I didn't see Prabhakaran even after he died! -- Mahinda Rajapaksa

I didn't see Prabhakaran even after he died! -- Mahinda Rajapaksa

It is a widely-known fact that the reason for Mahinda Rajapaksa to be defeated at the Presidential Elections was the lesser number of votes the Tamil community had given against him. It is the contention of some others that it was the anger that flared up which incidentally was the reason of the defeat of terrorism

of the Tigers during his regime. Whatever it is, Mahinda had tried to win the hearts of the Tamils from time to time in the past. He even took steps in distributing books to Tamil children on behalf of World Children's Day last week. On that occasion he exclaimed that Wigneshwaran was not a racialist and even went to the extent of calling a special media briefing yesterday with the motive of dismissing any ill feelings of the Tamil media. Certain points that he brought out there were those that he had hitherto not exposed. Seen below are the replies he gave, when questioned:

* When the war ended, did you see the dead body of LTTE leader?

  I didn't see him even in my dreams.

* Then why is it said that you as the Commander-in-Chief was happy after seeing his body?

  That's an entirely false story. I don't have a mentality of being happy by seeing corpses or people suffering. There's no difference to us whether it's Prabhakaran or someone else ... because it's a big battle that we fought. It was a battle against terrorism that we fought and not with people as such. So what I have to say is that it's an absolute lie.

* Didn't you rehabilitate and release during your regime a large number of soldiers who were there during the last stages of the war?

  Yes. We did it pretty soon. We brought them back to their former state faster than anybody else in the world had done.

* But you oppose when releasing political prisoners.

  No. We have no opposition for releasing political prisoners. But the problem here is that when we were getting ready to rehabilitate them, those who are now shouting on their behalf ... certain lawyers ... had been keeping them inside and then without interrogating them, voiced their opinion demanding that they be produced in courts. So accordingly we produced them in courts on each relevant case. If not ... we would have sent them to a rehabilitation camp. It was on the request of those lawyers that they were produced before courts.

* But what the United Opposition say is that those people cannot be set free.

  It's like this .... What we have now of course is not a political issue. Alleged criminal violations. Political allegations and war crimes are two different things. If someone has criminal allegations; it should be handled in that way because those are held in courts. Nobody can interfere with judicial matters. If a government is putting their finger into it ... then it can't be allowed. It's wrong. The standing we are bound with is, that no interference could be allowed from a political angle. That has been brought forward by the judiciary also. It's not our job. Why ... is it that the government is going to listen to what we say? No ... isn't it. They don't.

* The government is continuously saying that they won't allow foreign judges to come into this matter but what you say is something to the contrary. How can that be proved?

  The Foreign Minister goes out and tells the world one thing. On a number of instances he had told that foreign judges would be brought. But the President says another thing. Ranil says some other thing. We have a question as to know who is telling the truth. The Foreign Minister of course goes round saying that they'll be brought.

* There are accusations that on the final lap of the war, war crimes took place in a big way. Then on the other hand there are various allegations with regard to those missing in the war. When circumstances are such, why do you oppose?

  I'll tell you one thing. Don't use that term 'war crimes'. It's a very dangerous word. There were no war crimes. Those things didn't take place during our time. Some incidents happened. Inquiries were carried out during that same time. Several went to give their verbal statements in that respect. In Hitler's war of course there were war crimes. In this case it didn't happen. We even appointed a commission to inquire about those who went missing. Its members went from village to village. It was not something done by remaining inside an office. Paranagama travelled from house to house and after securing evidence he solved it beautifully. There were some more steps to be covered. But this government had put a stop to it saying that foreign judges have to be brought. It's a very awesome situation. There won't be any results from it. What we think is that the problem of Sri Lanka should be solved within the country itself. When we spoke about the Paranagama Report some people said that it's good. There was opposition against the commission at the start. The LLRC Report too was the same. This is the problem ... these people don't realise the true story of this. It's true ... the diaspora influence also has a bearing on this. What I say is that these things are issues which must be looked into in a more cordial way. Solutions can't be expected like this. I don't say that there aren't problems. Even during our time such things were done. If not ... a youth who was engaged in a war for 12 years; can he be released in just 6 months? It's a big responsibility.

* Though you won the war ... this government makes allegations that you couldn't win the hearts of people in the North and unite people in the North and South.

  Actually, after winning the war what I thought was and my responsibility was to develop the economy of the North like in other areas ... to remove landmines. After that I had to reinstate those who were in camps. Then I had to think of providing their fundamental requirements. I thought about how to provide electricity, housing, roads, schools and hospitals. Now go to Jaffna and see the development. What I first did was to provide train facilities to the North before the South. Tell me ... has any road been carpetted after I did. There's no point in giving a sermon to people who are in hunger. We did all that. But our fault is that as political leaders we didn't go into discussions with them in a political way. At that point we are responsible for a minor setback. Now what these people are doing is keep on discussing and keep on removing the Army. But tell me ... has any Tamil camp been closed. No. What is shown by that is, that by ignoring the Tamils they are focusing on their own votes and political objectives. What is being done is keeping on making Sumanthiran, Sampanthan happy. I speak out without any fear that nothing has been done on behalf of the Tamil people. It's things which I have done that are being opened. We also could have kept on dragging the war to gain political gains. We could have politicalized this and kept on talking about winning hearts, that was spoken of earlier. But we didn't do that. Now it's that what is seen as wrong.

* It's you who conducted the North Provincial Council Elections. Now a big criticism is aimed in relation to proceedings of the North Provincial Council and a statement of the Chief Minister of the North Provincial Council. So do you feel sorry about holding this election?

  No ... mad?  I don't feel sorry at all. I'm really happy. Many people told me not to give it. I know that I'll lose. But I should give them that right of theirs. That's why I gave. The masses should get an understanding about ruling. The Chief Minister I know of course is not a racialist. What he engages in is politics. This government can't give him support. It's because nothing has been done for the Tamil people. That's why he does these things. It's the Chief Minister who has to answer to these things. When he speaks ... this government puts it on racialism and gets away with it. It was done with the Chief Minister combining himself with the government. These are really dangerous comments ... but I don't think he's a racialist.

* Some people say that Wigneshwaran is getting involved in protests such as this because the freedom that was not there during your tenure is now present. Would you leave room for a thing like this?

  There should be one law in the country. For those who believe that inciting racialism in the country is right ... then it is right for them. If not ... it's wrong. If this emerged during my time as an element of racialism ... I would decline. Even in this instance Wigneshwaran happened to divert this in another direction; the public did it with a different purpose. It was Wigneshwaran and the government that turned the slogan into racialism.

* Do you accept that there is an ethnic problem in the North? What is the solution available for it?

  Communities cannot be separated and the problem solved. If there's an issue ... everyone should get together and handle it. There's no point in one community being happy. When some suggest that the North and East be joined together, Muslims who are within those regions are not in favour of it. Like that, progress can never be achieved.

* If a solution is brought forward for this problem from the new constitution of this government ... would you be in favour with it?

  We should know what that solution is. Without knowing, it's difficult to give a response. MPs like Weeravansha have started predicting that it is not beneficial even before it has dawned. What has happened here is that nobody can agree with opinions of Lal Wijenaika who has been included in the group which they have appointed, to structure this constitution. Because of that ... more problems will crop up. My opinion of course is that this could be done by amending the constitution.

* Do you mean to say ... not to bring a new constitution?

  I won't say such a thing. But instead of introducing a new constitution, it would be better to make amendments. I don't know what will happen. We're waiting to see. This problem cannot be solved of course by dividing the country.

* What's the response you would give for the allegation that you'll are involved in a conspiracy to topple the government?

  If I did involve myself in a conspiracy, I would still be there.Those are all bogus political rumours.

* Is it true that you had a secret dialogue with Opposition leader Ranil Wickremasingha at Temple Trees that day? What was it that you discuss?

  No ... there was no such discussion. At that time I knew that I would be losing ... because we are people who were involved in politics no. I then told him 'you'll come and take this and form the government. Even before the results were announced I left Temple Trees at 6 in the morning when the crowd asked me not to leave.

* What do you think was the strongest reason for you to lose the election?

  What I believe as the strongest reason is false propaganda. With such false propaganda the masses, communities were taken away from us. It was done with Goebbels Theory.

Note -- Chamika Munasingha