Only the government could solve Sri Lanka's ethnic issue - Minister

Dec 01, Colombo: Only the Sri Lankan government can solve the country's ethnic issue, not any foreign institution an influential government minister has said.

Delivering a speech winding up the budget debate in parliament Friday, Economic Development Minister of Sri Lanka and President's younger brother Basil Rajapaksa said that only the government could solve the ethnic issue.

"It is only we who can solve the ethnic issue. This is our country's problem. It is a national problem. Foreigners have no feelings for us. I know that if they wanted they could have intervened in our crisis. But they had no interest to do so," the Minister said in parliament.

He said that some countries wanted Sri Lanka to kill the slain LTTE lewder Prabhakaran for their own purposes, not in the people's interest. "Now they are shedding crocodile tears," the Minister added.

Minister Rajapaksa explained that the Economic Development Ministry has invested a massive amount of money in the North during 2009-2011.

The Ministry had spent Rs. 7.075 billion on resettlement and houses, Rs. 2.75 billion on irrigation channels, Rs. 5.247 billion on major irrigation channels, Rs. 2.611 billion on social infrastructure, education and health, Rs. 686 million on livelihood programs, Rs. 15.27 billion on poverty alleviation and Rs. 323 million on skills development, while Rs. 33.962 billion was spent on building Divisional
Secretariats and other government institutions.

According to Rajapaksa, all democratic and people's institutions in the North had been destroyed during the past 30 years and all that is being addressed now.

"The MPSs who travel to the North today had no way of going there at the time. People in the North know it. Cameron who is scared to travel to Northern Ireland in his own country can travel without fear to the North of Sri Lanka," Rajapaksa pointed out.

Democracy is not only elections, he said adding that the government wants to rebuild pubic organizations and restore stability.

Noting that the government held two local government elections in the North after liberating the country from terrorism in 2009, the Minister said had the government held Northern Provincial Council election then, the government would have won it.

He said the country should appreciate the efforts taken to give people of the North not only development but also peace and democracy and appealed to the Tamils to solve the ethnic issue within the country.

"I appeal to the Tamil people and TNA let us, being citizens of this country, solve the problem on our own. We treat all people of this country equally. Hence let us consider this our problem which we have to solve it on our own," the Minister requested.