Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa today claimed that the former regime was trying to capitalize on a comment made by Karuna Amman and obscure the broader achievements of the current government. In a speech delivered today titled,' Defeating domestic and foreign conspiracies against Sri Lanka', the Prime Minister said, "We saw the manner in which the yahapalana cabal made a hue and cry about a comment made by Karuna Amman to the effect that he had been responsible for the deaths of thousands of soldiers in attacks on army camps when he was in the LTTE. This shows how easy it is to obscure the broader picture by bringing other issues to the fore." "After I became President in November 2005, we destroyed the LTTE completely. Because he had by that time given up both terrorism and separatism and surrendered to military intelligence, Karuna was not destroyed along with the LTTE. It was Karuna who formally identified Prabhakaran’s dead body for us." "If we look at the doings of those who are asking the people to vote for the yahapalana camp because of what Karuna said, some interesting facts emerge." He claimed that those now in the yahapalana camp gave lorry loads of weapons and gunny bags full of cash to the LTTE in 1989 in a foolish attempt to win them over. "For years afterwards, the LTTE attacked us with our own weapons. In 2002, the yahapalana camp virtually ceded the Northern and Eastern provinces to Prabhakaran through the ceasefire agreement. The yahapalana government drafted a new constitution to divide the country. Then they incorporated the conceptual framework of that constitution in their 2019 presidential election manifesto as well." "From the time Karuna Amman was murdering people, and after he had given up doing so, and right up to the present day, what has been right at the top of the yahapalana agenda has been the division of this country. Karuna may have given up murdering people, but the yahapalana cabal has not given up trying to divide the country. That is what we have to realise here. In any case, the CID is carrying out an investigation into what Karuna said. If we allow ourselves to be distracted and forget the broader picture even for a moment, the consequences could be disastrous. That is why I always stress the importance of the broader picture." "If people cast their votes on the basis of various minor distractions, we will lose everything, our country, our nationhood, our religion, our culture and the future of unborn generations. The people should always ask themselves who can rule this country effectively, ensure economic development, eliminate terrorism and ensure the security of the nation? Who can safeguard democracy by holding elections on time? Who can build a Sri Lanka where future generations will be able to live freely and be proud of? I need not spell it out, every Sri Lankan knows the answer to those questions," Rajapaksa added.