President Mahinda Rajapaksa tells all parties it is time to focus on equality

Chairing the inaugural session of a committee for development and reconciliation, president Mahinda Rajapaksa today (Jul. 02) called for unity among all political parties as one team of patriots.

It was not the time to concentrate on differences but on equalities, he told the Presidential Committee on Development and Reconciliation at President's Office in Colombo.

Mr. Rajapaksa said that the present was a period to expedite the humanitarian mission of people after a cruel terrorist war and added that reconciliation would be impossible without development.

'We must forge unity, understanding and affection for the future', he noted, news.lk reported.

 The President also said that the committee should discuss as a top priority requirement the resettlement of 300,000 people presenting living in camps in the North.

All political parties, including the opposition UNP, JVP and TNA, were represented at this meeting.