Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa said it was the duty of the government to look after “the interests of our war heroes” in a statement criticising the response to a UN Human Rights Council resolution passed last week.
“Though the passage of the US sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka in the UNHRC without a vote last Thursday is being hailed as a diplomatic victory for Sri Lanka, I am unable to share that view,” said Mr Rajapaksa, stating it commits the “government to a course of action which runs contrary to the interests of this country and is therefore politically unfeasible”.
“I acknowledge that there are times when foreign powers try to foist their way of thinking upon other nations and the country at the receiving end has to find ways of dealing with the situation,” he added. “The first duty of the Sri Lankan government is to see to it that the interests of our war heroes are looked after.”
In his statement the former president also addressed claims that he had insulted the British and French foreign ministers who visited Sri Lankan during the final days of the armed conflict, by serving them cassava to eat.
Stating that the ministers were “demanding that I halt hostilities”, Mr Rajapaksa said:
“It is certainly true that I refused point blank to halt the war. It is because I did not buckle under foreign pressure that this country is free of terrorism today. Governments are elected by the people of Sri Lanka to do what is best for the country and not to agree to everything said by foreign powers. That applies to the resolution that has just been passed in Geneva as well.”
See the full text of his statement here.