Lankan Embassy in Washington dedicates Christmas celebrations to school shooting victims

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington dedicated its annual Christmas celebration, held last week, to a prayer service in honouring the memory of the victims of the shooting incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya with the Embassy staff decided to forego the festivities of the evening due to the mass shooting incident, which resulted in the deaths of 20 elementary schoolchildren and seven adults.

“It is a very sad day for the United States and all peace loving people in the world. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the tragedy in Newtown, and in this time of mourning, we have decided to convert this event to a prayer session”, Ambassador Wickramasuriya informed the Sri Lankan Americans and US nationals gathered at the Embassy.

The Ambassador further expressed his empathy and sympathy with the families of the victims as Sri Lanka knows only too well the pain of their tragic losses.“We had experienced many tragedies, losses of life of innocent children due to terrorism for about 30 years. Those days we were not sure whether our children would return home safely after school. Under the visionary leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, that dreadful era came to an end in Sri Lanka.

We know the pain, especially when it comes to children”, he added.The event was organised in keeping with the Embassy’s tradition of celebrating with the community, the main festivals of all four major religions practised in Sri Lanka.Reverend Father Percival D’Silva, Parish Priest of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Chevy Chase delivered the sermon and offered prayers.President Rajapaksa had also sent condolences to US President Barack Obama over the tragedy.