The Sri Lankan defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has denied allegations of human rights abuses, refused to devolve police powers, justified increased militarisation and stated that the North of the island should not be viewed as a predominantly Tamil area, in interviews to both the BBC and Sunday Leader.
When asked by the BBC about the North being a mostly Tamil area of the island, the defence secretary replied,
When Haviland responded that “They’re not wrong allegations, because I’ve met the victims”, Rajapaksa replied,
Being interviewed by the Sunday Leader, Gotabaya Rajapaksa also talked about the possibility of Tamil militancy and refused to answer any questions on released former army commander Sarath Fonseka, and when questioned responded,
Rajapaksa went on to state that he was wary of Tamil militancy, warning,
When asked by the BBC about the North being a mostly Tamil area of the island, the defence secretary replied,
"Why should be that? Why should be that? If you are a Sri Lankan citizen you must be able to go and buy the properties from anywhere."Slamming reports of abductions and disappearances as “wrong allegations”, the defence secretary accused BBC’s Charles Haviland of reading “some website, no?”
When Haviland responded that “They’re not wrong allegations, because I’ve met the victims”, Rajapaksa replied,
“Don’t get angry! Usually I get angry, so you don’t get angry. Ok don’t get angry. I am the secretary of defence, I have investigated this. You don’t take the words from these people, take the word from me.Further stating Sri Lanka had defeated terrorists, Rajapaksa went on to say,
"All this we have stopped... but you don't talk about that. You are supporting the terrorist cause!"See the full report from the BBC here.
Being interviewed by the Sunday Leader, Gotabaya Rajapaksa also talked about the possibility of Tamil militancy and refused to answer any questions on released former army commander Sarath Fonseka, and when questioned responded,
“I don’t know. You have to ask the President. I am not interested! I have not known any of these things. I have a lot of work to do… you can see I am not sleeping…"
“I don’t know … I don’t know! I don’t want to comment! I will stop the interview if you continue with this!”
Rajapaksa went on to state that he was wary of Tamil militancy, warning,
“You can’t disregard this. If we relax, if we don’t take steps to prevent it there is a possibility it can rise again.”
“That is why the President said we cannot withdraw the military from these areas.”Denying the presence of High Security Zones, he did concede that the army had
"Especially on the intelligence side – we have increased military intelligence units. We are training them more and more in advanced methods so they can gather information on these affairs and have an early warning. Then we keep an eye on certain people that we know have been engaged in criminal activity."
“positioned military personnel – camps in very strategically identified places so that we can control certain areas”On the subject of the 13th Amendment, the defence secretary ruled out devolving police power to the Tamil provinces, stating,
"I can talk only about the police powers. This is something we cannot give! This would be detrimental and not practical. Because ours is not a huge country we are small."See the full interview from the Sunday Leader here.
There is no logic in that. In fact I asked this from Mr. Sampanthan. By doing this it cannot help the reconciliation process – I don’t see how it can. It will only create unnecessary problems – it is simply not good to do."
