President Rajapaksa today appealed to NGOs, certain other organisations and individuals not to betray the country for a few thousands of dollars. Addressing the UPFA May Day rally attended by over half million people at the Colombo Town Hall a short while ago, the President said all Sri Lankans should be united to face the latest international conspiracy.
While rejecting the war crimes allegations leveled by the Darusman Report in toto, President Rajapaksa said the only ‘crime’ the Security Forces have committed was the manner in which they treated both injured civilians and terrorists alike and sharing their food with them.
“The whole world watched the caring manner in which our soldiers carried weak and old to the safety and even fed them with their own meal. They have seen how innocent Tamils as well as LTTE cadres were treated by our medical teams during and after the war. This is the crime they have committed against humanity,” the President said.
He said that the Government conducted the humanitarian mission to rescue nearly 300,000 displaced persons at the last stage of the battle more humanely and carefully than the expectations of the UN agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP). “Sri Lanka remains the only country that saved such a large number of people from the clutches of terrorism in such a short time, fed, treated, rehabilitated and ultimately integrated into the society. No other country in the recent history has carried out a humanitarian operation of this magnitude,” the President told the UPFA May Day rally.
He said no other Army could claim that they rescued such a large number that Sri Lanka’s Security Forces. “We rehabilitated the terrorists, giving them education up to the university level and skill development training and even arranged their marriage and sent them to the society as law abiding citizens,” he said adding that it has been a unique record to Sri Lanka. “This is what certain groups and organisations define as war crimes and a violation of human rights,” the President said.
The President said the Government always care for the safety of the civilians and even fed the terrorists during the battle. “The World Food Program requested the government to send food sufficient for 300,000 displaced persons. But we sent food stocks sufficient for 350,000. Eventually, we had to bring back the excessive food after all IDPs were put at temporary camps safely,” he added.