Lanka News – Lanka Gazette – Sri Lanka News Portal

Following is the Speech by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the celebrations of the 63rd Anniversary of Independence in Kataragama last year

I am extremely proud to address you as a nation that has shown immense commitment to the freedom of the motherland.

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Address by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the 62nd Independence Anniversary Celebrations in Kandy on February 4, 2010.

Today we celebrate the anniversary of Independence after the liberation of the entire country from terrorist threat for the first time in 30 years. I am proud to proclaim that we are in a position to raise the flag of Sri Lanka with dignity in the entire country.

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[Continued from yesterday]

After the government teacher training programme or the in-service programmes the teachers are not given any other training by the Department. Seminars and workshops are organized by the divisional, zonal or provincial departments but the teachers do not take any interest in attending them for various reasons. Seminars and workshops should be an avenue where teachers can update their knowledge especially in methods of teaching. One can argue over the importance of attending certain seminars or workshops because most trainers or officials are not prepared for seminars and they bluff. The official trainers become puppets before the trainees because they display their inefficiency and lack of preparation. Worst come to the worst when there are more qualified teachers among the trainees or attendants. Some politically appointed trainers naturally become puppets. As a result the attendance for the next seminar is nil.

Teachers who are interested in enhancing their language ability, proficiency and professionalism find their own way in improving their skills in teaching. Such blessed teachers should be encouraged since it is an investment for both the teachers and the students. They are the noble teachers who are rewarded and their own children are also blessed. Such teachers are the symbol of real teachers who are very much rare today.

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Once again the Muslim world has reached the time to commemorate the birthday of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. In this Islamic month of Rabiul Awwal, more than billion Muslims all over the world mark this event year after year with regularity, but its significance and deep spiritual echo returns again and again with an ever-renewed freshness to the hearts and souls of Muslims, nay to all humanity.

The Prophet was after all the man, the servant of God as he called himself, who ushered in a message of renewed faith and hope for the entire world beginning with the first followers of his time and right down through the ages to the present day. As the Holy Quran describes him, he was a Rahmathul Aalameen, a mercy to all mankind.

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Arthur Koestler, the Hungarian Jewish Communist, published ‘The Gladiators’ in 1939. It was his first (and arguably his best) novel. It dealt with the Roman slave revolt led by Spartacus in 73 BC, and -similarly to the book on the same subject written by the American Communist Howard Fast a decade later – it really addressed the problems of the current world.

Koestler expressed through the struggles of classical-era Roman slaves the internal struggle he was undergoing at the time, due to his growing disillusionment with the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, he had not yet lost his sympathy for the struggles of the common people and his characters were drawn with all the empathy he had at the time.

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Even if everything the TNA says is true, it is still making a mistake, or perhaps two or three, and is on the verge of yet another wrong turning in the history of error that marks over half a century of Tamil politics.

If the TNA‘s fears of prevarication on the part of the government are well-founded, it is only furnishing greater opportunities for it by failing to participate in the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee. The obvious remedy is to agree upon a reasonably compressed time frame for the PSC to conclude and issue its report, and state that if this time line were to be unilaterally transgressed, then and only then, would the TNA participate no longer. An earlier news report stated that the government had suggested six months as the time line, and if the TNA were to make a counter-suggestion then surely a sensible compromise could be arrived at.

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People of all communities across the country will be inspired by the spirit of patriotism as they celebrate the 64th Independence Day with fervour today, since the gaining of Independence from British colonial rulers. All arrangements are in place to hold the state Independence Day ceremony at Sri Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi Mawatha in Anuradhapura today under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The theme of this year‘s ceremony is “Let’s Make the Nation the Wonder of Asia”.

This is the first time the Independance Day ceremony is being held at Anuradhapura , which is the first established kingdom of Sri Lanka.

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The sixth Deyata Kirula national exhibition will be inaugurated by President Mahinda Rajapaksa today at 5 p.m. at Oyamaduwa in the Villachchiya Divisional Secretariat in the Anuradhapura district. It will be open to the public till February 10. The exhibition site is located on a 600 acre land.

The exhibition consists of 500 stalls belonging to government ministries, authorities and private sector agencies and Security Forces.

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An unprecedented number of foreign diplomats and ambassadors will participate in the Independence Day main ceremony in Anuradhapura today, External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Sarath Dissanayake told the Daily News yesterday.

He said that about 84 foreign diplomats have confirmed their participation. He noted that 33 foreign diplomats including ambassadors accredited to Sri Lanka based in Delhi with their spouses, and 52 foreign diplomats including ambassadors for Sri Lanka based in Colombo with their spouses will participate.

T M Dilshan stepped down from the captaincy of Sri Lanka cricket citing ‘inability to live up to expectations’ as the reason. By this act Dilshan, no doubt, lost the recognition he commanded as the captain of the national cricket team together with the perks that go with that title.

That decision however, in the face of things, is taken in the best interest of the game of cricket in Sri Lanka; the only game for which Sri Lanka has reached international recognition. The message simply is, ‘Since the performance of the team under my leadership is below par, here I make way for someone more suitable’. Dilshans may come and Dilshans may go but the important thing from the national perspective is that the game of cricket has to go on.

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