President Mahinda Rajapaksa pledged to create a society where the law will apply to all in an equal manner. The President gave this pledge to the Buddhist, Catholic, Islamic and Hindu religious leaders when he spoke to them soon after his convincing victory at the Presidential election on Wednesday.

President Rajapaksa spoke to them over the telephone and obtained their advice on his future program of work soon after he returned to Temple Trees after attending the official declaration of election results at the Elections Secretariat.

The President spoke to the Most Ven. Tibbotuwawe Sri Siddarta Sumangala Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter, Most Ven. Udugama Sri Ratanapala Buddharakkhita Mahanayke Thera of the Asgiriya Chapter, Most Ven. Davuldena Gnanissara Mahanayake Thera of the Amarapura Maha Nikaya, Most Ven. Weweldeniye Medhalankara Mahanayake Thera of the Sri Lanka Ramanna Maha Nikaya, Colombo Archbishop Most Rev. Malcolm Ranjith, Jamiyyathul Ulama Organisation Secretary, Fassy Moulawi and Hindu Religious leaders and explained the measures taken to ensure a free and fair election and pledged to create a society where the law will apply to all in an equal manner. The religious leaders offered their blessings to the President for his victory.

Letter on Wednesday evening he addressed Editors and Heads of media institutions at Temple Trees and urged them to use the media responsibly for the good of the society. “Do not use the media to promote chauvinism, provoke communal tensions and create an environment in which riots could occur again. Please use the media responsibly for the good of society,” he said.

“Do not leave any room for terrorism to raise its head again in the country,” he added.

President Rajapaksa also observed that in the recent past certain media had given a bad example to the society by publishing rumours and false and defamatory stories. However, the election results show that the people have rejected not only these stories but also the entire methodology of these media outlets, he said.

“In spite of the clear verdict of the people they are trying to create a wrong impression abroad for political reasons,” he added.

Commenting on the elections results in the North, the President said he was satisfied that the people there had participated in a national election.

“What is significant is that they have freely joined the democratic process,” the President said. “Terrorism was defeated only a few months ago and it will take some time for them to regain trust in the people in the South. The Government has released most of the LTTE cadres who were rehabilitated during the past six months and released them to their families.

I would like to recall that the JVP cadres who took part in the 1971 insurrection were rehabilitated for three years before releasing them.”