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| Sunday, 02 March 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Late Gen. Ranjan Wijeratne's death anniversary The 12th commemorative ceremony of the late General Ranjan Wijeratne (MP), Minister of State for Defence, Member of Foreign Affairs, Plantation Industries and Chairman of the United National Party will be held at the location of the Ranjan Wijeratne statue, Police Park junction, Havelock Road, Colombo 5, today. The Commemorative ceremony is scheduled to begin at 9.30 am. Ranjan Wijeratne, who was killed in a bomb blast on March 2, 1991, was State Minister for Defence, and Chairman of the UNP at the time of his death. Ranjan Wijeratne who was involved in the plantation sector most of his life received his education at S. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia. His father was George Hercules Wijeratne and his mother Rosalind Senanayake was a first cousin of D.S. Senanayake. Ranjan was born on 4.4.1931, the second in a family of five children and was brought up by his maternal grandparents at Kehelella. He was a renowned sportsman at S Thomas' with his pet event being long distance running a sport which required lonely endurance, which was in keeping with his temperament. He was never classified as a scholar but he held the position of President in the English and Sinhala literary societies. It was the life as a planter that transformed him from a mild-mannered youth to a no-nonsense administrator. His training as a planter seems to have woken in him some primordial trait which long remained dormant in the family. In the aftermath of the UNP chairman Nandalal Fernando and Harsha Abeywardena, being murdered, Ranjan Wijeratne took on the job of Chairman that everybody else was afraid of. As State Minister for Defence he gave firm leadership brings to an end a second JVP uprising. |
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