Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen praised former president Mahinda Rajapaksa for bringing peace to the region near Wilpattu.

He made this observation at a campaign in the Marichchikatty area near Wilpattu to collect signatures for a petition. The aim of the campaign is to collect 200,000 signatures to urge the continuation of resettlements.

Bathiudeen said that no houses were built inside the Wilpattu Sanctuary. The people are asking for only their traditional lands, he claimed. The people had to flee their lands due to LTTE threat and the land was covered up by forest. These lands were later gazetted without any consideration on them being former villages, he claimed.