http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2009/05/17/make-17th-may-our-day-of-independence/ Lankaweb.com Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:08:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2009/05/17/make-17th-may-our-day-of-independence/comment-page-1/#comment-34 k k Mon, 18 May 2009 21:10:52 +0000 http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/?p=401#comment-34 i understand how all of us feel about this day ! I waited for 26 years for this. but we were never RULED by the LTTE so how can we call this an independence day?? call it vanni victory day! thats what this day is! or liberation day. lets not give the LTTE that much CREDIT. jayaweva to all srilankans mostly to the Tamils who were held hostage by the LTTE bandits! and hip hip hoohah for the SL govement and the army navy air force and police! i understand how all of us feel about this day ! I waited for 26 years for this. but we were never RULED by the LTTE so how can we call this an independence day?? call it vanni victory day! thats what this day is! or liberation day. lets not give the LTTE that much CREDIT. jayaweva to all srilankans mostly to the Tamils who were held hostage by the LTTE bandits! and hip hip hoohah for the SL govement and the army navy air force and police!

]]> http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2009/05/17/make-17th-may-our-day-of-independence/comment-page-1/#comment-23 SamArcher Sun, 17 May 2009 20:06:00 +0000 http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/?p=401#comment-23 I sincerely share most of the sentiments expressed by Mario. However, it would be unfair to forget that SL shed lot of blood (remember Gongalegoda Banda, Keppetipola, Puran Appu etc. etc)to win independence, though the granting of Independence did arrive later as a result of the decision by the British to leave India. Indeed, LTTE terrorism, itself, I would argue, is an offshoot of the British legacy of "divide and rule" policies they adopted by favouring the minority over the majority, leaving a bigger social problem behind, when they finally left. LTTE claimed that the correction of the injustices suffered by the majority over many decades as a result of the British legacy was "unjust". They started the LTTE movement in the seventies, even before any standardization was actually introduced to make access to Sri Lankan universities more just and fair based on priciples of equity, diversity and fairness, the same principles adopted in western countries like US (affirmative action) and Canada (Employment Equity). However, SL was not under any foreign force/s to get independence from, though the LTTE has a largely brainwashed following amongst the Tamil diaspora. LTTE, in reality, was just a bunch of Sri Lankan ruthless terrorists, that was allowed to carry on for too long, and thanks to the leadership of the President of SL and the valiant armed forces, finally they managed to crush them militarily. I certainly would agree that today is a day to be remembered as a National Hero's day in Sri Lanka. However, it is also the day of the dawn of a new era where the SL government will unite all communities under the Lion Flag. I sincerely share most of the sentiments expressed by Mario. However, it would be unfair to forget that SL shed lot of blood (remember Gongalegoda Banda, Keppetipola, Puran Appu etc. etc)to win independence, though the granting of Independence did arrive later as a result of the decision by the British to leave India. Indeed, LTTE terrorism, itself, I would argue, is an offshoot of the British legacy of “divide and rule” policies they adopted by favouring the minority over the majority, leaving a bigger social problem behind, when they finally left. LTTE claimed that the correction of the injustices suffered by the majority over many decades as a result of the British legacy was “unjust”. They started the LTTE movement in the seventies, even before any standardization was actually introduced to make access to Sri Lankan universities more just and fair based on priciples of equity, diversity and fairness, the same principles adopted in western countries like US (affirmative action) and Canada (Employment Equity). However, SL was not under any foreign force/s to get independence from, though the LTTE has a largely brainwashed following amongst the Tamil diaspora. LTTE, in reality, was just a bunch of Sri Lankan ruthless terrorists, that was allowed to carry on for too long, and thanks to the leadership of the President of SL and the valiant armed forces, finally they managed to crush them militarily. I certainly would agree that today is a day to be remembered as a National Hero’s day in Sri Lanka. However, it is also the day of the dawn of a new era where the SL government will unite all communities under the Lion Flag.

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