Ended ethnic war for reconciliation: Rajapaksa

Addressing a gathering in the rural Polonnaruwa, he said the current government under President Maithripala Sirisena is attempting to wipe off from public memory his legacy of ending the separatist war waged by the LTTE. 

“I ended the war to achieve reconciliation,” Rajapaksa said, adding he in the last stages of his rule had begun to handover the Tamil civilian lands back to their owners. “I held elections and was taking action to achieve normalcy in the areas”, Rajapaksa said. He also alleged that Sirisena’s government is wasting time on its current political “witch hunt” aimed at taking political revenge from him. 

“The government is wasting time on investigations without delivering the promises,” Rajapaksa said. His government became unpopular with the minority Tamil and Muslim communities. They backed Sirisena in defeating Rajapaksa in the snap presidential election called by the latter two years ahead of schedule. 

Rajapaksa’s family has faced a string of investigations over alleged wrongdoing after he was thrown out of power. The LTTE battled Sri Lankan forces for a separate Tamil homeland. A brutal military crackdown ended the 37-year conflict in 2009. Rights groups claim government forces killed nearly 40,000 civilians in the final months of the brutal ethnic conflict.