“Not extremist”, says Adhaalath Party in response to President’s AFP comments
10 Jul 2013, 4:13 PM
Mohamed Naahee
The religious conservative Adhaalath Party (AP) has issued a statement slamming claims by President Mohamed Waheed to AFP that the party included “extremists”.
During a two day official visit to Sri Lanka President Waheed told the news agency that it was “better to work with” with the self-claimed Islamist party despite some elements within the party holding “extreme views”, since excluding the party from mainstream politics risked marginalising it. This, he said, would have a “negative long-term effect”.
“We believe we can work with [Adhaalath], we believe we must work with them, because not working with them would be to marginalise them,” Waheed told the AFP.
“Rejecting them would have a more negative long term effect. Inclusion is better than exclusion. It is better to take them on board. Better to work with them,” he added.
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