Former army general Sarath Fonseka claimed responsibility for conducting Sri Lanka's military campaign during the armed conflict, stating he had “planned the entire operation” and rejected cooperating with an United Nations inquiry into mass atrocities.

In an interview to the Times of India, Fonseka criticised former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa for claiming he would engage in peace talks in 2005, saying,

“Every President wanted to finish the war. But in the 2005 election manifesto, Rajapaksa said he will have peace talks with Prabhakaran.”

Fonseka went on to claim responsibility for the culmination of the armed conflict, which ended with the systematic shelling of civilian hospitals and execution of those who surrendered, saying,

“When the army was chasing the LTTE, he didn't even know what was happening on the ground in 2007. He did not even allocate money for ammunitions. I was recruiting additional 85,000 army men. When I became commander I recruited 4,000 men in a month. Earlier only 3,000 people joined the army for a year.”

“I planned the entire operation and I was communicating with all levels of army persons.”

In the run up to Sri Lanka's presidential election, the eventual victor Maithripala Sirisena also claimed credit for his role in the armed conflict, stating that he was the Acting Defence Minister during the final days of the war, when the surrendering LTTE leadership were killed.

See more in our earlier post: 'I was Defence Minister when LTTE leaders were killed' says Maithri (02 Jan 2015)

The former army general went on to reject the possibility of cooperating with an international inquiry into war crimes, saying

“We have not signed any agreement with any country for any probe. If there are any allegations of human rights violations or war crimes then the rest of the international community will be interested to probe. We can't accommodate everyone. We can't permit everyone. But our military court would conduct inquiries. Whenever there was mass killing our military did inquire into it. The government can take action against the military.”

“If there is a legitimate inquiry then as a member of the country we have to face it. As far as the military is concerned I have to face it. If there is a legitimate inquiry then I am ready to face it since I was doing the ground operations.”

He did however call for former LTTE members Karuna and Kumaran Padmanathan (KP) to face "legal action". "They were hardcore terrorists", said Fonseka.

Speaking on the future of the island, Fonseka went on to tell the Times of India that the military would not be withdrawn from the Northern Province, saying,

“We have to maintain the army there. Not only for internal security, but also in the view of security threat externally.... The military has far been positioned in the country. If people in North say you can't keep the military in their area then people in South will repeat the same.”

Fonseka also envisaged a greater role for himself under new president Maithripala Sirisena, stating

“I will play a major in the security aspect. I like to work with the President on the national security. Though I am not a parliamentarian right now I am expecting a political post.”

See the full interview here.

For more on the events of 2009, where tens of thousands of Tamils were massacred during the end of the armed conflict, see our feature: 5 years today: revisiting May 2009 (18 May 2014)

Also see: Fonseka booed by voters in Jaffna (02 Jan 2015)