Declaration of a "Liberation Day"
(By: M.H Liyanage -Kuwait)
"For many obvious reasons such as the manpower,
brutality, armour, clandestine 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 against the deadliest and most
ruthless band of terrorists in the world becomes the only such triumph
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 gaining
independence from the colonial rulers. This is an event that every such
nation commemorates annually 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
intervention of the UN lead forces, Kuwait was liberated in 1991. In
order to mark its liberation from the invaders, the country declared
26th February as its Liberation Day, a day celebrated by all its
citizens to pay tribute to the war heroes, prisoners of war and the
family members and loved ones who lost 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 against terrorism too will become
history once our war heroes capture the remaining territory that is
currently under terrorist rule in the coming few weeks, if not days.
There had been no other protracted or deadlier conflict such as the war
between LTTE who are fighting to carve out a separate state within our
motherland and the brave soldiers of the Sri Lankan Military who have
continued to fight this enemy to liberate the innocent people from the
grip of brutal terror.
For many obvious reasons such as the manpower,
brutality, armour, clandestine 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 against the deadliest and most
ruthless band of terrorists in the world becomes the only such triumph
in the annals of history and the world's war against terror. Put simply,
no other Army in the world including the mighty Americans has achieved
such a feat.
Human beings are faster than animals in forgetting the
past and with Sri Lankans, this tendency is quite synonymous. It is
therefore, the bounden duty of the ones who survive today to dedicate
this victory to the members of the armed forces and the innocent
civilians who sacrificed their precious lives to liberate our
motherland.
This ugly conflict has cost more bloodshed, death and
destruction than in our struggle 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 commemorate the
national heroes who paid the supreme sacrifice to make it a reality.
The message on the wall for the LTTE terrorists is
that they will be completely conquered by the time Mother Lanka
celebrates its 61st Independence on 4th February 2009. The country now
stands an ideal opportunity to declare 5th February as "LIBERATION DAY"
and make it an annual event to pay homage to the war heroes of our
times.
-The Ministry of Defence bears no responsibility for the ideas and opinion expressed by the numerous contributors to the “Opinion Page” of this web site-
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