Eastern goals a reality only under President's leadership - Minister Ferial Ashraff

Mohammed Naalir

COLOMBO: Housing and Common Amenities Minister Ferial Ashraff said that the people in the Eastern Province can achieve their goals only under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Government.

She said for the first time after one and half decades people in the Eastern Province were preparing for a Provincial Council election.

Ashraff commended President Rajapaksa for liberating the Eastern Province from LTTE terrorists and restoring democracy in the province. Addressing a meeting at her Party Office in Ampara, Ashraff said the voting rights of the innocent people in the Eastern Province had been violated by the blood thirsty terrorists until the province was liberated by the Government.

She said the community in the Eastern Province must be grateful to President Rajapaksa for making their lives happy and prosperous.

Ashraff said massive development projects were undertaken in the province during the Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa regimes but Ranil Wickremesinghe did nothing for the Eastern community.

Ranil only signed a memorandum of understanding with the LTTE, she said. During the Wickremesinghe period the community in this area underwent untold hardships, the Minister said.

She asked the people specially in Muttur and Valachchenai to recall the suffering they underwent during the regime of Ranil Wickremesinghe.

"We couldn't cultivate our own lands as the area was controlled by the LTTE." She said now an opportunity has arisen to visit and carry out agricultural activities in their own lands since the area was liberated by the Government.

The farmers in the province could gain fruitful harvest this year from their own lands, she said.

National Housing Development Authority Chairman Mohammed Rafeek and party representatives were also present.