North open to all Lankans - Defence Secy

Defence and Urban Development Ministry Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday said Sri Lankans, irrespective of their ethnicity and other differences, should be able to live in any part of the country. He said all Sri Lankans regardless of their race should have the freedom to live in any part of the country. In an interview with the BBC, Secretary Rajapaksa said it is not appropriate to view the Northern Province over which a war was fought, as a predominantly Tamil area.

The Defence Secretary portrayed a normalising Sri Lanka with opportunities for all regardless of ethnicity.

Just as “a lot of” Tamil officers worked in Southern districts, Sinhalese and Muslims should be able to work in the North.

“It is part of Sri Lanka.” So were some correct to view the North as a predominantly Tamil place? “Why should that be? Why should that be?” he said. “If you are a Sri Lankan citizen you must be able to go and buy the properties from anywhere. I’m not talking about the forced settlements, I’m talking about the freedom for a Sri Lankan to live anywhere in this country.”

“Do you think it was a battle between the Army and civilians? It’s a battle between the Army and the terrorist group which were equally armed like the military,” he said.

In the North, he said, life was getting back to normal - fishing restrictions had been lifted, the army had moved out of contentious areas such as running restaurants, and anti-LTTE groups had now been disarmed. In the country as a whole, he said, the government had opened a window to progress by ending the war.

“This is a time that... irrespective of whether Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslim, you as a Sri Lankan must move forward.”

Courtesy: BBC