(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa today (23rd Thursday) said that a statement made by former President Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumaratunga (CBK) to foreign correspondents in Colombo last week to the effect that war widows in Sri Lanka now face ‘widespread’ sexual exploitation by members of the army among others, is a matter of grave concern.
He says the rape and sexual exploitation of women in the war zone both during and after the war was one of the main unsubstantiated accusations made by two irregularly set up investigations against Sri Lanka within the UN system – the Darusman report of 31 March 2011 and the Navi Pillai/Zeid Al Hussein report of 16 September 2015.
As a former President and Commander in Chief Rajapaksa called upon the President to publicly condemn the statement made by Mrs. Kumaratunga.
He said the Government should also seriously consider whether Mrs Kumaratunga is fit to be the head of ONUR as she is using that position to bring disrepute upon the armed forces of Sri Lanka.