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Envoy bids farewell at freedom commemoration
From Neville de Silva in London
High Commissioner Faisz Musthapha bade goodbye to the Sri Lankan community at a low-key religious ceremony held to mark the country's independence. In his last important official act as High Commissioner, he read out messages from President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar that were largely devoted to the death and destruction caused by the December 26 tsunami and how the Sri Lankan people and the international community had risen to meet the challenge of reconstruction.

Though Mr. Musthapha has relinquished his post a couple of months ahead of time, it is widely known that he had been eager to return home for more than one year now to resume his extensive appellate court practice.

At the independence day commemoration held at the High Commission at Hyde Park Gardens, Mr. Musthapha earned high praise from religious dignitaries of all faiths for having endeavoured to bring Sri Lanka's diverse communities living in the UK together and for his active participation in the affairs of the Sri Lankan community.

The Ven. Seelawimala of Sri Lanka's oldest and best known Buddhist Vihare in the UK, the London Buddhist Vihare at Chiswick said of the departing High Commissioner: " He has rendered great service here to us and to the country. Though he is a Muslim, I want to mention he has very friendly connections with the Buddhist monks in this country. All the monks in this country understood that he helped to develop brotherhood and his great work is really appreciated."

While sharing these sentiments Kurukkal R Ratnasingham, Rev Father Christopher de Silva and Ishak Thahir representing the Hindu, Christian and Islamic religions called for cooperation and amity among the peoples of Sri Lanka particularly at this hour of need as the country tries to recover from the greatest natural disaster in its modern history.

Mr. Musthapha thanked the Sri Lankan community in the UK for working tirelessly to collect and send relief assistance to the country following the December disaster. He also thanked the British Government for its prompt response in providing relief and to the voluntary services for their efforts.

He said he was deeply indebted to the Buddhist Sangha and the clergy of the other religions for the help they gave during his tenure as High Commissioner. He paid a special tribute to the High Commission staff for working round the clock from the very beginning of the tsunami disaster to get urgent relief organised and despatched to Colombo.

He thanked the staff for all the cooperation given to him in the last three years. He leaves London on February 10 and will be succeeded by Kshenuka Seneviratne who was here as Deputy High Commissioner before being transferred back to Colombo ahead of taking up the new post in the UK as demanded by protocol.

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