S.Lankan Muslim Leader Cancels Meeting with PM Amidst Fresh Violence

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, August 18, 2003

S.Lankan Muslim Leader Cancels Meeting with PM Amidst Fresh Violence

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Leader of Sri Lanka's main political party for the minority Muslims Rauf Hakeem was forced to cancel a meeting on Monday with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe due to reports of an alleged killing of two of the party supporters by the Tamil Tiger rebels.

A spokesman for the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) said that their leader Rauf Hakeem was rushing to the eastern town of Sammanturai following the gunning down of two SLMC supporters by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels on Sunday night.

The two slain SLMC members who were supporters of the local SLMC MP Anwar Ismail had been shot dead on Sunday night, the partysources added.

Hakeem, a minister in the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, had a meeting scheduled with Wickremesinghe in the capital Colombo on Monday to discuss violence against Muslims carried out by the LTTE in the east of the country.

A police curfew was imposed for the fourth night in succession at eastern town of Muttur due to the tension as a result of the LTTE's killings, abduction and assaults of Muslims.

Hakeem on Sunday night warned the government of serious action if it failed to guarantee the safety of the Muslims in the east.

The SLMC which holds 12 seats in the 225-member parliament provides Wickremesinghe's government with the parliamentary majority.

Muslims, the second largest minority community in the country after Tamils, have repeatedly accused the LTTE of continued harassment ever since the rebel group entered the ongoing Norwegian-brokered truce in February last year.

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