CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

We salute President Mahinda Rajapakse for his courage and determination to unite communities and bring freedom to Sri Lanka.

By Charles.S.Perera

The history has it that no person who is honest , and gives his best for the good of the humanity, is free from critics, and enemies. The Buddha had his enemies, who not only tried to kill him by driving an elephant towards him, but also cruelly insulted him and vilified him with falls accusations. Jesus was insulted, subjected to cruelty, accusations and crucified. Mahatma Gandhi was brutally assassinated, and so was Martin Luther King.

Sri Lanka, since its independence from Colonial rule, had several political leaders, who had their share of blame, insults, and accusations showered on them. Late Mr.SWRD Bandaranaike, was a great political leader who made independence meaningful, and paved a different path of progress. He was also assassinated by those who feared loosing their privileges, through his policies of political liberation of the people.

For the first time after Late SWRD Bandaranaike, we have in the President Mahinda Rajapakse, a leader who is comparable to the late Mr;SWRD Bandaranaike, but with much more foresight and immense desire to modernise and develop Sri Lanka, to make it an example among the developing countries of the world. His enemies are loosing no time to deny his great leadership, shower insults, accusations, and to disparage his every action as being for his self aggrandisement.

The election for Provincial Council in the East is without any doubt the most creditable event that crowns Mahinda Rajapakse's ambition to make Sri Lanka a model among the developing countries. He has gone all out , taking great risks , to show that Sri Lanka could against all odds, such as:

- the raging military actions against a ruthless group of terrorists determined to divide the country,

-despite multifarious human rights activists from foreign lands making wild accusations of violation of human rights,

-a pro- terrorists local anti-war lobby,

- an International Community threatening to withdraw development assistance,

-opposition political parties out to raise the people against him, to bring down the government, win the war against terrorism, and bring the divided communities together to make a single Nation of Sri Lanka.

With an undaunted determination, Mahinda Rajapakse, with the help of the valiant Security Forces, wrested the East , and with an equal determination called for elections to enable the people of the East, for the first time after 20 years, to elect their representatives for a Provincial Council of their own. The enemies of the government, the enemies of the President Mahinda Rajapakse, and foreign activists of all sorts, always ready to find faults, never encouraging any positive action, may cry out from house tops that the election in the East was, rigged or fraudulent. But, who ever thought five years back that an election for a Provincial Council in the East would ever be a reality..

Many pro LTTE or Anti President, websites became very active just before the EPC elections. Many believed that the election in the East was a mistake. But no body mentioned that it was a remarkable event that brought three Communities –Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim, together to let democracy into their troubled midst.

It may be the first sign of the Unity of the people in the East, which perhaps anticipates a greater unity of the people of Sri Lanka.

Pillaiyan was after all a terrorist, who has turned his back to the past, and is looking forward to be accepted by the freedom loving people, who had been in "democracy" all their lives. He may still be faltering on the path towards democracy. It is up to us to give him a hand to lead him on the way, to mature into being a democrat.

On that path to democracy, Pillaiyan may come across many Ranil Wickramasinghes, Tissa Attanayakes, and SB Dissanayakes who have lived all their lives in "democracy " , but are still not able to stand steady as democrats. Therefore, we should be lenient to Pillaiyan even if he were to falter in his attempt?

But we should not allow him to imitate those elders, who are still unable to walk straight on the democratic path.

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