Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa offered more participation to the Provinces in the Centre with plans to have an upper House in the Parliament by proposing an amendment to the Constitution in the future.<br/><br/>Interacting with the foreign media today at his official residence Temple Trees, Sri Lankan President admitted that ‘the end of war does not mean end of conflict. Referring to Tamils, he said, ‘peace is what ordinary people demand, but there is a need to address the people politically’.<br/><br/>With barely two weeks left for the Presidential election where the Tamil vote can play a decisive role , President Rajapaksa said he plans to hold discussions with various Tamil groups regarding holding of the early Northern Provincial election and also hold wide ranging talks with various political parties to find a political solution to the ethnic issue in the country.<br/><br/>Emphasizing that he does not consider Tamil as minorities, Mahinda Rajapaksa said that he wants to treat all the citizens Sri Lanka as equal and give them equal rights.<br/><br/>Assertion of independent political identity had been the root cause of the three decade old ethnic conflict.<br/><br/>Rajapaksa said rapid development of the North and the East of the island are underway with investment and aid from World Bank , Asian Development Bank, Japan, US , Iran, India and China.<br/><br/>Replying to a query as to why there is proliferation of the army camps in the North and the East, the President replied that after the end of the thirty year old ethnic conflict , the army is involved in the reconstruction, de mining and infrastructure development in the region and hence one can see its continued presence.<br/><br/>He also referred to the APRC proposal and said that it is not acceptable in the present form to all the parties and hence, a fresh look to the entire issue may be given.<br/><br/>A confident and beaming Rajapaksa said that he will win the Presidential election by ‘big margin’.<br/><br/>Responding to newspaper report of Prabhakaran’s cousin demanding that the mother and the mother in law of the LTTE Chief should be allowed to settle in India, Rajapaksa said that he had no issues provided India agrees for the same.