President Rajapaksa promotes ethnic harmony

By Ananth PALAKIDNAR

During the festive season at Kataragama every July, the devotees of God Skanda embark on a pilgrimage by foot from Jaffna to the Kataragama shrine in the southern part of Sri Lanka.

Ardent devotees of the Kataragama deity in the North took part in the foot pilgrimage even when conflict in the North and the East was at its peak.

The Northern pilgrims, risking their lives, surrendered themselves with great devotion to God Kataragama and took part in the foot pilgrimage which wended its way through the coastal belt of the North and the East and reached the shrine two months later.

However, Northerners launched a procession of a different kind in Jaffna on October 2 this year to reach Hambantota, to celebrate President Mahinda Rajapaksa's swearing-in for the second term in office on November 19.

The organisers of the procession which began at the Naga Vihara, Jaffna told the Sunday Observer that the sole intention of conducting this procession was to stabilise the North - South relations with people in the North pledging their support to President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his endeavour to build peace in the country.

The people in the South regard President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a hero who defeated terrorism in the country while the people of the North and the East treat President Rajapaksa as a guardian angel who liberated them from LTTE terror.

Since the beginning of the conflict in the early eighties, though there were several leaders with enormous political experience, they failed terribly in dealing with the conflict in the North and the East.

Not only the political leadership in the South even the veterans in the political arena in the North had to pay a heavy price in confronting the challenges posed by the LTTE.

For three decades the entire island nation remained haunted with death and destruction reigning in every nook and corner.

The efforts made to bring an end to the conflict by political and military means failed miserably.

At this crucial juncture President Rajapaksa's emergence as the fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka saved the country from the reign of terror and made it see the light at the end of the tunnel!.

President Rajapaksa with a clear vision and statesmanship annihilated terrorism and united the country which remained without any hope of enjoying peace for three decades.

President Rajapaksa's first term in office was more a 'tightrope walk'.He had to work out the strategies meticulously in dealing with LTTE terror both locally and internationally. He proved himself an excellent Commander-in-Chief of the Security Forces in destroying the LTTE.

Steady and honest

Compared to the unpredictable moves made by his predecessors in facing the LTTE, President Rajapaksa was steady and honest in confronting outfit.

The humanitarian operation launched in the North and the East in saving hundreds and thousands of innocent civilians from the clutches of the LTTE eventually became a big success.The civilians trapped in the areas controlled by the LTTE were treated brutally by the outfit.

However, soon after the conflict ended, the strategies worked out by President Rajapaksa were praiseworthy in addressing the basic needs of the innocent people who had suffered at the hands of the LTTE.

Apart from restricting the freedom of movement, the rigidity of the ruthless outfit, created untold misery to the people who had to reach out for their day-to-day basic needs. Prices of goods and services had sky-rocketed beyond the reach of the innocent civilians.

The A-9 highway which remained the lifeline of the people in the North had existed like a pathway to hell with mines buried along the route in the Vanni region.

Therefore, President Rajapaksa's directives in clearing the A-9 highway which remained deadly for vehicular transport paved the way for essential goods and services to flow smoothly into the peninsula and bring down the prices of all essential items on par with those in other parts of the country.

In the backdrop of Deepavali, the Festival of Lights, people in the North have expressed their gratitude for bringing them out of darkness by conducting a procession from Jaffna to Hambantota.

Goodwill procession

The goodwill procession to Hambantota to celebrate President Rajapaksa's second term in office will also integrate with the people in the areas on its way to the South.

President Rajapaksa who defeated terrorism successfully in his first term in office has already pledged that his second term in office will focus on making Sri Lanka a prime ranking nation in the world.

The statesmanship of the President in handling pre-war and post-war issues have made him a towering political figure in the South Asian region.

Invitations extended by the leaders of Maldives and Nepal to President Rajapaksa to mediate in the political disputes of their countries have proved that he is a leader recognised even beyond the boundaries of his country.

Therefore, President Mahinda Rajapaksa on his entry into the second term in office stands tall not only as the leader of Sri Lanka but also as a prominent global political personality.