Lankan govt not to succumb to pressures from NGOs: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka's new government will not succumb to pressures from non-governmental organisations, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said, asserting that the situation needs to be changed. Addressing a function after he visited a top Buddhist temple here and met with the Chief Incumbent of the temple Dr Bellanwila Dhammaratana Thera, the president slammed the investigations conducted by some Criminal Investigations Department officers and alleged that they conducted probes to fall in line with the expectations of some the NGOs. He said the NGOs cannot do what they want and the situation needs to be changed, he was quoted as saying by the Colombo Page news portal. 

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Mandate to change status quo

Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he will not work to fulfil the interests of the non-governmental organisations. "I am not acting in the interests of the NGOs. The people were given a clear mandate to change the status quo. If it were not so, the people could have appointed another person. The majority of people in this country trusted me," he said.  Rajapaksa told the monks at the temple that he has been given a mandate by the people and he will work according to that mandate. He said that he was elected for a purpose and he needs to ensure that the people get what they wanted, the Colombo Gazette newspaper quoted him as saying.

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CID Chief Inspector fled to Geneva

The President also noted that the CID Chief Inspector Nishantha de Silva, who was trying to prosecute the war heroes, has fled the country with his family for Geneva on Sunday. The Chief Incumbent Dhammaratana Thera blessed President Rajapaksa and said if the journey started by the new president continued in the same manner, the country would be immensely benefited. The controversial Rajapaksa clan returned to power in the November 16 presidential poll with Gotabaya, a former defence secretary, elected as the Sri Lankan President.

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Top two posts to the powerful family

Gotabaya Rajapaksa then appointed his elder brother and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister soon after, giving the top two posts to the powerful family. The two Rajapaksa brothers led a decisive military campaign to end the island nation's three-decade-long civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). 

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