Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem has expressed his condolences over the demise of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member R. Sampanthan, stating that the late MP bridged the relations between the Tamil-Muslim Communities in Sri Lanka.
Issuing a statement, MP Hakeem said the passing of the senior political leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, who served as a bridge of Tamil-Muslim relations, has distressed the Tamil-speaking people.
“I was deeply saddened to hear the news of the demise of Hon Sampanthan, a political doyen who was tirelessly engaged in the pursuit of an ultimate solution for the national ethnic problem in the country, especially for the Tamil people and the minority communities in general.
“Hon Sampanthan has gone down in history as a leading political figure in Parliament, whose arguments in Parliament focused on the unfulfilled promises of the South’s chauvinistic political leadership,” he said.
Sampanthan was the leader of the Opposition from September 15 to December 2018. Nurtured in Thanthai Chelva’s (S J V Chalvanayakam’s) school of ahimsa-based politics, he entered Parliament through the Ilankai Thamizh Arasu Katchi (ITAK), representing Trincomalee on numerous occasions and served as the President of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) from 2001 to date, leading it remarkably well since the latter’s inception.
R Sampanthan remained strident in his opposition to the numerous unfulfilled promises for the Tamil-speaking minorities, made by successive governments and chauvinist political leaderships of the South, for whom he was an indubitable authority on minority rights.
MP Hakeem revealed that although the non-violent Tamil struggle to win the rights of the Tamil people, traditionally followed since the times of ‘Thanthai’Chelva, changed its course later, owing to several circumstances, R Sampanthan worked relentlessly to find consensus among the Tamil parties and the other minority communities for achieving mutually beneficial solutions to the Tamil sides and the minorities in the peace negotiations between the government and the LTTE.
He has also forthrightly expressed from time to time, that the North-East merger, which was touted as a solution to the ethnic problem would not be possible without the consent of the Muslims living there.
R Sampanthan represented Trincomalee district in Parliament at different times since 1977, and continuously represented his party in Parliament since 2000 until his last breath, conducting himself in an exemplary manner, faithfully upholding the principles of his party and the Alliance.
In later years, although his health weakened in his old age and he visited Parliament in a wheelchair, his eloquence and sharp wit remained unfazed. Above all, his memory was admirable to the extent that he would even point out and elaborate on various aspects of the issues of solving the ethnic problem at different challenging times.
MP Hakeem said that although it is regrettable that his loss has occurred at a critical point of time in the politics of the country, the Tamil people and the minorities, including all Tamil-speaking people remain indebted to him. “We owe him a sense of gratitude to the extent of committing ourselves steadfastly to achieve durable peace, in the settlement of the ethnic problem, by making every necessary concession for it, in the best of our ability with minimum damage.
“Personally and on behalf of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, I offer my deepest condolences to late Hon R Sampanthan’s bereaved family, the people of Trincomalee, the Ilankai Thamizh Arasu Katchi and the Tamil National Alliance,” MP Rauff Hakeem added. (Newswire)