Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has promised that due recognition would be given to the Muslim community in the proposed Tsunami Relief Council (TRC), the president office said in a press release Thursday.

Kumaratunga said the TRC takes into consideration and accommodates many of the interests of the Muslim community and has clauses for addressing their concerns, according to the release.

She also made this statement to the visiting Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidal Helgesen and through him to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Helgesen, accompanied by Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Hans Brattskar, flown Wednesday to Kilinochchi to meet with LTTE political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvam.

Before flying to Kilinochchi, Helgesen had met and told Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress that no changes to final draft could now be made, which means in effect shutting the doors completely on the prospect of Muslims becoming a signatory to the mechanism.

Source: Xinhua