Fresh from his victory against the LTTE, President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday said his government will devise a "homegrown" political solution to resolve the decades-old ethnic strife in the country taking into consideration every shade of Sri Lankan opinion.
He invited Indian industrialists to come and contribute to the development of Sri Lanka especially since the security atmosphere will see a radical transformation now.
"The India-Lanka accord led to the 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution. In that way the homegrown approach covers the position of India, too. This time, a political solution will be devised after taking every shade of Sri Lankan opinion into consideration," Rajapaksa told 'The Week' in an interview.
"Since peace is in the interest of Sri Lanka, we have to sit down and decide on its content ourselves," he said.
The President said he has fought "India's war" by eliminating the LTTE militarily, which had assassinated former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi 18 years ago.
"I think my war is part of the South Asian campaign against terrorism. In fact, by eliminating the LTTE militarily, I have fought India's war."
{{/usCountry}}"I think my war is part of the South Asian campaign against terrorism. In fact, by eliminating the LTTE militarily, I have fought India's war."
{{/usCountry}}Rajapaksa said the next responsibility of the troops will be to contribute to the relief and rehabilitation of the displaced people in the north and northeast and added that even during the war, they were building roads and bridges in the north.