New Year expectations

Another New Year dawns tonight. Now it's time to take stock of our achievements and failures during 2006 and get ready to face the challenges ahead in 2007.

Over the years, it has been customary to extend New Year greetings. However, the time has now come for us to ponder whether those greetings are limited to mere words. In the New Year, people across the globe would wish happiness, peace and prosperity.

But we could only make this wish a reality by living in amity with one another and by respecting each others' beliefs, customs and traditions.

It has almost become habitual for people to approach the dawning of a New Year with fresh hopes, expectations and goals in life for a better tomorrow.

However, continuously unfulfilled public expectations and aspirations would compel quite a few of us to dismiss such yearnings with a considerable measure of sceptical doubt and cynicism.

The majority of people in Sri Lanka have been praying for peace. That has been their wish and dream in every New Year thought and greeting. As much as it had been during the past years, the one and only wish of the people of Sri Lanka is a peaceful and prosperous island.

Let us renew this sublime wish in the dawn of the New Year and act resolutely with determination to fulfill this hope. In achieving that, we may have to face stiff challenges and also make huge sacrifices.

It's a little over a year ago that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was entrusted the gigantic task to take Sri Lanka forward as the leader of our country. Most people here believe that he is the man who could usher in peace.

The path of peace is not an easy task. It is hazardous and painful. Perhaps, peace at any cost would not be that difficult a task and easily achievable.

But an honourable peace is a hard and strenuous exercise. What we want is not a type of peace which is a defeat to one party or a victory to another. It should be an honourable peace, acceptable to all communities of our country and a peace that would get the mandate of a majority of political parties.

In the cause of achieving peace, remedies are essential not only to overcome the obstacles but also the basic factors underlying the problems. The spirit of rancour, hatred and vengeance have to be totally banished. Let us be free from violence.

We wish everybody the requisite strength and courage to fulfill this aim and build unity, peace and prosperity among the people to live as one family and one nation in the coming years.

As we celebrate the New Year with our loved ones, there are thousands of security forces personnel on duty to safeguard the territorial integrity of our country. Unlike us, those guardian angels of our nation do not have an opportunity to celebrate the New Year with their loved ones.

Instead, they spend sleepless nights in bunkers, keeping a vigilant eye against the terrorists to protect us all.

Hence, our New Year thoughts should always be with those brave men on duty. It's due to their courage, dedication and sacrifice that we enjoy this freedom.

They are the true heroes who would continue to protect us in the new year too.

Terrorism which destroyed our community life and the economy over the past three decades has now threatened the whole world. Some countries which encouraged terrorism are now repenting for doing so.

Therefore the foremost wish of the people throughout the world is to wipe out this cruel terrorism and foster lasting peace that would enable all nations to live in harmony.

The international community living in this era of globalisation desires to dispel war and live in peace and harmony. There should be spirit of co-existence.

Therefore, the duty and responsibility of the authorities should be to create a just society where people can live without fear and suspicion.

We in Sri Lanka enter a crucial phase in our post-independence history with the resumption of the peace process. President Rajapaksa has always maintained that LTTE terrorism and true grievances of the Tamil people are two different issues.

It's only the merciless Tigers who try to make use of their own people to achieve their elusive goals. The Vakarai incident, where the LTTE is making use of innocent Tamil civilians as a human shield, is the most recent example amongst others.

While it is heartening to note that the Government has taken all possible steps to resolve the national question, we should also act in a responsible manner.

We must not allow the so-called peace agents of NGOs with vested interests to harm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our nation. People from all walks of life would be looking forward to the New Year eagerly with great expectations. The Government has a big responsibility to meet their aspirations and build a society that would permit all communities to live in harmony.