Somawansa warns Rotarians of main threat to Lanka
JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe has said the biggest challenge to the country was the threat to its sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. Addressing Rotarians in Colombo Mr. Amarasinghe said there was also a threat of a ‘mono-ethnic dictatorship’ being established in a part of Sri Lanka.

The JVP leader was speaking on the topic ‘Challenges before the JVP are the challenges before Sri Lanka’. He said that among the challenges faced was that the country’s territorial integrity should be secured, the country should be on the path of a rapid economic growth and that economic growth should benefit the majority of people and also should be a good combination of the public and private sectors .

“We of the JVP believe that Sri Lanka is the traditional homeland of all its peoples who can settle and own property wherever they wish”, he said. He said that economic development also should go hand in hand with social development. Explaining the JVP’s position and aims Mr. Amarasinghe said the JVP was striving for a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, democratic country where every citizen had equal rights and opportunities and social equity in principle and practice and where any person can live freely anywhere in the country.

He said however a ‘mono-ethnic dictatorship’ threatens these desirable aims. He said during the short period the JVP held portfolios it helped the development of the agricultural sector through the 10,000 tank scheme, while an extensive development programme was started in the fisheries sector.

Mr. Amarasinghe said the party engaged 7,000 volunteers in the aftermath of the tsunami to help affected people. Speaking on the economy he said that there were gross disparities in income in Sri Lanka and the gap between the haves and have-nots have increased over the past 20 years to be one of the biggest in the world. He said the ethnic conflict costs thousands of lives and also a massive loss of property especially in the conventional war-torn North.