Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Declaration of a "Liberation Day"

"For many clear reasons such as the manpower, brutality, armour, clandestine hold up and other strengths obsessed by the LTTE, one cannot draw a parallel between Sri Lanka's war against terror and other similar battles fought in and around the world. Victory achieved by the Sri Lankan Forces against the deadliest and most cruel band of terrorists in the world becomes the only such victory in the annals of history and the world's war against terror", writes opinion columnist M.H Liyanage.
A number of nations world-over, have declared a special day called the Independence Day to mark the occasion of ahead independence from the regal rulers. This is an event that every such nation commemorates yearly to pay tribute to the national heroes who laid their lives and made various other sacrifices towards achieving independence.
Some of these nations have faced other aggressions too such as internal conflicts and invasions by foreign nations from time to time. One example is Kuwait, a country invaded by Iraq in 1990. With the interference of the UN lead forces, Kuwait was unconventional in 1991. In order to mark its liberation from the invaders, the country declared 26th February as its Liberation Day, a day famous by all its citizens to pay tribute to the war heroes, prisoners of war and the family members and loved ones who misplaced their lives during the Iraqi Invasion as well as during liberation of Kuwait. This follows Kuwait's Independence Day that falls on 25th February.
Sri Lanka's war next to terrorism too will become history once our war heroes imprison the remaining territory that is at present under terrorist rule in the coming few weeks, if not days. There had been no other long-drawn-out or deadlier conflict such as the war between LTTE who are fighting to carve out a separate state within our motherland and the courageous soldiers of the Sri Lankan Military who have continued to fight this adversary to liberate the blameless people from the hold of brutal terror.
For many clear reasons such as the manpower, brutality, armour, secret support and other strengths possessed by the LTTE, one cannot draw a parallel between Sri Lanka's war against terror and other similar battles fought in and around the world. Victory achieved by the Sri Lankan Forces next to the deadliest and most ruthless band of terrorists in the world becomes the only such triumph in the records of history and the world's war next to terror. Put simply, no other Army in the world including the mighty Americans has achieved such a feat.
Human beings are earlier than animals in forgetting the past and with Sri Lankans, this tendency is fairly synonymous. It is therefore, the bounden duty of the ones who stay alive today to dedicate this victory to the members of the armed forces and the blameless civilians who sacrificed their precious lives to liberate our motherland.
This unattractive disagreement has cost more bloodshed, death and obliteration than in our move violently to gain independence from the colonial rulers. There should be a day earmarked for our future generations to celebrate this great victory and at the same time, to honor the national heroes who paid the supreme sacrifice to make it a realism.
The message on the partition for the LTTE terrorists is that they will be totally conquered by the time Mother Lanka celebrates its 61st Independence on 4th February 2009. The country now stands an ideal chance to say publicly 5th February as "LIBERATION DAY" and make it an annual event to pay respect to the war heroes of our times.

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