By Walter Jayawardhana

Reminding about enemies that had to be fought against vigorously in the past thousands of year in Sri Lanka, Venerable Dharmasiri Thero of the Washington Buddhist Vihara said one of the land mark victories was that of Dutugemunu to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nation and the recent military victory of President Mahinda Rajapaksa was a greater victory than that of Dutugemunu.

Venerable Dharmasiri said, “While Dutugemunu had to fight one enemy here in Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa had to fight the enemy present in Sri Lanka and the tons of false propaganda unleashed against our nation by the enemies in the West as another part of the war.”

Venerable Dharmasiri, the Chief incumbent of the Washington Buddhist Vihara was addressing a memorial service for the fallen heroes of the recent war at the Washington Buddhist Vihara with the participation of members of other faiths.

Venerable Dharmasiri said only a man of the caliber of Rajapaksa could withstand such a massive onslaught of two fronts of war simultaneously and his moral conviction that he was to be fair by the people who elected him led him to maintain his determination and final victory of the country.

Venerable Dharmasiri said to liberate the part of the country under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a mandate given by the people at the last election. There was no reason for him to listen to an agenda provided by the West to serve their own interests, the Mahathera said.

Jaliya Wickramasuriya , Sri Lanka ‘s Ambassador to the United States , thanked the event’s organizers and said that all Sri Lankans will be eternally grateful for the ultimate sacrifice made by their men and women in uniform