Minister for Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa told the Hindu that the Sri Lankan government could not risk a provincial government forming its own army through devolved police powers.
Dismissing arguments that Tamil armed struggle was now a thing of the past, Rajapaksa said:
“If [the NPC] form another army, can we afford another war now?”
He also claimed that the Rajapaksa government had given the Tamils "everything" and that the TNA were whipping up other "emotional issues" as they had nothing else left to promise.
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