(UTV|COLOMBO) – Former Secretary of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa has confirmed he will run for the 2020 Presidential Election and would stop the spread of extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveillance of citizens.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Gotabaya commenting on the suicide attacks that killed 253 people said, it could have been prevented if the current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on.
Gotabaya said “Because the government was not prepared, that’s why you see a panic situation. Various people are blaming various people, not giving exactly the details as to what happened, even people expect the names, what organization did this, and how they came up to this level, that explanation was not given”.
Gotabaya said he would be a candidate “100 percent”, firming up months of speculation that he plans to run in the elections.
The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with a U.S. law firm, filed a civil case in California this month against Gotabaya on behalf of a Lankan.
In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga, is said to have filed a complaint for damages in the same U.S. District Court in California.
Gotabaya said the cases were baseless and only a “little distraction” as he prepared for the election campaign. He said he had asked U.S. authorities to renounce his citizenship and that process was nearly done, clearing the way for his candidature.
He said if he won, his immediate focus would to be tackle the threat from radicalism and to rebuild the security set-up.
Gotabaya said a military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent towards extremist ideology some of the groups were taking in Sri Lanka was disbanded by the current government.
Gotabaya speaking to Reuters said the government did not give priority to national security, and were instead talking of ethnic reconciliation, and human rights issues and individual freedom.
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