step down from the demand of a separate province for Muslims.
"The Tamils had demanded self-determination. They have neither stepped down nor had given up their demand. They have also not stepped down from their demand for a merged North-East. This could be described as a stratagem or a political manoeuvre deployed by them. Similarly, a Muslim Province only will give a motherland and self-determination to Muslims and we cannot give up our demand. If we were to do so we could dissolve all the Muslim parties and join a majority parties like the UNP or SLFP," he said.
He said that a separate Muslim identity did not mean winning a few Parliamentary seats and Cabinet portfolios.
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress was established in order to uphold the fundamental rights of the Muslim polity. If the majority community could have many parties and the Tamil polity a few parties why couldn’t the Muslims form a party to represent their community, he queried.
"We cannot under any circumstances give up our demand for a Muslim Province. If we give up our demand we must also exit from the party or discuss with the Muslims and give up the party and also our demand," Dawood said.
"The SLMC stance is that the Muslims need a separate Muslim Province. Our late founder of SLMC M.H.M Ashraff too endorsed it. If a Chief Ministers conference is held a Muslim Chief Minister should definitely participate in it," he said. (M.S.M Noordeen)