Thereafter, religious dignitaries representing the Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic and Christian faiths offered prayers and blessing for Sri Lanka and her citizens all over the world and prayed for peace.

The Mission also made special arrangements to telecast the National Day address by H. E President Mahinda Rajapaksa to all Sri Lankans across the globe. The address focused on the achievements of the Sri Lanka Government towards strengthening the freedom gained during the past months from terrorism and the move towards larger freedom.

In his speech, H. E the President recalled the immense contributions made by all Sri Lankan from the Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher and other communities and faiths “…who led the struggles and made many sacrifices to obtain freedom from colonial domination.”

H. E President Rajapaksa also called on the people of Sri Lanka “…to be united as a single nation in an undivided country, showing tolerance, trust and understanding that have been the foundation of  our nation throughout its glorious history”. He also requested all the political parties to unite, to serve the country at this decisive juncture, and also invited all those Sri Lankans who had gone abroad due to the conflict, to return to their motherland.

Thereafter, Mr. P. M. Amza, Deputy High Commissioner addressing the invitees, referred to the pre-independence era, and the efforts of all leaders which brought independence to Sri Lanka. Deputy High Commissioner, Mr. Amza said that the “….Sri Lankan independence movement was a peaceful one aimed at achieving independence for Sri Lanka from British imperial rule. This became a reality when we were granted independence on 4th February 1948”.

He also recalled the rich links between Sri Lanka and India especially South India and described the time tested bond between the two countries based on Buddhism, a rich gift from India to Sri Lanka and the ties between South India and Sri Lanka being the Tamil language and the shared culture.

The Deputy High Commissioner said “…of our 61 years of independence, over 30 years has been spent fighting the LTTE”. He also said “…we are happy that we were able to hoist the national flag in all parts of Sri Lanka including in the areas libretade from the LTTE”. Recalling the speech made by Dr. Sivachariar of the Kalikambal temple during the National Day celebrations in 2007 and 2008 where he had pointed out H. E the President referring to Sri Lankan’ as ‘mithrayo’ (friends) and then accurately predicting that the year 2008 would be a favourable year for Sri Lanka, the Deputy High Commissioner stated that due to the various victories achieved by the heroic forces, Sri Lanka was at the threshold of peace. He also stated that the current year was has been aptly named the ‘Year of Heroic Victories’ and concluded his speech by quoting the message of H. E President Rajapaksa in which he had said, “…as we moved towards a larger freedom, our thoughts go out to the innocent Tamil people of the north who remain in bondage under the ruthless forces of terror who claimed to be their liberators.  I pledge to you today, that these people, who share our motherland, will be liberated and given the equality and all rights that they are entitled to, under the Constitution”.

Following the address by the Deputy High Commissioner the gathering was treated to a traditional Sri Lankan spread, including kiribath, kokis and other Sri Lankan delicacies.

Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission
Chennai

4th February 2009

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