Will not allow extremist organisations to be active in Sri Lanka: Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka will not allow extremist organisations to be active in the country, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa vowed at the Independence Day ceremony on Tuesday during which his government dropped the rendering of the national anthem in Tamil for the first time since 2016.

Addressing the nation on the occasion of the 72nd National Day in Colombo, Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that he will be the president of all Sri Lankans.

He said he would ensure civil freedoms like free press and the right to expression.

"We will not allow extremist organisations that pave way for terrorism to be active in the country," Gotabaya Rajapaksa said recalling that thirty years of conflict in the north and east had delayed the development of the country.

"I wish to fully strengthen the freedom of people to think and write freely...my government is ready to tolerate and accommodate opposing views," he said.

"Sri Lanka is a unitary state. A free, sovereign, independent, democratic republic...I pledge to strengthen your independence,” Gotabaya Rajapaksa said.

"Every citizen living in Sri Lanka has the right to live freely and securely," he added.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected the country's president on November 16 with overwhelming support from the Sinhala majority community. During the elections, the minority Tamil and Muslim communities had largely supported his main rival.

At today's ceremony, the national anthem was only sung in the Sinhala language.

This was the first time since 2016 that there was no Tamil national anthem at the Independence Day celebrations in the country.

The then Sri Lankan government in 2015 started including the Tamil national anthem as a means of achieving reconciliation with the Tamil minority community.

Sri Lanka's Constitution provides for the singing of the national anthem in both Sinhala and Tamil.

The Tamil version ‘Sri Lanka Thaye’ is a direct translation of ‘Namo namo matha’ in the Sinhala language.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after his swearing-in ceremony in November thanked the powerful Buddhist clergy for backing his presidential bid and vowed to protect all communities, while giving foremost priority to Buddhism. He also thanked the Sinhala-majority people for electing him.

While the Tamils in 2016 appreciated the symbolic gesture of recognizing them by adding the Tamil version at the Independence Day celebrations, the opposition, then led by the Rajapaksas and a majority Sinhala community member, filed a fundamental rights petition against the move.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa earlier served as the country's president from 2005-2015, a period which was mired by allegations of human rights abuses, especially against the Tamils.

Muslims make up nearly 10 per cent of Sri Lanka's over 21 million people, who are predominantly Sinhalese Buddhists. About 12 per cent of the population are Hindus, mostly from the ethnic Tamil minority. Some seven per cent of the population are Christians.

There are already concerns in the country that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's remarks may have led to apprehensions among the minority communities, who are already worried about the possibility of the return of an iron-fist rule under the Rajapaksa-duo's regime.