He told The Island yesterday "In a way, Muslims have to be happy about their decision to quit Parliament since they were of no use to the Muslim community."

He said during the parliamentary elections Hakeem cheated Muslims of the Ampara district and grabbed more than 75,000 votes. "Sadly, after getting these votes he never got involved in any activity towards the betterment of the Ampara district", he said.

Moulavi Mubarak said Hakeem was now planning to cheat the people of Trincomalee district.

He accused Hakeem of planning to bring back the United National Party back to the Eastern province. "In fact, it was during the UNP regime that Muslims had a number of problems over several issues," he said.