Country will always come first – Prime Minister

Pledging the country will always come first, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday (18) said in Parliament that the victory secured by sacrificing thousands of lives would not be betrayed under any circumstance.

Making a special statement in Parliament, to mark the 12th anniversary of the war victory, he said a decision has been taken to waive off interest on the property loans obtained by soldiers injured in the humanitarian operation. The Premier said, “Today is a special day. Twelve years have passed since we wiped out 30 years of terrorism from this country.

12 years ago Sri Lankan forces released more than 400,000 hostages who were used by the terrorists as human shields. We ended the era when our people in the North and East were displaced as refugees. Not only that, war victory is a great victory for Parliament, as during the war time, MPs had to attend Parliament amidst the fear of bombs and assassination attempts.

A large number of public representatives from Duraiappa to Amirthalingam to Thambimuttu lost their lives. R. Premadasa who represented this House, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, D.M. Dasanayaka and C.V. Gunaratne were among those assassinated by terrorists.” Speaking further, Rajapaksa said that no one, went to war in those days to commit genocide.

“Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, Former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda, and Former Air Force Commander Roshan Goonetileke never commanded their forces to commit genocide but to save the lives of the innocent people in the North who were used as human shields by terrorists. To protect the war heroes we withdrew from the traitorous UNHRC co-sponsored resolution tabled against them,” he noted. Moreover, the war heroes have now become health sector heroes and they fight to save the people from the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

(Source: Ceylon Today – By Gagani Weerakoon and Methmalie Dissanayake)