{"id":1936,"date":"2019-08-11T12:24:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-11T12:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=1936"},"modified":"2021-06-17T12:35:45","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T12:35:45","slug":"gotabaya-rajapaksa-launches-sri-lanka-presidential-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=1936","title":{"rendered":"Gotabaya Rajapaksa launches Sri Lanka presidential bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Sri Lanka\u2018s main opposition party has named Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former defence chief who spearheaded a military campaign to end the country\u2019s long-running civil war but faces accusations of human rights violations, as its presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

Gotabaya, 70, a brother of former President\u00a0Mahinda Rajapaksa, was a powerful defence bureaucrat under his brother\u2019s government, which defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels\u2019 26-year revolt in 2009.<\/p>\n

Gotabaya promised that, if elected, he would prioritise Sri Lanka\u2019s national security and the revival of its economy, which has been hit by a lull in tourism after attacks in April.<\/p>\n

Sri Lankans are still reeling from the\u00a0Easter Sunday bombings\u00a0when suicide bombers blew themselves up in luxury hotels and churches killing more than 250 people and shattering the island\u2019s decade of relative peace since the end of the civil war.<\/p>\n

The attack was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL\u00a0or ISIS) group.<\/p>\n

Most Buddhist leaders and some victims of the attacks have since openly expressed their desire for the Rajapaksa family to return to power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who believe in Gotabaya Rajapaksa celebrate as he has officially sought the nomination of the party but there are those who have misgivings that the man who led the Sri Lankan war machine with all the allegations against him may indeed become this country\u2019s leader,\u201d Fernandez said.<\/p>\n

Other parties have not formally announced their presidential candidates but Gotabaya\u2019s main challenger is expected to be Housing Minister Sajith Premadasa, a United National Party politician who is also popular with hardline Buddhists.<\/p>\n

\n

Gotabaya\u2019s candidacy will probably put President Maithripala Sirisena in a quandary in seeking a second term because the Sri Lanka People\u2019s Front is an offshoot of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which Sirisena leads.<\/p>\n

Many Freedom Party members have sided with the Rajapaksa brothers.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka must hold the presidential election between November 8 and December 8. Incumbent Sirisena\u2019s first term ends on January 8.<\/p>\n

Accused of abuses<\/h2>\n

Gotabaya is a hero to many majority Sinhalese, who see him as a prospective strong leader, but is feared by minorities and victims of\u00a0human rights\u00a0abuses.<\/p>\n

As secretary of defence under his brother\u2019s rule, Gotabaya played a key role in ending the Tamil Tigers\u2019 campaign for an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils. But he was accused of using extralegal methods and cracking down on those who criticised his style.<\/p>\n

Gotabaya was accused of running abduction teams known as \u201cwhite van\u201d squads that whisked away rebel suspects and journalists deemed to be overly critical. Some of the abductees were released after torture, while others were never seen again.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Gotabaya was also implicated in the killing of rebels and civilians who tried to surrender with white flags under a pre-arranged deal in the final days of the civil war.<\/p>\n

Ethnic Tamils say they handed over their children for investigations at the request of the military but did not see them again.<\/p>\n

According to a\u00a0United Nations\u00a0report, some 45,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the last months of the war alone.<\/p>\n

After the war\u2019s end, Gotabaya also took up the extra role of city development in which he used the military to evict people from their homes for land acquisition.<\/p>\n

The government quickly reacted to Gotabaya\u2019s candidacy, with Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera tweeting, \u201cDo #SriLankans want to return to the isolation and darkness of the past?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Gotabaya, a US citizen, has said he has started the process to renounce his United States citizenship because Sri Lankan law does not allow dual citizens to hold political office.<\/p>\n

However, he has two court cases pending in Los Angeles filed by torture victims and a daughter of a top journalist killed in 2009.<\/p>\n

Gotabaya has denied the allegations, which his spokesman Milinda Rajapaksha says are politically motivated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

SOURCE:\u00a0AL JAZEERA,\u00a0NEWS AGENCIES<\/div>\n
Image credit:\u00a0 Sunday Observer<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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