Mahinda says war was never against the Tamil community

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa today insisted that the war, when he was President, was never against the Tamil community.

The military when Rajapaksa was President, defeated the LTTE after 30 years of war and the current Government is now attempting to push for a new Constitution which will address, among other issues, the issues faced by the Tamils.

Speaking in Parliament today,?Rajapaksa said that?devolution of powers in the manner proposed at present may be in the interests of northern Tamil politicians but it will place all other minority community based political parties at a disadvantage.

“The Muslim community cannot possibly agree to the proposal in this interim report that the northern and eastern provinces be considered one province. In 1987, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress was formed in protest against the merger of the northern and eastern provinces.It is unlikely that the Muslims of the north have forgotten how they were treated when Tamil chauvinists held unfettered power. What prevented the Muslims of the east from being similarly treated at that time, was the presence of the Sri Lanka army,” he said.

Rajapaksa also said that nobody obtained a mandate to bring in a completely new constitution at either the presidential or parliamentary elections held in 2015.

He says there is widespread suspicion that the Government may try to get the new constitution passed in Parliament through the same means adopted to change the system of elections to the local government institutions and the provincial councils in the recent past. (Colombo Gazette)