Leader of New Left Front, Dr Wickramabahu Karunaratne, in a column that appeared last week in Lankadeepa accused the Rajapakse administration of spending 500 billions of national wealth in its military drive to kill Tamil Tigers.
Accordingly, for each Tiger killed, they have spent 50 millions. All this is wealth of the people. How many thousand Sinhala were sacrificed in this war? Today mounts of Sinhala dead bodies are stacked under
Earlier this month UNP parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake also ridiculed the war expenditure of the Rajapkse administration saying that the government has spent over forty million rupees to kill one member of the Tamil Tigers since 2004.
According to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka at least 13,000 Tamil Tigers have been killed by the security forces since President Mahinda Rajapkase came to power.
Quoting government estimates, Karunanayake said 583 billion rupees were spent for the war since 02 April 2004.
If the Sri Lankan military chief's estimates are to be trusted, Karunananayake said, 42 million rupees were spent to kill one Tamil Tiger.
Sri Lankan observers point out that, in reality, the cost Rs.50 million to kill a Tamil Tiger would be many times higher as the LTTE casualty figures published by the Sri Lankan government are highly exaggerated.