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President warns of foreign plot to destabilise Sri Lanka
View(s):For four years after the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas, “external forces” have resorted to various ways to destabilise Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told Sri Lankans yesterday. He was addressing the nation after yesterday’s Victory Parade to mark the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009. The parade was held at the Galle Face Green.
The President said the strategies of the external forces included an Arab Spring-like campaign. It also took other forms like the grease demon (grease Yaka) scare, the so-called claims for an “independence of the Judiciary”, media freedom and human rights.
Disabled soldiers on wheel chairs taking part in yesterday’s Victory Day parade at the Galle Face Green in Colombo. President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the chief guest. Pic by Indika Handuwala
“There were attempts to make us file answers to such charges every six month. It is these sinister aims that are put forward as the protection of human rights and democracy,” the President said. He also warned the people of the north to be on their guard against what he called sinister protestors.
“After thirty years, we have given the opportunity to the fishermen of the north to earn their livelihoods freely at sea,” he said. “However, when the fishermen of the north go out to sea there are others who come and grab their fish. It is those who grab this wealth of the people of the north who seek to bring pressure on the government on behalf of the Tamil people of the north.”
He said it was the people in the North and the East who would and should feel the freedom that had been enjoyed since the end of the war. “Today, in the north and the east, there are twelve political parties carrying out their activities freely. Just as LTTE leader Prabhakaran did, the political parties that are propping up the Diaspora are still engaged in an effort to drag Tamil society to destruction. As long as these groups exist, the Tamil people need no other enemies,” he said.
The time had come for the people of the north to have a good understanding of the honesty of those who claim to speak on their behalf, the President said.
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