Common candidate of the opposition Maithripala Sirisena and opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe have decided to reject Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem’s demand for a separate administrative for Muslims in the East, Asian Mirror reliably learns.

The Leaders of the Common Opposition have already held a meeting with Hakeem on the forthcoming presidential election and political sources said that the SLMC was likely to extend its support to the common opposition. Although he would support the campaign of the common candidate, it has already been decided that his demand for a separate administrative district would not be met.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa too did not give the green light for the separate administrative district in the East for Muslims. As a result, his bargaining power in the country’s political sphere is declining at a considerable rate, highly placed political sources added.

“There is an unspoken bipartisan agreement between UNP National Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Mahinda Rajapaksa on not giving into any more of Hakeem's demands. The initial salvo on this was fired about a month back by UNP MP Wijedasa Rajapakse in parliament with the prime minister wholeheartedly agreeing on behalf of the President,” a senior spokesperson of the opposition told Asian Mirror this morning.

When this matter was raised in Parliament last month, UNP Parliamentarian Wijedasa Rajapakse opined that it is akin to the demand of a separate state propagated by the late Chelvanayagam and Amirthalingam which led the LTTE to pursue with this demand through an armed struggle. He fearsed Hakeem’s demand would instigate the Muslim youth to clamor for a separate Muslim unit.