A patient hearing to families who sacrificed

Wijitha NAKKAWITA

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa meeting families of soldiers who had laid down their lives for the country

The war is fast coming to an end in the north. The terrorist group was beaten in their own game by the valiant members of the three armed forces, some of them had made the supreme sacrifice to liberate the country from the grip of the blood-thirsty LTTE.

Yet behind the scene, unseen, suspense, anxiety and anguish of the families of the valiant soldiers, sailors and airmen of the three forces, another poignant chapter in the armed conflict remained.

In the past it was said that not enough attention had been paid to these members of civil society drawn often from the villages but the picture had changed very much.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa with the blessings of President takes time off from his very heavy duties at the Ministry to visit the wounded or disabled soldiers and also meet the families of the three armed forces men and women who had laid down their lives for the country.

Recently Gotabhaya Rajapaksa visited Boyagane Infantry Regiment camp and met the families of soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for the country. He said these men and women had been able to debunk the theory that the LTTE was an invincible terrorist group but we should remember that it was our duty to protect the land they had liberated. We owed those valiant soldiers, a duty to protect the liberated land and that was the greatest tribute we could pay to them.

He said the people of the country, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and he himself was grateful to the members of the three armed forces who had sacrificed their lives for the country, to regain freedom for the people and win back the territorial integrity of the country that had been under threat.

He next visited the Rifle Regiment Headquarters, Pallekelle where he met the families of soldiers who had sacrificed their lives in the war and who also were injured with permanent disabilities where he discussed their problems and looked into them personally.

A few days later he visited the Saliyapura Gajaba Regiment Camp, Anuradhapura accompanied by the members of the Seva Vanitha Unit of the Defence Ministry and met the families of soldiers who had laid down their lives for the country.

The Seva Vanitha Unit met the families of the soldiers who had sacrificed their lives and discussed their present position. A number of problems of these families were brought up with the Defence Secretary who personally intervened to resolve them. At these meetings he reiterated the commitment of the government and President Mahinda Rajapaksa to provide measures of relief for the members of the families of the three armed forces who had sacrificed so much during the past years especially to the families of the members of the three armed forces who had sacrificed their lives..

Most of the mothers and wives of the soldiers who had laid down their lives for the country were able to discuss their present family problems and each one of them found a very responsive listener in the Defence Secretary who not only heard their individual stories but also directed the officials concerned to take steps to sort our problems cutting across the official red tape.

During the past three decades of the armed conflict it was the first time that a Defence Secretary had met so many such famlilies.