Rajapaksa cannot contest for president again, but his brother Gotabaya is ready to make a bid, his aide has said. “Rajapaksas’ will take the easy benefit and be able to claim with some credibility that if they come back to power, they will adopt the same strong security policy that allowed them to free the country from terrorism,” said a Western diplomat. Instead, the government has spent its energy investigating old allegations of abuse against soldiers stemming from the 26-year civil war against the Tamil separatists. Murderers can’t be war heroes.”Gotabaya is himself facing lawsuits in the United States where he is a dual citizen. For the Sinhalese nationalists who fully backed the measures against the Tamil separatists, the new attacks have already fueled calls for strong leadership.

Source: Pakistan Today April 25, 2019 17:30 UTC