President Gotabaya Rajapaksa making his throne speech at the second sitting of the 09th Parliament of Sri Lanka today (18) vowed that no human rights will be violated nor any influence will be made to have them violated in the country.
As a country that respects and abides by international covenants and laws, Sri Lanka needs to rectify certain misconceptions laid before the International Community about the country, the President noted.
“I say with responsibility that the government will not endorse any kind of human rights violation during my tenure. We will also not allow such acts to take place in the future. We do not condone such acts either. Almost every community in this country has been affected by terrorism for nearly three decades. We were able to end this situation in 2009 by defeating terrorism and bringing peace back to the country. However, now we want to erase the dark memories of history and build a secure country where all people can live in peace and harmony. For that, we must all unite, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation. We have invested heavily in normalising the lives of the people in the war-torn North and East. During my tenure as Secretary of Defence, I liberated more than 90 per cent of the military-occupied lands in the North and East during the war. We have been able to ensure security in these areas and maintain a peaceful environment, enabling us to liberate the remaining lands in the future. The issue of war disappearances is not unique to one party. We will work to do maximum justice for all of them. We deny racism. The present government wants to protect the dignity and rights of all citizens of this country. Therefore, I urge the politicians who continue to do this to stop inciting the people against each other for narrow political interests,” he said.
