by Shamindra Ferdinando
Only Mahinda Rajapaksa was equal to the task of eliminating the LTTE through military means Sri Lanka’s former ambassador to Italy Hemantha Warnakulasuriya, PC, said yesterday. He had, therefore, backed Rajapaksa at the 2005 presidential election, he added.
The UNP had been in the grip of the LTTE and the country in crisis at that time, Warnakulasuriya said, noting that there had been a pressing need to ensure Rajapaksa’s victory.
One-time Secretary of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) was responding to interviewers, Faraz Shauketaly and Bandula Jayasekera in an interviews telecast on Sirasa and MTV.
When it was pointed out that Warnakulasuriya had intervened on behalf of a person at that time accused of alleged misappropriation of tsunami funds, the former diplomat said that the national requirement to meet the LTTE’s conventional military challenge took precedence over all other contentious issues.
President Rajapaksa appointed Warnakulasuriya as Sri Lanka’s top envoy to Italy in 2006. Warnakulasuriya also received silk during the same year.
Warnakulasuriya alleged that the law and order situation had seriously eroded over the past six years. President Rajapaksa had caused irreparable damage to good governance particularly after the conclusion of the conflict, he said.
Asked when the rot had really set in, Warnakulasuriya claimed that the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga had brought Sarath Nanda Silva as the Chief Justice at the expense of deserving judges. Warnakulasuriya alleged that Kumaratunga had wanted to control the judiciary through Sarath Nanda N. Silva. It had been part of a sinister project aimed at suppressing the UNP, he said, claiming that the setting up of various committees at that time, too, was meant for that purpose.
Alleging that an influential section of the SLFP had worked overtime to sabotage Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidential election campaign Warnakulasuriya said President Kumaratunga had conspired to have her own Prime Minister arrested on the basis of alleged misappropriation of tsunami funds. The then Attorney General C. R. de Silva, who had been very close to Mahinda Rajapaksa had not been aware of the plan until the last moment, Warnakulasuriya said.
Responding to a query, Warnakulasuriya said that he had promptly alerted Rajapaksa after having informed by Sarath Kongahage of the clandestine move against Rajapaksa. Warnakulasuriya revealed that when he raised the issue with Rajapaksa, the Premier had immediately contacted the AG, only to be told the latter wasn’t aware.
Soon after the presidential election, Kongahage was appointed Rupavahini Chairman before being posted as Ambassador to Germany.
Warnakulasuriya said that the then Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva had helped them save Rajapaksa’s political career by thwarting the move to arrest him. Had that happened, Rajapaksa would have suffered a huge setback, he said. By then Sarath Nanda Silva had switched his allegiance to Rajapaksa at the expense of Kumaratunga. Warnakulasuriya said that many speculated the Chief Justice had been interested in the post of Prime Minister though he couldn’t confirm it.
Warnakulasuriya also discussed the circumstances under which the Vatican had intervened to facilitate the evacuation of people from the area surrounding the Madhu Church during the Vanni offensive. The Army had experienced severe difficulties in conducting offensive action due to heavy civilian presence, therefore the intervention of the Vatican was sought through the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, the former ambassador said. Warnakulasuriya said that Rajapaksa had wanted him to secure the support of the Catholic Church.
Warnakulasuriya welcomed Rajapaksa’s defeat at the January presidential polls. For, if Rajapaksa had won the election, he would have certainly amended the Constitution to declare himself as Sri Lanka’s King. JRJ, too, had such ambitions, Warnakulasuriya said.
Courtesy:The Island