48, including Mahinda, Gota in war crimes list!

The Geneva resolution would have leveled war crimes accusations against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, ex-defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and 46 others, had not the new government been elected, says minister Rajitha Senaratne.

With the election of the new regime, those accusations had been withdrawn, he says.

However, the former President says the people should be vigilant about what these powerful forces are trying to achieve by jailing our war heroes, sacking through an administrative process those who cannot be jailed, and breaking the back of this nation.

It is my belief that we as a nation are now faced with the most perilous moment since independence in 1948. We are all duty bound to come forward on behalf of the nation at a time like this, he says in a statement.