The Hon. (Dr.) M.L.A.M. Hizbullah

¶ 01 Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.

¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, I am pleased to join the Committee Stage debate on various Special Expenditure Heads including the President’s Office. Yesterday, when I spoke here, I requested that the Puttalam Base Hospital be upgraded to a District General Hospital. The President, having listened, and upon discussions with my friend and colleague, Hon. Puttalam District MP Muhammad Faisal, advised the Hon. Minister of Health, and very swiftly granted approval to upgrade the hospital to a District General Hospital. I am very pleased. On behalf of the people of Puttalam, I convey my thanks and appreciation to the President and to the Minister of Health.

¶ 03 Under the leadership of the President, a programme to eradicate narcotics is being carried out through the President’s Office with the joint efforts of the Army, Police, Air Force and Navy. We appreciate this. We listened to the President’s address at the anti-narcotics meeting, where he stated that he will rescue the country from the drug trade that is destroying the nation. We appreciate and thank him for these efforts.

¶ 04 There is a grievance that in this Cabinet there is no Muslim minister. From the time of King Parakramabahu, a thousand years ago, through different reigns and governments, there has been a tradition in history where Muslims were present in the councils of rule. Based on that tradition, the absence of a Muslim minister in this government’s Cabinet is a shortcoming. Recently, when I visited cities such as Dubai, people there too raised this — that no Muslim has been given a ministerial post. Therefore, I request the Hon. President to pay attention to this. This should not become a precedent in history for future governments to avoid having a Muslim in the Cabinet. Hon. Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake is here — he is a close friend. Hon. Minister, I request you also to take this up and take appropriate steps.

¶ 05 The Hon. President is visiting each district, holding District Development Committee meetings and taking district-level actions. Batticaloa is a district affected by war and natural disasters. I request that the President visit soon and undertake development actions in Batticaloa as well.

¶ 06 Recently we saw the gazette appointing 19 members to an archaeology-related body. No Muslim or Tamil member has been appointed. In the Eastern Province, many lands of Muslims have for 10–15 years been identified by the Department of Archaeology as their lands. Similarly, in the Northern Province many Tamil lands have been so identified. Therefore, only by appointing persons from both those communities to that body will it be a fair body.