{"id":51324,"date":"2017-02-09T21:53:45","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T02:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=51324"},"modified":"2017-02-09T21:53:45","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T02:53:45","slug":"i-am-not-against-investigations-but-i-am-just-saying-do-it-properly-namal-rajapaksa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=51324","title":{"rendered":"“I am not Against Investigations but I am Just Saying Do It Properly”- Namal Rajapaksa"},"content":{"rendered":"

by<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

India misinterpreted the Rajapaksa administration\u2019s relationship with China, but is silent on the current government\u2019s engagement with the rising super power, Sri Lankan parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always made sure that Sri Lankan soil or waters was not used against any other country. And we maintained that during my father\u2019s time on a strict basis,\u201d he told The Hindu in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

Formerly a rugby player, he captained the national team, the 30-year-old parliamentarian has since 2010 represented the southern district of Hambantota. Considered a stronghold of the Rajapaksas, Hambantota houses a $1.5-billion port that the former President built with Chinese loans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hambantota port was initially offered to India, but they did not get back. China came forward,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t wait\u2026 because we have to look at our people\u2019s interests first and our election promises to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Emphasising that their government was \u201cnot against India or China, or any other country\u201d, Mr. Rajapaksa said they merely put the country\u2019s interest first. \u201cWhoever was interested in investing, we went and worked with them.\u201d However, \u201cIndia\u2019s silence\u201d now on the government\u2019s agreements with China, he said, gave credence to \u201cpopular belief\u201d among Sri Lankans that the West and India got together to topple his father\u2019s government in January 2015.<\/p>\n

Deeming the Hambantota port and a nearby airport, also built during President Rajapaksa\u2019s time, \u201cwhite elephants\u201d, the current government \u2014 led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe \u2014 decided to sell an 80% stake of the port to a Chinese company to cut the country\u2019s debt burden.<\/p>\n

\u2018Huge social impact\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Additionally, the government is also mulling leasing 15,000 acres of land to Chinese companies for an industrial zone that, the government says, would create 1 lakh jobs. The project, according to Mr. Rajapaksa, threatens to displace thousands. \u201cIt will have a huge social impact,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Accusing the government of political vendetta, particularly in regard to corruption cases facing the former First family, he said: \u201cI am not against investigations, but I am just saying do it properly.\u201d The lawmaker was arrested twice last year for alleged money laundering and misappropriation of funds, and is currently on bail.<\/p>\n

On the 2012 case of rugby star Wasim Thajudeen\u2019s death, in which the CID recently questioned two higher ranking army officials part of former President Rajapaksa\u2019s security detail, Namal Rajapaksa said the initial medical reports had \u201cclearly stated\u201d it was an accident.<\/p>\n

The CID, which took over the case in 2015, told the court it was a murder after Thajudeen\u2019s body was exhumed and re-examined, a charge that Mr. Rajapaksa finds \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d. Senior ministers in the Sirisena government have linked the former President\u2019s two sons, Namal and Yositha, to the murder case, a charge that Rajapaksa has denied.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Meera Srinivasan India misinterpreted the Rajapaksa administration\u2019s relationship with China, but is silent on the current government\u2019s engagement with the rising super power, Sri Lankan parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said. \u201cWe always made sure that Sri Lankan soil or waters was not used against any other country. …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘“I am not Against Investigations but I am Just Saying Do It Properly”- Namal Rajapaksa’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51325,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51324\/revisions\/51325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}