The Sri Lankan leader has vowed to correct “misconceptions” on a number of issues | Tamils ​​News

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promises a change in human rights and ‘justice’ for people in need after years of refusing to call for such measures.

The president of Sri Lanka has promised to change the “wrong ideas” of his country human rights historically, following years of international condemnation of war atrocities and massacres.

Government troops were charged systematic violence Decades passed on the island during a separatist war against the Tamil Tigers, including the killing of at least 40,000 civilians at the end of the war in 2009.

Sri Lanka has been critical of the allegations. Ever since he was elected President in 2019, Rajapaksa has been phoning to search for people who have disappeared in the civil war.

The families of the victims say that most of the missing people were taken away by the military because of their involvement with separatist terrorists at the end of the war.

Officials have also been accused of killing journalists and human rights activists for years, and there have been several recent reports of suspected killings in police custody.

But President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who took office in 2019, said their government was clean and said he had criticized them for no reason.

“We need to correct the misconceptions that have been taken in other countries in the past about our human rights,” Rajapaksa said at a new parliamentary session on Tuesday.

“When I was in office, the government did not approve of any human rights violations. And we will not leave it at that in the future. ”

The Sri Lankan leader urged “national politicians who still encourage people to oppose each other for political gain to stop doing so”.

“We reject racism. “What the government wants is to protect the dignity and rights of all citizens,” Rajapaksa said.

In previous speeches, Rajapaksa portrayed himself as the leader of the majority of Sinhalese Buddhists and emphasized that they were elected primarily by their votes.

Since its election, a number of world-renowned individuals have been shot dead by police, while other suspects have been detained for some time without trial.

Rajapaksa was also the island’s security chief at the end of the war, led by his brother Mahinda.

Sri Lanka was criticized by the UN Human Rights Council for failing to properly investigate human rights abuses at the end of the conflict. The government declined to comment or investigate human rights and allegations of war in the civil war have been a source of confusion in his relations with many western countries and neighboring India.

Last month, Rajapaksa was appointed district attorney general who is accused of participating in a robbery and killing about a dozen children, conspiring to rob their wealthy families.

Economic hardships

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a gradual warming up financial problems which has led to food fragmentation and power cuts.

The island was hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic, and the government was struggling to raise enough exports due to a shortage of foreign currency.

India offered a $ 500m loan to a neighbor to pay for imported oil Tuesday, Sri Lanka’s energy ministry warned that the island would run out of gas by the end of the month.

India has 80 million ethnic Tamil tribes and is looking to uphold the rights of the Tamils ​​minority in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves were about $ 1.6bn in early 2022, which was not enough for several weeks of exports. It also has foreign debt of more than $ 7bn this year.

This shortage of funds has led to a severe shortage of exports and long lines of milk powder, cooking gas, kerosene and other necessities.

Rajapaksa told parliament that the country also needs to attract tourists for economic reasons, but did not announce new solutions to the Sri Lankan crisis.