Foreign Agents entering military camps: Country’s national security under threat – Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa charged that the new government has put the national security of the country in jeopardy.

He said the national security is under threat and also quoted that the UN Working Group that concluded the tour in Sri Lanka as ‘foreign agents’ who entered the military camps.

The former president said on Friday at the Parliament, that the ‘foreign agents’ are now given permission and opportunity to enter military camps. He was referring to the UN Working Group.

UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances which concluded a visit to the island recently,    entered military camps, and that the LTTE suspects are released while the defence personnel are being detained now.

The Working Group concluded its visit to Sri Lanka with the announcement that it had found evidence of a secret detention camp inside the Trincomalee Naval Dockyard.

Former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda later admitted that LTTE prisoners had been held at the facility, but refuted allegations that detainees had been tortured inside the hitherto-unheard-of detention centre. The new Government earlier this year denied the existence of secret detention centres in the island. The UN Working Group told the media ‘now you have a ‘success story of a detention camp being identified and urged the government to probe as it is a serious human rights violation.  The Group said that there are more than one such detention camps and asked the government to find the truths.

Continuing to ply an ultra-nationalist line, Rajapaksa questioned what had been behind the suicide the Jaffna student, who killed himself to protest against the continued detention of Tamil prisoners under PTA.

“His death leads to many other activities. Western countries are now instructing the country to remove the military from the north. We don’t endorse foreign military officers coming here,” the former President charged.

He said the Government was seeking to amend the law to “apprehend war heroes on human right violations” and to retire them. “The UK has agreed to provide GBP 6 million for restructuring our military. But if you want to revise, why not save those monies spent on wreaths and parties? Don’t take money from abroad. Don’t retire those who fought against the LTTE,” he added.

At the Parliament on Friday, he said that he gave priority to the national security which any movement would do.    “I tried to do that to best of my ability and defeated the most dangerous terrorist organisation in the world,” he proclaimed.