May 19 is Remembrance Day: Rajitha

16 May 2015 04:24 am Views - 12708

The new government has decided to declare May 19 as Remembrance Day instead of Victory Day as it named by the previous regime, Government Spokesman and Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne

He said May 19, which was for the past five years was celebrated as "Victory Day" by the Rajapaksa regime, would be observed as "Remembrance Day" to mark the sacrifices made by all those, who irrespective of their ethnicity, safeguarded the unity and territorial integrity of the country and it will also be a day to remember those who died during the 30-year armed conflict.

“The main ‘Remembrance Day’ ceremony event will be held at Samudra Mawatha in Matara and will be a special gesture to move further towards reconciliation among all communities in Sri Lanka. Since the end of the armed conflict which ended with the defeat of the LTTE on May 19, 2009, the previous regime celebrated this day as a day of triumph by the armed forces against terrorism,” the minister. “There will be a military parade under the patronage of the President Maithripala Sirisena as Commander-In-Chief. It will be a War Heroes’ Commemoration Day as well as a civilian Remembrance Day.”

He said the government had laid the ground work for true reconciliation and communal harmony by releasing the original lands of residence to their rightful owners and restoring civil administration and good governance in the North.

“This is why the so-called Tamil diaspora is silent now there being nothing to crow about. Neither do you hear about their activities against Sri Lanka. Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and TNA members welcome and attend any function attended by President Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe or any other minister when they visit the North. The TNA not like in the past, it cooperates with the government in parliament and participates in debates and vote with enthusiasm. They respect the national flag and the national anthem. Parliament has turned out to be a lovely place by these positive developments. The reconciliation and the peace initiative of the government have paid dividends,” the minister said.  

He said despite all these confidence-building measures by the government, a few TNA members of the Northern Provincial Council have announced they would mark the week May 13 to 19 as the "genocidal week" to commemorate the Tamils including the LTTE cadres, who died during the armed conflict.
Public Administration, Local Government, Democratic Governance and Budahsasana Minister Karu Jayasuriya warned the people to desist from holding such events for the LTTE cadres.

"The Government will in no way permit anyone to commemorate the LTTE which was a terrorist group," he said and added that terrorism would not be allowed to raise its head again.

He said there were some mischievious elements who wanted to misuse the democratic freedom now prevailing in the country.

Meanwhile, North DIG G.K. Perera told Daily Mirror the police have been placed on high alert in the North to prevent any glorification of dead terrorists.
“We have information that there will be religious ceremonies in Hindu Kovils on Tuesday to remember the dead. We don’t want to disrupt religious activities but if they attempt to commemorate terrorists who died in the separatist war, we would have to take appropriate action to prevent it because commemorating the members of a prohibited terrorist organisation is against the law of the land,” the DIG said.(Sandun A Jayasekera)