{"id":89028,"date":"2019-05-18T16:21:29","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T23:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=89028"},"modified":"2019-05-18T16:21:29","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T23:21:29","slug":"celebrating-the-victory-over-tamil-terrorism-may-16th-and-june-03-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/18\/celebrating-the-victory-over-tamil-terrorism-may-16th-and-june-03-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"CELEBRATING THE VICTORY OVER TAMIL TERRORISM May 16th and June 03, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

May \n16th<\/sup> 2009 – People\u2019s Spontaneous Post-Terrorism \nReaction                                                 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The historic victory \nover Tamil terrorism, with the elimination of the savage terrorist leader \nPrabakaran on 16 May 2009, led to a spontaneous elated reaction on the part of \nall  patriotic citizens of Sri Lanka. There was countrywide lighting of \nfire-crackers and ringing of temple bells, and roadside gatherings of people \nserving and sharing traditional \u2018kiribath\u2019 in jubilation of the victory over \nterrorism and the dawn of peace in the country after nearly thirty years of \nterror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It led to a striking \naddition to the roadside environment with the displaying of many highly \nconspicuous, large vibrant screen-print posters and banners on trees, buildings, \nfences, across roads, and posts planted even within paddy fields. It was a \nspontaneous expression of the overflowing thrill, ecstasy and gratitude of \nordinary people who were overwhelmed by this great victory over terrorism, a \nmenace that plagued our country for some three decades. Most banners and posters \nhighlighted real pictures of our gallant Army, Navy, Air Force and STF \npersonnel, especially of those heroic ones who sacrificed their lives in \nfighting to save our nation from terrorists so that peace and stability would be \nrestored in the country. The background of most of these banners depicted \nmilitary hardware and themes symbolic of the historic victory of our armed \nforces. All invariably, were reflective of the overflowing admiration people \nhave developed towards their valiant Army, Navy, Air Force and the STF \npersonnel. They were most effective in generating a high degree of patriotism \namong people.  They were expressions of the overflowing appreciation, joy and \ngratitude of our people towards the saviors of the nation \u2013 our heroic sons and \ndaughters of the nation\u2019s military and security forces. Inquiries made on site, \nrevealed that this was an impulsive, unprompted, heartfelt and genuine reaction \nof ordinary people, caring individuals, families, businesses, youth \norganizations and non-political community groups. Most of these large size \ncolourful screen-prints were designed free of charge by youth who also were \nresponsible for displaying them in prominent places across the country.  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 03, 2009 – \nNational Celebration at the Galle Face Grounds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks after the \nfall of Prabakaran, on June 03 009, our Nation celebrated on a formal basis, in \na glorious manner, at the Galle Face grounds, our nation\u2019s Victory over racist \nTamil Terrorism,  the grandeur of \nwhich was perhaps never witnessed in our land in its living memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day started with the singing of “Sri Lanka Maathaa…” the \nJaathika Geeya, and the hoisting of the Jaathika Kodiya by the President of the \ncountry. His emotionally-charged forceful speech was the highlight of the day\u2026 \n\u2026Our country is home to a people with a history of bravely facing up to \ninvaders from the time of King Dutugemunu to the last king of the Sinhala \nKingdom, Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe, and fearless patriots such as Keppetipola and \nPuran Appu. The lessons we learnt from those great battles of the past are \ningrained in our flesh, blood and bones. Our brave soldiers were not provoked, \nbut waited with discipline till the proper time for action came. We can now see \nhow much determination is born from the pain one suffers… What was considered \nthe most ruthless and most powerful terrorist army for thirty years was \nshattered and destroyed in less than three years. Terrorists are no more \ninvincible. It is only the valiant troops and our Motherland that are \ninvincible. I recently went down on my knees and worshipped the glorious \nMotherland that obtained its freedom through the sacrifice of the lives of \nthousands of our heroic troops. This great and glorious victory was achieved \nbecause of the younger generation that stands before us today. Young men and \nwomen from the four corners of Sri Lanka joined the Security Forces to free \ntheir Motherland. Some mothers and fathers gave all of their children to the \nArmed Forces and the police. When the eldest child had already sacrificed one\u2019s \nlife for the country, they gave more children to the Armed Forces. \n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If anyone were to ask me what the secret of the victory is, I would \nextend my hands and show our beloved people, who include these mothers, fathers, \nwives who gave their closest and dearest for this battle. Our entire nation owes \nan immense debt of gratitude to these mothers, fathers and wives. They \nsacrificed their children and loved ones for the nation, to save the lives of \nothers. In order to defeat racist terrorism the people of the country have a \nmature knowledge of the threat before them. The fortune of a nation lies is such \nknowledge and maturity\u2026\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fabulous military parades of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police \nforce, and the Civil Defense Force, including the injured and disabled military \nand police personnel, were followed by a most elaborate and colourful cultural \nparade consisting of thousands  of traditional dancers and drummers both male \nand female. I do not know of any event in our country where such a large number \nof cultural performers have been present and have performed with such \nmagnificence. These are events that need to be experienced for their splendor \ncan never be explained fully in words.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is perhaps no better place than the Galle Face grounds, the \nfabulous meeting place of our land, sky and ocean, to showcase our wondrous \nmilitary hardware, our incredible naval fleet, and our amazing aircraft in the \nskies above us at the Galle Face. This was a stunning experience!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The climax of the event was the landing of the 24 gallant \nparatroopers descending from some 6,000 feet (the elevation of Nuwara Eliya), to \nthe Galle Face green to greet Sri Lanka\u2019s  President.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was definitely an extraordinary day that I had the privilege of \nexperiencing and will remember until my last breath.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Dr. Daya Hewapathirane<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane May 16th 2009 – People\u2019s Spontaneous Post-Terrorism Reaction                                                 The historic victory over Tamil terrorism, with the elimination of the savage terrorist leader Prabakaran on 16 May 2009, led to a spontaneous elated reaction on the part of all  patriotic citizens of Sri Lanka. There was countrywide lighting of fire-crackers and ringing of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-daya-hewapathirane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89028\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}