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President calls for unity and brotherhood
Pix by Indika Handuwala
Sri Lanka’s 68th Independence Day was celebrated on Thursday with a simple but colourful ceremony at the Galle Face Green in Colombo, with President Maithripala Sirisena calling on all citizens to work collectively in harmony, friendship and brotherhood to face the decades ahead.
President Sirisena in his address to the nation, recalled that, those who fought for the freedom of the country belonged to all communities and they all fought together, shoulder to shoulder in unity and brotherhood to win independence for the Motherland.
“At this moment, when we have spent 68 years for the task of building our country, after the victory we achieved as a result of the struggle carried out by the national heroes of the decades of 1930s, and 1940s, in unity, irrespective of their religion, race or caste, we have to ask the question from our own conscience whether we have solved the problems left for us by those who invaded our country?” he said.
The President said that, “Almost every government which came into power gave priority to develop physical resources and to build the economy, but if they had fulfilled the task of building unity, reconciliation, brotherhood and friendship, the terrorism that affected the country for 26 years could have been avoided.”
He also had a special word of praise for the soldiers who sacrificed their lives and limbs to defeat LTTE terrorism, and praised them for their courage, self-confidence and determination.
Over 9,000 military personnel representing the three Armed Forces, Police, Civil Security Dept, National Cadet Corps and the National Youth Corps participated in the National Day parade. A parachute jump by members of the armed forces was the highlight of the celebrations and was received with tremendous applause from those present.
A cultural show was held in the evening at Galle Face Green, as part of the National Day celebrations.
National Anthem in Tamil: Step in right direction, say Tamil politicos “Sri Lanka Thaayae”, the Tamil version of the National Anthem “Sri Lanka Maatha” was sung at the Independence Day celebrations in Colombo after a lapse of 64 years.Schoolchildren representing all communities sang “ Sri Lanka Thaayae” at the closing ceremony bringing to end weeks of speculation as to whether both versions of the National Anthem would be sung. Even though there was some opposition to it being sung in Tamil, the move was widely welcomed by the main Tamil Political Party the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran was so moved by the gesture that he visited the Naga Viharaya in Jaffna town and offered flowers and prayed at the temple. He told journalists, “If the Sinhalese people take one step in the direction of the Tamil people, my people would take ten steps in their direction.” National Dialogue Minister Mano Ganeshan was among those who welcomed the move.” “Yes it’s a very small act, but one that goes long way forward,” he said on Twitter. “Namo Namo Maatha” was adopted as the National Anthem of the country in 1952 and it was translated to Tamil by M. Nallathamby, a famous Tamil poet. The words were changed from “Namo, Namo Maatha” to “Sri Lanka Maatha “in 1961 and has been sung so since then. |
| Unity in diversity: Scenes from the cultural showPopular singer Sunil Perera and renowned opera singer Kishani Jayasinghe two of the performers at the cultural show that saw many dance items too (right). Pix by Anuradha Bandara
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