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Wednesday, 5 February 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday declared that charges of war crime against Sri Lanka are not founded on peace, fair play or justice.
Using the address to the nation on the 66th Independence Day celebrations in Kegalle as a platform to respond to international and local critics, President Rajapaksa said: “I see the attempts to level charges of war crimes against us in Geneva today as the triumph of those who are not in favour of peace. This seeks to drive fear into people and nations committed to peace and working to safeguard a country’s independence and freedom. These are not founded on peace, fair play or justice.”
“We see the use of information provided by those who are committed to separatism and those who defeated by the people to level charges of war crimes and other alleged offences against Sri Lanka as a grave offence,” the President added.
President Rajapaksa categorically stated that his Government was not ready “under any circumstances to deprive our country of the freedom we have won”.
“We Sri Lankans who were born in this country, brought up in this country, and live in this country, have every desire to protect the peace and unity of our country much more than any others from outside. We have to recall the bitter memories of the past when baseless allegations are levelled against us,” Rajapaksa said.
The President also said every powerful country should realise the difficulty in defeating terrorism.
“What we faced was a more serious and brutal challenge than they ever faced. The difference between them and us was that we instructed the security forces to give the highest priority to protect the lives of civilians. Those powerful countries took 50 to 100 years for reconciliation after civil wars. We have to ask the world whether there is any country that has progressed so much on the path of reconciliation in just four years.”
– Pix by Shantha Ratnayake
The President warned people in the north to be aware that certain foreign forces are attempting to use them as human shields. “The invaders always came to our country shedding oceans of crocodile tears. They interfered in these countries putting forward claims to protect human rights, establish democracy and the rule of law,” he said.
In his speech the President also listed various human rights violations during the tenure of the LTTE and since the end of the conflict people in the north have been liberated from such inhuman acts. They included every family in north having to provide a member to the LTTE, forceful recruitment of school children to the LTTE, grabbing of subsidies sent from south to north, LTTE taxes on celebrations held for a girl’s attainment of age, and taxing Government employees’ salary.
The President said previously people in the north fled from the LTTE and settled in the south in search of freedom.
“If we did not eradicate terrorism in 2009, the children in the north could not have attended school or entered the universities as freely as they do today. But today people in the north enjoy wide-ranging freedom. You can see this when you visit the north. Three decades of suffering ended on 19 May 2009. Since then there has been no bomb explosion or shooting by terrorists,” the President said.
“When we defeated terrorism and won freedom for the people in the south, we said that it was our responsibility to make it a greater victory for the people in the north,” Rajapaksa emphasised.
He said nobody came forward to give the freedom to the people of the north that they enjoy today. “When their human rights were violated there was nobody to restore them. Only we were concerned about it. Nobody raised the issue of human rights when the former opposition leader Amirthalingam, Sam Thambimuttu, Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and Rajiv Gandhi of India were assassinated,” the President recalled.
In his speech, the President also spoke of rapid post-war progress countrywide. He highlighted widespread infrastructure development, economic growth and unemployment. “Nobody expected the development seen today eight years ago,” he said, adding, “Even the most vehement foreign critics have acknowledged the wonders of this infrastructural development.”
“When the Mahinda Chinthana was endorsed by the people of this country in 2005 to usher in an honourable peace to our Motherland, the people of Sri Lanka did not have the freedom to travel to one-third of the country. The Tigers were in forceful occupation of two-thirds of the coastline of the country. Not only the unity of the country, but the economy also was almost in its deathbed,” the President said.
He said that public opinion from all parts of the country including the north, east, south and west were reflected in elections to the lowest democratic bodies to the presidency, as see in elections held to Pradeshiya Sabhas and provincial councils, general elections and presidential elections.
“We should keep in mind that our contest is not among blue, green, red or yellow parties; or Sinhala, Tamil Muslim and Burgher communities. Our contest is between those who love this country who those have hatred towards it. People in our country who belong to all religions and speak different languages are moving together in unity and strength towards reconciliation and development. With utmost goodwill, I call upon all countries to join hands with us in the path to democracy, development, national freedom and the strengthening of human rights,” the President said in his address.
FT Quote
We are rapidly progressing:
From war to peace,
From inefficiency to efficiency,
From pollution to cleanliness
From under-development to development and
From slavery to freedom – President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his address to the nation on 66th Independence Day celebrations in Kegalle
Digital diplomacy!
The diplomatic community capture the Independence Day parade via their digital
devices at the ceremony held at Kegalle yesterday
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