Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga says that around three-quarters of Sri Lanka’s war against the LTTE was already finished while she was in power and that her successor Mahinda Rajapaksa only had to finish the remaining quarter. 

“Some people say that the head of the previous government won the war and therefore the country should be handed over to him once again,” she said, addressing a gathering in Mirigama today (14). 

Bandaranaike said that she finished three-quarters of the war and the UNP government before her also finished a portion while Rajapaksa was left with only a quarter to finish.

“He wouldn’t have been able to do it (win the war) if not for what we had accomplished. It wouldn’t be possible if not for the weapons we brought.” 

She accused the former government led by Rajapaksa of importing substandard weapons and military equipment for three times the actual price. 

The former President claimed that all six of the fighter aircraft brought down by former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had crashed. “One of them crashed on the way.”

She said that they had spent three times the actual price of the aircraft and that investigations have been launched to figure out what happened to the remaining money. “That is how they engaged in war.”