India had helped Sri Lanka fight the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) even without being asked to, says former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa in an exclusive interview to www.wionews.com posted on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (India) helped us! We didn\u2019t have to ask! Because I was fighting your war, India’s war, not my war, actually,\u201d Rajapaksa told the Indian interviewer, Padma Rao Sundarji.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe LTTE killed your prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi and so many other people in India and on your soil, not ours. So in that way, it was not only my war, it was an Indian war, it was a humanitarian war. India helped us in every possible way,\u201d he asserted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to publicize it, tell the press too much.\u00a0 And not only China and Pakistan, even the British and the Americans helped us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Softening on RAW<\/p>\n
Asked to comment further on his earlier claim that the Indian external intelligence agency RAW had engineered his ouster in the January 2015 Presidential election, Rajapaksa said: \u201cYou know, I don\u2019t want to go into the past. What\u2019s done is done. It\u2019s a new page now.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the light of the allegation that it was under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s watch that RAW, led by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, had\u00a0 engineered his electoral defeat, Rajapaksa was asked what he thought of Modi.<\/p>\n
Rajapaksa said he admires Modi.<\/p>\n
\u201cI regard myself a friend of your PM Modi. I admire what he has done for your country, India. And his international prestige. I really like the way he has harnessed the support of the Indian Diaspora in a way I couldn\u2019t! I admire his patriotism and his drive at modernizing India. Yes we admire him, there\u2019s no question.\u201d<\/p>\n
13th Amendment not Ideal<\/p>\n
On India\u2019s view that full implementation of the 13th constitutional amendment is the best way to solve the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict in the country, Rajapaksa said: \u201cI won\u2019t say it\u2019s the best solution. If it were, the problem would have surely been solved by now. We must remember that all communities must get together to give a solution. You can\u2019t come up with one solution only to satisfy one section or community. We have to satisfy all.\u201d<\/p>\n
No danger from China<\/p>\n
Asked to comment on the fear that China might colonize Sri Lanka given the financial control it has acquired under his government as well as the present one, Rajapaksa said: \u201cChina is a valued friend and a partner in development, that\u2019s all. There can be no talk of colonization as such.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he added that there is a \u201csignificant difference\u201d between the approach of his government and that of the incumbent regime to Chinese projects like the Hambantota port.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chinese projects were negotiated by our government as per the structures I described. For Hambantota, it was a Supply-Operate-Transfer (SOT) arrangement only for the terminal and the land was leased to them. The port was under our control. But the present government has changed all those policies,\u201d Rajapaksa said.<\/p>\n
Can\u2019t alienate Pakistan<\/p>\n
Asked if it would not be better for Sri Lanka to befriend India rather than Pakistan which ‘breeds’ Islamist terrorists, Rajapaksa said: \u201cWe believe in improving relations with all countries in our neighborhood. This I must tell you. Both India and Pakistan have helped us as best as they can, we have traditionally been friends of both. And that friendship has not been mutually exclusive and contradictory, that is, friendship with one has not been at the expense of the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are mindful of the sentiments of our citizens of Islamic faith,\u201d he added to the Muslims who are 8% of Sri Lanka\u2019s population.<\/p>\n
Danger of LTTE revival<\/p>\n
Rajapaksa still thinks that there is a lurking danger of an LTTE revival.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the arrest of some former cadres of the militant organisation, he said: \u201cThey\u2019re probably the tip of the iceberg. The problem is much larger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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