LIEUTENANT GENERAL Jagath Jayasuriya, Commander of the Army, on the eve of the Poson Festival paid homage to the sacred Tooth Relic at Kandy and called on both Maha Nayake (prelates) of Asgiriya and Malwatte chapters with the intention of enlightening the prelates on the Army’s role in development projects and receiving their blessings.
During the first leg of his tour in Kandy, Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya visited the Dalada Maligawa (Temple of Tooth) on Friday (25) and offered his respect to the sacred place before he sat with the Diyawadana Nilame (Chieftain) at his office inside the temple chambers for a discussion.
Later on, the Commander of the Army proceeded to Asgiriya Vihara premises and met Most Ven. Udugama Sri Buddarakkitha Maha Nayake Thera of the Asgiriya Chapter and exchanged views on the Army’s contribution towards national development and its ever-swelling role related to civil affairs.
Ven. Maha Nayake Thera, appreciating the Army’s role as far as development in the North and East is concerned, told the Commander that the Army’s timely participation in such work was able to save colossal sums of money to the government since the Army is capable of doing the job properly sans wastage or corruption.
“The role, played in the North and East by the Army, should also be extended to other provinces too while ensuring security for all the people. It is also important the Army took measures to install permanent Army cantonments in those areas and Army personnel to continue their work. This will stop resurgence of any terrorism in the future. What the LTTE did in the past was to ruin our crops by chasing people from those areas and robbing their paddy harvest”, the Maha Nayake Thera added.
“The Army as a disciplined outfit selflessly safeguarded those areas, developed the infrastructure and took the challenge of improving those areas, although there was nobody to accept those challenges in the past. Let our people also go to serve North and East and undergo hardships prevalent there. In our history “Pihiti” was our kingdom and it was very prosperous under those former kings. It was our Armed Forces that won back our lost freedom and they would not in anyway, engage in earning money in scrupulous manner, like some of the public servants”, Most Ven. Maha Nayake said.
On Saturday (26) morning, Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya paid a courtesy call on Most Ven. Thibottuwawe Sri Sumangala, Maha Nayake Thera of Malwatte Chapter and Ven. Dr Niyangoda Vijitha, Anu Nayake Thera of Malwatte Chapter at the monastery in Kandy.
During the Commander’s discussions with the Malwatte Maha Nayake Thera, Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya elaborated on the Army’s extensive contributions in the North and East in relation to development work.
Most Ven. Maha Nayake Thera lauded the Army’s present role and its post-war efforts, dedicated for the development and prosperity of the country. Both Nayake Theras were of the view that Sri Lanka could achieve her development goals with the direct Army assistance since the Army is capable of tackling any challenges. Most Ven. Malwatte Maha Nayake Thera commended the Army for its untiring assignments and the contributions being made for the sake of the country.
Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya in reply told both Maha Nayakes that the Army continues to give priority for restoration of religious places of all denominations in the North and East and works closely to establish permanent Army formations in those areas.
“Army personnel arriving in those areas for duty are to be provided permanent houses and allowed to engage in cultivation work if they so desire. A large segment of the Army, including the Engineer Services are constructing highways, bridges, houses, factories, etc in those areas and this will save a lot of money for the government”, the Commander pointed out.
The visiting Commander of the Army offered “Atapirikara” to both Maha Nayakes during his interactions with them. Mrs Manjulika Jayasuriya, President Seva Vanitha Army Branch was also associated with the visit.
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