Sri Lanka’s war on "wheat terrorism” is part of a "bi-polar" strategy that is set out to appeal to the ruling SLFP's traditional electorate and neglect others, commented the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice.
Responding to Prime Minister Jayaratne’s comments last month where he called to “make bread unaffordable”, Fred Carver from the Sri Lanka Campaign spoke to Radio Netherlands Worldwide and said,
Last month, an opposition MP spoke out against the proposal after presenting data which showed that the Tamil districts of the island would be more adversely affected than the others, with provinces such as Jaffna and Vavuniya relying on wheat much more than the rest of the island.
See our earlier posts:
Government’s plan to ban wheat will affect Tamils – UNP MP (09 Dec 2011)
SL Prime Minister calls for wheat and fruit import ban (07 Dec 2011)
44 million extremely poor suffer as food prices soar (19 Feb 2011)
Food for thought (04 Nov 2010)
Responding to Prime Minister Jayaratne’s comments last month where he called to “make bread unaffordable”, Fred Carver from the Sri Lanka Campaign spoke to Radio Netherlands Worldwide and said,
“Sri Lanka is already engaging in these very protectionist attitudes. But it has a very Bi-polar investment strategy. They are attracting foreign investments and protecting internal markets at the same time.”
“Jayaratne's Sri Lanka Freedom Party has never been strong in the cities. It has always been strong in the rural farming communities. So this is pandering to their rural farming base but without thinking through the consequences whatsoever.”
"The MP will still be able to afford his expensive imported croissant, but it's the ordinary Sri Lankans who will see their favourite products disappear."See the full piece entitled ‘Sri Lankan government is banning its roti and eating it too’ here.
Last month, an opposition MP spoke out against the proposal after presenting data which showed that the Tamil districts of the island would be more adversely affected than the others, with provinces such as Jaffna and Vavuniya relying on wheat much more than the rest of the island.
See our earlier posts:
Government’s plan to ban wheat will affect Tamils – UNP MP (09 Dec 2011)
SL Prime Minister calls for wheat and fruit import ban (07 Dec 2011)
44 million extremely poor suffer as food prices soar (19 Feb 2011)
Food for thought (04 Nov 2010)
