The leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Minister Rauf Hakeem of late has been trying to unusually posture himself as a champion of minorities, both Muslims and Tamils as a tactical populist move in order to cover up his political bankruptcy, with all his attempts at simulation only yielding to the exposure of his hypocrisy, states Y. L. S. Hameed Secretary General of the All Ceylon Muslim Congress in a press release.

The release further states as follows: "Mr. Hakeem became highly critical of the rising of the east ceremony after having participated in it. The reason he adduced for his participation was to commemorate the soldiers by which he in effect admits that the ceremony was to commemorate the valiant soldiers. At the same breath, he says it was a political exercise in which he with great reluctance participated lest he might be identified as a supporter of the LTTE in line with the Bush’s concept "If you are not with me you are with my enemy".

"The J.V.P. whilst praising the soldiers took a policy decision to boycott the function for a given reason; that is, the participation of UNP dissident Ministers.

"Similarly if Hakeem had felt that it was a political exercise, he should have abstained and paid his tribute to the soldiers in a different way as the JVP did without making a mockery of himself by criticizing the event after participating in it.

"Hakeem has these days been trying to portray himself more as a voice of the Tamils maybe because he indulges in brown study that he could harness the support of the Tamils in order to supplement his loss of votes among the Muslims or that he could score brownie points among the international community. This does not mean that a Muslim Leader should not raise his voice for the Tamil brothers but it should be genuine and not for cheap political publicity.