Sinhalese can live happily only if Tamils are happy:Lanka Prez

President Maithripala Sirisena has said that Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese Buddhist community can live happily only if they ensure that the issues faced by the ethnic minorities - Tamils and Muslims - are addressed.
Sirisena said the majority community must ensure Tamils and Muslims live in harmony in a way that all communities live happily in the country.
Addressing a gathering in Eravur town in Eastern province yesterday, Sirisena said the government is keen on addressing the issues faced by all communities.
Sirisena was elected as president with a large backing of the minorities in the January 2015 election, defeating the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa - a majority community favourite.

Since being elected, Sirisena has addressed some of the pressing rights issues of Tamils affected by the three-decade- long war by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who fought for a separate Tamil homeland in the north of the country.
According to a UN report, up to 40,000 Tamil civilians may have been killed in the final months of the fighting that ended in 2009.

Sirisena said that the reason for the "northeners" to take up arms was that their basic problems had not been addressed.
He said the country must develop irrespective of regional differences, "be it the south, west north or east, all must have equal facilities for education, health and transport".

"We can't allow people to take guns into their hands again."
His government is contemplating a new constitutional arrangement aimed at addressing the issue of political freedom of the minorities.
The government begun the process for a new Constitution inJanuary this year. It has sought public opinion on the new Constitution, the report of which is to be presented by the end of April.
The new Constitution will replace the current executive president-headed constitution adopted in 1978.