NAGPUR: Sri Lankan minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has praised the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping his country during the economic and political crisis.
He also said the Sri Lankan government will soon set up Truth and Reconciliation Commission to bring long-standing peace to the island nation with consensus from all communities.
The minister further said the Sri Lankan government is holding continuous interactions with the Tamil diaspora and people and leaders living in different parts of the world.
“We resolved most of our problems with the support we got from the Indian government led by PM Modi. We are hopeful to bring normalcy back to Sri Lanka” Rajapakshe, who handles the Justice Department, told reporters on Saturday on the sidelines of the Peace Conference in Nagpur city of Maharashtra.
Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022 that also sparked political turmoil in the island nation which led to the ouster of the all-powerful Rajapakshe family.
The crisis led to the formation of a government led by Ranil Wickremesinghe which was tasked with stabilising the economy and restoring the financial health of the economy.
Rajapakshe said Sri Lanka witnessed 30 years of war and disastrous things in which 60,000 lives were lost.
“I took many initiatives to help the people affected by the war. We have commenced all the process in 2016 and launched the offices for missing people, reparation of peace, and reconciliation of peace,” Rajapakshe added.
He was replying to a query on complaints from ethnic communities and religious minorities in Sri Lanka about alleged injustice and discrimination and the role of the Sri Lankan justice system.
“The Sri Lankan government will establish Truth and Reconciliation Commission and we are trying to ensure long-standing peace in consensus with all communities.
“We have resolved many issues. There were several litigations and so many prisoners. However, now all these issues have become minimal. Sri Lanka is addressing all the issues from every angle,” Rajapakshe said.
He said the Sri Lankan government held dialogues and interactions with the Tamil community to reach some understanding to resolve the issues.
“We are holding continuous interactions with the Tamil diaspora, people and leaders living in different parts of the world. Now, all have supported establishing peace. They also categorically say that everybody in Sri Lanka has suffered. It is not confined to a particular community in Sri Lanka,” the minister said.
He said the government is of the view that these problems mustn’t be passed to the next generations.
“We should ensure that in our country all Sri Lankans whether they are Muslims, Tamils, or Sinhalese live in peace with the Sri Lankan identity. We are hopeful to accomplish this,” he said.
Rajapakshe also spoke about how Sri Lanka is addressing the economic crises in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The country’s economy was in dire straits and inflation was around 97 per cent (when the new government took over). We were going through a very difficult period. We didn’t even have 2 million when we took over. We told this truth to the people,” he said.
Our target was to bring inflation to a single digit in a year and ensure people get essential foods, coal and gas and increase foreign reserve up to 5 billion dollars, he added.
“We have brought down the inflation to 21 per cent. People do not face power cuts and coal shortages. Essential goods are available adequately. Our foreign reserve stands at 3.5 billion and we hope to increase it to 5 billion dollars,” Rajapakshe added.
He said the government has stabilised the political and economic situation in the country.
Queried on allegations that ex-Sri Lankan president tampered with police records to stall investigations into the alleged discovery of mass graves in an area where he was a military officer during the Marxist rebellion in 1989, Rajapakshe said, “There is no possibility of tampering with the records as he (Rajapaksa) is not in the power”.
“There had been some allegations in the last few days, and certainly, authorities will continue with the investigation. If guilty are found the normal laws of the country will take course,” he added.
Rajapakshe also spoke about introducing a new bill to be passed in Sri Lankan Parliament next month to address the corruption in the public sector.