Young MPs urge government to open dialogue with Diaspora

 Thursday, 27 February 2014

A group of young parliamentarians representing several political parties have called on the government to build a dialogue with members of the Sri Lankan Diaspora in order to ensure there is sustainable reconciliation in the country.

The parliamentarians have reportedly been working towards promoting positive and open dialogue with Diaspora communities since 2011.

Gampaha District SLFP parliamentarian Vasantha Senanayake has been quoted in the media as saying that a report on the issues raised by the Diaspora and recommendations in addressing those issues was handed over to the government by the group of young parliamentarians.

He has observed that the cross-party parliamentarians have the support of their respective party leaders while National Languages Minister Vasudeva Nanayakara had shown interest in the initiative.

Other parliamentarians in the group are Niroshan Perera (UNP), HunaisFarook (All Ceylon Muslim Congress), Harin Fernando (UNP) and Shehan Semasinghe (SLFP). Tamil National Alliance political activist Raghu Balachandran is also part of the group.