Sri Lankans in New Zealand commemorate Peace and Ranaviru Day
Posted on May 21st, 2013
Mahinda Attanayake President New Zealand Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka ( SPUR New Zealand )
A well attended Peace and Ranaviru Commemoration Ceremony, jointly organised by eleven Sri Lankan Associations in Auckland to pay tribute to all Sri Lankans who sacrificed their lives for peace and communal harmony in Sri Lanka, was held in Auckland, New Zealand on 18 May 2013. His Excellency the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Australia and New Zealand, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.
Admiral Samarasinghe and Honorary Consul to Sri Lanka in New Zealand Mr Aruna Abeygoonesekara hoisted the Sri Lanka and New Zealand National flags at the commencement of the ceremony followed by the National Anthems sung by Gamini Siriwardane, Rani Kirimatiyawa, Ashrafa Salam and Nisha Senerath Dasanayake.
On behalf of all Associations, President of SPUR New Zealand, Mahinda Attanayake made the welcome speech. He paid warm tribute to “our Ranawiruwos” who sacrificed their lives to create an environment for us to resolve our differences peacefully.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Respects and gratitude were paid to the civilians in remote villages who had to sacrifice their lives for defying the terrorism and to all others who made huge sacrifices to achieve lasting freedom from terrorism.
He emphasised the need to cherish and strengthen the peace that was achieved and to promote communal harmony and reconciliation among all ethnic communities. Then only, he said that the Sri Lankans can give a new meaning to the blood, sweat and tears shed by those who sacrificed their lives on behalf of fellow citizens of the nation.
Chief Sangha Nayake of New Zealand, Most Venerable Walgama Munindawansa Thero and Venerable Galkiriyagama Wimalananda Thero invoked the Buddhist blessings. Mr. Sydney Fernando on behalf of Christians and Mr Nawaz Ibrahim on behalf of Muslims invoked respective religious blessings.
Presidents of the Sri Lankan Associations, Mr Chandra Perera ( United Sri Lanka Association (USLA) Auckland Branch) , Mr Ranjith Randeniya ( NZSL Foundation), Mr Mahinda Attanayake ( SPUR NZ), Mr Hemal Mendis ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ( SL Ex- Servicemen’s Association NZ), Mr Sisil Fonseka ( Ceylon German TTI Alumni Association NZ), Mr B.M Karunaratne (NZ Alumni Association of University of Peradeniya) ,Mr. Dharmasena Madugoda ( NZ-SL Buddhist Trust) , Mr G.S. Perera ( Auckland Centre for Buddhist Learning) , Mr Sunil Arewgoda ( Siphala Foundation) , Mr Azafer Ismeth ( Sri Lankan Society of NZ), Mr Malith Balasooriya ( SLNZ Students Foundation) and Mr Channa Ranasinghe ( United Sri Lanka Association NZ, Wellington) ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ joined Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe and Mr Aruna Abeygoonesekara in a visibly emotional ceremony to light oil lamps to honour all Sri Lankans who sacrificed their lives for peace and communal harmony in Sri Lanka. A beautiful monument especially created for the ceremony by Rishan Sandaruwan was the show piece of the event.
Short messages in three languages were then read by three children Chamod Ratnayake (Sinhalese) Nisha Senarath Dasanayake (English) andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Hima Annas ( Tamil Language). These messages highlighted the desire of the young generation to live in peace and harmony. It was followed by the rendering of a beautiful Ranaviru Song by Auckland music maestros Priyananda Wijesundara, Sandhya Wijesundara and Ganga Wimalawardane.
In his key note address, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe highlighted the sacrifices made by the heroic Ranawiruwos to bring a successful end to the war in order to create a peaceful environment in our motherland. Explaining in details the efforts that were made by successive Governments of Sri Lanka to negotiate a peaceful settlement, he emphasised that the present Government had to use force as the last resort. He described his personal experiences in the last stages of the humanitarian operation and explained that the security forces had to sacrifice nearly 5000 Ranaviruwos to get 300,000 innocent civilians released from the clutches of the terrorists who used them as a human shield.
Although some foreign countries accuse the Sri Lanka for violation of human rights, he highlighted how Sri Lanka rehabilitated and released about 11,000 hard core LTTE members to the society who now live normal lives.
His Excellency the High Commissioner appealed to Sri Lankans of all ethnicities to shed their differences to promote peace communal harmony and join hands to build a prosperous Sri Lanka.
At the end of this memorable event, the vote of thanks was made by Mohamed Nalar of Sri Lanka Society of New Zealand. The ceremony was compered by Niranjan Patabandige.
May 22nd, 2013 at 1:43 pm
ARREST, PROSECUTE, CONVICT & PUNISH these UNREPENTANT SERIAL TRAITORS immediately!
FINE them in CASH, CONFISCATE their PROPERTY, take away their CIVIC RIGHTS including the right to VOTE & ENGAGE in POLITICS, IMPRISON them at HARD LABOR, and ENACT a THREE-STRIKES-AND-OUT law that mandates COMPULSORY LIFE IMPRISONMENT for REPEAT OFFENDERS.
Make the PUNISHMENT RETROACTIVE to PRIOR un-prosecuted TREASONOUS ACTIVITIES over the last 30 years!
The GOSL has the laws on the books against TREASON … USE them …. for God’s Sake! Laws UNENFORCED are Laws NON-EXISTENT and VIOLATED with IMPUNITY!
The US prosecutes ALL TREASONOUS activity by its citizens withoin the US and abroad. For example, the American Taliban who trained in Pakistan is now serving a Life Sentence in Maximum Security Prison. Why should Sri Lanka’s Security be less Valuable? Why?
Failure to DISCOURAGE TREASON will guarantees the resurrection of Tamil separatist terrorism in the future!
HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING from the SUPINE PASSIVITY of OUR RECENT PAST?
Do not APE Nero by playing the Harp AGAIN while Si Lanka BURNS!
ACT NOW before it is TOO LATE!
………….
>CID questions Sri Lanka Tamil parliamentarian over war victim commemoration
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 22, Colombo: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sri Lanka Police has interrogated the Vanni District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Sivasakthi Anandan yesterday in Colombo over his involvement in a function held last week to commemorate the Tamil victims of war.
The Tamil MP has organized the commemoration in Vavuniya Town Hall on May 18 and the CID has questioned him on why he organized the function.
Anandan has told the BBC Sandeshaya Service that he was also interrogated over four hours on a mobile phone conversation he had with the Tamil detainees in the Vavuniya Prison when the riots broke out in the prison last year.
He has told the CID that the fasting Tamil detainees called him to mediate a solution for their grievances with the prison authorities and the MP with another TNA MP Selvan Adaikalanathan visited the prison to resolve the issue.
Anandan was reportedly questioned on how he has developed mobile phone connections with the Tamil detainees and on the hunger strike staged last year by the prisoners which resulted in a riot at the prison.
Tamil MPs Suresh Premachandran and M.A. Sumanthiran have accompanied Anandan to the CID office in Colombo.
Mano Ganeshan, the leader of People’s Democratic Front has meanwhile has said that ordering Sivasakthi Anandan to report to CID is a violation of public’s right to commemorate the dead and the provisions in Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) report clearly indicates that the public must be provided with an opportunity to commemorate dead.